Blog Post # 15 In Response to Question O

          What can we do? Everyone can do a little bit, which could eventually lead to a huge help. I think that if everyone were to start speaking up and fight for change to actually happen, then we could see some huge progress in the future. Granted I know people want change to happen now, which leads me to say that if everyone just makes little changes each day, those little changes of say informing others of how oppression is from the past and should not be brought into the future, then the change could happen now.

            What can I do? I think I could really do a lot to help change my sphere of influence. First of all I think I could join an activist group and help fight for change with them. I think I could also start raising awareness around my community about the different types of oppression and discrimination that are going on around us, and teach people how to not involve themselves with discrimination. I also think I could be a little more aware of how I speak and talk about things such as discrimination, because ill admit I do make jokes from time to time which actually end up affecting the people around me. I really do want to help make a difference, so I think I will join an activist group and start really helping the cause. 

Blog Post # 14 In Response to Question N

           I think a good activist is someone with compassion and empathy. I think an activist fights for things that are really important and holds protests that are non violent. I feel like many people call themselves activists, but they never actually act on that do things for the greater good. They feel like its cool to call themselves but are scared to ever really do anything to fight for the rights of everyone. In or order to be a good activist you must actually stand up for the people and do things about the issues at hand. There are many things a good activist does which I learned about in the videos.            

            In one of the video it says all actions must be based on compassion, which is a very valuable quality of an activist. I also think two important traits are to choose carefully and learn to act not react. These two are important because you can’t fight for all issues at hand all the time. So it’s important to choose a cause really close to your heart and really fight for it. The most important thing is the pursuit of service for the good of all not for the advancement or benefit of individuals or selected communities. I think that’s really important because all people deserve to have equal rights so people should be fighting for all people and not just certain groups of people. 

Quick Blog # 6

        I like to think my social sphere is comprised of people of all ages. I spend alot of time with people my age, but i also have a lot of friends at home who are 2 or 3 years younger than me. Its nice to hang out with them and hear all about their lives and what they are doing because they are still in high school. I also like hanging out with my mom's friends because its interesting to hear about people's lives that are in a different generation than you. 
        I really don't know why our society is segregated based on age. I think because everyone is always stereotyped based on their age, our society segregated everyone based on age because of that. I feel like young and middle adults are really privileged in our society because they are at the time in their life when they have the most experience for a job and are also willing and able to work late hours. Whereas a person fresh out of college doesn't have a lot of work experience, so its harder for them to find a job. Also elder people are stereotyped as being slower so i feel like they may be less likely to be "privileged" in the job world. All people are the same so i really don't think adults of a certain age should be more privileged then others. 
       I think that everyone should be treated equal and that people of all ages should have a fair chance at many opportunities. People shouldn't be segregated based on age. Actually people shouldn't be segregated at all. I thin the media should also stop portraying old people as senial and unable to function like younger people on a daily basis in movies and shows. I fell because of this people actually treat elder people like this and that why there have been so many problems with less respect for elders. We really need to take the saying of "respect your elders" seriously. 

Quick Blog # 5

In the article "Pornography as a cause for rape" it spoke about how porn leads to rape. It was interesting to read about different peoples views on it, and how some of the movies really were almost cases of rape. In a way i disagree with the statements i read but i also tend to agree with them as well.  
I know that people who are willing to make pornographic movies do know that it sometimes entails some pretty harsh things. Its not like people are going well i didn't know that was going to happen. But in reality pornographic movies are very vulgar and disgusting scenes of sexual activities which are not always right. However, when someone signs on to do one willingly they know what is in store for them and should not really act suprised when something like anal sex is required of them in a scene. 
However, i do not agree with how the movies are done. I don't think that porn should be portrayed as rough sex, because it is horrible to treat girls the way they are treated in the movies. Doing movied such as those really do give men the wrong idea about how to treat a women. If a man sees another man on a movie treating women horribly and rough, obviously the man watching is going to think its ok for him to treat women that way too. The media has a horrible influence on todays culture. 

Blog Response # 13 In Response to Question M

          What is the root of ageism?  I really do not know what to think of about how ageism really came about. I think its not right that elders are treated the way they are sometimes though. But I think ageism really started because of the stereotypes that so many people think of when they think of elderly people. You know things like they move slowly or drive very slowly, their brains don’t work as fast as they used to, they are to fragile to do anything and they should just sit around and play bingo with their friends. Those types of stereotypes I think are the reason ageism is pretty much around, granted I think there could be more to it, but I don’t know what else it could be.

            I like to think I’m not ageist. I don’t think down about elderly people, they are just as willing to do things as younger people are as well.  I thinks its awful how in the video “Once We Were Young” the lady was harassed on the streets by people and in the market place she was talked down to by a teenager. I don’t think I’ve ever done something like that so I wouldn’t call myself ageist. But I do worry about my grandparents sometimes when they go out because I don’t anything to happen to them, while they are driving or something, but I don’t think that makes me ageist.

            I think that ageism isn’t talked a lot about in our society because people don’t really think its there. I didn’t really think about ageism as being around that much until watching these videos and reading some of the articles. I think that only a select few in our country really go out of their way to oppress the elders in public, and maybe a few others oppress them in other ways through health insurance or elder care. I really have never though about it until today so it seems to be seldom talked about. I think it may also be that there are so many stereotypes involved with elderly people that others don’t think about how those stereotypes are in a way the oppression of elderly people.

            

Blog Post # 12 In Response to Question L

            Watching the movie “Gimp” was so fascinating. The way everyone moved in the dancing was phenomenal. I really didn’t notice that some of the dancers had any problems with their body unless I really looked for them. IT was beautiful to watch them all move so easily and with such precision.

            This dance really expanded notions of the human body, because it shows that even if you have some issue with your body, you can still break through that and dance. For example there was a girl with no legs, but she was still able to use the ropes and moving incredibly with them. Also there was a girl missing part of her arm, but that didn’t stop her from dancing across the stage and doing all different sorts of arm movements. Also there was a man who seemed to have some knee problems, but he almost used that to his advantage and moved amazingly around the stage.

            This piece addresses issues of ableism and how the dancers don’t discriminate against it. Dance can further address these issues by showing people that even though they may have a disadvantage over others, they can still do pretty much the same things as other, if not better such as dancing. Dancing shows people how able people with disabilities really are. They are no different from you and me. 

Blog Post # 11 In Response to Question K

           After reading about transgendered women, I learned a lot more about how hard it is for them. Although I do have a friend who is transgender as well, but it was a female becoming a male instead of the other way around. I cant imagine what is must be like to go through life the way some of these females are and how hard it much be to feel like they need to hide their true selfs.

            In high school my friend was a girl, but she looked very much like a man. Everyone in school would make fun of her and call her names. It was awful, and many times she would go home crying at the end of the day. Luckily she had a good group of friends who supported her in every way they could, by trying to help her not listen to all the hurtful things people were calling her. She shared with us one day that her dad abused her when her mom wasn’t around because he thought she was so ugly and would never fall in love. After telling us that story, we all felt for her so much. After high school she decided to have the operation before going to college so she could start with a new outlook on life. Now he is the happiest person in the world. He is open about his past and people respect him for that and everyone still loves him just the same.

            I think its great that some people are able to be outwardly honest about their past but sad that so many aren’t because of the way others may treat them about being a transgender. I think its also horrible how in the manifesto it says, trans- sexuals’ identified genders are inferior to or less authentic than those who are not trans sexuals. It shouldn’t matter what gender someone is, we are all people and should be treated as equals.