It's about a zillion degrees in my apartment

Yup, so its hot. And sticky. And I'm too hot to do anything productive, so finding random quizzes on the internet and put into my blog is just plain fabulous.

You Are 44% Bitchy

Generally, you're an average woman, with average moods. But sometimes... well, watch out!Sometimes, you let your mean side get the better of you. And you enjoy every minute of it.

How'>http://ynr.blogthings.com/howbitchyareyouquiz/">How Bitchy Are You?

Your Reputation Is: Mystery Girl

You're the girl that everyone is trying to figure out.Men are attracted to your intriguing persona - and women want to copy it!

What's" Your Reputation?

I disagree entirely. But it's an internet quiz...what are ya going to do?

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new.However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like.You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation.You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What'>http://ynr.blogthings.com/whatkindofcoffeeareyouquiz/">What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Now this I'm more into...

You are a Blanced Babe!

You're direct and to the point, but never dramaticYou've got the confidence to speak your mind to anyoneBut you leave the theatrics to HollywoodLevel headed and emotionally stable, no wonder everyone loves you

Are You a Drama Queen?

Oh C'mon! I'm such a drama queen! One more quiz, then tidying in a zillion degrees...

You Are Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"We saved the world. I say we have to party."

What'>http://ynr.blogthings.com/whatsuperheroineareyouquiz/">What Superheroine Are You?

Oh Lord, I'm not even going to go there.

-K

Soc Excerpt # 2: Gender

May 13th 3006

I don’t think that I will ever forget the first time that my gender worked against me. I was about thirteen, and had “fully developed” by that time. I wanted to hang out with my guy friends that I had had since elementary school, but suddenly I had breasts that they didn’t treat me like they used to. They were all going off to play football in the paddock (a pretty common pastime in the prairies), and I asked if I could join. I remember that Tom[1] looked at me, while the others looked uncomfortably at the ground, and shook his head “no”. “Why not?” I demanded indignantly, feeling that in my thirteen years I had never felt so slighted. “Well…cuz, you’re a girl”. With that, they all disbanded, though that had been enough of a reason for all of them. I reeled, feeling so hurt that my friends didn’t want to play with me because of something as stupid as gender. “So what?” I thought furiously. “It’s not like it makes any difference!” Eight years later, I have to laugh at myself for two reasons. First of all, because I now see the incredible inequality and difference that gender does indeed make. And secondly, because my personal view hasn’t changed that much.

Gender inequality has been an ongoing issue for decades. It has given birth to a sociological approach known, not surprisingly, as “The Feminist Approach”, and it centers on gendering and gender inequality. Basically, it outlines the differing “roles” and “functions” of women in a patriarchal society. Bottom line? Women are subservient to men. This seems to be a venomous cultural pattern of history that continuously repeats itself. For example, Ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy, only allowed affluent men to vote, as women were aligned with slaves and subordinates. In medieval Europe, women were accused of witchcraft, and burned at the stake by the men who accused them. “From a feminist perspective, the crack-down on witches on Medieval Europe and colonial America was a gendered conflict.” (Tepperman 25)[2]

Even today, gender inequality continues to be a problem. This is my question: how can a society who prides themselves on being ‘advanced’, who takes deep pleasure in being ‘sophisticated’, and who had the arrogance to coin phrases such as ‘dark ages’ and ‘primitive times’ still align themselves with the prevalent gender inequality today that was apparent in the middle ages? How can a society that claims to be sophisticated still treat individuals differently based on their gender? Oh sure, it’s gotten better. Women now have the right to vote, to free speech, and to work shoulder to shoulder with men in the workplace. But one cannot ignore the fact that the shoulders that are bringing home the greater paycheque for the same job belong to men. This inequality is not a result of a ‘natural’ or ‘biological’ streak in our DNA mapping. It is a purely cultural construct.

"Nor are we born biologically predisposed towards gender inequality. Domination is not a trait carried on the Y chromosome; it is the outcome of the different cultural valuing of men’s and women’s experiences. Thus, the adoption of masculinity and femininity implies the adoption of “political” ideas that what women do is not as culturally important as what men do."
(Kimmel 3)[3]

This attitude aligns itself with the feminist perspective. A great deal of emphasis is put on the “gendering of experiences”. This involves the ‘splitting’ tendency (a belief that experiences are explicitly male or explicitly female).

How does this translate into deviance? It involves what is known as “the problem of victimization” and “the problem of truth-finding”. Because women are forced into a culturally subservient role by men, their rights and their ‘side of the story’ often becomes more fluid than justice would like to admit. Individual lives and case studies don’t hold as much weight in a courtroom as facts and traditional views of science. This combined with the fact that the courtroom is yet another arena that is dominated by a patriarchal mentality, does not leave a lot of room for truth or justice for victimized women, particularly when they have been victimized by men.

To this day, I maintain my original outrage and mentality regarding all gender inequality. Yes, I am a woman. Yes, I have a different gender then men do. SO WHAT?

-K

[1] Pseudonym
[2] Tepperman , Lorne. Deviance, Crime, and Control; Beyond the Straight and Narrow . Ontario : Oxford University Press , 2006.

[3] Kimmel, Michael. Human Beings: An Engendered Species. The Gendered Society. 2nd ed. New York And Oxford: Oxford University Press , 2004.

Soc Excerpt #1: Drinking and Driving

Overall, I think of myself as a ‘good girl’. Yeah, I’ve done some deviant things, all of which were undeniably stupid of me. I was underage and didn’t understand the basic concept of mixing drinks OR moderation (“Why would I add juice to my schnapps? I don’t need a glass this way…”) No matter how close that got me to alcohol poisoning, I always understood that booze and car keys were the most lethal combination I could come up with. I’ve never understood or tolerated drunk driving, and its clear why.

Of all the forms of risky behavior for youths, I would venture to say that drinking and driving is possibly the worst. There are many, many horrors or drinking and driving, one of which is the fact that the intoxicated driver will likely injure or kill a completely innocent motorist, cyclist, or pedestrian in their blind stupor. And the predominant culprit appears to be young men. “Young men, of all drivers, have the highest risk automobile accidents” (Tepperman 179). Combine that statistic with this one: “60% of drivers between the age of 15 and 19 drank before being involved in an accident” (Tepperman 179). Over half of the individuals surveyed were intoxicated as they got into an accident, and a higher number of accidents involve men. This is disgusting and unacceptable. “Young, single men who drink and then drive are more likely to drink than older, married men” (Tepperman 179). Hmmmm. Now why might that be? I’m not even going to go there.

The sole fact that young people, not just men, are involving themselves with drinking and driving has two major law-violating implications. Not only are they drinking and driving, but they are drinking underage as well. This constitutes what is known as a ‘status offence’. A status offense is when a youth breaks a law that they had no part in creating, and was imposed upon them by older, wiser law-makers. One might speculate that the act of underage drinking is a rebellion to these rules, and that a status offence might even earn a place of honor among other underage individuals. But when that offence begins to be lethal not only to the offender but to innocent individuals as well, a zero-tolerance policy must be followed. This is typically the outcome, as drinking and driving alone has very high legal implications and consequences.

There are many schools of thought surrounding why it is that underage kids engage in such risky behavior. The functionalist theory suggests that “…crime provides a positive function because it stimulates social cohesion and promotes the development of more complex social arrangements…”(Tepperman 195). The symbolic approach deals principally with ‘labeling’. Even the conflict theory advocates that the amount of delinquent behavior correlates with the number of rules being set against the youth.

This is all well and good, and each school of thought has valid and well-supported stances. I, however, have adopted my own zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving, and no amount of theories are going to change my mind, underage or not.

-K