"Beyond the Cult of Fatherhood"By: David Osborne

                   "Beyond the Cult of fatherhood", when i first read this title i was a bit confused. I can imagine a cult of Motherhood but Fatherhood, what could a man possible know about raising a child. That was my initial thought as i began reading this piece. I do understand that there are many different types of families and there are men who are the primary care givers, but to be honest most men could not come close to the bond women have with there children.
                    As i continued reading, the author recognized my point and explained how he realized he could not come close to what his wife had with the child (Nick) even if he had desired to. This brought up another question for me, how many men want to have a strong bond with there baby but are unable to without making there partners feel insecure about there maternal duties? Do most men want a more active role in there child's life but don't know how to go about it?
                    The author begins the story by telling the reader all that has been going on in his day, from the baby's fever to the stress he has been facing trying to complete his work. I feel that most men would pity him while a woman reading this article would be happy a man is feeling her pain. That a man is understanding what she goes through everyday. I do have to admit that i felt like he should go through everything he did because it gave him a deeper appreciation to what mothers do everyday. The author goes on to say "After 48 hours, I'm ready to pin medals on women who stay home every day with their kids. For single mothers, I'm ready to build monuments...".
                     This story shows me that though the author had his doubts and moments that he felt miserable, the time he had with his son were priceless. When it comes down to it time goes so quickly, the author is only so lucky that he got such precious memories in the days spent home raising his son. Most men may be reluctant to admit it but maybe they want to be pushed into being more involved with their  child. Perhaps fathers want to say they have been forced rather than they made the decision themselves.

"Woman's Rights/When Woman Get Her Rights Man Will Be Right"By Sojourner Truth- "Conquering Themselves So Beautifully" By Louisa May Alcott

                            These two pieces fit extraordinarily well together. They both manage to hit the major points of what women have been faced with throughout time. One focused more on the rights of women and women coming into there own as a powerful group rather than the property of men. The other story was about four young women, each of these young women could relate to any type of women because they faced all of the insecurities and expectations women face every day.
                           In the piece written by Sojourner Truth i saw two sides to the writer. In both Woman's Rights and When Woman Get Her Rights Man Will Be Right, i saw a great deal of emotion. Woman's Rights was written very plainly, in the authors exact words which brings the reader ever deeper into the authors world. As for the second piece written by Sojourner Truth, i do have to admit i was a little confused at her examples. In parts of her speech it almost feels like she understands that women, more specifically black women are not as intelligent as the white women. Though after reading it over a few times i saw that maybe she was trying to appeal to the white women for support in the fight as well. Sojourner knew that the fight for woman to be treated as equals was not going to be easy, she needed all the help she could get.
                        Conquering themselves so Beautifully connected with Sojourners speech because in this story the woman were treated better because they were not slaves, but they still had to fit a certain mold to please a man. Regardless of the fact that the man they were pleasing was there father, i still feel that was a defining point in the story. The problem was not that they were trying to please there father but in the way they thought they should. All of the girls wanted to be more "lady like" and the intellectual child "Amy" wanted to basically dumb herself down because everyone told her it was wrong for her to try to speak with such large words.
                    Both of these pieces hit different sides of the fights woman face everyday, no matter what the year may be the challenges woman must over some keep coming. Today woman still must fight to prove themselves at home, school and the work place, i know that just as our ancestors have done before use we will continue to conquer the challenges ahead.

"I'm Thin Therefore I Am" By: Nicci Gerrardo

                As i began to read the title of this story i imagined it would be about  a typical women speaking about body image and how much women really care about it. I quickly realized that it was completely the opposite, there was so much depth in this piece that i immediately became intrigued. I feel that most women can easily relate to this story because its about more than appearance, its about life and living, savoring every part of it.
               The author began the story by talking about hunger and how it rarely plays a part in why she eats. Her first sentence alone could make a connection to anyone because no matter what mood you are in when you eat, most of the time its because of your feelings, not your stomach. She then goes on to explain how important food and cooking is in her daily life. Its a door that connects her to her family, herself and even piece. The author does a magnificent job of bringing to light the happiness but also the pain food brings to peoples lives.
                Gerrardo also switches over from the joy she gets from food, to how peoples body images changing over the years. Its obvious that societies vision of beauty is a thin and tall figure but society may be the reason why so many young people have body dis morphia or believe they are over weight when in reality they are extremely Mal nourished. Though many test have proven this to be a growing problem in our country i would have to disagree with the example given in the book about the Miss America pageant winners. After seeing the picture of the winner from 1927 i saw that she was average in body size and looked exactly like what era would have consisted of. I have to admit i was expecting a drastic difference when i looked over at their winner in 1997, but as far as body image goes i don't think there was anything wrong with her. The nutrition experts quoted in the book stated that the contestants now are dangerously malnourished and under weight, i do not think that is true. Of course the contestant from 1997 is going to look different because in that decade women where already exercising different ideas, and a more fit and healthy body was one of them. Though there are definitely a high number of pageant girls malnourished I don't see any signs of that in the photo of the winner in 1997.
                Overall i thought this piece was very strong and made me think of my family, about how we all connect and come together over food. Its a source of comfort and can show someone how much you really care for them. I very much enjoyed reading this because it wasn't the normal story about someones struggle with food that makes you resent eating, it was a story that reminds you about what a great thing it can be, all the wonderful memories it can bring.

"Bros Before Hos": The Guys Code

                   This piece had so much information about a guys "world" that its easy for anyone to get an idea of what life is like for a young man. "Bros Before Hos" opened my eyes to what men really face on a day to day basis, how the simplest words and actions may effect there image.
                   When i first looked at the title i had imagined this story would be about the guy code for how they act towards women. I thought this would be a piece about all the rules guys follow pertaining to choosing there friends over other women or the very popular rule of not stealing a friends girl. Much to my surprise this was about a different set of rules, the guy codes for maintaining there man -hood and staying in the masculine category.
                    My Initial perspective was that men couldn't have it tougher than a women. Women have to deal with so man changes and standards throw there way that men couldn't possibly compare. Though after going deeper into the piece i started to see that maybe beneath there cool exterior they did have problems on there mind. I have always heard those comments the author used as examples in the text, whether they were towards my brothers or other male friends but i had never taking a moment to really think about the effect it had on there development. One rarely sees the power a few words could have on a child who looks up to you, i think that's why men take so strongly to what is said to them by the male figures in there lives, because they look up to them.
                One statement that really caught my attention was when the author said " Homophobia is...the fear of other men-that other men will perceive you as a failure, as a fraud." This really struck a cord with me because i have seen so many insecure men be homophobic but the men who are calm and never try to be super masculine are always the ones who are completely fine with being around a homosexual.
                 This piece opened my eyes to the power words could have over someone if they are constantly hearing it growing up. By the time a boy is considered an adult a simple joking phrase like "that's gay"or "big baby" means a lot more to him then what is written on the surface. I think over all as a society we need to stop trying to categorize everything we do and trying to find a definition for every action. We should learn to live and enjoy, maybe then there wouldn't be so many suicides or columbines in our world.

" A Boys Life" Hanna Rosin

                The story "A Boys Life" is about a child who was born just like any other baby boy without any abnormalities. This baby's name was Brandon and though he was born a boy, his family started to notice some wierd behaviors occuring that most boys dont display. Brandon was only interested in girl things and wanted to look like one. The strangest thing about all of his actions was that he began wanting to be a female at such a young age, at only two years old he was already hiding his genetalia and pretending to be a girl. The article also goes on to describe not only how he is copping with his physical appearance but how his mother and stepfather are going about dealing with it.
                 My inicial perspective when i began reading was that Brandon was very lucky to have such understanding parents, especially his mother who didnt seem to doubt her son once. If anything she was constantly evaluating her own desicions because she was afraid of ruinning his life. One thing that never changed throughout the entire piece was her supportiveness, she didnt look down appon her son and simply aloud him to express himself freely. Tina, Brandons mother even made an effort to connect withother mothers she found who had transgender children. They lived in a confederate neighborhood and still Tina opened her mind to other ways of life, that to me showed how great of a mother she really was.
                 This article opened my eyes to that many different cases of transgender children living all around the world. I had no idea the numbers were so large and that these children could actually be aware of this at such a young innocent age. I feel asthough it is an extreme amout of growing to do so early on in life, these kids miss out on the best parts of there lives because they are dealing with so much hardship. I also learned about the harmone blockers wich to me seem like a very usefull treatment, though like any scientific movement need to be very carefully chosen. I do not agree with all of Zucker's oppinions about how he could simply change a child who believed they were born in the wrong body by  raising them in a patriarchal invironment, but i do however believe that parents should be absolutly sure there children are not just homosexual and are really transgender. It is much better to allow your child to be who they are instead of causing them so much pain throughout there lives that they actually hurt themselves or others.
                What i took from this piece was that this will always be a very heated debate, gender is always a controversal subject and when you add a child in the mix things can only get more complicated. Its very hard to choose a side on this subject because when it comes down to it, who really knows what is best for these children? Even there parents are unsure and they are crazy if they are confident in every choice they make because this is a child, not a document that is written out in a specific way and cannot be any different. I hope that as we all grow as a human race we can see that we are all connected and though we face different paths in life we still all have our differences and problems, though some people are dealt with a harder road it doesnt make them any less human. Brandon is now Bridget and i say more power to her, i think once she is able to mature and get over her struggles now it will only make her a stronger person. Its just a shame more people cant look at life through other peoples eyes, maybe then they would understand how it feels to be different.

          

Gracie Trailer, gender assignment (extra credit)