Gendered World Views (section 10, Winter 2016)

It was hearing warming to read about the story you shared about the New Yorkers in that subway car getting together, and resisting an act of discrimination and hatred. The concept of “Trump’s America” is very frightening, and the fact that it is now an reality rather than a farfetched possibility is absolutely mind boggling. Virtue ethics would approach this issue by pointing out that virtuous people with good virtuous, such as tolerance, compassion, humility, fraternity, kindness would do the right thing and stand up against the violence and hatred in current day America. Utilitarianism argues that ultimate goal is to provide the greatest amount of happiness to the largest amount of people. However, in this case how can the “greatest amount of happiness” be determined? Would that happiness be equality and peace the New Yorkers in the subway car fought for? Or would that be the bigoted rhetorics of those who drew the Swastika on the windows? It is hard to agree on a common summon bonum, the end goal. In this case, I believe the best approach would be Rationalism. Sure, virtue ethics has good intentions, but I don't think it is strong enough. Rationalism believes that all human have the duty of following the laws. It is a deontological framework, therefore it is only concerned about duty and the importance of obeying rules. One has to obey the rules, there is no exception. It is the duty to fight again discrimination and it is against the law to commit hate crimes. For these reasons, Rationalism is the correct path when it come to fighting Trump’s America.

Hello Juicycouture,
thank you for the interesting article. In your argumentation on this Gucci ad, you could also add another perspective. For instance, the fact that the woman is standing above the man and the fact that she is the one who is pulling her pants down - not him - could be a sign of the dominance of the woman. It seems like she is the one who decides what the man is able to see and what not, kind of like she is playing with him. The man in his on his knees and indeed grabbing the woman's legs, which could also lead to the deduction that he is begging her to reveal her full body to him. He looks young, soft, and even has longer hair and wears make-up - quite different from the average display of masculinity in most commercials. There, men are often displayed as very muscular, tall, and often with beards. How could this be included in the discussion about gendered world views? Again, thank you for this article and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on these ideas.

Your article was very interesting because it encompassed two topics that weren’t at all related: Donald Trump and video games. I really enjoyed that because I often get bored when I read in depth about one topic only. However, if you look at the article through a more optimistic lens, you may be able to further your analysis. Firstly, you begin your post by describing Trump as “provocative”. It is evidently ok to have an opinion, but the fact that you consider him provocative is irrelevant to the rest of your text. Secondly, I would explain the reason as to why you find what you consider “discrepancies in the article" actual discrepancies. Did it ever occur to you that the author didn’t include those ideas (that you think he left out) because they’re simply false? In addition, you mention that Trump undermines the other candidates. However, try naming one candidate from any country and any party that doesn’t do that. I also found that a few of your points lacked evidence, such as when you say: “what he hasn’t been focusing on, has been explaining how he will ameliorate the conditions of the United States”. It would be a different story had you backed up your thoughts. Nevertheless, “ameliorating the conditions of the United States” is actually the goal of his campaign… (Make America Great Again), and it worked for Ronald Reagan. Here is another tip for future writings: don’t refer to him as “Donald”, unless you know him personally. Regarding the portion on video games, you say that “many of these constraints are learned, and are not innate.” I suggest you read the book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Are_from_Mars,_Women_Are_from_Venus, just to get a feel of how different males are from females. Lastly, I definitely comprehend your dislike for this presidential candidate, but perhaps you should consider that he may have been born into a family with compulsive heterosexuality. You may want to read up on how his father brought him up.

I really enjoyed reading your text. It is really well written and it flows really well. The various facts and examples you put really spiced up your text and made it extremely interesting. I like the topic you chose as we, students, can relate to it. Anxiety and stress are present in almost every school. I find that by adding a gender lens to that article, we can see another cause of stress. As we live in a patriarchal world view, where society values hegemonic masculinity, it can put a lot of stress on students. Many people police others on how they express their masculinity, forcing them to concord to the "man box". In the box, there are many words describing men that society values, such as strong, tough, in control, powerful and intimidating. And outside the box, there are words that certain men are called if they do not conform to the "man box". These words are often related to homosexuality. Many students then feel pressured to conform to it and are always on guard at school to make sure they stay masculine and strong, adding unnecessary stress. People that are called names and picked on for not conforming to the "man box" can feel excluded and it can lead to depression and suicide. Wanting to prove their masculinity, many men even turn to violence. The patriarchal also affects women negatively as they are seen as inferior than men. It can cause discouragement that once again can lead to suicide and depression. In brief, the patriarchal world view can bring a lot of stress to students already dealing with a lot of stress from school work. Therefore, the problem might not only be on our educational system, but also brought by the world view of our current society.
Here is a link if you want more information on the man box: http://www.wgac.colostate.edu/men-and-masculinities