Blog 7

What exactly is it that makes up a family? According to a simple dictionary definition, a family is a social unit consisting of one or more adults and the children they care for. According to this definition, two men could be parents, two women could be parents, and a man and a women can be parents, simply because all of these combinations are made up of two adult individuals. This definition doesn't discriminate and even sheds light on single parents. However, in some people's eyes a family can only be run by the binary system: a mother and a father. This topic becomes even more difficult when you include transgendered parents. Unfortunately, in the eyes of most members of society, transgendered parents aren't as good of parents. They don't fit into the binary system, so they are not as fit to be a parent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/12/sharon-shattuck-transgender-father_n_3910749.html

Above is a link to a Huffington Post article/video that describes a child's realization that her father was a transgendered woman. Sharon Shattuck, the child, said that her life was a little different after she found out and that it was a transition, but that it didn't change anything as far as his parenting success went. There are stories very similar to this one, everywhere. To me, personally, a family is a group of individuals helping each other to instill important values and morals in each other as well as providing a structured environment. A family is a group of individuals is socially expected to be there for you through thick or thin. Does the gender of the parental units affect their ability to provide all of those things? I don't really think so. 

Blog 6

The film The Philosophy Kings was an extremely good example in which to look at the concepts of exploitation, alienation, false consciousness, and lastly double consciousness. While the film was very good at showing a glimpse into the lives of custodians, you could definitely tell that they weren't delving completely into the negatives, simply to save face for themselves and also the companies they worked for. In class, we were asked the question of whether or not custodial careers were romanticized in the film. I would personally answer that question with a solid yes. While the human-ness of the social group is definitely a main focus, the film didn't touch on the entirety of the human experience. The human experience includes both the good and bad that happens in an individuals life, whereas the film tried to portray the custodial positions as almost glamorous.

While the film did a fantastic job of giving examples of exploitation, alienation, and false consciousness, the topic that stood out to me most was double consciousness. Above is W.E.B. DuBois explaining his concept of double consciousness. It was extremely apparent in almost every custodian example that they offered that they viewed themselves in two very opposite ways. Corby Baker had his custodial life, but kept completely separate he had his art. Despite the fact that he worked at an arts school, he attempted to keep his job and his hobby very separate. The individual that stood out to me the most was Oscar Dantzler, simply because of one line. He made the comment that when he is gone from his job, people tell him that they missed him once he is back. He pointed out the fact that it wasn't actually them that they missed, it was the clean bathrooms. While this isn't exactly an individual viewing themselves separately, it is still the concept of viewing separately almost without realizing it. I personally found it incredibly interesting to think about. 

Overall, the film gave an interesting insight into the lives of custodians and did offer some food for thought as to wether or not a job similar to that is something that something should be happy with, or working towards in life. 

Blog 5

Until semi-recently, society wasn't used to seeing or hearing about anything besides the binary system when it came to anything related to sex, gender, or sexuality. Up until recently, there were men and women, heterosexuals, and anything else just wasn't talked about or simply kept quiet. These norms come with certain stereotypes, especially when it comes to gender. Men are supposed to have short hair, not wear makeup, and wear a more "masculine" style of clothing. Women are supposed to have longer hair, wear makeup, and also stick to more "feminine" styles of clothing. 

When an individual doesn't fit those specific stereotypes, they have the ability to pass as a member of a social group that isn't there own. Personally, I am a heterosexual female. Up until this summer I had long hair and wore makeup more often than not. However, one day I decided I needed a change, so I decided to switch to a short pixie cut hair style. Due to the type of job I had, I also stopped wearing makeup as often. It is crazy how these two simple changes could effect the way that other individuals would treat me. Often when I was in public people would refer to me as sir, or automatically think that I was a man. Once I talked or they looked at me closer, they would apologize profusely and give the generic answer that my hair threw them off and that they just assumed I was a boy because it was short.

https://everydayfeminism.com/2013/01/breaking-through-the-gender-binary/

Above is a link to an article that simply and clearly explains the different facets of gender and how to look past the idea of just males and females and the stereotypes that come with the binary system.

Blog 2

If you were to ask a person to describe to you the differences between sex and gender, they would probably have a difficult time accurately distinguishing the two. If you weren't distinctly taught the differences, it could be very easy to think that the terms were interchangeable. However, they are actually very different. Sex is defined as the biological difference between males and females, whereas gender is defined as the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach to to being female or male. Someone once described the difference to me as sex being between your legs and gender being between your ears. While it is just a basic analogy, it is an easy and accurate way of discerning the two.

Below is a link to a podcast that explains and discusses the differences between gender and sex a little more in-depth.

http://www.stuffmomnevertoldyou.com/podcasts/whats-the-difference-between-gender-and-sex/

Blog 1

     Poverty thresholds are used for statistical purposes and poverty guidelines are for administrative purposes. The poverty threshold itself is the minimum level income that a country deems adequate for a family to live off of. Listed below are what the poverty guidelines were for 2013.

     The poverty threshold is based off of the "basket of goods" that a household goes through in one fiscal year.  The basket of goods includes food, rent, and anything else that is necessary to live in today's society. While the poverty threshold is a mildly sufficient way of showing who in the world is poor and who isn't, it still isn't 100% cutting it. There are certain situations that the poverty threshold doesn't account for, such as the simple fact that the poverty threshold was created in the 1950s and has only had minor adaptations over the years. The way that people live and the requirements that they have in order to live have changed significantly since the 1950s, making this a poor way of accurately portraying who is poor in today's society. Another problem that the poverty threshold has, is that it accounts for a family's pretax income instead of a family's income after tax, giving an inaccurate representation of what the family is actually making. Something else that the current poverty threshold doesn't account for is emergency expenses, such as out of pocket medical expenses and housing repair situations. 

     Overall, the poverty threshold is doing a semi-decent job of serving its original purpose. However, there are a number of things that could be updated and improved that would benefit the masses a significant amount. Below is a breakdown of the United States based on the amount of people living below the poverty line.