Blog #5

Last week we were given a presentation about outlines. Julian went over the basic steps on creating an outline and even showed an example using someone’s topic idea. I think it was a good reminder of how to format our essays. The thing that I found useful were the pointers we were given on how to include a counter argument in our introduction. But i had a question about counter arguments in the body paragraph. Can i place a counter argument after presenting a topic? I had forgotten about how much better essays turn out to be when using an outline, but maybe that is the best way to get a paper done. Last week’s class was fun. We were all divided into groups and we all had to do an activity on what it was like to have a certain type of disability. Each experience was different but at the end of the day having to use a wheelchair or any other kind of walking aid was the one that was most challenging for me. Like I mentioned in class to me it felt like being in a wheelchair might cause someone to become more aware on their space to know that they have not come across a situation that might affect their mobility. I feel that sometimes people tend to take mobility for granted, and when we are exposed to someone who does not have the privilege we usually get stuck not knowing what to do. On the other hand, I think people with disabilities should try to change the way they perceive others when someone is offering help. If they get offended once, the person might not want to help someone who needs help again. It’s a cycle that should be broken. I feel that it would be a good thing if people with disabilities spoke up to tell the communities and even the government about how we can help them achieve their full potentials.

This week’s reading focused on gender inequalities in the U.S. In the article lipstick and lab coats, were given insight to the discrimination that females face when pursuing a degree in science. Some of the women in this study talked about some examples of how men are still not used to seeing women in the STEM field. The lack of knowledge leads to making the women feel like they have to adjust their behaviors to not offend anyone who was not pursuing the same major. This was coined as “playing down”. In the article “Beyond a Binary: The Lives of Gender- Nonconforming Youth” we are presented with a notion about youth who do not identify themselves as part of a certain category when used to describe their gender orientations. These people become targets to society norms because they are not viewed as accepted. People who identified as queer, gay, lesbians, and bisexuals sometimes transformed themselves completely into the body they felt most comfortable with. After having been harassed and attacked by others they became transgender and it made them feel good because they were finally able to be accepted for who they truly were on the inside. Gender stereotyping huts many not just some. For both females and the LGBT communities, it is difficult to try and break the stereotypes but it is not impossible. Maybe one day in the near future women will finally be able to break that glass ceiling and the LGBT be acknowledged for their individuality.