To my fellow female bus riders...

Lesley Watkins

Women & Minorities

01/20/10

Journal 1

Gender stereotypes are everywhere in the media. You cannot avoid depictions of the professionally coifed housewife overly excited about cleaning her mud and red wine laden carpets with the newest Rug Doctor. Her husband walks in the door, designer briefcase in hand, and showers her with love and affection for completion of her domestic duties. Why do we never see the stay-at-home dad or the even more true-to-life interracial, two-income family?

We were challenged this week to do something seen as stereotypically opposite of our socially manifested gender roles. The polarity between ‘Male as Feminine’ and ‘Female as Masculine’ stereotypes is not equal. A tom-boy girl is easily more accepted in society by both men and women than an overly sensitive boy. This fact proved it difficult to decide on a task that would truly break the divide of acceptable gender roles. I finally settled on something that matters to me on a daily basis. I am continually upset by the lack of chivalry on the school bus. As a rather petite girl, simply standing on the bus en route it quite a task. Every tight turn and pothole sends me swinging forward and backward; a bus ride through the hills of San Marcos is anything but graceful or ladylike. Why is it that men only sometimes offer me their seat on the bus? Why is it that I expect them to? Either way, I chose this to be my challenge.

Twice I stood and offered my seat to a girl reduced to standing amongst a sea of seated boys. Both times I chose girls that were taller and stronger than I; I imagine they effortlessly enjoyed their ascended trip probably never once wishing they had a seat. The first girl politely declined, but I stood and more or less insisted she take my seat. As we glided through the last few stops, I swayed to and fro like laundry strung on a line. I was close to mortification and vowed not to repeat my experiment again.

After regaining my composure, I gave it another go on the bus ride back home. The initial refusal, persistence, and “laundry line feeling” happened just as it had the first time, however this time I felt a tap on my shoulder from the other side of the aisle. “Would you like my seat?” I was overjoyed! Of course I would! Someone was mindful enough to see my difficulty and offered me a hand. It was a small gesture, but in the back of my mind I felt like I had made a silent point that would resonate with more male passengers the next time they boarded a congested school bus.

Teenage Paparazzo

Stop what you're doing and set your DRV to record "Teenage Paparazzo" on HBO. This documentary created by and starring actor Adrian Grenier from Entourage follows the story of a 14-year-old boy aspiring to be paparazzi in Hollywood. The movie goes much deeper than that, however; it's a glimpse into 'why is our culture so'. One fact given was an experiment showed that monkeys would pass up food for the opportunity to see photos of the dominate monkey in their group, or those of another monkey's hind-quarters. Typical. It is hard-wired into us to feel connected to those that society has deemed the leaders of the pack; we want to feel close to them and accepted. Additionally, over 40% of grade school students surveyed reported preferring to be 'an assistant to a celebrity' over 'owning a Fortune 500 company, being a US Senator, or the President of Harvard University' later in life. Why do we care so much? The answer is simple, it's a rewards based system. We gain acceptance and self-worth out of our media. Though we usually see TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines as sources of information, they are also tools that we derive self-worth from. Media cares about you. It gives you insight and it's looking out for your best interest. A tree doesn't do that. Trees don't care about you- Media does.
We all know that money is the bottom line. If media's main goal was that of humanitarianism, all outlets would be free. So why do we have this personal connection we have with these non-living sources? Why do our brains light up like pinball machines when we see pictures of our favorite celebrities on the red carpet, or in not-so-flattering positions?
The question for me more so is this: How can I take what biology has given us, the parameters society has placed around it, and the psychology of our concepts of two of theses things-- and make a living off of it?
I'm feeding into this machine. We all do. We all will for time to come. The context changes through out the decades, but the human nature remains the same.
Maybe one day I'll find my reward in this insane system.