debate Essay

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Boys, Girls and Toys- Oh My

The video we viewed about the little girl in the toy shop was so ironic. Little kids tend to always pick up on the little things like that. I agreed with her why cant little  girls own anything that isn't pink. Any store you walk into there is a bright pink toy section and a bright blue toy section. There are no gender neutral toys or even clothing. I would be overwhelmed in a toy store. The boy's section is nothing but blue while the girls is nothing but pink. The boy's toys are very manly and have lots of weapons involved. The girls side has lots of dolls.

In my research there was many toys that stood out to me as typical gender associated toys, but this one got under my skin. Of course the two different colors, but the fact that the boy has a medical bag while the girl has more of a purse. Lil' nurse and jr. Doctor, not only  is it a gender stereotyped toy it is also completely wrong by degrading women. Why can't the little girl be a doctor? Why can't the little boy be a nurse? Men in the nursing field are degraded and under appreciated. There are many few male nurses and I believe it is because it is not respected if a man is a nurse. This toy fits all the gender stereotypes.

Another toy stereotype but this time a puzzle and its packaging. Why can't the women have a tool box? Why can't the boys carry a pen and paper or candy in their handbag? Of course we see the typical blue and pink toys, but we also see the early expectation of young girls who need things in their handbag to enhance their beauty. We also see the early expectation that boys need to be able to fix things and repair broken things.
As a child I took after my older sister who hated pink, if she didn't want to wear or own anything pink neither did I. One year for christmas my sister and I decided we didn't want santa to bring us anything pink or dolls for christmas, let's just say my mom had a million mini panic attacks every store she went to as the little girl's section was filled with pink. Somehow she pulled it off that we received no pink. It just goes to show that some advertisements are wrong, not all little girls love pink and dolls.

Sound and Furry

Sound a Fury is an article about Fred Phelps. He is a pastor at the Westboro church, but he is not so holy. He was found violating his wife and 13 kids on multiple occasions. 4 of them left home and never went back. From not being able to participate in extracurricular activities, to not being allowed to celebrate holidays, to being forced to run daily, he physically and mentally abuses all of his children. His kids age range from small children to adults. Two of the children are found with horrible bruises all over their backside and back of their legs, to the point where they cannot walk. The school takes action, but it is overlooked because Fred says they had bad grades. They all are forced to participate in the selling of chocolate bars to keep up with family expenses. This is one of the only forms of income the family has, they travel from city to city. Fred's children being to act out and attempt to run. Each relationship one of the kids has Fred does not approve. Unless they run way/elope they are never wanted in the family. Most of the kids ran away with their loved ones to start a family. Each child has their fate determined since like birth, and are punished if they go outside of it. Fred was no longer allowed to practice law due to false accusations. Many articles and and publicity were published on the Phelps family.
The scariest part is Fred probably didn't only abuse his own family. I am sure there are many other unknown or closet cases of his abuse. What shakes me the most about this story is that the neighbor's definitely knew this abuse was occurring. If they were selling chocolate bars in their neighborhood as income, being beaten so bad they had to always over up, and the attempts to escape always ended up with the whole family running around the area looking for the escaped child, how did no one say anything? How did no one else see the belt marks and bruises? Someone had to have heard screaming. This is just an extreme case that should have been dealt with long ago.

Gender and the Military

This article took me by surprise. This took me by such a shock because the fact that women do not even have equality yet. The first female who went to ranger school and graduated was only September of last year. While I have known many "butch" females who joined the military I also know many people who are transgender (FtM) who are also in the military. This is a big issue because it will cost the military a lot of money, the shower curtains, and increase amount of female products. I also believe it is worth every penny. I soon wonder when the first case of inequality will come up because it is bound to happen. It will probably go viral as well. I also wonder if the females are allowed to use the restroom when needed. Most of the men are told to turn around and pee during training that way you do not miss any training time. I also wonder in the field how women will be able to cleanse themselves and wipe, if not an infection could happen. I believe military wives are cut more slack then military husbands. I have a feeling many military men have self-esteem issues because they cannot support their family financially. 
While the military has had a regiment for HIB law, it is still ongoing. It is to prove yourself as initiation. When walking up to a new platoon there is a large group of young men and a few in charge. To prove to your commander how dedicated you are there is many forms of old time harassment that occur. The one my National Guard boyfriend talks about is koalifying, the person to hug the tree upside down the longest wins. He won so he "proved himself", whoever won got the reward of choosing where they stood in the combat triangle (a combat triangle is a formation used in combat when going through a very wooded area to stay tight together). He chose point man on the triangle. Another thing they do is the person who finishes the ruck march or march for miles last has to clean the bay that night. 
Harassment has caused many issues in the military, but my personal opinion is it will not stop. the article talks about, "focus on the mental and emotional well-being of anyone who wishes to serve,” but the army is not about the emotional and mental stability. The military's goal is to tear you down and build you up from nothing, that is not mental stability. It also does not care about your emotional issues. Unless a close family member died they show almost no mercy. I believe if you join the military you understand what you're signing up for. The media does not present or portray the soldiers a certain way, they are accurate. You are to be a strong soldier no matter what.

Christy Mack's Beating

In the middle of the night Christy Mack's ex boyfriend, "war machine", an MMA fighter showed up at her house uninvited. Jonathan Koppenhaver began to beat her and her friend once he found them together. He then continued to violate just Christy. he made her undress and shower then continued to beat her. Jonathan then continued to cut off a lot of her hair with a dull knife. When he realized the knife was too dull he went to the kitchen to find another. Christy with many severer injuries took off running at this time. Once someone finally opened the door for Christy she was rushed to the hospital where they found out she had 10 broken bones, a broken nose, missing and broken teeth, a fractured rib and a severely ruptured liver from a kick to her side. Her friend also had multiple abrasions and a few bone fractures. 
First of all the article discloses in the title the fact that she is a porn star. The next thing you see is a promiscuous photo of her with a snap back hat on. I believe they were trying to make you think of her in a certain way before even viewing the article. The article also mentions the fact that "war machine" has been involved in the pornography as well. The article also mentions the age gap between Christy (23) and Jonathan (32). At the end of the article is of course copies of both parties tweets and horrific photographs of her injuries. 

Intelligence vs. Icon

Marilyn Monroe is one of my favorite old time celebrities, she was a sex icon. I have multiple photos of her on my wall. I have heard before that she was an extremely intelligent women so that's why she is one of my idols. Marilyn lived in a time where women were supposed to be a representative of their man so the ideal women was a nice petite house wife. But not Marilyn, she was the complete opposite. She was a size 12 thick sexy women who flaunted what she had.The world she lived in women were not supposed to have their own opinion let alone have brains. She was forced to hide her brains to be successful. I believe her definition of success was different than most people's, i believe she just wanted to be happy. The article said something that really struck me it said, "But whatever demons haunted her, the spirit of intellectual inquiry never abandoned her", it means no matter how hard you try to hide who you are it will always come through. Dowd wrote that she "aspired to be smarter than she was", meaning she loved learning. Marilyn was not just the show piece many people thought she was. 

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta also known as Lady Gaga is a musical genius. I do not mean in the music she recorded. Gaga attended  New York University's Tisch School of the Arts to become an actress. While Gaga knew in high school she was musically advanced that wasn't the path she wanted to go down. At NYU she learned over 10 instruments, mastering the piano. She technically is ranked on a level just under Beethoven. Gaga soon dropped out due to a signing bonus with sony via Def Jam Records. She went on to do solo acts here and there until Akon found her. To this day very little people know how much talent and intelligence Gaga holds. If she came out as a mastered pianist attempting to have a career before she became Lady Gaga I doubt she would have been as successful. In the beginning of her career she even admits to not attempting to actually play an instrument on stage. In one of her recent concert performances she started by playing piano for over twenty minutes.  Gaga was scared to show her music genius as a young artist. If she came off too talented maybe people wouldn't have liked her wild pop songs. She also wore clothing that was anything but normal. While she is still scared to "show what shes got" I believe there is a lot more to Gaga then meets the eye. 

Susan Striker

Recently I had the honor of listening to Susan striker speak. Susan had a very mellow and chill attitude, but her knowledge was wise beyond her years. She began by reading the first few chapter in her new book that will be published in 2018. She spoke about the "sickness to citizenship" basically the history of the transgender community. she mentioned a lot of different examples including Beyonce's performance at the Superbowl, Micheal Brown's case from Ferguson, Big Freedia claim to fame, Bradley Mannings transformation to Chelsea Manning, Wesley Morris "we obsess over our identity", and Laverne Cox on time magazine's cover. Striker gave a brief synopsis about all of their stories and what each person did for the community. Then she went in to describe the 19th century social apparatus making it unwanted and unwelcoming to be apart of the transgender community. She described every bit of history from the patients in mental hospitals, to the silent protests that became violent. Striker compared the feminist movement and community to the LGBTQ community. She also claimed that if it weren't for the feminist movement the LGBTQ community would not have been so successful. Striker ended by answering questions and speaking on peoples opinions.
While I thought she was a wealth of knowledge, she did not allow much time for questions. She also spoke in the worlds most monotone voice that almost made it unbearable to stay focused. While I understand that this was a serious matter she did not care about the audiences attention. Despite all this I would listen to her speak again. The knowledge I gained in an hour is the knowledge it takes people years to learn. I appreciate everything she taught me.

Advertisements:
1. Bandwagon ads: Bandwagon advertising uses a techniques to try to convince an individual that a product is worth purchasing no matter the price. If it is good for them it is good for you. You can "jump on the bandwagon". If everyone else is doing it why don't you have the privileged to do it as well. 

2. Experts: Having or showing special skill because of what you have been taught. Coming from knowledge or experience. The knowledge might not even need to be proven, backed up or explained. 

3. Plain Folks: advertisers will use 'plain folk' making the product relateable to the regular people in the world. This is supposed to relate to mostly middle class white Americans.  Walmart, Target, and Kohl's are all examples of very general middle class store. Walmart's slogan is save money live better.

4.Celebrities- "giving a face to the name", companies will use famous celebrities that most people know to produce their product. They try to choose classy celebrities most people will recognize from a quick glance. Like OPI nail polish introducing annual justin bieber colors. 

Intermediate ads:

.1. Name-calling - This advertisement technique links a person or object to a negative symbol. By saying that something is negative, it makes people want to steer away from that item, regardless if there is actual proof that that statement is the truth. Like the way fast food resteraunts go after eachother, claiming to both have a "better" product.

2. New: old is considering boring. We all want to make new improvements and inventions. Companies will make a simple change and consider it a new product. Every year new car dealerships come out with "new" cars, but how many improvements are their really on that new car? improvements that aren't physical?

3. Nostalgia - Advertisers portray more traditional images. It relates to the "good old days". It is often used to make you feel at home with traditional images. images of Marilynn Monroe and the ionic "we can do it" rosie the rivitter. 

4. Scientific Evidence - Many people believe in science and scientists; so without proof people automatically believe scientists. While usully scientists cannot explain in the allotted time their methods, there is no need to prove it. All the new age defying wrinkle creams fall under this category. 

Advanced ads:
1. Scapegoating: Related to the loss of jobs is because of how much exportation happens to and from China.  Scapegoating is used here to claim that the loss of jobs in the United States is 'only' due to China. 

2. Analogy - This advertising technique uses a comparison to persuade consumers in a compare and contrast sinerio. Sometimes Old and New is compared, or clean and dirty.

3. Ad Hominem: Used when in need to attack the opponent. It is when they are usually out of data or out of an argument. Usually one party blames the other for "the problem" claiming they have the solution. 

4. Majority Belief -It uses the concept that if a majority of people believe something, then it must be true. Very similar to the "Bandwagon" technique.