Riding the subway

The subway station is such an awesome experience every time you ride it. I can’t get over how exciting it can be, even on the slowest days when there are only 5 people (including yourself) on the train. It amazes me what you can witness from one stop to another. Just sitting and observing people from afar is my absolute favorite. The subway is so diverse and you never see the same people twice, so you can experience something new each time. When I walk onto the train I love when I catch the ending of someone else’s conversation and it leaves just a bit of mystery as to what they were saying. The Subway is also a great spot to get entertained by random people. Just tonight someone got on the train and started break dancing. Last week a band got on and sang a song from The Lion King. The best part was, they sang really well.

What I like most is when I meet someone friendly. During the rush hour you can tell when someone is coming from work and whether or not they have had a good day. Tonight the train was extremely crowded and I was standing up holding onto the pole. An old man slid over just so I could sit down. When I said thank you he had the biggest smile on his face, which made me smile. Last month I was riding the train and the one seat available had something gross all over it. Of course, I didn’t want to sit so I planned on standing. Another man was sitting in the seat beside it reading the paper. When he saw why I didn’t sit, he took out part of his paper and put it on the seat for me. I just couldn’t thank him enough. It’s the little things I experience on the subway that make me so happy.

Writing Center quote

"Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with" is a quote I found written on the wall in the Writing Center. I really like it because it's true about a writer...and it fit quite well in the Writing Center I suppose. First off, the Writing Center is place where students can go to...well, write. But, we all know it's more than that. Whether you're writing, researching, or need a quiet space to study/do homework, the writing center is the place to go. If you're serious about your writing and your work, why not go to the writing center and get support? Even if you are an author who thinks they don't need help, the writing center is still the place to be. It's "where you ought to be."

However, I don't think the quote was said just so the people at the writing center could write it on the wall. I just wanted to relate it the writing center considering that's where I found it. Anyway, I believe a writer does need his or her own space to do writing. Whether it's in your room or on the Great Lawn, if it influences you in any way, it's "your" space. We need have a place that encourages us when writing. Like the quote says, "a place to love and be irritated with." You can be influences by a place even if it isn't a positive influence. We can write about things whether they make us happy, sad, angry, frustrated, or excited. If it is a place that allows you to write about your overflow of powerful feelings (as Wordsworth said), then it's your place.

Oh the beautiful weather

So as I'm sure you all know, today was an absultely BEAUTIFUL day outside. At first, I doubted the weather man when he said it was going to be 71 degrees because I haven't felt warmth like that since spring break. However, the weather man made me a very happy girl! When I walked out of the gym at 10:00, it already felt like 70 degrees, and the day hadn't really even started (I consider the afternoon the real start of the the day). Unfornuatly, I had to work at 12 and then go to class at 3. I was sitting through a lecture in Romantic Lit and I could hear a bunch of guys outside being loud...it made me very envious because I was sitting in hot class, attempting to pay attention. After class, when I walked out of St. John's Hall, I couldn't believe what I saw! In front of the library there was about 50 kids just hanging out. On the Great Lawn tons of guys were playing football and other games. I was just so excited!

For the first time in like 5 months, the campus looked like a real college campus. My suitemate and I took a walk around campus just to check it all out, and I was seriously amazed. It looked like everyone finally came out their dorm rooms to enjoy the sun. It's crazy how the winter keeps everyone inside. The dorms are so icky, and being cooped up is quite miserable. I liked feeling like I was really at college. In movies, you always see tons of kids walking around campus, and socializing. The St. Johns Campus never looks this good. Yay for the beautiful weather! I'm in love :)

Saying goodbye...for the second time

As freshman, we come to school not really knowing anyone. Sometimes, especially if you are moving far from home, it can be a hard transition to make. Often times, we leave our friends back home, and we come to school and are forced to meet new people. Eventually, we establish what I like to call a “set group of friends.” You hang out with people outside of this group as well, but you always have that one group, just like at home. That one group of friends is the people you can always count on to make you laugh and are the “go to people” for plans on Friday nights.

If you were to transfer out of school after your first year, you have to start all over again. The transition period begins all over again. They say when you transfer you have to establish a new group of friends. Thankfully, I’m not transferring because I love St. Johns. However, I can’t say the same about my friends. I’m not even transferring but my transition period sophomore year will begin all over again.

For very silly reasons, a majority of my friends are leaving me in May when the school year is all over. I just have to say that I am really upset about this. Of course, I love my friends and that’s why I’m mad/upset, but what makes me even crazier, is the fact that I am forced to make new friends. Obviously I was planning on doing so anyway, but not this much! I have my set group of friends and my “go to” people on Friday night. I don’t want to have to find new go to people. This is just not fair :(

The type of research I prefer

As we have learned in this class, there are many different types of research. As some of us learned, the library isn't the only place to do research. Our world is filled with millions of sources of researching possibilities. I'm sure a lot of you are with me when I say I'm not that big a fan of the libarary. ok, this may sound bad, but I would rather do research outside of the library. Of course I visit quite a bit because I am forced to learn something scholarly (which isn't bad, but you'll see my point in a few). I shouldn't say I hate the libarary because I really don't. I love going randomly and just finding a new book to read. That can be quite exciting...

However, I prefer to use sources outside of the book. As I was saying before, my favorite type of research is one I can use without a scholalry source. This type of research I speak so highly of is observation. Ah yes, if you ask me, there is no better sources then your observations and experiences. When I write my papers, I like to use people as my information givers because it's like talking to the author themselves. When you read a book and get information, it's sometimes hard to understand what the person is saying, or even difficult to feel connected with the topic.

For my first paper, I took a survey of five guys and five girls. When I read their answers, I had an easy time writing my paper because I felt a connection with these people. My peers are just like me. We have a lot of the same ideas and a lot of the same believes. For my second paper, I'm taking somewhat of the same route. I want to talk to my peers so I can become more related to the topic I am writing about.

America

The other day I was talking to one of my friends here at St. Johns about guys. My friend, who shall remain nameless, isn't from the United States. She is an international student from Europe.
The two of us were just talking about usual girl stuff. You know, how much boys irritate us and how they are such big jerks. As we got more into our conversation, she started telling me how she hasn't found any cute boys here at St Johns or in even in the city itself. She went on to tell me how the boys in the United States are not cute what-so-ever and the guys in her country are much better looking. This just kind of made me laugh, and obviously, didn't bother me. In fact, I agreed that the boys in her country are probably really good looking.

As the conversation progressed, I became a little more upset because she turned the subject around and started to "bash" the US a bit. First she started saying the thing about guys, which was alright by me, but then she said she didn't think people around here are very friendly. She said people pretend to be your friends, but then next time you see them, they'll pretend they don't even know you. According to her, people in her country would never do that. This made me feel bad because I wanted to know oif everyone felt this way about America...

I don't think my friend was trying to be mean and purposely insult Americans, but that's kind of how I took it. I felt like maybe this is how everyone views America/Americans and I don't like that at all. I don't want to be known as someone isn't friendly just because I'm from the US. I've only met a few exchange students who go to St. Johns, but I've never really had an in depth convo with them as I did this girl, so I don't know their views. I'm sure she has met some people who are very rude, or fake, but is that a reason to make such a statement about America? I believe this statement can relate to some people here, but if you think about it, everywhere you go, you encounter people like that. I guarantee if I was to move to Europe, I would meet someone who wasn't very friendly. I just don't think everyone in America should be given a bad name because of those who choose not to be nice.

Where I ought to be

"Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with."



Reference: Louise Erdrich

Writing and Reading

"Writing and reading is to me synonymous with existing."



Reference: Gertrude Stein

Feeling a tad bit fuzzy

When we were first "assigned" or told about our first research paper, I knew exactly what topic I wanted to write about. I had been working on this subject for a week or so and had written a few entries on it already. This topic (The differences Between Boys and Girls) excited me and I couldn't wait to write about it. I was not only interested in it, but it was something I knew I could write about and catch other people's interest as well. However, I am stumped right now. As we come upon our second research paper, I seem to find myself in a bit of a rut. I've gone through my blogs all night and nothing seems to catch my eye. Oh what to do!

It never occured to me (until now) that I don't have to write about something that is already in my blog. I mean, it was I who said "It's best to go out of the box" and "College is all about taking risks." I suppose this can related to my papers as well. Now that we've completed our first papers, I feel like we should have somewhat of an idea of how to write a good paper. Am I correct when I say this? Are we supposed to have a greater knowledge of what a good paper is? I understand that our papers should show improvement, and I'm sure everyone's paper will...even if the improvement is something small, such as better grammer. I think my problem is that I am thinking too much about the paper. With the first paper, I went about things with ease because I loved the topic I was writing about. With this paper, I don't have a topic right off, and this kind of scares me! I definitely have a lot of thinking to do. I am hoping that something or someone will come into my life soon inspire me to write an amazing paper!

Talk about lack of freedom

So today I went to the library with my suitemate Jess. Sadly, she had attempted to conquer the libarary alone but failed miserably. She isn't the type to make frequent trips to the library she's more or a Wiki girl), so she had no idea as to what she was doing. When she came to my room begging for help, I couldn't help but say yes. I felt flattered and kind of smart because I use the library weekly...and I also felt kind of dorky..haha but anyway...

We made it to the libarary and I brought Jess to the computers. We started to search the Hatian Revolution, when a few of her classmates told her that their teacher had set aside books for them to use. We thought, oh you know, that's cool, we'll look for these books first and then check out the books that the teacher had left. Well, come to find out, they weren't allowed to use any other books other than the ones left by the teacher! We were both so confused. Jess was supposed to be doing a research project, yet, what research was she really doing? To make matters worse, they were only allowed to take the books out for 2 hours. This whole situation made me mad and I'm not even in the class. I think after having this class for 2 1/2 months now, I come to realize what it means to do research and what freedom in the classroom is. This teacher has restricted freedom altogether. It's so ridiculous that the class wasn't able to find their own sources.

First of all, most of the books were in use by all the other students, and second of all, everyone is going to have the same information! What is the fun of that? This whole project leaves hardly any learning experience or freedom what-so-ever. If Jess or any other student were to find their own information, they might learn or discover something in another book that no one else knew. I was just appalled over this whole situation!

Sense and Sensibility

...for where the mind is perhaps rather unwilling to be convinced, it will always find something to support its doubts..."



Reference: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin

Report #1 Reflection

To be honest, I didn’t have any predictions as to how well or how bad my first paper would come out. Of course, I wanted to conduct a research and produce an out-of-this- world paper, but that just wishful thinking. I knew that my first paper wouldn’t be and didn’t have to be perfect, so I kept this in mind. At the same time, I set my standards somewhat high so that I wouldn’t slack at any moment just because this was our first, non-guided paper. In the end, I surprisingly found a few positive aspects of my paper that even I liked and, of course, I made mistakes that hopefully won’t be made again.

To begin, I’ll share my thoughts on what I did well on (or personally thought I did well on). One of the most important parts of writing a research paper is to be interested in the topic you are researching. I chose a topic that I had been writing about in my blog. It was a topic I thoroughly enjoyed because I was able to write my paper based on experience and observation. As I just mentioned, my research was based on experience and observation, but also, I asked for the advice of others. I conducted a survey that I thought went pretty well. In my opinion, the questions were interesting and somewhat personal so I was excited to read the results when they came back. All in all, I thought the best thing I did on the paper was choosing the topic and conducting research that was actually relevant to my research question.

My first paper came out alright, but I discovered a few things that I could have done that would have made my paper a lot better. I thought I did a good job researching, but a horrible job putting it all together. My paper just didn’t flow as I had hoped it would. At first, I wrote my paper using only my opinions and the survey results. After the conference, I got the idea to do some outside research and perhaps look up scholarly information. The internet provided me significant information, but instead of weaving it into the paper, I simply attached it to the end. This was a bad idea because things became too jumbled together. The paper was slightly confusing at times and hard to figure out just what my research question was. Soon after attaching more info, my topic became too broad. This is when I should have narrowed my topic down, instead of having different facts flying around the paper. I am now very well aware as to what not to do when I obtain more info for my paper.

Freedom in Education

“If human life had been left to reveal itself, there would be no need to consider the question of education.”

“Education, free from outer interference, would flow as normally through human life as the sun, moon and stars move on their way so fulfill their use and destiny.”

“If it is not creative it cannot educate.”

“Unhappy is the soul who has never felt the urge to create.”

“Unhappy is the soul that does not reproduce itself like a tree flower in the springtime.”

“When adults insist on blocking the individual’s path by trying to focus his attention on the thing or program that they have provided to further, as they think, his growth and development, he, in self-defense, must struggle, at all and any costs, to save himself.”

“I believe that, to be directed from without, to follow ways and means which are not simple and direct, obscures the individuals own impulse and results in bewilderment which, if long continued, must affect and color his whole after-life.”

“In the school the child soon finds or senses that his acts are caused by an outer influence or permitted by an outer authority.”

“His inner voice is stifled and though he may still feel the impulse to act independently, there are too many voices in that child center for him to distinguish his own.”

“When the school succeeds in deadening the sound of the inner voice, it becomes an enemy to human development and a hindrance to life.”

“They had followed a personal leader so long, that in a crisis they were helpless without a guide, a slogan, or some outer notice to push them into action.”

“There would be very little hope for humanity if all humans could be wheedled or forced into step and line.”

“He has a self-centered, self-conscious, self-determining and self-directing instinct which shuts out the useless and unnecessary things which would serve only to distract and confuse him.”

“Consequently we adults may free ourselves from the idea that the infant, child, and youth, deprived of our wise guidance or supervision would be ‘up a tree.’ In fact, he is very much up a tree now as the result of our interference.”

“It is agreed that man’s greatest attainment is to become self-conscious, to know himself; that every unhampered movement of man reveals the tendency toward that end and that he shares this in common with all life forms; then no one can take from nor add to man’s spiritual development.”

“When the human is left to free to objectify his inner life, he intuitively recognizes himself.”

“When, however, the individual is moved to action through an outer appeal, incentive or demand, he is unable to relate the achievement to an inner need.”



Reference: Freedom in Education by Elizabeth Byrne Ferm

Go ahead, let 'em influence you

You often hear people giving advice such as “don’t let your friends influence you” or don’t let that person influence you into doing something you don’t want to do.” Although influencing people or having people influence you is often portrayed as a negative thing, I think it may have its advantages as well. Considering we are all in college now, I am going to use our experiences as an example.

College is like a whole different world than high school, especially if your school is far from your home. When we enter college, we may encounter things we have never encountered and want to try things we have yet to try. In my eyes, this is an awesome learning opportunity. I think in college we should let people influence us (as long as you know your limits and boundaries and know what you should and shouldn’t do). At our age, we shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. At school, you’re officially out of your element, so why not go with it! Like I said before, know your limit but work with new situations as you come across them. College is the time to step out of your box. If you don’t do it now, you never will. Too many excuses will come up later in life and you will have wished you had tried more things. As I mentioned in my CBook, “to live is to change often.” People who are predictable are totally boring. No one wants to hang out with someone who never wants to do anything different. Can you imagine doing the same exact thing every Friday of every week?

In high school, most of us had our set group of friends, and most of the time, we grew up with these people. We tended to follow our friends whether we knew it or not. We kept up with the trends of what our friends were doing and we never thought twice when our friends talked us into doing something new. Well why can’t college be the same way? Here at school, you have probably already found a group of people you hang out with every weekend. At a school like this, everyone is so diverse, which to me, is fabulous. I have met people from all over the world who have taught me things I never thought possible.

So I believe in order to make the best out of your college years, you should always be willing to try new things and don’t be afraid of what you might learn from each experience.

A whole new world

The quote “Old habit of mind is one of the toughest things to get away from in the world. It transmits itself like physical form and feature,” connects to the quote about the chains we wear and how we miss them when removed.

Habits can be a really nasty thing and can really haunt us. It seems as though everyone is always trying to break a bad habit…but who says all habits are bad? I personally would describe a habit as a behavior or a certain routine someone has. However, to go along with this quote, old habits, especially of the mind, may be a negative thing. I think sometimes people are bad with change. When we set our minds to something, we tend to follow it. Obviously, that means when we set goals, we really set our minds to them. This is a good thing, but what I am referring to is beliefs and ideas. We never seem to want to change our minds...we have a problem with this. We always think our ideas are the right ones and everyone else is wrong. Everyone can use a little change.

If we continuously keep the same thoughts, we’ll never learn anything new. Learning new ideas and being open minded will help you to expand your horizons. Not letting go of certain ideas will prevent you from doing this. I think the major problem is that we don’t want to step out of our element. When something is new to us, we are scared to see the “other side.” Letting go a little bit and opening up can do a world of good for someone!

Freedom is a beautiful thing

It just so happens that I have come across many quotes this week that connect to everything we have been discussing in class. I recorded a quote in my CBook that went a little something like this: --“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.” Ah yes, I know just what you are thinking. This quote fits perfectly into our ideas and talks about freedom and everything that goes along with it. I agree with this quote, but I also have a hunch that this may not be true as well.

First of all, freedom is an amazing thing. I don’t even think I can begin to describe the kind of freedom we are all faced with everyday. Of course we have restrictions, which I will talk about after, but just the fact that we have free will that we are able to base our ideas off from, is an awesome thing. Someone in our class on Tuesday defined freedom as action without restrictions. In some ways, we know this to be true. I don’t believe that freedom of thought can ever be argues against. No one, not even the law, can keep you from thinking for yourself…in fact, only YOU can keep you from thinking for yourself. Thought is a beautiful thing because no one else can get into your thoughts. Your creative self and creative ideas are strictly yours until you release them into what we like to call action.

Action, on the other hand, isn’t always free. Yes, freedom of action would be a nice thing in life (depending on what the action is), but we know that we have restrictions as to what thoughts we can put into action. We are not free in that aspect of action. As we have said over and over again in class, freedom is not really free. In order to act on something, we have to use intelligence and responsibility. If we didn’t use these factors to determine how we act, the world would be complete chaos. The argument of chaos and structure, however, is a whole other entry!

To live...

"To live is to change often."



Reference: Unknown

The Wise man

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.”



Reference: James Oppenheim

Freedom

You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action."



Reference: W. Somerset Maugham

Old habits

"Old habit of mind is one of the toughest things to get away from in the world. It transmits itself like physical form and feature . . ."



Reference: Mark Twain

Intelligent Self-direction

“Intelligent self-direction,” to me, is all about self-reliance. With self reliance as a leading role for a student, you don’t need your teachers to tell you what to do every step of the way. I believe we eventually come to a point in our lives when we have to break free from “the norm.” The norm is when your teacher reminds you that your report is due tomorrow, or even assigns you a topic to do your report on.

Self-direction doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with being a good student. In fact, in order to have any self-reliance at all, you cannot be a good student. Good students tend to follow the teacher too much. In order to be independent, you can’t wait for a teacher to tell you what to do. Of course it is the role of the teacher to give support, but part of the support includes urging and encouraging students to find the way on their own. Every student should have their own “vision quest.”

W.L. Garner said college students are “self-centered, restless, striving…etc,” and I totally agree with him. However, I think these characteristics bring out the best in us. One reason we act like this is because we want to be individuals, independent, and self educated. Being self-centered simply means we like to do things our own way. Being “selfish” like this can be a good thing because we can really produce some great ideas. If people would let us, we can be extremely creative.

Despite our self-direction, we always have to be intelligent about out self reliance, freedom is nice, but it comes with restraints and responsibility

The Real Difference Between Boys and Girls

“Tyra Banks 161 pounds and overweight?” This was the question posed on the last cover of People magazine. Former Victoria Secret model Tyra Banks is being harassed by critics for gaining a few pounds over the past couple of years. What’s the big deal about Tyra gaining weight? The fact that she is a female and she is famous.

The difference between boys and girls is not a physical difference, but instead, has more to do with the characteristics and a certain mind set that each gender carries. In my research, this mind set is connected with the physical aspects of males and the physical aspects of females.
To decipher the real difference between boys and girls, I might have to research and observe more than just the students at St. Johns. However, I wanted to get an idea of what goes on in the heads of my peers here at school. Before I started my research, I had the idea that girls care more about things like looks and weight. This is my first research question I want to answer. My second question asks who is more competitive with their peers when it comes time to the subject of appearance. To help answer my questions, I conducted a survey that was given to five females and five males. We all hear rumors as to why girls care more about looks and why girls are more competitive than guys when it comes to the subject of appearance. In spite of what we may assume, do you think there is really another answer to these questions? This is exactly what I set out to find.

On the question of why do girls care more about things like looks and weight, I discovered in the surveys that guys may care just as much as girls, but they don’t openly admit it as well or as much. For one thing, it isn’t everyday that you read in the tabloids that Brad Pitt has lost a lot of weight or has gotten fat, but on the front cover, you may discover how his wife Angelina is anorexic thin or has gained 35 pounds. In any case, on the survey, when asked if they heavily care about their appearance, all the girls said it depends on where they are going and who will be there. One girl even mentioned she is ok with being late to class as long as she is “properly” dressed and looking good. The guys, on the other hand, were not so concerned. One said he does care about his appearance, but the others said no, it doesn’t matter to me. Why don’t they feel the need to dress to impress?

On the subject of weight, I wanted to see just how these teenagers were dealing with their weight. I wanted to see how many of them ate healthy, or thought they were eating healthy to maintain a certain look. Only one of the girls said she ate healthy, and all the others did not consider themselves healthy eaters. When I read the girls portion of this survey, I was surprised. This was until I turned to the guy’s surveys. Three out of five of the guys considered themselves healthy eaters, yet when they answered the next question, do you indulge at dinner time, all of the guys said yes. Most girls said yes, while a few said they watched portion sizes. Guys said they ate healthy, yet they said they indulged. The girls who indulge said no, I know that’s not healthy…why do guys think it’s healthy to eat that way, but girls do not?

This struck me as funny. I would also like to mention that one of the girls put on her survey that she is concerned with portion size because she is afraid of how people will judge her based on how much she eats. However, she didn’t fail to mention that other people eat more than her. In other words, as long as people eat more than her, she has nothing to worry about. This proves one of my points that girls care more about things like appearance, even when on the subject of food.

One last point I would like to make is about weight. This seems to always be a touchy subject when girls talk about it, but less when guys do. Four out of five of the girls said they would like to weigh less than they do now. One was even concerned that she was getting extremely heavy due to stress. A girl who took the survey emphasized my point and wrote that not many girls want to be gain more weight these days. It’s all about losing weight. Before I gave the survey out, I thought I would read that the guys wanted to gain more weight because this is what I have observed in the past. However, only one said he would like to gain about 20 pounds and the others didn’t worry about their weight…so they say.

So the big question still stands: why do girls care more about things like looks and weight? I was not surprised to read the answer on all of these surveys. Every survey mentioned that girls stress more because of what’s in the media. They see things in magazines and on TV that say you have to be skinny. In today’s society, there is a certain “ideal” look and if you don’t have it, then you won’t be the “it” girl. I read in one survey that “girls definitely stress more because there is a greater pressure on them from society.” Another survey mentioned that “women are expected to live up to expectations that are unattainable and therefore are more concerned with unachievable goals.” These are pretty powerful statements, and surprisingly, they were quotes from two boys.

Magazines might mention that a female celebrity has gained weight or even that a celebrity has lost too much weight and the critics are mocking her for it. Either way, this is saying that looks matter. You have to look good to the public eye. The pressure is on. When people read this, they assume it’s about them as well, and that the only way to look good is to be perfect. But what is perfect? That is a whole other subject.

Are girls and guys more competitive when it comes time to the subject of appearance? I believe they are both equally competitive in their own ways. Boys may care about different things, but they still care. Boys approach the subject one way and girls go about it another way. That could all be a part of life. I discovered however, perhaps why girls care more about being skinny and why guys care more about being big. Both girls and guys on this survey said girls worry about those things more, but based on their answers, I think they almost care as much as the girls. A few guys mentioned they don’t talk about other guys weights and appearances but they talk about girls—maybe that’s one reason why girls feel the way they do. It’s weird how that works out. Girls talk about girls and guys talk about girls.

As I mentioned before, the competition between same the sex is almost as equal, based on my survey. However, guys are quieter about it. You can tell from their one word answers on the survey compared to the long answers on the girl’s surveys. One girl even mentioned that if guys did openly admit it, they would probably be made fun of. They may not be honest about it, but they probably go through the same thing. The boys always turned the answer around to talk about the girls, never themselves. “People stress because they are insecure, and girls stress because guys talk about them. It’s true, we talk about girls appearances.” This is one of the answers I received on the survey from one of the boys.

Considering the fact that not all my results came out the way I predicted, I think it’s only fair to switch things up and look at things from a new perspective. As I mentioned before, and as the main theme of my paper states, woman are portrayed in the media as having the “it” look. Therefore, they feel the need to fit this idealism because they assume that’s how society will judge them. I also made a surprising discovery in my research that perhaps guys do think like girls, but they are better at hiding how they feel. I decided to go outside of my original research plan and use more than just primary sources. My focus in this half of the paper will deal with how men are portrayed in the media, and how the media affects the way people think.
According to medialit.com, people are stereotyped in the media, and men are no
exception. The website stated that “media stereotypes have extra impact because they create images based on these assumptions, helping to shape men's own views about how they should act and how successful they are as men.” Ah yes, this is exactly what I observed in the surveys. Perhaps some of the guys who answered my survey felt they needed to act “manly” so they didn’t really write how they felt. Not even one guy wrote how men are portrayed in the media, or that guys can also feel insecure when it comes to things like appearances.

“Bravery, adventurousness, being able to think rationally, being strong and effective, for example, are all "manly" traits that are usually encouraged and so are the ability to think independently and take the initiative” (medialit.com). This makes complete sense to me now. Why would any of the guys want to admit to having issues with their weight, or that they feel like they have to watch their portion size if they have been taught to act manly? While woman are encouraged to have a certain type of beauty and sex appeal, men are encouraged to be “strong” in more ways than one.

“Males are discouraged from pursuing many positive traits that are perceived as unmanly. These include the ability to feel a range of emotions, including fear, hurt, confusion or despair. Even talking about these feelings is considered unmanly. Men are also not encouraged to learn to work cooperatively without the need for control…” This single quote can be used to support the reasoning behind the guy’s answers on the survey. How in the world can they admit to having competition with their friends when they have been told that it’s their job to always be in control? That’s exactly right…they can’t.

Through this research, I discovered many answers to my two questions: why do girls care more about things like weight and appearance, and who is more competitive when it comes to things like weight and appearance, girls or boys? I discovered that media has a great effect on the way people perceive themselves and today’s society. Although the media focuses a lot on women, I learned that men too have the same stereotype issues as women, but the world chooses not to focus on them.


References: Five male students at St. Johns
Five Female Students at St. Johns
Peoplemagazine.com
Medialit.com