Prostitution: A worldwide Business of Sexual Exploitation & Tough Guise

Prostitution
The prostituion article talks about how women and some men turn to prostitution. Most women who turn to prostitution have been raped, molested or have received physical abuse from an early age of their life. Some feel like they are not worth anything in life or they are not treated equally. Some turn to these pimps who brainwash them into beliving that this is the way of life and also for some form of security. These pimps often abuse the prostitutes and treat them with no respect and the prostitues should respect their pimps. Sometimes they would also be raped. The article also talks about the different ways in which prostitution takes place and it varies in different parts of the world. For example in Nevada, the state determines the geographic location and size of the brothels. The also have a time to be out in certain areas and they can't be seen talking to certain people. This goes to show that the government is using prostitution as a form of money by taxing these borthels. In my opinion one hand the government talks about child abuse and women being raped  but on the other hand they are legalizing prostitution which most women who work there have experienced these types of assults. In my opinion they should be trying to help these women mentally recover fromt hese experiences and not use them as a form of gaining money. The article basically states that most and if not all women who is in prostituion  have been assulted in some way. Prostitution is money making business. It happens in different forms. For example, internet porn, human trafficking, prostitution, phone sex and massage parlors. I believe prostitution will continue to happen until it is regulized in some form that it doesn't affect the person doing it.

Tough Guise
This video was about what it is to be man and how a man should be through the use of different lines of communication. For example through the use of media, through toys and also movies. Every society has its own way of definning a man. But the basic things that I belive all society expects from a man is for him to be strong both emtionally and physically, tough, have respect, and powerful. The movie talks about how a man is potrayed if he doesn't act like a man. He is called a fag or a sissy. He has certain expectations as a man and if he doesn't act this way he is faced with stigma. In my opinion a mans role was giving from since the begnning of time. I believe it is written in the bible. The video also shows how inequality happens. When a man fights he is strong but if a woman fight she is bad. I believe each gender has an assigned role in life and society expects us to play out that role. If someone goes against their role then they are seen as doing something wrong. In this aspect males are expected to do certain things and act a certain "strong" way, but as time goes by we are seeing a change in this. Society is becoming more accpetable for who you and I are. There will always be that way of thinking of a how a man should act and how a woman should act. This is because that is what we are socialized into believing and also because of religions.

Segregation in 21st Century America

This was an interesting reading. It talks about how institutions in America still promotes racisim and segregation through their institutions and some of the causes for segregation in america. In a country where everyone should be treated equally there is still some inequality. An example the author uses is housing discrimination. If a black and white person goes to try to get a loan or a property to rent, these institutions treat the two people differently and provide them with different information. By doing this it causes segregation amongst us as a society. By the real estate agent only showing the black person houses in black areas and not showing him the houses in the white areas, it takes away the chance of him living amongst the whites which by extent causes segregation. Even though there are laws that are against these things, institution still do it. Even though some people choose to live amongst their own kind, they should have that opportunity of living amongst any race of their choice. Another point is that income has a part to play in it. It plays the part of it depends on how much money you have that may determine where you live. Segregation is around us in New York. For example a lot of carbbean or black or hispanic people live in areas like Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Harlem whereas upstate there are a lot of white folks. There are whites that live in these areas but compared to upstate its less. This goes to show that racisim could be on any level and could come in different forms.

Race Matters

The heading of this essay talks for itself. This essay talks about how the conservatives blame the problems in America on black people instead of blaming the nation as a whole. It shows how racism still exist in the American society and it uses the upheaval that happened in Los Angeles as an example. I like how it said that only certain people can define what it is to be an American and the rest have to fit in. This is true because I feel like the way society has it is that if you are not white you're not a true American. It's like if you are black or another race they sometimes consider you outsiders When it should be if you are born in America, your'e an American and you can say what it is to be an American wheather you're black or white. In a country where it suppose to be equal and where race shouldn't matter but it matters. It just shows how the racism exist in society and race matters big time.

People Like Us

This was interesting video because it talks about how different people view class in America. It also  talks about how people are classed by different ways. For example, where they live, what clothes they wear, the type of food they eat, where they shop etc. It shows that some people are born into a class from birth. They are taught to act and live a certain way of life. An example of this is when the guy in the video talks about the WASPS. He said to join this group or class, you have to be born into it. You can't buy your way into it. He also said that they were taught that they are more attractive than other people, they look better and stand better. This video also show how social stratification exists. It was shown with the lady at the end who works at Burger King. She is a hard working lady making an honest living but is getting nowhere in life. She was born into this class and hasn't moved up the ladder. For me this was the saddest part of the video and it shows what the government is doing for the people of this class.

This video also shows how people can be classed by their social status and race. You may be black or hispanic and be wealthy, but because of your race you wouldn't be classed with the whites. This shows how inequality still exist in the American society. A society where everyone should be treated equally. Also whether you want to face it or talk about it, social class do exist in America. It may be unspoken but it is seen.

Positive Functions of the Underserving Poor

This was a very interesting reading. I like how the author breaks it down into several parts of how the underclass people are treated in society. It's interesting to know these things because some people never saw it this way or looked at it like this. I for one thought of it, but never looked at it like this. But when you really think of it what the author is saying is basically true. The more wealthier or better off people are usually the ones who stigmatize the poor people. They use them to do things that they wouldn't do. To me they are playing a major role in society. The author talks about how society itself isn't doing anything to solve this problem. For example they said if someone has a criminal offense most jobs wouldn't accept them so there for the person turns back to the criminal life. Another example is the author said some of the poor can't even vote an even if they did, the elecetd official might ignore them because these officials cannot easily satisfy their demands for economic and other kinds of justice. This just goes to show that its hard for the poor to reach anywhere because of the stigmatizing and how society has already labelled them as the underserving poor.

Deviance

Deviance is breaking a social rule. We all can be deviant in some way by doing something that society sees wrong. This can be anything for example in some societies having tattoos would be morally wrong. We are not perfect so therefore during sometime in our lives we eventually break some sort of social rule. It happens on daily basis with some people and for some it happens not as often. For myself, I know I've broken some social rule even though I may not be able to point it out all the rules that I've broken. One of them I'm sure of is drinking alcohol before the legal age. I knew it was wrong but I did it still for my own personal reasons. Society may find because I started drinking from an earlier than others they may want to stigmatize me as an alcohloic. But that doesn't mean its true, its just the society we live in. Also if this is so, then in some way we are all law breakers because everyone is not perfect.

Gender Socialization

Killing us Softly by Jean Kilbourne

This video is about how society and advertisers portray women through the use of media. It tells us how even in advertisements how society labels woman as the soft weak ones. She gave us an example where in one of the advertisement there was two kids, a boy and a girl were standing next to each other and the boy was shown to be tough and the girl was just smiling back at him. This shows that even as kids society portrays women to be the weak one, with the man being the stronger one. She also talked about how society labels woman as sexist through the use of advertisement and how young girls were being sexulized also through the use of advertisement. She gave us examples of how designers would use young girls to wear their products in a vulgar form to have their products sell. She said that the way women are portrayed in the advertisement it made some young girls self esteems drop because after watching the advertisement it made them feel like they are not perfect enough.

A Call to Men by Tony Poter

This video is about how men are taught to be men from as young as 5 years old and we have something called a man box which is rules and guidelines that as a man you should follow and are taught not go against any of the rules. He talks about how some men view women as objects and have less value towards them. He said that this is some of the causes of  violence against women and rape. He gave some examples of how a man is suppose to be which some are not to cry, demonstrate power control and not to be gay. His maint point was that we should work together on how parents raise their sons and its ok for a man to expresss his emotions and that both men and women should be equal and the male don't have to be dominating.  


The way these two videos are connected to socialization are the ways in which we socialize. Meaning the way how we were taught to interact with one another and the way how society has it for us to to treat one another. It's also connected by the agents of socialization which is his or her family and how their teaching affects the person thinking and the way how they look at the opposite gender.

Society

This week I learnt about different things for example, different statuses, roles and groups. I also learnt about how society gives us different roles status without us even asking for it. For example when we are born we are given a status which is defined by our gender. If you are born a man you have to play that role of man and if you a woman you have to play that role of a woman. For some of us we may not want to act or play that role which was assigned to us. It happens in groups also where everyone in the group as a role to play and most times the groups as a certain status which it maintains. This happens in everyday life but I never really thought of it on this level which is taught by our professor. I also learnt of the different types of groups for example, a primary group and a secondary group. We go through life sometimes without even recongnizing these stuff and it was interesting for me to learn about it. The more I learn about sociology, it shows me more in depth about society and how society classes everything and everyone.

Society: Interactions and Groups

This week I learnt about society and how we as an indivdual interact with one another.I also learnt about how we adapt to different situations in terms of how how our emotions changes an how we respond differently in different situations. We talked about how different organizations interact with one another. For example how the government interacts with the business community for several reasons with one being the reason to know how to make the country a better business place. I also learnt the process in which we create our own identity by using the "looking glass self" method. This was interestng becuase this very true because we all look at ourselves in the mirror and try to see how the world would view us and we use the ideas or response to develop our identity. I also learnt about "Dramaturgy" which is they way we would carry ourselves around different people. For example, the way we would speak with out parents wouldn't be the same as if it was our friends or class mates. We would have respect for our parents and may not use vulgar terms in the presents of them, but we would use those terms in front of our friends.  Sociology keeps getting more interesting.

Culture and Society

In class were learn't about different types of cultures like sub-culture, counter culture and culture shock. This was interesting to me becuase before I didn't know that these existed. We also talked about how society see the people in these cultures and how they are treated. It was interesting to learn that some cultures are not accepted by everyone and it would seem strange to some foreigners visiting the giving country. This is becuase I have experienced it for myself the first time I came to New York. I was in a culture shock because of how the people interacted with one another and what would seem normal for the average New Yorker would of seem weird to me.

Intoduction

Who am I? I am very down to earth and real with anyone that I meet, very straight forward and hate lies. Basically this is what makes me. I am this way because of how I was brought up by my parents and becuase of the things I've experienced in my life. They taught me the difference between wants and needs and also they showed me how to be responsilble, have my prioities in order and to be a leader. My parents and my family are the biggest influences in my life becuase they are the ones that guides me through my life and show me they way when I feel like I'm lost. My goals or purpose in life is to be the best that I can be in aything I do. Eventually I want to own my own business and eventually start a family. Also I want to finish my college degree so I can use my education to the best of my ability.