Cultural Hurdles

Our group presented today. Our topic was the depiction of gender in the media across cultures. We asked the class to read three readings about real life cases where gender plays a role in the culture. All three got good responses. There were several moments today throughout our presentation where someone's opinion was not relevant to what we were discussing. We chose to work with the medium of media, because that is where a lot of influence comes from in terms of how others view a country/culture. Just because we said these things does not mean we agree with it. I don't think any of us from my group like to see the oppression of any one culture, but the point of our presentation wasn't to share our thoughts and opinions about how we want world peace starting with gender..no. It was about how Opera talks to women who wear head coverings and tells them they are being oppressed, when really they like where they are in life. It is all they know, so how can we call it oppression when they don't know otherwise? One person in the class was really getting on my nerves when they were saying that someone in their family is Asian and she is treated like any other American woman. Well great for her! Disagree with us, fine..But, don't sit there are tell us that our research is wrong because you know one person that doesn't fit the Asian American box. Like I said, I don't like knowing that Asian women are treated very differently here in the United States. Regardless of how I feel about it, it is still going on. The same goes for the big movement in Africa. American Evangelicals went there to promote terrorizing the homosexual populations. The first time I heard about this happening, I thought I was reading some fictional story in the newspaper. Then, the day before our presentation, it was on the home page of CNN.com that a bill was considered for passing to make it constitutional to harass those who fail to comply with straight heterosexual standards. Even though I am not Evangelical and I think how they campaign for people to convert is insane, I still felt embarrassed that these people were representing the United States in such a sick manner. My church doesn't believe in homosexuality (one point where me and Orthodoxy differ a bit) but we also don't go spreading hate amongst the impressionable. After our presentation, I became more interested in this topic, so I did some research of my own. When I saw headlines like Hang the Homos, I was astounded. Whether we as individuals or large groups agree with something or not is one thing, but it is another to act upon those emotions of distaste and hatred. The final article we sent out was about Ugly Betty and Latinos. Ugly Betty was the first Latina woman to be seen as something other than the stereotypical, hott and fiery woman. Then the article makes the comparison about how Latino men or men of any race can have different roles and have co-stars of different ethnic backgrounds. They can also have a girl of any color/race. This is rarely seen in the opposite direction. Why is that? I think our presentation went well and only continues to support the argument that life is a little less fair for women.