Reflective Tag:
Most parts of the world experience a gender health gap, resulting in the longer life expectancy of men than women. Violence occurs more often in men than does women for many reasons but mostly because men try to exert dominance over others to show manliness. Problems in healthcare come mostly from men being stubborn from years of fathers saying “real men do not go to doctors”, as well as men pushing each other to do wilder things for an adrenaline rush. Women ignore this sense of proving themselves to one another and therefore live longer.
Artifact 5
Why do women live longer than men? In every country on Earth women live on average at least 10 years longer than men. Women take charge in most families of healthcare for all members of the family, including themselves. For the children and the wife this system works to their advantage; however, the husband being the man of the family, often sees fit to avoid healthcare at all costs and therefore reduce his life expectancy. This fault in a man’s ability prioritize health over other things in his life is a major reason for shortening of life expectancy in all men.
Men all over the world are in a constant competition with themselves and other men to be the best man/manliest man on the planet. Men take every opportunity to show off our higher levels of testosterone and increased strength over women. America is a great example of this. In this country there is an overflow of commercials on TV that are all advocating for men to drink beer, smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco, lift heavy things, join the military, play dangerous sports at the highest levels, engage in all types of competition, and eat the unhealthiest foods possible. If there is no danger associated with an activity most men do not see it as a worthy use of our time. For instance, I have always wanted to go skydiving and recently I offered my girlfriend the opportunity to go on a trip where we could skydive, bungee jump, and parasail. All of these activities have a high chance of an adrenaline rush accompanied with an increased risk of death. To me this seemed a perfect vacation, I could do something that proved my masculinity to her and have a blast at the same time. Being the well-educated responsible woman, she immediately declined to go on the trip and insisted that I was not going either. Women all over the world are seen to many men as a rain cloud to a sunny day if you will when it comes to having a good time. That is because women are the more nurturing/caring member of the family. They take responsibility for the well-being of all members of the family because they want a family to live a long and healthy life. Many men do not see it as manly for them to take on the role of caregiver for the family when it comes to healthcare. Fathers take on the challenge of making their sons the future role models/bread winners of their future families and thus the cycle continues. Modern advances have begun to change this norm though. There are now public health interventions being staged to make it seem cool for men to deviate from the path of being the most manly man possible while staying at the front of their families.
Of all the factors affecting men and women’s health such as obesity, tobacco, and alcohol, most can be controlled by the minds of men. The world has not been forgiving to the human body and men have taken it upon themselves to overcome challenges presented in the most unhealthy ways possible. There has always been competition among men to push their bodies beyond what is necessary and therefore they gain praise from others for their accomplishment. This is how the brain of a man works and that is why we die younger than women.

HR: in-class notes, handouts, powerpoint on gender health gap, Men In America: NPR

Reflective tag:
People are born in a world that identifies them as either a man or woman by a simple glance at first sight. Society demands that a person live the life that was intended for them during the nine months in a womb. But, not everyone can live that life. Some people go to any extent to escape what they do not believe was intended for them. Depending on where they are on Earth they can be met with resistance or acceptance, and even death.
Article 3
Does everyone on Earth have to be either a man or woman, or is there a grey area in between? The world is a demanding place that has certain “understood” values for all people. Humans understand that men and women are separate for a reason, mostly for the sake of reproduction. Therefore society tells people that to be anything other than man or woman is wrong and if a person feels for any reason that they are not what they were born to be then they do not belong to any society. These people are often times left in the grey area with no hope of being seen as equals in the world. At least in America that is how these people of the Third Gender are seen.
The culture that exists here in America is one that appreciates hard work and traditional values. Men and women are considered equals and granted most of the same opportunities if they are deserving. Unfortunately for the group of people who believe they are stuck inside a body that was created with the wrong destiny there is little hope for achieve the same levels of opportunity. Many people in America have been beaten, murdered, belittled, threatened, and even burned alive for being something out of the ordinary. How does this exist in the country that supposedly has more freedoms than any other? Traditions coming mostly from religion tell Americans that only man and woman can be part of the world. For instance, I am a Christian and in the beginnings of my religion if someone was anything other than a man or woman it meant certain death for that person. However, my religion has evolved since the beginning of the world, Christians are told to love everyone for who they are no matter what they are. Therefore I accept everyone for who they want to be as long as they show me the same love and respect. In America though, people can not be recognized by the government as being a member of this “Third Gender” on their birth certificate. Countries like Nepal, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany to name a few, do allow people to be labeled as something different for the rest of the world to recognize. Even if it is not recognized by government people do find a way to make themselves known. In Thailand there is a group called the Kathoey or “ladyboys” who are men that identify themselves as women. These men undergo castration and other procedures to change their bodies to the form they believe they were intended to be. The society of Thailand is very open to this change and does not object. However, most families will not accept these ladyboys back into their homes and they can not get jobs, forcing them to either beg or prostitute themselves as a means to survive. Different cultures react in unique ways to this change, but there is always a stigma that follows.
World views are ever changing and might eventually accept this third gender as part of society everywhere. Personally I do not fault these people for trying to change if they are unhappy to the extent that they would rather die than live as they are. However, my beliefs tell me than man and woman are created for a reason, as do most Americans beliefs. Unfortunately for the people that fall into the third gender they will likely always have a harder life than the normal man and woman.

HR: Handouts from class, Google “third gender acceptance”, notes from video “middlesexes”

Reflective tag:
In this section of BI 218X there is much debate over whether men and women are seen as equals anywhere in the world. There are many places in the modern world where equivalence for gender is a major priority. However, in some unwavering countries men still dominate society and do not hesitate to express their dominance through any means necessary. Some of these countries though do find ways to rely on their women, because without them we would not survive.
Artifact 3
Different cultures throughout the world treat women in various ways. Evolution has brought about some changes in most advanced countries, leaving behind some of the old ways of men dominating women. However, many third world countries and even some advanced countries still see fit to allow men to abuse their women with no consequence. Some of these countries, even though lacking a form of government, do see women as a value to their society. Therefore men give them many responsibilities which would be overwhelming to most people. The Kpelle of Liberia are a good example of how women are often belittled by an overwhelming work load.
In West Africa life is tough. Surviving is the number one priority for most cultures. The Kpelle of Liberia believe in the superiority of men over women. They use this belief to define how men and women provide for their family. Men are in charge of hunting and growing rice, which is their number one product and is used for sustainment as well as a means of collecting revenue for their society. Women are responsible for growing other crops that need are needed for sustainment of life, they are responsible for the locating and acquiring of water for their family, and they are the equivalent of a modern day “bookkeeper” in the sense that they sell all surplus produce and allot money for men to plant the next crop of rice. In this culture there is hierarchical jurisdiction where a paramount chief owns all the land and then allots certain acreage to section elders who in turn divides the land between the men in his patrilineage. The women are never owners of land; rather they control the produce of the land that their husband is given. In this way women are not equals with men as in America, but they are given significant responsibility. Without their efforts then men would not survive and their culture realizes that need for women’s help. Marriage in this society revolves around bridewealth, something that Americans even use, in the sense that the wife’s family pays for the majority of a wedding. Although Americans do not claim to have similarities with cultures that are “less sophisticated”, there are several correlations between our world and their world. For instance, in many families men go to work every day to provide the big necessities like money, while the women stay at home and clean/shop for everything…aka provide the water. Many men would never want to do this and might not even be able to.
For most of America the culture has changed since the industrial revolution. Many women today are leading in all fields of the business world. There are CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies who are women; Doctors, Lawyers, Preachers, Truck Drivers, Policemen, even Soldiers who are all women. We have made many advancements that other countries are far behind on. However, there will always be some examples within our culture where women are still treated as unequal.

Scott A. Beasley
HR: Artifact 3: Gender and Culture, Handout on Kpelle of Liberia

Reflective tag:
The world treats men and women differently and we refer to this as the Global Gender Gap. Men have always been stronger than women and have used that strength to gain what they want. Unfortunately for women this often means their mistreatment. Time has proved to be beneficial for some countries though. Women are treated differently in separate parts of the globe, sometimes being granted all the freedoms of men and sometimes given none of them.
Artifact 2
What is the Global Gender Gap? There is such a thing in our world today as it has been around in some form or another since creation. Cultures all over the world recognize the differences in men and women as far as strength and instincts are concerned and will often let these differences define the roles of differing genders. Unfortunately some societies/cultures get too carried away with the idea that the man of the family must always be the “bread winner” and the female must always be the “subordinate mother”. A few countries such as Iceland, Finland, and Norway have a much smaller gender gap. In these countries women have many of the same advantages that men do. They have equal: economic participation/opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. On the other hand Chad, Pakistan, and Yemen are the worst countries in the world for women to live. In these countries education for women is almost nonexistent, economics are 70% controlled by men, health of women is among the lowest of concerns, and politics are 99% controlled by men. These countries may be the worst in the world however the gender gap is present in almost every country, including America.
The USA has been known for granting equal rights to all citizens no matter color or gender, at least since the 1960’s, but when compared to other countries we fall short in a few categories. Overall the US is ranked 20th in the world for the global gender gap. We are ranked 4th in economic participation and opportunity, 39th in educational attainment, 62nd in health and survival, and 54th in political empowerment, all for women. Even though we have more freedoms than any other country in the world our women are not at the top of the charts. Perhaps this is due to the old fashioned way of thinking. Until the First World War women were supposed to stay at home and raise children while the men went out to earn a living for the family. This held true for the white families at least. Many other races had to employ every member of the family just to survive. Today we encourage women to get involved in studies that have long been revolved around men, such as STEM majors. However, many of the social outlets, such as television, suggest that women become a “real housewife”. We do have a government system that protects women’s rights though. Many countries have no government and even if they do most times women are not allowed to speak for themselves or hold rank within the system. Perhaps this is why in some countries such as India women are treated as lower class citizens, often times beaten, raped, and abused by men simply because they were born a different gender. There are also systems in India that allow for abortions of female fetuses if the family does not want to take on the financial burden of raising a woman. Although we as Americans have room for improvement within our gender gap it could be much worse.
The global gender gap results from man’s dominance over women in the fact that we are stronger than women and therefore should be a leader. However, being stronger than women we were intended to protect women rather than use our might against them. The world could benefit greatly from the diversity that women bring to the table, but until countries realize the faults within countries like Yemen, Chad, and Pakistan, there will not be a bridged gender gap.

Reflective Tag:
Prior to starting BI 218X my knowledge of Sex and Gender was very limited, and it still is limited. However, I am beginning to respect the differences in opinion that everyone has. I now see that people from different backgrounds and of differing cultures have a wild imagination as to what Sex and Gender actually is. Or perhaps I have a wildly narrow view of what these two are. Whatever the case, here is what I believe along with the knowledge I am beginning to attain from BI 218X.

Artifact 1
From my 21 years of life I have come to understand that Sex means one thing, it is the act of making love to a significant other. My background of Southeastern North Carolina has always referred to sex as meaning this, and my parents/friends taught me that it only had this one meaning. Gender on the other hand has always been the distinction between a boy and girl…do you have Gonads and a Penis or do you have a Vagina. However, in the past 2 ½ years I have begun to gain a broader understanding of what the words Sex and Gender actually mean. My brother is a religious studies major/anthropology minor student at East Carolina University. We are the same age and during our freshman year while on spring break he told me that since beginning college he was no longer heterosexual, he was now homosexual. The news was and still is a shock to me; however, he has many of the same beliefs that this class is arguing for.
The parallels between this class and my brother’s beliefs show that Sex is the Biological distinction as to whether a person is male or female(Gonads/Penis or Vagina) and Gender is whether that person is masculine or feminine. He has argued with me for the past couple of years that just because someone is born a man or woman does not mean that he/she believes that what they were meant to me. This aligns with the argument that Gender is based off of Psychological, Social, and Behavioral aspects rather than what I believe it is. This argument does make sense to me and I can see where people feel that they were intended to be something else and therefore do whatever they can to achieve that goal. My beliefs on the other hand tell me otherwise. If a person chooses to identify as something they are not, as given by God, then I can not identify them as such. I believe in God and that everyone was created as they are for a reason, there definitely are less “Manly Men” in the world and they are needed. Not every man should be the “bread winner” as society tells us to be, and not every woman should be the “stay at home mom”, but the majority of society does not approve of someone changing what they were created to be. Society is demanding and unrelenting toward the groups of people that do not fit the norm, such as those who do not identify with a gender that is masculine or feminine.
Throughout this course I shall be open to understand all the differences in opinion, such as these new definitions of Gender and sex. Hopefully the past couple years of shutting out my brother and his experiences will give me a greater respect for what the human body is capable of and how my opinions should not override what he/others believe or want for their lives.

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