Why Talking About Race is Difficult

As the years go on, it is plain to see that one overarching issue Americans have is the issue of race and how to handle it. The United States of America is one of the most diverse places on the planet, but when it comes to the issue of race, folk's can't seem to get along. The Atlantic makes a good point in describing where the difficulties in discussing race lay. Talking about race brings up ideas of shame and guilt for some, and issues of power for others. More often than not, the people in power do not wish to give up their power, with exceptions to George Washington and most recently Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. The idea of racial superiority is one reason that these people (generally white in America, but also in Europe and some other places) will not give up power, which, unfortunately, means that they can use their power and influence to spread their idea of racial superiority. Similar to the ideas of the man in the video I will discuss later, The Atlantic also claims that "some people just want to move on" and forget about race and the problems it causes entirely. But to forget is to ignore, and we should not ignore history because it is liable and commonly does repeat itself, so we must take from our mistakes and confront the problem of race before we forget it and it all happens again.

An article on talking about race on Tolerance.org explains that there is little to no talk of race in the schools. I found this to be extremely true at my high school. While more than 25% of the community at my high school was Asian American, and maybe 5-7% was African American, we as students never saw much difference in each other, or maybe we just didn't express it. We did acknowledge that we didn't all look the same, but we were all taking the same classes together and no one really got much "special treatment" such as study periods and whatnot. There were more things to worry about in high school than someone's race, and I believed that to be true about most of America until recently. The Guardian references a blog in which the author states that she will no longer talk to white people about race, which I believe to be the wrong move. In order to move on from these racial differences (which have been institutionalized) we need to confront all parties and talk about our differences, even if they are just skin deep. It is the culture and one's own surroundings that determines who you are and who you become. If you feel you are sick, for example, you go to the doctor and he tells you you are sick. That is just confirming what you already felt. If you don't think anythings wrong, and you go to the doctor and he tells you you have some disease, then you keep that idea in the back of your mind all the time that you have this disease, and you are reminded of it. That's similar to this situation in that if you are told you are different, when in reality you aren't any different, you will embody the idea that you are different. People are just people, and there must be a conversation about how we are still people no matter what labels the media or the establishment or the culture tries to change us. It's more often a cultural clash than a racial clash.

During the year, there was a video we watched in class in which one man directly contradicted himself. He claimed that race was not a thing, and not 10 seconds later was questioning how we talk about race to children. This contradiction is explainable and understandable. One must not take his words literally. He is claiming that in order to have less race violence and discrepancies towards each other, we must eliminate the idea that with race comes difference. Sure there are physical qualities of race, and when culture is included that builds one's ethnicity; however, these are most if not all physical qualities. When two people are raised in the same place together, they are likely to grow up the same. If we have one white child and one black child, they will recognize that they do not look the same. It is at this point that we must engage them in conversation about how just because they do not look the same does not mean they are different, or else we risk the children implementing and assigning a hierarchy.

""~*The Etsy Mini Viral Mall~*"." Pinterest. December 04, 2015. Accessed December 10, 2017. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/415175659378919222.

Could I get some toxic masculinity with that beer?

Could I get some toxic masculinity with that beer?

It’s no secret that college and the years of young adulthood are filled with keg stands and blurry memories. College can be seen by many people as a time to “let loose” and binge drink for no other reason than the excuse that “it’s college!”. While this isn’t news to many people, the differences between how genders experience this party culture is vastly different. On average, according to a study from the The Washington Post, “Women drank considerably less than men, peaking at a little less than 4 drinks per week”. Biologically speaking, men typically have a higher tolerance to alcohol, but this isn’t the sole reason drinking has historically promoted hypermasculinity. Historically, drinking has established itself as a men’s tradition; women didn't drink until later in the picture of our history.

Although today it seems that young adults in colleges have the same “party culture” experiences, in reality they are incredibly gendered due to many societal constructs. Overall, the more you drink, the more of a “man” you become. A strong culture of masculinity revolves around the number of beers you can pound in the hour, and boys are often ridiculed and called names like “fag”, “pussy”, or “bitch” if they can’t handle their alcohol as well as their comrades, further perpetuating the connotation that it’s a bad thing to be gay, or a woman. Other sayings like “Saturday’s are for the boys” insinuate that drinking is a masculine activity further promotes this harmful drinking culture that men are expected to immerse themselves into during college. This culture of harmful language furthers externalizes our society’s inherent sexism and homophobia prevalent within many institutions today much like the high school in “Dude Your A Fag” by C. J. Pascoe where high school boys relentlessly used “fag” as an insult to connote inferiority, femininity, and general weakness.

https://www.collegeconfidential.com/admit/college-drinking-and-parents/

The fact that “Men consume significantly higher amounts of alcohol, and report higher frequencies of intoxication, alcohol abuse, and dependency compared to women” according to Society For the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity further promotes the negative effects of drinking that many men believe to be the college experience. A large institution that contributes to this harmful stereotype is through greek life within colleges. Fraternities create an environment that revolves around dominance and binge drinking, promoting the notion that overconsumption of alcohol is a rite of passage to be truly welcomed as one of the “fraternity bros”. The American Psychological Association asserts that this “greek effect” stems from the perception among fraternities to drink heavily and support each other's drinking habits.

Not only do language and institutions advocate for excessive drinking, but inherent cultural norms heavily influence the way our society and men view drinking in general. “Party culture” within college largely revolves around the hookup culture that hypersexualizes women and creates the notion that the more you drink, the easier it will be to “get” a girl. This culture of promiscuity increases the notion that women are sexual objects to be dominated, and getting one “drunk enough” to have sex is considered a win that men each other for.

Lastly, the increase of violence due to alcohol consumption is inherently an issue that many colleges face. As a current college student, violent fights and scuffles often occur at parties for no reason other than the need for someone to prove their dominance and masculinity to everyone. These fights are often completely illogical and unnecessary, yet the culture of partying colleges and our society has created promotes violence as a way to resolve conflict, which reaches elevated levels when involving alcohol.

In conclusion it’s not to say that all underage/college drinking must be stopped immediately; but our conscious tendency to overlook these recurrences only further promotes stereotypes and hypermasculinity that harms not only men, but countless individuals as a consequence. Party culture clearly isn’t going anywhere unless alcohol randomly disappears, so our awareness of the culture of overconsumption, harmful language, hypersexualization, and increase in violence needs to amplified.

Iron Maidens: The Heavy Metal Glass Ceiling

When you think of iconic metal bands, who comes to mind? Most would list bands like Black Sabbath Metallica, Slayer, etc. Now, if I were to ask you to think of female metal musicians, you'd probably have to think for a bit. In the scope of metal, women have always been present, but have never been given the recognition of their male contemporaries. In recent years, the number of women involved with metal has increased, but that doesn't eliminate the glass ceiling that was created with the genre.

For starters, let's google "metal bands" and see what is returned. Google returns a list of 51 metal bands, none of which even have a single female member. Of course, there are lots of metal bands that have female members, and many are exclusively female. The problem is in the exposure these bands get. In an 2015 article from Houston Press, Kristy Loye discusses how prevalent this issue still is: "This year's Rockstar Mayhem Festival hosted 13 bands, with two female band members between them...Both appeared on the Victory Records side stage; no female musicians were on the main stage." Women aren't taken as seriously, and this has to do with the fact that metal music, both in terms of artists and fans, is a predominately masculine genre. It's meant for the tough guys, with shaved heads, big muscles, and lots of tattoos. These ideals heavily counter the societal expectations for how women are supposed to act and look. This pushes women into a confusing situation. The Atlantic examines this point through the lens of Revolver Magazine's annual Hottest Chicks in Metal issue. "Revolver seldom gives in-depth coverage to female musicians or bands during the rest of the year; the women are almost always relegated to the now-regular 'Hottest Chicks in Metal' one-page feature that graces each issue." Women in metal not only don't get the press and exposure that men do, but when they are written about it's based on their looks and not about their talent. This creates a dichotomy that women have to appear overtly feminine and sexualized to be promoted, but because of this they won't be taken as seriously in the music category.

Oddly, while the women in the genre are expected to appear more feminine, the men aren't held to the same standards and expected to dress in a very masculine way. A great example of this would be Twisted Sister. Twisted Sister had long hair and wore tighter clothing and lots of makeup during performances. While they didn't conform to the typical look of men in metal, they weren't subjected to the same level of scrutiny as women due to the fact that they, at the end of the day, were still men. Since metal is a male dominated genre, their appearance became a distinction rather than the main feature.

Twisted Sister
Photo from People Magazine

There is also a common attitude that women in metal don’t get the same coverage because they aren’t as skilled or that they're more fit for lighter genres. Combined with the lack of available female metal icons, this can discourage aspiring female musicians. Of course, there are women who are successful, such as Alice Cooper's Nita Strauss or Smashing Pumpkins' D'arcy Wretzky. These are two of many examples of great female metal/hard rock musicians, and shows that women are equally capable of playing this style of music as men. That being said, this doesn't mean that people like Strauss have been free from the stereotypes just because of their success. Prior to joining Alice Cooper's band, Strauss rose to prominence through her all-female Iron Maiden tribute band; Iron Maidens. In a Loudwire article, Bruce Dickinson, the singer for Iron Maiden, discussed what it was like to watch the tribute band: "We were watching them and I said to Steve [Harris], 'This is a really weird question, but looking at them, would you f--k yourself?' And he went, 'I don’t know, but we’ve all been thinking it.' It was very, very weird." This is the only quote included from the full interview, and it has no reference to how well Iron Maidens performed or what Dickinson thought of their abilities, but rather just commenting on their sex appeal. 

In Westbrook and Schilt's piece, Doing Gender, Determining Gender, they examine how the perception of gender is primarily societal and not biological: "Focused on the interactional level, such theories illustrate how people sort each other into the category of “male” or “female” in social situations on the basis of visual information cues (such as facial hair) and implicit rules for assigning characteristics to particular genders (women wear skirts; men do not)." Similarly, people judge female musicians based on their expectations of how popular women should look, rather than on the basis of their musical ability, which they view as a distinctly masculine trait. The gender of the artist doesn't have any biological effect on how well they can play, but just changes the criteria and degree to which they are judged.

Netflix and Spill: What Does your Favorite T.V. Show Say About You?

In the recent decade, television has become ‘America’s Pastime'. Thus, the small screen has evolved to become an integral part of American leisure time. I believe that the values that Americans align themselves with are evident in the television they watch. This then manifests in a cultural divide of the television and media that we consume.

The program, Duck Dynasty showcases this phenomenon. This need to watch television that mirrors your personal values is due to the bonds that are made by identifying with that community, as well as the need to be represented.This is especially crucial for marginalized groups who feel as though they are often misconstrued or stereotyped negatively by popular culture.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/26/upshot/duck-dynasty-vs-modern-family-television-maps.html

For Duck Dynasty the largest audience is centralized in rural areas and the south. Duck Dynasty is an American reality tv show on A&E, that portrays the life of the Robertson’s, a Louisiana family who became well known for their duck hunter products. The show is famous not only for its christian values and for its capitalistic undertones. These undertones are reminiscent with what Arlie Russell Hochschild (in Strangers In Their Own Land), would call the ‘deep story’ and is crucial to understanding why viewership is so concentrated in these areas.

In Strangers In Their Own Land, Hochschild talks about how a sense of community can create solidarity for people “that also felt culturally marginalized: their views about abortion, gay marriage, gender roles, race, guns, and the Confederate flag all were held up to ridicule in the national media as backward. And they felt a demographic decline; ‘there are fewer and fewer white Christians like us’ (Hochschild 221). The people of the deep south are often portrayed as ‘hicks’ or backwards thinking by mainstream media and in this sense they are marginalized. Hochschild illustrates how their shared sense of feeling betrayed by the direction in which this country is heading, is where they found common ground. This commonality often connects people and builds community. One aspect of community traditionally is the fact that it is built around common interests, which can then shown in feelings of loyalty and identity. Communities also create a very us v.s. them mentality which can help people differentiate between groups. This community of course does not necessarily manifest itself physically but rather is a network of fans of the franchise that can span a much larger range.

Watching Duck Dynasty is an affirmation to these deep southerners that their values are valid and possible to pair with success. The Robertson’s are a perfect example of an American dream story,  they rose from poverty while enforcing Christian and ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ values. Which they are very upfront about, you can find a blog for their viewpoints on family, faith, and duck hunting on their website Duck Commander. They are a representation of the character that their viewers aspire to achieve. Therefore they attract viewers who want to feel empowered by their story.

According to the New York Times, “The correlation between fandom and the percentage of people who voted for Mr. Trump was higher for “Duck Dynasty” than it was for any other show.” The people who voted for Trump were rural white conservative males much like a large percentage of the viewers of Duck Dynasty. If you look at the maps side by side (by county) they are almost mirror images. Donald Trump was another rallying point for this 'silent majority'. Hochschild also mentions this saying about the previous administration, “a president that allies with the line cutters, making you feel distrustful, betrayed” (Hochschild 222).  Trump, unlike Barack Obama or his opponent Hillary Clinton, was able to find common ground with his platform of traditional Christian and American values.  This ability to connect with people based on roots or deep story is essential to gaining a following. It’s why certain reality television shows are concentrated in areas of the country.

This could theory that the television a viewer chooses to watch intersects with both values and interests can be backed by a new study done by marketing experts Ronald Frank and Marshall Greenberg who cite that age, gender, and  race are motivations as well. They divide people into categories based on those parameters as well as the activities they engage in at their leisure.They cite from their research that older males watch programs about nature, business, and the news. All with a focus on traditional American values.
Overall I think people like to consume media in general that aligns with their interests and hobbies.You feel validated by others and it builds solidarity among individuals that feel as though their viewpoints have been marginalized or pushed aside. This sense of community is important.

Detangling Gender Differences

Image: Wikipedia

There is still much debate surrounding whether gender differences exist and if so, how they come about and if they matter. It is extremely hard to disentangle nature from nurture, especially in societies in which gender roles are inescapable. This Newsweek article references a study that found that our brains can actually be affected by our environment, further melding nature and nurture.

Recent surveys done by Pew Research Center show that there is no consensus among the American public on whether gender differences are due to biology or society. Women attribute gender differences to societal factor rather than biological factors more often than men do. Women also are more in favor than men of encouraging children to do gender non-normative activities. Both men and women were more in favor of girls doing “boy” activities than of boys doing “girl” activities. This reflects how masculinity is valued above femininity in American society, even if traditionally masculine traits appear in females.

These findings relate to C.J. Pascoe’s book Dude You’re a Fag. Many of the students at River High School seem to value masculinity above all else, so the students perform their gender according to certain scripts in order to fit in. While girls are expected to be “girly,” they do have slightly more freedom than boys do in terms of presenting in more gender non-conforming ways. This is because they are adopting masculinity, which in and of itself is respected at River and in America more generally.

The Pew surveys also find that 59% of adults think that boys are not encouraged to express their emotions enough. The repression of male emotion is seen clearly in Pascoe’s book. Adolescent boys are encouraged to display their heterosexuality at every chance in order to reinforce their masculinity but are not encouraged to be romantic about their relationships. Adolescent girls, on the other hand, are expected to be sexually available but are also often vilified for being too sexual. Most of the students at River clearly stick to gender norms, but do these norms have a basis in biology?

While some publications such as this book by David P. Schmitt suggest that “sex differences… [appear] not to result from patriarchy or sex role socialization,” there are also efforts being made to disprove biological determinist theories about gender differences. As reported by the Washington Post, there is evidence that although there are some tendencies of male and female brains to have different characteristics, brain biology, much like gender, exists on a spectrum. This means that it is hard to classify brains as strictly “male” or “female”.

This article discusses a book called Inferior by Angela Saini that seeks to combat “shoddy science” about gender differences. Although it is a widely held belief that women are naturally caretakers while men are not, the article and book claim that “there are primate communities where male animals look after the young, or equally share care,” which supports Judith Lorber’s claim (in her book Paradoxes of Gender) that human gender roles are socially constructed, not based on biology. Many sociologists and gender scholars subscribe to Lorber’s theory that “If gender differences were genetic, physiological, or hormonal, gender bending and gender ambiguity would occur only in hermaphrodites” (Lorber 1994, 6).

It is clear that more research will be necessary to keep up with changes in how societies think and feel about gender and gender differences (or lack thereof). This research must come from many different disciplines, including sociology, psychology, gender studies, and biology. Scholars must continue to grapple with the subjectivity of supposedly empirical scholarship and the challenging task of separating environmental factors from biological ones.

Conquering Inequality Through Students and the Digital Divide

From September through November 2016, Lee Rainie, director of Internet, Science and Technology research at the Pew Research Center, researched accessibility of the Internet and other technology based on a number of demographic measures. In the study, Rainie found that 53% of households with an income below $30,000 per year had broadband Internet access within their homes, as opposed to 94% of households with an income above $100,000 per year. 

From The Pew Research Center Digital Divides Study

Educational attainment, race, and age also played a major role in predicting who has access to the Internet. As you can imagine, in addition to household income being a predictor of Internet access, older, nonwhite, individuals with less educational achievement tend to have less access to the Internet as well. 

The digital divide (differences in access to technology) is a marker for so many different forms of inequality in the United States. It extends to the urban vs. rural divide as well. Students without access to the Internet at home face difficulties completing online homework assignments, and find themselves in a disadvantaged position when compared with their peers. As we can see, people with less educational achievement are already less likely to have access to broadband Internet, making it increasingly difficult for individuals to break out of the cycle of low income and educational achievement. 

From The Pew Research Center Digital Divides Study

With just 34% of people with less than a high school diploma having home broadband, children of parents with low educational achievement are less likely to have Internet at home, putting those children at a further disadvantage. 

It isn't just home broadband access that perpetuates the digital divide for students. EducationSuperHighway CEO Evan Marwell told the educational news website The 74 that "more than 2,000 schools, mostly in rural areas and small towns, lack the fiber optics needed for high-speed Internet, which the Federal Communications Commission defines as a minimum of 100 kilobits per second for each student." Given that rural areas already tend to have lower per capita income and educational achievement, the lack of access to high-speed Internet in schools further disadvantages students when compared with their peers in more urban areas. 

In American society, school serves as such an important agent of socialization. The skills needed to be successful in life are so often taught in school. With our increasing reliance on the Internet, skills associated with digital literacy are more important than ever when it comes to being prepared for the job market and life beyond school. Students who make it through the public school system without having acquired digital literacy are not properly equipped to live and work in our society. Solving the overall issue of home broadband access and inequality is a difficult task, but if there is one area of the digital divide that can be addressed it's Internet access in schools. We do students a disservice by not providing equal access and education about the digital world to them. Taking steps towards conquering educational, racial and wealth inequality starts with our schools, and providing broadband Internet access for all students is a step towards ensuring students of all backgrounds receive a quality education.  


-Maddie Caron

Guns Are For Boys

Gun control laws in the United States are markedly less restrictive than they are in other countries at our level of wealth and development. This has often been explained by the idea that guns are a symbol of individual freedom and sovereignty; people say they want guns because it is their Second Amendment right, because they want to keep themselves safe from a government they don’t trust, or for hunting purposes. But in fact a lot of the (likely subconscious) motivation for men comes from a desire to assert their masculinity. A recent study found that “white men in economic distress find comfort in guns as a means to reestablish a sense of individual power and moral certitude.” This attitude influences opinions about gun policy.

The pervasiveness of hegemonic masculinity in American society perpetuates these feelings. C. J. Pascoe observed in Dude, You’re a Fag that physical control is a defining component of traditional masculinity. Similarly, Time wrote that “the gun is simply the (extremely literal) external symbol of the underlying ideology: White male power comes through physical domination.” So now, guns are a symbol of power as well as a symbol of freedom, which is somewhat disturbing-- it indicates that freedom is intertwined with the ability to subjugate others.

“Gun culture” encompasses a very specific group of people: they are generally white, male, conservative, and economically disadvantaged. This group tends to tie their identity and sense of freedom and individuality to gun ownership; notably, 54% of men who own guns say that all or most of their friends also own guns. Being surrounded by like minded people creates a self-reinforcing environment, and gun culture is one where masculinity, gun ownership, and social inclusion are all intimately associated.

Another thing this group has in common is the perceived loss of power. In the global economy, there is more competition for jobs, especially among unskilled laborers, and historically marginalized groups are “taking” jobs seen by white, high-school educated males as a birthright. The Nation suggested that “The president [Trump] rode a wave of white male paranoia and perceived lost power to the White House; the GOP has stoked those emotions for 50 years.” Owning a gun helps reclaim masculinity for a man who has failed in his role as a provider and protector of his family. The social environment around gun culture is fueled by “white male entitlement, rage, and fear” and “the political and economic forces that exploit and encourage that fear” exacerbate it, as Time put it.

Traditional social ideas of masculinity can be very harmful in this environment. In the book Gun Violence and Public Life, Michael Kimmel and Cliff Leek note that "traditional notions of masculinity prevent men from seeking counseling or other forms of help they need, help which may prevent these mass shootings, but violence is also inculcated as a more masculine alternative than help seeking." If men didn’t receive messages like “boys don’t cry,” they would more often seek mental health care; as of now, the American Psychological Association says that men are less likely to do so than women. Because of this, issues such as depression, substance abuse and stress can bottle up emotions and lead to violent action. Mass shootings, therefore, are at least partially a product of the societal pressure for men to exhibit normatively masculine behavior.