paper #3

Jacqueline Martinez
Contemporary Sociological Theory
Response paper #3- “Doing Gender”

The article “Doing Gender” by Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman is based on how average women and men accomplish gender which is broken down in three categories: sex, sex category, and gender. A main point that the authors make is that doing gender emerges from social interaction. For each topic the authors utilize Agnes as an example. Agnes is a transsexual who adopted a female identity at age 17 and many years later got a sex change operation done.
Under the sex category they West and Zimmerman explained that Agnes did was not born with the biological criteria to be classified as a female and yet still regards herself as one. Agnes claimed to be under the category of female but had issues convincing others to categorize her as such. She constantly had to be alert for threats that would jeopardize her place in a female category. When it comes to gender Agnes faced another problem because although she considers herself to be 120% female her true sex could be given away if she over plays her femininity, therefore doing gender for Agnes will always be more complicated.
The text goes on and points out the resources necessary for doing gender which is basically the differences that we create between men and women. The differences are especially noted in standardized social occasions and assortative mating practices among heterosexual couples. The last question that the article refers to is: can we avoid doing gender? And the answer is no because of the social consequences of sex category membership

My Writing Experience

When I began college in the spring semester my writing had been on hold for eight months. During those wordless months I had not picked up a pencil to write anything significant, because the only thing I was jotting down on paper were addresses and phone numbers. When I started class I was thrilled because I would finally be writing with purpose and structure. I was eager to utilize the writing skills I had learned in the past and put them into practice. At that point all I wanted to do was write. I remember the first notebook entry that we wrote; it was as if I had forgotten how to write. I felt so dumb because I was misspelling words that weren't even that difficult to begin with, but at the same time I was excited because I had really missed it and it just felt great to use my brain again.

During this period my writing has changed dramatically because I came in with blurry ideas regarding writing and gained useful skills and knowledge along with a clearer idea on how to write effective essays. The first essay that was assigned to us was a bit difficult for me because instead of an observational essay I was writing a narrative. I was extremely frustrated because I couldn't distinguish the difference between narration and observation. I didn't understand the gist of the observational essay and in my mind I was doing it right. In the end the workshop was what saved me from failing because the instructor explained to me what I needed to change, add, and what I was doing wrong. Here's an example of what I learned observation is: "At four o’clock sharp, on a Sunday afternoon, a woman in her mid twenty’s with full raspberry lips walked in. She had a glow about herself that reflected on her contagious and bright smile”. This was exactly what I witnessed and I tried to give precise detail about what I had seen, which is what observing is about. After all the trouble "Fitting Room 22" went from a narrative to an observational essay. Writing it gave me skills on how to develop an observational essay.

Another thing that changed in my writing concerns my daily blogs, because when it came to essays I always make an effort to do my best, but when it comes to “normal” blogs I don't even try. In the beginning of the semester my blogs were exceptionally good because I thought of them as essays but towards the end I got lazy and stopped putting so much effort into them. As time went on I perceived them as homework that had to get done either way so it did not matter how I did it as long as I turned it in. If you compare "Passion for salsa" ,which was my second post, to "Bride" you'll notice the difference right away, especially in the introduction. My introduction for "Passion for Salsa" went something like this: "Salsa is one of the most universal Latin dances that exist. People of all colors, shapes and sizes practice this dance. No matter where you come from, anyone is capable of dancing salsa. The rhythm is so contagious that once you hear the music you can’t stay still." Salsa makes you feel the essence of passion for music and dancing. As you can see it introduces salsa pretty well providing you with a little bit of background. Now compare this to: "The color of the photograph has only shades of white and black, which I think is perfect because it reflects the bride’s gloomy feelings. Black usually represents any feelings of darkness and sadness." These two sentences are describing a photograph not introducing it. There is no concrete introduction what so ever in this blog.

My strengths as a writer are in organization and focus. These strengths are evident in the "Bagel or Tuna" essay. I think I did an excellent job focusing only on my reflection which was an important element to the assignment because the purpose of the essay was to reflect and that was all. I also organized it well enough that everything seems to flow just right. I really think this essay shows my potential as a writer. What I’m still trying to work on is on word choice and conventions because I’m horrible at it. I mean I still need a thesaurus so I can prevent myself from repeating the same word over and over again. A dictionary also is useful to me because my vocabulary is not that great and many times I need clarification on words.

Remember when...

Today I missed being a high school student. I was on my lunch at work so I went to Wendy's and I saw some high school students eating, and suddenly I was longing to be in school again. I remember when I used to go to lunch with all my friends at school and when we used to skip class. I really wanted to join their conversation, but how stupid would that be. They would probably think I'm weird and blow me off. I would do that. At that moment I didn't wanted to be a responsible adult going to work instead I desired to be a teenager attending school five days a week, and having no worries but my grades have because now I have to pay bills. When I was in high school all I had to worry about was my G.P.A to get into the college of my choice. I so did not feel like going back to work. Besides work is kind of boring because there's barely any customers and the day goes by so slow. I never thought that I would miss high school because I was seriously desperate to get out of there. My senior was the worst. My sister had to literally drag me out of bed to go to class because being at school was a nightmare yo me and I strongly disliked it. I wasn't able to focus anymore because all I contemplated was graduation day. I got extremely lazy my senior year. This is why I was shocked today when I was yearning to be in school again.

We want what we can't have

Why do we always want what we can't have? For some odd reason people desire a hundreds times more what seems to be impossible rather than what is tangible. For instance, let’s suppose you eye a guy in the club and you’re instantly attracted to him, but there's a possibility that he won't acknowledge your presence. As the night goes on he still has no idea you exist and he becomes an obsession for you, so then you'll begin to do what ever it takes to get his attention. Another guy comes up to you and starts a conversation but during that time all you can't think about is the guy that ignores you so you reject this sweet man. You leave the club disappointed because after all your persistence you still couldn't get him notice you. Why does life have to be so complicated sometimes? I guess that's how it is and there's is nothing you can do to change the way of life but accept your loss. It pisses me off because it's like you can't be with the person you truly like and instead you're stuck with the person that you perceive as a friend. It's sad because these situations happen often and in the end there's nothing that will get his attention. I mean, we can walk around half naked and he still won't turn around. How depressing. Then again, maybe when this happens, it's not meant to be. Things do happen for a reason, which I can't seem to figure out yet. When will be the day when everyone finds the person that they're truly meant to be with?

Free write

Now I know that “what goes around comes around.” I know it so well that it has become my favorite quote because it’s so true. Before I thought that life was a walk in the park but I was so wrong. My experience actually living what this quote signifies has really opened my eyes to reality, to life. It’s just so ironic that what you do to others, whether good or bad, will always come back to you. In other words, how ever you have made a person feel someone else will make you feel the same way. It’s so inevitable to prevent this from occurring because I believe that is how life is and there is nothing to stop it. I guess the only way to prevent tragedy from happening is to treat others the exact same way you want to be treated, but people hurt others and now I’m conscious that we’ll pay for doing so. It really sucks to come to this conclusion because when you do it’s because you have already been hurt the same way you caused someone else pain. I know that people make mistakes but you can’t always let that be an excuse and then regret it. You may not even understand what I’m even talking about but I guarantee you that more sooner than later goes around because of you will come back to you. I don’t know if it makes a lot of sense but it does to me.

Video

Adbusters

Some rhetorical strategies that they use is pathos because a baby always creates very sympathetic and happy emotions. When we see a baby anywhere our first thought is "how cute!" for some reason we love babies and we just can't resist them. So this baby selling McDonald's is so adorable and we like him already. I think McDonald's wants to be appealing especially to parents because after all they're the ones that can buy us happy meals and kids love the toys that come with the meal. Looking at content expression this baby has on his face tells everyone that his fascinated with the food and is proud of it too because the bib and fry hat makes that more obvious. I mean who would wear this unless he's in love with McDonald's, which is what the add wants to portray. This add wants to let the whole world know that kids love McDonald's. The photograph persuades us even more because it's believable. The truth is that babies, toddlers and kids love McDonald's so seeing a kid this happy is normal and billions of people can relate to it because that many have already eat from this fast food restaurant. Even I loved the happy meals when I was a kid. I remember I used to beg my mom to buy happy meals because I loved the toys that came along with it. My favorite miniature toys were the barbies which I collected. As I got older I became more and more concerned with how unhealthy McDonald's truly is especially after watching Super Size Me, so now I barely eat there.