Take Control

Today's inspiration comes to me in the form of
Listening to early U2 (i.e. Boy - War)
and this flow chart




image http://tylertervooren.com/advancedriskology/

Retrofitting

Love Love Love, Love Love, Love Love.
I wish I could live in this reclaimed, revamped, super architectural, industrial, exposed brick, ruin porn house. Well, it's not a house, it's part of a school, but it looks like a house and I'd convert it into one if I owned it.


Images:haworthtompkins

Prediction

I predict when Kate Middleton marries Prince William, she'll wear a more modest wedding gown, most likely covering her arms and neck. This will change the current trend of wedding gowns with exposed decolletage. I for one am excited for this change, if it happens.
We shall see...




Image: Princess Grace Kelly

First Paper

Wikipedia: Kathoey.

Can We Have Gender Equality?

Throughout life males and females of all cultures experience gender stereotypes. It is no secret that cultures’ collective attitudes are perpetuated through gender based comments and behaviors. However, gender discrepancies vary depending on the culture and era’s zeitgeist. Still, no matter how much we recognize gender stereotype’s falsehoods, the collective unconscious attitudes still exist and maintain a stronghold of even the most seemingly progressive gender-neutral people.

Cognitively people like to categorize and define anything in life. It helps one to understand a potentially chaotic world by creating patterns and expectations. When expectations are met, it allows us to react efficiently and appropriately, and most importantly, it sets our emotions at ease. This includes compartmentalizing human beings. The day we are born, people treat and teach us our gender roles based on our respective sex. Children pick up on this information easily and prefer to gender stereotype. For example, when I was a child in the 1980s, I was watching MTV and was confused by Boy George. My mother tried her best to put in layman’s terms that Boy George is, in fact, a boy, but likes to dress up like a girl. Still not grasping the novel concept, she attempted to set my mind at ease by stating that Boy George is confused and that I am not. My mom knew Boy George was not confused, but later told me that kids first try to grasp life’s fundamentals before they experience and learn the exceptions to the rules. She believed that at my age I would have a very hard time understanding this concept, but knew as I matured, I would understand Boy George was comfortable portraying to the world his gender-bending personality. This is when I realized gender roles are learned and perpetuated by society. Sex is fixed; gender is fluid. Sex is universal; gender is contextual. Sex is nature; gender is nurture. Not everyone has to fit into society’s gender molds. Still, people learn by compartmentalization, and when patterns are interrupted, they become uncomfortable with the unfamiliar. It is a threat to their basic understanding of the world and to society because it interrupts the collective unconscious. This is why gender bending is so shocking. However, it does not have to be if we are taught early on not to define sex by gender-specified behaviors.

I was a teenager during the 1990s in America when girls did not have to fit into a feminine role. Riot Grrrl music was on the rise, Grunge was slowly fading out but women were still attractive by being androgynous, dirtier, and exude a masculine edge. Although it was generally accepted at this time to be a girl who acted like a boy, I wished I were a boy instead. Firstly, I thought because masculinity was projected by both genders in pop culture, then being feminine or a girl was undesirable. Secondly, and most importantly, I witnessed how boys were respected to finish thoughts in conversations by not being interrupted. In spite of this, my mom continuously tried to change me. Instead of wearing baggy jeans, she preferred I dress more femininely, set my hair in curlers as she did as a teenager, and wear more makeup. I rebelled. I explained that if a guy was attracted to me, or if I were to receive any respect, it would be because of my intellect and wit, not my appearance. She rebutted that first impressions are the gateway to respect and guys are attracted to women first by their beauty, then you keep them with your intellect and wit. Later on I discovered that maybe there was some truth to her statement. I noticed I received more positive attention when I feminized my appearance. That was when I decided to change. I wanted that attention from society, so I had to learn how to give society what they preferred, a more feminine looking woman. From this, I further questioned why getting what I wanted from society meant I needed to fit into what society wanted from me.

Why do Americans prefer to seek traditional gender roles and marginalize the few instead of accepting all? Why is it that gender differences plague adults in the way men are supposed to be strong leaders and women dependent on them? For example, my friend Rosy received pejorative criticism about the course of her life and she reacted sharply by stating, “I am a young, vivacious, attractive, well educated, and well-traveled woman. I have a B.A., I speak four languages, I’ve lived abroad, I’m a Fulbright fellow, I have a good job, I’m fully independent where I don’t have to rely on anyone for anything, and I have great relationships with family and friends. But none of that counts because I’m not married and I don’t have kids.” Rosy’s complaint is a frustrated reaction on how society perpetuates existing gender discrepancies and how they are valued. When American culture has come so far to allow women like Rosy to be as independent as a man is supposed to be, why is she still valued in a traditional way? I believe the answer lies in several psychological theories, including Evolutionary, Socio-Cultural, and Cognitive theories. Our primal instincts help us pick a proper mate, but not necessarily in matching us with someone youthful or healthy. Why are young men and women attracted to Mick Jagger - an aging, womanizing, ex-drug addict whose skin seemingly will drip off his skeleton? Instead, I believe evolution’s influence on cognition and society coincides so that we prefer to protect those who exemplify qualities we value. We favor people who fit into our schema, and are therefore nonthreatening. Although Jagger pushes boundaries, he has mass appeal because he exudes what we know as masculine by being confident, successful, and independent. Furthermore, the cultures that idolize Jagger also value personal expression. He follows these guidelines well and is therefore sexually desirable. Regardless, culture’s traditional gender roles may take generations to change or unlearn. Stereotypes are closely tied to identity and civilization’s survival, and unless it is taught early on, society might never fully change to gender neutrality.

One time in my life I valued males over females. As I matured, my schema shifted when I continued to question why gender differences mattered. I realized it perpetuates a culture’s existence. Traditions thrive because familiarity to our values is nonthreatening. So as long as we understand this, American society may change by not teaching and rewarding equating current gender characteristics with the respective sex. Hopefully gender equality will be valued instead.

I just found my new favorite website

If you like history... If you like art... If you like people, places, things (yes, nouns)... then you'll love HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT

This Makes My Tonsils Tingle

Van Der Glas' jowl jewelry.

9/11

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I live in a good Country. A Country that is founded on the basis of struggle in hopes to live in a just and free world. A world that promotes human rights that are defined by man being created equal in the eyes of a higher power (and if you do not believe in G-d, then just by being born) and not defined by ourselves under our prejudicial limitations. That we all have a chance to grab destiny by our grip and pursue our wants, needs and dreams. This comes with the responsibility to pursue a life we want without holding others down so that they may be granted the same rights we have been granted, just by being born. I want us to remember these rights that were thought of by the enlightenment philosophers and the suffering and plight that continued for generations before and after our forefathers wrote down on parchment what these rights are in our Country, and what the meaning behind all of this is and is not. It's our duty to continue this idea for ourselves and hold this mentality up for others as well. These are human rights, not just American rights. Do not be confused, I am not suggesting amnesty for those who do not hold up their part of this. But today is a day of reflection in America. I suggest we stand back to allow yourself to comprehend and remember the lessons of which today reminds us of why and how this Country is so great and to bring peace to all man.