Masculinity

This week we discussed the pressure men have to be tough and "masculine". I never really realized how much of an impact the media has on guys. I always sort of thought it was only girls and their body image. It was also sad to see that guys get bullied because they aren't tough/strong enough, and then sometimes they decide to bring guns to school. I think we should just learn to accept others the way they are and realize not all men can be perfectly built and tough as nails, just like the majority of girls aren't stick thin and perfect. Personally, I'll try to see past how guys are on the exterior and the attitude they put on to the outside, to actually try and make them feel good about who they truly are. And besides, girls like at least some sensitivety anyways.

Body Image

Today we discussed body image problems in class. We talked about how the media influences women to the point of eating disorders and even sometimes death to look beautiful. I think people need to know that what they see on TV and in the magazines isn't real, and it's not something to strive for. It's sad to see that this is what our society has gotten to, and that so many young girls are having so many self esteem hardships because of this. Some people said that if you don't care, the ads shouldn't affect you, but that's not true. Young girls are bombarded with these and even if they don't really pay attention, it subconsciously tells them that this what they have to look like, and they have to ooze sex appeal or else no one will like them.

Human Nurture

This week we talked about feral children and children who were abused. It was really sad to me that someone could purposely mistreat their child to the point where they couldn't walk, talk, or act "human." I thought about how lucky I am that my family is here to support me, and they nurtured me enough that I'm pretty successful today. Also, when we watched the Oprah segment, it was really heartwarming to see that those children do have a potential to live a semi-normal life with their adoptive parents. I think it's super important that a baby has someone that cares for them and loves them, so they can develop normally,

Nothing

The other day I went to Target and stood there while doing nothing. It was pretty hard to do for me. I couldn't completely disconnect myself from the while. The whole time I was thinking about something: what homework I had, what I would eat for dinner, what college essays to work on. I only ended up doing about 5 minutes of this instead of the full 10. During this time though, I saw a lot of people giving me weird looks while I stood there doing absolutely nothing. The people working seemed like they wanted to ask if I needed help on more than one occasion, but they all just passed by probably thinking I was insane. I think it's bad that we never have time for ourselves and always have to be moving and doing something. I feel like this helped me open my eyes to sometimes just take a second to breathe and see the things around us. There's so much we take for granted, and as Americans, this happens even more than we may think.