A Woman in a Man's World

In our society, men and women are viewed in to completely different ways. Unfortunately, women seemed to be viewed inferior to men. When you see a Pull-Ups commercial you always see a little boy or girl running up to their mother informing them that they were able to go to the bathroom themselves. Even though these commercials seem cute and it shows that a woman’s role is to potty train their children. Where are the fathers in these commercials? Well you can only then assume that the father is at work while the mother is at home taking care of the children.  I am not at all saying that fathers don’t take care of their children, because I am sure there are fathers that are stay at home parents, but our society constantly tells us that I women should be at home taking care of the kids, doing the cooking and the cleaning while the father is at work taking care of the family finically. The primary reason why society has specific roles for men and women is because that’s what the media tells us. Even though there are more women in the world than there are men, there are fewer women holding higher elite jobs.

In society, women are held to such a high standard when it comes to the way the look. For an example, women are expected to look like the women at the front cover of cosmopolitan. They need to be skinny with big breasts and apparently with no age lines. In all reality no one looks that good as the girl on the cover and that even includes the girl on the cover. But, to me, it is absolutely different for men. Take George Clooney for instance, if he was put on the cover of the Rolling Stones magazine you would see his wrinkles and his grey hairs and according to society that is what makes him so “handsome”. Don’t get me entirely wrong because I am sure the media is still photo enhancing his pictures it’s just not as extreme as the photo enhancements done on women.

In all honestly I am not sure if the stereotype for women has haunted me, at least not at this point and time of my life. I try to be as realistic as I can when it comes to stereo types and I damn well make it a point to the people around me that I will not be a stay at home mother who does the cooking and the cleaning. Though this may seem cliché to other people but it seems to be working for me so far.

I believe that the media needs to change gears and make advertisements, movies, music, video games etc. more diverse when it comes to what they think a man’s role and a women’s role should be. Since I believe media has such a high influence on society, it would be a great place to start for change. I would like the media to view women as powerful, beautiful women rather than a sex appeal.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I believe that most people's stereotypes and assumptions come from multiple ways. First I believe that people's stereotypes stem from how they are raised. If a child is raised and their parents have a particular opinion about a certain race or a certain group of people then that child will more than likely adopt the same way of thinking.  This can be presented verbally or no verbally by the parent or the community. Verbally expressing your opinion is pretty straight forward. What I mean by non verbally is how a parent or the community acts upon a certain group of people. An example would be that if there is a neighborhood that was predominately white and wealthy and say a wealthy black family moved into the neighborhood some of the white people might outcast the black family or treat them differently even if they don't say it directly. Even though the black family is wealthy, the white people might still treat them different because of the color of their skin.
Another way people might develop stereotypes in through the media. In fact I think the media plays one of the biggest roles into developing people's stereotypes. A year or so ago I took an ethnic literature class and we learned about different ethnicities. Obviously one of the groups we talked about in this class were black people. One of the most astounding things I have ever heard came from this class. It was about black people and during certain periods of history if wealthy black people wanted to be accepted in society they had to pass the brown paper bag test. Meaning if they are "too black" they would not be accepted. Society put a standard by comparing black people's skin to a brown paper bag. I believe this, to some extent, is still carried out today. Throughout my own life I have heard several individuals say that he or she is "too black".
All in all there are many influences that develop people's stereotypes whether its from your parents, your community or the media.

Too Much Too Little Money

My economic and social upbringing has majorly impacted my perceptions of college. I come from a family in which neither my parents nor grandparents received a college degree. Even though neither of my parents have a college degree they both attended community college after high school.  When my parents were around twenty three years of age my father decided to join the Air Force. When my dad was in the Air Force he continued taking college courses while my mom primarily stayed at home to take care of my sisters and I. After my dad left the Air Force he did not have the money to continue college so he got a job working on computers for 10 dollars an hour while my mother got a job working at my high school to help with the financials for the family. It took my father a few years in the computer industry to land a job that paid him a very good salary. Even though my parents took the roundabout way into finding a good job without college degrees they have always instilled in my sisters and I how important it was too go to college and get a good job.

Also I attended a private school in which there were a 100 percent of the students in my graduating class who went to college immediately after high school. Going to my high school has played a major role in my decision to go to go to college. Ever since freshman year of high school my teachers would always say things like, "we are going to construct this class to prepare you for college." So basically my school was always trying to give us the tools  needed to be successful and to promote us to go to college. 

I think that the biggest drawback about attending college was the fact the my family does not necessarily have to money to send me to college. My parents didn't have the money while I was growing up to put money aside for my sisters and I to go to college. And unfortunately according to the government organization FASFA my dad makes far too much money for me to receive any exponential amount of money in grants. So on a financial side college may have not been in the cards for me but my high school and family upbringings had more of an influence on me to attend college anyways. There for most of my college tuition is paid through loans. And hopefully I will graduate from college and get a good job so that I have money to pay off my student loans.

SSA Rough Draft

You can tell a lot about a person by where they grew up, the foods they eat, their political views points, where they work, what school they attended and what neighborhood they lived in. All of these things listed give insight on my socioeconomic background. My socioeconomic background plays a major role in my beliefs, values, goals, and even what my future holds.

I was born in Colorado Springs which is where a US Air Force base is located. Since my father was in the USAF I have moved a few times. After my sister Demi was born on the same base my family was relocated to Berlin, Germany. This is where my youngest sister Paige was born. After Berlin my family was then relocated to Aviano, Italy where I started pre-school. After we live in Italy for about a year we moved to Edwards Air Force base in California where I completed kindergarten and first grade. Then I moved to Springfield, IL, which is the place that I now call home.

Springfield. IL is where I was baptized, confirmed, and learned how to be a Catholic. I attended a Catholic grade school and high school. Even though I am Catholic, most of my family isn’t. My mother’s side of the family is Methodist. My father’s family were raised Catholic. Being Catholic is a life-style which has shaped my life into what it is today.

Another ideology that I adopted from living in Springfield, IL is being a conservative Republican. I believe in hard work and making a good living for your family. I believe the government needs to cut spending on public welfare and that the American people have the right to bare arms.

I would consider my family to be a part of the working class. My father is a technical business analyst and my mother is a cafeteria worker at my former high school. My father is the sole provider for income but my mother was able to get discounted faculty rates to help send my sisters and I to a private school. Since my mother worked at a high school she was also considered to be a stay at home mom because she was off work by the time my sisters and I were out of school and had the same Christmas, Easter and summer breaks.

When my parents were growing up, their families were also considered to part of the working class. My father’s father owned a grocery store and my mother’s father owned a hair salon. Both of the family owned stores were forced to close due to unions.

College has been a part of my future since the day I was born. Both of my parents had went to college but never graduated with a degrees. My father joined the Air Force and my mother was a stay at home mom. I remember when I was little I asked my mom if I had to go to college and she said, “Yes.” Being a young child who really didn’t understand, I asked why and she said, “Because it’s the law and if you don’t go to college then you have to go to jail.” Maybe at this time in my life I thought that this was true but I look back now and realized that my parents just wanted me to do better than they did. To receive a degree so that I could get a good job that make decent money so I don’t have to worry about money like they did.

 When I graduate college I will be the first generation to do so. My grandparents didn’t go to college, my parents, aunts, and uncle didn’t go to college and I have about thirty cousins and only a hand full went to college and only three have graduated from college. Though college can be my biggest enemy at times, it is one of the most important things in my life. I am pursuing a degree in Chemistry and hope to work for a pharmaceutical company when I graduate. Chemistry reveals a lot about me because I feel like I can make a change, whether that’s finding a cure to cancer or bettering the future for my children.

--- needs a lot of work. Do to time I was not able to get in all that I wanted to say. I need to add in concepts and elaborate more on how my background has shaped my life and how it has prevented me to move forward.

An Interesting Twist

First of all I would like to say that the monopoly activity we as a class did today was fun, informative, and shocking. In my group there was one upper class, one middle class, one working class, and one lower class person. I was the person that represented the middle class.

The person in the upper class started with 3,000 dollars which was double the money of the middle class, triple the money of the working class, and six times more than the lower class. Naturally the upper class person got to role first, and on the first role landed on a property. Without hesitation they bought their first property. I, being the middle class, landed on a lower rated property and bought the property without hesitation. But for those in the working and lower class that landed on a property always seemed to hesitate before buying a property and most of the time they would give it up for auction. If one of the properties went for auction it was usually a bid between in the middle and the upper class. But 9 time out of ten the person of the upper class would always out bid the person in the middle class and would most definitely out bid the working and the lower class.

The person of the lower class could only buy properties on one side of the board with the lower rates, the person in the working class could only buy properties on two sides of the board with the lowest rates and the middle class could only buy properties on three side of the board with the rates. The person of the upper class could buy any and all the properties on the board including the railroad and utilities in which the other three classes cannot purchase.

Obviously we can equate what is happening in this game of monopoly to real life. Those in the upper and sometimes even in the middle class have way more advantages than those in the working or lower class.  For an example those in the middle class an upper class have more options about going to college, whether that’s going to college in general or, especially to the upper class, going to a more expensive or widely known college such as Harvard. Not saying that those in the working class or the lower class don’t go to college, it’s just the chances are that they don’t because college can be quite costly and those in these classes probably chose working in order to raise their families.

The Tribes We Live In

In the documentary "People Like Us" the narrator explains that the people in America belong to their own tribes; meaning that a group of people with common backgrounds, common salary, common religion, etc. are linked together in a tribe. Before this blog I have never really thought about what tribe I belong to. After a few days of thinking and processing what kind of tribe that I belong to I came up with a name for my particular tribe, the middle class conservative Catholic.

 

The reason why I consider my particular tribe middle class is because I was born and raised in the middle class. I grew up always having a roof over my head and food on the table but not necessarily enough money to buy a big house or a fancy car. Though some people may look down at people in the middle class I feel completely comfortable and happy being in the middle class.

 

My mother’s sister married into money and my mom had seen how much she had changed even though my mother and my aunt we also raised in the middle class. Growing up I always remember my aunt asking how I could stand to live the way my family and I did. I just remember thinking to myself that my family and I didn’t live any different than most of my friends. Yes, we may have had less than she did but I grew up in a nice house with nice things. So in a sense I knew from my childhood that I shared a different tribe than my aunt even though she was family.

 

Like most of my family I consider myself to be a conservative. Being a conservative has played a huge impact on my way of thinking and how I decided to take the next steps in my life. I believe that it is very important for everyone in the United States to have some sort of political view. I love having political conversations with individuals especially my dad. Though we may not agree on everything under the sun but I believe that having these conversations with my dad has enhanced my way of thinking in a positive way.

 

And last but not least I consider myself to be a catholic. Religion plays a major role in my life. When all else fails in my life I always have religion to fall back on. Since the second grade all the way to my senior year of high school I have attended catholic schooling, which naturally played a huge role in my life. If I had to do high school all over again with a choice between private school and public school I would still choose private. The reasoning being is that learning theology has changed my life completely and has opened my eyes to many possibilities in the world. It has shaped my life into what it is now.

 

Though I know that many of the student in my Social Studies class would not fit into my middle class conservative catholic tribe, this is where I feel most comfortable and this is where my family, boyfriend, and many of my close friends lay.

Tammy's Story from People Like Us

The segment on Tammy from the documentary "People Like Us" was a very sad story but eye opening. I think the most shocking realization in her segment was that she walked eight miles to get to work. Lots of people don't even walk but a mile a day but Tammy did so that she could take care of her family. The part the I seemed less shocked about was the fact that one of her sons was completely embarrassed by his mother and where they lived. He also complained that his mother always wore her Burger King outfit around the house and even if they went out to eat. The reason why this does not seem so shocking to me is because most teenagers his age are usually embarrassed by their parents and even about where they live or what kind of car their parents drive.

And where do I think they are now? My positive way of thinking thinks that at least one or maybe even two of Tammy's sons received a high education and that Tammy herself may have decided to go to college to become a teacher. But to me, in a more realistic way, Tammy stayed in the trailer and continued to work at Burger King and unfortunately most of her children probably fell into her footsteps. It's hard to break out of the circle in which you were raised. And since Tammy's father was also lower class it only seems "natural" for Tammy to be in the lower class.

Social Status

Social class is not something that is new to me. I have studied social class through many different subjects throughout my education such as history, theology, world geography and even in ethic literature. Since I have taken these courses, I actually think about social class a lot. And I believe that social class plays a major role in our society.
As for the video "Wealth Inequality in America" I was not the least bit surprised to see how incorrect people's understandings of wealth distribution is in America. I think that people in our country are afraid to admit that there are very rich people in the world and also that there are very poor people in this world as well.
I think that social class plays a huge role on people's values and views. For an example, in the video "People Like Us" when the lady says that she would never drive Volvo because it screams "middle class mother who has ornery kids with an out of control dog" or that she wouldn't drive a Ford because it was probably stolen. Why is a Volvo considered a middle class car? Oh, because they are less expensive and less cool than Porsche or a BMW. So based on this particular lady's value and views she is able to define your social class based on the car that you drive. This is absolutely absurd. I actually know a guy who I would consider upper middle class because of his salary, assets, investments and savings and could afford a Porsche if he wanted to but prefers to drive Hondas because they are economical.  He believes that buying a Porsche is a wasted investment and he would much rather buy a more affordable car and use his money else where. To me this is thinking smart and economical.
I have ran into certain situations throughout my life where people's values and views clouded their thoughts from what was actually the truth. I attended a catholic grade school and high school in which my high school was one of the most well know private school in the area. When people would ask me where I attended high school I would tell them Sacred Heart Griffin and about 95 percent of they time they would say, "Oh wow you must be rich." Well the real truth was that I wasn't rich. I was middle class just like them. In fact most were very unaware that my mother worked in my high school's cafeteria in order to receive a discount on my tuition.  

About Me

Hello my name is Lauren VanDerWal. I was born in Colorado Springs which is where a US Air Force base is located. So as you may be able to guess I was indeed a military brat. Since my father was in the USAF I have moved a few times. After my sister Demi was born on the same base my family was relocated to Berlin, Germany. This is where my youngest sister Paige was born. After Berlin my family was then relocated to Aviano, Italy where I started pre-school. After we live in Italy for about a year we moved to Edwards Air Force base in California where I completed kindergarten and first grade. And then for the last stop and a place that I now call home, we moved to Springfield, Illinois.I now live in Palatine, Illinois with my boyfriend Mike of five years and my dog Ping, who is, by the way the cutest and most loving dog ever.
Though the military was one aspect of my life I have many other such as what I would call the "bagpipe World". When I was in 8th grade I started Highland dancing and master in the highest level at the age of seventeen. Soon after I started dancing I learned how to play the highland drum. A few years later I also learned how to play the bagpipes. Bagpipes still to this plays a huge influence in my life and I consider playing bagpipes more of a lifestyle than a hobby. I currently play the bagpipes in the Midlothian Scottish Pipes and Drums.
Even though the "bagpipe world" plays such an important role of my life so does my education. I have an associated degree in chemistry and I am continuing my education as a chemistry major. I plan to graduate college and started a career in pharmaceuticals.