OUR PRESENTATION "SEX IN THE CITY"

Sex In The City

            Working with my group I learned a lot and also had some fun with them while we worked on gather some of our information. We all put ideas together in how to present and had many outlines to make our group work and what we were trying to prove to the class and the professor. As we all showed what areas we were all interesting in we all had an idea to break done into three small groups among ourselves in order concentrate in certain areas. As a group we communicated via internet or text messages. Something that our group did very well in was meeting up as a group at least ones every week or sometimes even two times a week. I believe this help us simply because it kept us on track with what type of information or clips we were looking for and introduce our group the information we were trying to present to the class. I really enjoyed the fact that our group was very confident and was open for new ideas; gave us plenty of feedback to make our research and presentation go in the right direction. I felt that because of our group meetings we got to learn different things not only as individuals but also about the theories and how to view the show in a different prospective.

            The way I contributed was in two ways one was with my partner and secondly, with my group members. My partner and I both kept emailing ourselves with outlines and different information that we both felt it would fall with the context of postmodernism. Together we came up with was to present our concept and what was it that they we wanted out individual group to learn and as well for the class itself. I did help with looking up clips and I had found a great clip for the presentation that we found ourselves out of time to actually show the class that fell right into our concept. I also helped my team during out presentation I was the second person who when up and asked the class what were their thought about sex in the city? So I contributed on making the class talk and did our ice breaker so our class mates had an idea of what we were going to give them as an over look. When we broke our class into small groups my partner and I gave them an overlook about what postmodernism and asked them a few questions. The team came up with a great discussion and tied in the show with the context of the barker book. They even compared Sex In The City with older shows and tried to show us how this show was not the first one to brake different boundaries. I felt that the class itself might have enjoyed the fact that me allowed them to share their thoughts about the show and at the end we still brought them together and taught them three concepts and might have changed their minds about the show itself.        

Digital Media Culture

            Reading this section of the book made me realize how important technology has become to society. It is amazing to know that now a day new thing are invented that takes such little space and weights almost nothing. For instance, now you can buy a USB that can store important documents and information. Not only documents can be stored in this particular device but memorable photos and videos. In such a little item you can store so much and connect it to any computer device. The reason why I brought this particular term up is because, it shows only shows us how much technology has expand among us. Before we would have been obligated to take a huge device in order to share certain information. Now is easy and plenty of light weight devices.

            The internet has become the most used device in today’s society as we are all familiar with. As mentioned by Barker the internet is an open resource in which any person can go into. It does not matter the age, gender, sex or class, nationality you may belong to. As reading this description I found it both beneficial but then again not really. Why you may be asking yourself? Well for one I found if beneficial because the internet is a free place where people from different cultures can come together as one. And secondly get along with no issue on who you are and what you may be getting involved with. I do believe it is the one place where people can share information without caring about a person’s economic status nor race as already mention or even what political party they take part in. Thirdly the internet has become a helpful resource to all users. It shares information that can expand ones knowledge and often times allows people who do not read to actually practice it more online. The only bad thing is that often time’s peoples identity has been stolen through the internet. And many incidents that are not positive have occurred because of the internet such as dating and many women either disappearing or getting killed. Other then that the internet has more positive usage then negative. It is a matter of know how to make good use of it rather than doing something risky. For many parents I believe they should just teach their children about the risks and also monitor their internet browsers.  Something else that was brought up was the blog access. The reason why I decided to talk about the blogs was because we are currently using them in our class. In the description used compares to the way I understood the usage of the blogs. The blogs are used to inform people about a particular situation and one is to post their opinion about it. I really enjoyed the fact that this actually exists it has been the first time I ever make use of this. I enjoy the fact that one can read anything and post up their thoughts freely. There is no right or wrong answer you just find out about different thoughts and discuss it with people from different places or in our case classmates.     

Media :)

Chapter 10

            Chapter ten talked about different topics that were very interesting such as what the media puts out there for those TV viewers. For instance, it talked about the type of topics the news brings out and what they do to share the news that is supposed to be expose to the public. It was mentioned that it obviously informs the public about the good and the bad occurring around the world which I personally found it true. However as I continue to read I noticed that often times the new tempts to scare the audience more they inform. There is hardly a time when something good is shared for instance they talk about people dying because of war or because they found something wrong with the food being eaten. Therefore I believe it creates some kind of fear with the media and the public itself. Though out chapter ten I found it interesting the fact that it was said how the media plays a huge role in society. It starts by telling people how to act or what to wear and even what kind of items to purchase. I found it amazing how the media can hypnotize people to do what they want them to do. People run their world based on what they are told simply because they believe that is proper way to live. I should be saying that the media has the power to run peoples live even our at this point. We think we do things because that’s what we chose yes it is somewhat true however the question is where did you see the style of clothing you decided to wear? Often time we die for a pair of shoes we see on certain movie star.

            Moving alone soap operas are a “females space” it was told by barker. This section of the chapter made me realize how true this might be. What he meant by this was that a world full of fantasy can make a women desire that type of life. Within soap operas most of us are familiar that they show different type of women charters such as the emotional typical woman who wants a family and suffers to find happiness. And then you come across the evil woman who fights for what she may want. They also prove a role where they attempt to prove independence there is everything in those type of roles such as divorce, taking care of their children and so many other duties that in real life women do put up with. Therefore, many women fall into the trap of desiring these particular women’s lives. The media involves so much drama into the soap operas that people think that is how they should run their lives of that is how life turns out to be. However, women not all of them often times forget that it is a fantasy world created to entertain not to follow. Personally speaking, soap operas also follow a certain fashion sense that makes men and women follow.                    

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

            Hegemony: aggression or expansion by large nation in an effort to achieve world domination. Personally I found this word strong and interesting. Based on the definition I got to comprehend that the actual meaning of hegemony I got the feeling that it can be used in a situation where one must achieve a certain goal. The fact that you can dominate and overcome what you may put yourself into. I enjoyed the fact that they talked about power and the dominance the society holds upon citizens. It was also discussed how we differanitiate our self among others such are black or white, poor or rich etc.  It was also important how it was mentioned the roles of intellectual. Barker in his book he mentions traditional intellectuals who are also referred as scientific, literary and may other positions that take place in today’s society. to my understanding I found these people important because they are the ones that make our place a better place. If we do know have these people fulfilling this areas we would not know the  basic things in life.  Within this particular description it seem to me as if it was not as appreciated  when it was said that it was common sense. However if we do not have this basic skills we would not be able to over come any job put out there. In the new language of cultural and politics it talked about the way people still refer themselves as. Even though we attempt to say we are equal to each other still use negative connotations. However within the book it has several examples where certain groups attempt to prove positive movements.  For instance, gay and lesbians create celebrations to receive support and gather enough people that share the same wants and therefore their voice is heard.  Many other groups have face struggles where their voices needed to be heard. In which I believe power is the phrase that gets involved. Why power many may ask? I personally thought power was a word to highlight. I was often used in the text. Not only it was mentioned throughout the chapter but referring to the real world what we now consider heroes needed power to move obstacles. Articulation was described in an interesting way how two different concepts can be brought together as one. Why was this interesting to me? The reason why is because us human do this all the time we get two different situations and somehow time tie the together. Even though they can mean to different things we manage to bring together but not only that bring them together in a way that they make sense. Society itself has took care of making this term important. It was defined as part of ones culture and also represents you as a person. Now a days people feel it is necessary to adapt this to their life to bring some kind of sense to their culture and life.  Multiculturalism is like a melting pot in other words where all kinds of people from different culture come together as one.  

Orientalism

Chapter four spoke about orientalism, and how it tries to show how the European culture gained strength and identity. It was mentioned that it will set itself against the Orient as a sort of alternate self. It also mentioned that German Orientalism and Anglo-French were similar in the fact that they both obtained intellectual authority over the the Orient within the Western culture. Authority is a strong word, which goes hand in hand with it’s persuasiveness, it’s status, value and judgement. Authority is powerful, therefore should be analyzed in the best way possible because it is a strong word. I also agree that authority is a big deal because it gives you power over something or in some cases someone. I also believe that authority comes with responsibility because some people abuse their authority to their own benefit and affect others without it.  This reading talked about the importance of analyzing authority, and proved how authority applies to Orientalism. The study and analysis in the reading describe both the historical authority in and the personal authorities of Orientalism. 

For instance, the main methodological devices used for studying authority was the strategic location. It was explained that strategic location describes the authors dispute about the oriental things he talks about. The author also explains strategic formation which helps analyze the relationship between a single and a group of texts are relevant to the culture at large. He also stated that the principal product of exteriority is representation. How something is presented is extremely important because it shows professionality. It was explained that style, setting, history, and social issues are the major things looked at when it come to authority. When someone has authority, you automatically show them respect and look up to them. Some are inspired by someone's authority and aim for some themselves. The analysis in the reading claims that the orientalist have emphasis on the evidence, which is not as they stated “invisible.” I found this article very interesting because I learn how important authority was in the eighteenth century and how relevant it was to Orientalism. It is interesting to analyze how even having authority in this century and in the past are some what similar. Authority is still as important to the people and analyzed well. It was also refreshing to see the power of authority in the eighteenth century and how it could also have been taken advantage of. Authority still till this day consist of the main factors which are persuasiveness, presentation, and value. To me presentation is the most important because you should present yourself well in order for people to respect your authority and learn that how you look is one of the reasons why you are in that place. The relevance between orientalism and politics is an important and sensitive truth. It brings out the idea of innocence, or guilt in black or women studies. When i took a black studies class, orientalism and politics almost always came hand in hand. They were both important roles and one was relevant to the other. 

The rules of attraction

The Rules Of Attraction

            Before opening the book I had a different prospective of it, because of the cover I honestly thought it had to do with a mastery story and involved culture because of the class. But I come across a book that had so much going and was absolutely interesting. It called my attention the fact that the book talked about college students and how it concentrated on all types of students. All the students mentioned were addicted to drug and drinking. They were liberal adults who found it normal to have casual sex among each other or at parties. These students slept around with people they either never met or that were in relationships. The dangerous concept about the drugs and the abuse of alcohol was that students would involve themselves with situation they did want to. They also had a case of homosexuality. The description of the book was intense made me as the reader feel the scene. The beginning of the book was shocking and sad the fact that a girl who was inexperienced lost he virginity unconsciously. It made me think how unsafe it is to be under the influence and with the wrong crowd. This particular book should be assigned to incoming freshman because it would be good for them to get a heads up about certain situation they may come across with. I also realized how many students find relief and forget about house troubles in drugs such as the guy who over doused because of his parents separation.

            I also found it interesting the different treatment they had among students. They seem to me like they looked down upon financial aid students.  Everything time he was mentioned that concept was brought up. I really enjoyed the way the book was structured and how every character had its own part but then again still connected.  It made me realize how important it is to have safe sex or talk to others about it because these students did not know if the people they were having sex with had a disease. In one particular case one of the college girl was worried about a unwanted pregnancy so she decided to have an abortion. I am not against that decision because after all a women has the right to choose what she wants to do with her body. On the other hand, it also makes one think about miss communication with their parents because not one student ever mention calling their parent for help and guidance. Most of them worried about being broke never called their parents for help even though some came from wealthy families. All this characters made the college exercise so wild and crazy something that every parent fears. I personally thought college was all about parties and drinking and being pushed to make the wrong decisions. But as a current student I learned that we make the choices and we follow the path we want. There is a lot of pressure at times but that is ones time to prove how strong one can be.     

                         Chapter 3 The History of Sexuality describes sexuality as it existed in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. As I read, it was nothing surprising to realize how taboo the issue of sexuality was. “Sexual irregularity was annexed to mental illness,” this shocked me to know that they interpret excessive sexual needs into a medical problem. During that century it was uncommon to have strange desires or even more desires than the next person. All the possible deviance during that period of time was carefully examined and described to prevent anything but a normal sexual development. They made sure to provide medical treatment and the proper therapy needed to help with “mental illness.” It was a mission to make sure no one had extreme fantasies even with their partner and if that was not enough, masturbation was out of the question. I think one of that century’s major problems is reducing the number of possible population. I think they believed if masturbation was allowed people will continue masturbating without the need to reproduce and cause a decrease of population needed. Now we grow learning that seeking self pleasure is not only normal but healthy. It has been stated that masturbation and other sexual accessories have decreased sexual violent offenses.

         Moreover, Marriage was another major deal and problematic situation during the eighteenth century. Marriage came with rules and regulations, which appeared more of a job than a loving relationship. It was interesting to learn that the sexual activities between a husband and wife were also being regulated. If there was a lack of sexual activity, the couple had to plead before a witness to get back on track. The severity of lack of sexual pleasure in a marriage was to be settled and treated as if it was against the law. Furthermore, other severe deviations included, adultery, rape, incest, bestiality, and marriage without parental consent. When it came down to the judicial laws, homosexuality fell into the same system as of adultery. These deviances were taken into account in the religious and civil jurisdictions. Another shocking thing I learned was that being born a hermaphrodite was a crime and they were treated as criminals. This was a crime because their sex wasn’t distinguished and could not fall into society’s strict categories of male or female. It was hard for me to understand the meaning of their actions when it came to hermaphrodites because to me it is something humanly impossible to prevent. They feared difference, uncommon, and as a result they restricted the issue instead of understanding it. Finally, the segregation of gender’s was proof of the fear society had and the method they use to “control” excessive fantasies. This article about sexuality really helps me appreciate the amount of freedom we have now. It also helps me understand how we got to this point and realize that understanding the history begin every issue helps better the issues now. I believe sex should be a free spiritual feeling that one has and shall not be governed by any one person.