4. Discuss the concept of socialization, particularly socialization into gender roles. In your response, address Mora’s key findings regarding pubescence and discuss how his findings contribute to the study of gender and masculinities, specifically.
For young males, pubescence is a time of proving one’s self as an adult by emulating masculine tropes found in older peers, family members, neighborhoods and in the media. The male body sees some of the most noticeable changes through puberty. As such the body becomes the main proof that young boys utilize in proving themselves as men and no longer boys. The developments in puberty are certainly influenced by culture, social setting and time. In Richard Mora’s study of how hegemonic masculinity influences the stage of pubescence for boys, he examines how the biological changes within the male body influence the socialization of ten sixth-grade Latino boys. First, Mora makes distinctions in how white working and middle class students experience puberty, which in most cases are hardly discusses with peers (189). However, Mora observes the opposite amongst the Latino boys at Romero, all of whom find many reasons to express their pride in their slowly changing bodies. Among these boys, puberty is more of a social accomplishment that comes with rewards in dominance and male peer congratulations.
Young males have tendencies to pay attention to their physical attributes as sort of trophies that indicate certain levels of maturity. The socialization of this comes from all institutions of social life, but Mora makes distinctions as it pertains to the ten Latino boys he observes: focusing on peers, neighborhood and media influences. Within the poor and working-class Latino neighborhoods, Mor...
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...ged on heteronomative expectations, such as having a reputation of being with many different girls. The normative now evolved from energy directed on physical competitions amongst one another to energy directed to the opposite sex--showing interest in all females.
Above all else the ten Latino boys Richard Mora observes over this time, have a want for control. Mostly control of their social identity; however, due to various social inequalities and differences that come attached to being working or poor class Latino children in urban areas, the boys are forced to overcompensate and exaggerate the one favorable aspect and privilege they have: Male privilege. The socialization of this happens early on and in certain cases has to if the boys even expect to survive contently in their social environment or even get half of the recognition their white male peers receive.
Harvest of the Empire is a valuable tool to gaining a better understanding of Latinos. This book helps people understand how varied Latino’s in the United States are. The author also helped give insight as to how Americans reacts to differences within itself. It does this by giving a description of the struggles that every Latino immigrant faced entering the United States. These points of emphasis of the book were explained thoroughly in the identification of the key points, the explanation of the intersection of race, ethnicity, and class, in addition to the overall evaluation of the book.
Junot Diaz is a Dominican-American writer whose collection of short stories Drown tells the story of immigrant families in the urban community of New Jersey. His short story “Fiesta, 1980” focuses on Yunior, an adolescent boy from Dominican Republic and his relationship with his father. On the other hand, Piri Thomas was a great Latino writer from Puerto-Rico whose memoir Down These Mean Streets tells his life story as an adolescent residing in Harlem and the challenges he faces outside in the neighborhood and at home with his father. Both Diaz and Thomas in different ways explore the dynamics of father-son relationships in their work. Furthermore, both expose masculinity as a social construct.
In Punished: policing the lives of black and Latino boys author Rios, victor. Victor Rios grew up in the ghetto in the Oakland, California in the 1980s. Rios, a former gang member and juvenile delinquency. Rios managed to escape this trend of gang violent as a teen; he managed to escape the gang violent lifestyle from his peers. He provides us a with a depth overview of a three-year study of 40 minority youths, 30 of whom were previously arrested. The study was done in Oakland, California. Rios give us a clear overview inner city young Latino and African American. Rios emphasize on the difficult lives of these young men, who are faced with policies in their schools, communities, and policing. Importantly, he gives us a clear understanding
“As long as Latino kills Latino… we’ll always be little people,” stated Ernesto Quinonez. This statement comments on the integration of society within an individual’s identity and it’s long lasting effects. The perception of who we are behind closed doors and who we are in public greatly influences our state of mind and our internal well-being. Throughout Quinonez’s Bodega Dreams, the reader can clearly see how one’s traditional culture and perception of private vs. public image is valued amongst the characters. At times, the reader may notice an internal struggle within multiple characters. The thought of going against what may be considered “normal” can be quite nerve-racking for
Many writers focus their works of written art on life situations. They focus on drugs, poverty, stereotypes, young adults living in a difficult world, and of course a topic that has been present for many years, male dominance. Abraham Rodriguez Jr. in “The Boy Without a Flag” captures all these themes and more in his Tales of the South Bronx, which relate to the lives of many Hispanics and minority residents of the United States. He begins his book with his short story, The Boy without a Flag. This story is really touching, especially for very patriotic people that live in the United States, but that come from other parts of the world, in this case Puerto Rico.
In about ½ of a page (single-spaced), please state whether you agree, disagree, or have a mixed opinion regarding the following statement and argue, via evidence and claims from what you have learned in class, why you have picked your stated position. Be sure to comprehensively explain and support your reasoning.
In 1606, the London Company dispatched 144 men to Virginia on 3 ships: the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed. These men arrived at Chesapeake Bay in 1607 and traveled 60 miles up the James River, where they constructed Jamestown. The men had chosen this location because they believe it was effortless to protect; however, the decision would be regretted. In their first years, Jamestown colonists experienced a difficult time: The location was scorching and humid, marshy and truncated, and vulnerable to malaria outbreaks. In addition, Jamestown was surrounded by broad forests, making it troublesome to farm. The lack of food, along with malaria epidemic, the reluctance to work, and the extreme greed for land and resources nearly led to the extinction of Jamestown. However, the Jamestown colonists discovered how to cultivate tobacco, thus leading to their prosperity and survival. With the success of Jamestown, more Europeans traveled to the New World, and settled in 3 groups of colonies: the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies.
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, an essay written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, discusses the racial stereotypes Cofer struggles with as a Latin woman who travels across America. Throughout her life, Cofer discusses her interactions with people who falsely misjudge her as a Latin woman. Additionally, Cofer mentions other Hispanic women she has met in her life, who also suffer with racial assumptions. Although several people would disagree with Cofer and claim that she is taking racial remarks too seriously, racial stereotyping is a significant issue that should not be overlooked in our society. People should not base someone’s worth by their outward appearance or their ethnic background.
“Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls”: few of our cultural mythologies seem as natural as this one. But in this exploration of the gender signals that traditionally tell what a “boy” or “girl” is supposed to look and act like, Aaron Devor shows how these signals are not “natural” at all but instead are cultural constructs. While the classic cues of masculinity—aggressive posture, self-confidence, a tough appearance—and the traditional signs of femininity—gentleness, passivity, strong nurturing instincts—are often considered “normal,” Devor explains that they are by no means biological or psychological necessities. Indeed, he suggests, they can be richly mixed and varied, or to paraphrase the old Kinks song “Lola,” “Boys can be girls and girls can be boys.” Devor is dean of social sciences at the University of Victoria and author of Gender Blending: Confronting the Limits of Duality (1989), from which this selection is excerpted, and FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society (1997).
Montoya, Margret E. "Masks and Identify," and "Masks and Resistance," in The Latino/a Condition: A Critical Reader New York: New York University Press, 1998.
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
Growing up in a Latino base community there were numerous instances that metaphor,“si me voy con la Luna o el Sol”, which means either you choose the Sun (Dad) or Moon (Mother), was used just to see who the kids prefered .Therefore creating, the environment that children would be repeatedly asked to choose the ultimatum between parents. In the reading “Mamitis and the Traumas of Development in a Colonia Popular of Mexico City” by Matthew C. Gutmann and “Bad Boys and Good Girls: The Implications of Gender Ideology for Child Health in Jamaica” by Carolyn Sargent and Michael Harris correlations between class in their countries and how it impacts family developments. The Essay will focus on Gutmann’s reading on mamitis gender expectation, secondly how Sargent’s reading tackles the issue of
The the book introduces the topic by defining sex and gender. Sex refers to the biology of your body, there are two aspects within this concept: primary sex characteristics and secondary characteristics. Primary characteristic is the genitalia which you are born with. Secondary sex characteristics has to do with the hormones; distribution of male and female hormones. Gender on the other hand is a societal concept that comes along with gender roles; which is when society places roles on how each gender should act. This is where sexist stereotypes such as “girls like pink and boys like blue” come about. Gender roles become impacted by other factors such as: religion, class, race, culture to name only a few. Culture and other aspects alter what is perceived as the norm; some cultures recognize an androgynous gender, while the concept is still taboo in many cultures. This chapter, assesses how patriarchy prevails given the fact that gender roles create an environment meant to benefit males more than
Orozco, Graciela L. "Understanding the Culture of Low-Income Immigrant Latino Parents: Key to Involvement." The School Community Journal 1st ser. 18 (2008): 21-37. Web. .
Identities are an important part of the human experience. One of the many identities that creates a person is gender. Society, being the entity establishing social norms and social roles, plays a part in effecting the individual’s gender, and how they choose to express themself. The underlying or overlying identities also have the same effect. Gender is not only an identity, it is a lifestyle inside and out. Gender, like race, class, and sexuality; is not limited to the binary scale, and that is normal, natural, and human. The concept of gender is man-made, but it forces one’s hand to analyze the thought processes behind an individual's perception on gender through self, through society, or through the dichotomy and/or correspondence of the