Author: Thurmya Davis

Journal Entry 1

Thurmya Davis

Gender Communication

May 30th 2020

 

Journal Entry 1

 

“Your power is your radical self. Find it” – Aya Chebbi. I love this statement because I do believe that no matter gender role, sexual orientation, or classification a person’s superpower is being their complete and true self! I grew up in a religious home, obviously strict (and even judgmental at times) towards views on gender that did not comply to the normal “rules”. Even though I do disagree that there are neutral genders or third genders, I have never been a judgmental person. I am big on people living their life they way THEY WANT TO! So overall, my first time reading about gender role (first chapter in Gender Stories) I found it very interesting to hear different perspectives about gender roles.

 

As I read this chapter, one thing that I definitely agree with is that gender is a sensitive topic because of our stubbornness to accept something that is different. In the same breath, as I mentioned earlier I do think that gender and sex is a fact not an opinion. Meaning, when we are born with a penis, we classify as male. When we are born with a vagina, we classify as women. Now with that being said, I still believe people should be able to date and engage in sexual intercourse with whom ever they choose. I also believe that people should be able to wear what ever they want to wear, choose what ever profession they want, and more! Because just as this chapter stated, your identity expresses who you are as a person.

 

Even off the topic of gender roles, choices is one of the biggest elements in life. In agreeance with this chapter, human’s have the choice of (almost) everything. You may question why I say “almost”. I say “almost” because we do not have the choice of choosing our parents, or financial situation when we are born, or how we look when we are born, and same goes for sex. We do have the choice to change all of these things are we get older though. As we get older, we have the choice to choose how we dress, the choice of our partners, and even how we identify. The question is if we choose to identify as woman even though we were born a man, does that mean we are not a man? While I respect other’s decisions, I still believe that no matter what a male is a male and a female is a female. It is okay to be one sex and live “the life” a different sex. I personally just think, every still classifies as the sex that they were born.

Discussion 1

Hi Everyone, my name is Mya. I am from the Bronx, born and raised. I’ve lived in various parts of the Bronx, upstate NYC, new jersey, and now I live in Queens NY. I was raised by my mother, and only my mother. For twelve years it’s always been just me and my mother so I grew up in a feminine environment. My mother always kept me looking very much girly, I was definitely the princess of the family. I grew up to be even more girly. I have to always have my nails done, hair done, I love makeup (I am a makeup artist), and I love dressing nice and taking pictures. When I was in my early teenager years I modeled, and even now I still take taking pictures seriously (everything has to be perfect). In my early teens I was very slim, and basically no fat. I always thought that I wanted to be thicker. My mother, aunts, and older cousins all has hips, butt, and big breast. I was basically a stick compared to them. I remember doing unhealthy practices in attempt to gain weight. All while my mother kept telling me to watch how much and what I was eating because as I got older the food with begin to make me gain weight. I didn’t think nothing of it, because I was always so skinny. I wanted to gain weight, but I thought it was only but so much weight I could possibly gain. In my senior year of highschool is when I started noticing my weight increase. I went from being 125 pounds to 135. I remember my first year of college I weigh 140. I could not believe it one bit. I never could get passed 120-125 pounds, now I was about 20 pounds heavier. After my first year of college, I went back home for good and was in a depressed mode trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life. My eating habits got completely out of control. I went from 140 pounds to 160 pounds. That’s when I realized how easy it was to gain weight, and not being able to track it until you’re busting out of your clothes. I then went from 160 to 180. I knew I was beginning to loose myself if I reached 200 pounds, that was 80 pounds over my normal. Currently, I am experiencing mild insecurity trying to get back to my weight goal of 140. Being a woman, especially a woman who grew up in a household where your mother is watching your weight has been very hard for me. I secretly going through my insecurity. Sometimes I record my youtube videos, and will delete it just because my double chin is showing too much. As a woman, keeping up with your weight can be a struggle and can be an insecurity when you feel like you don’t look as good as you used to.