Patrick Keller

Help received: class discussions, videos, power points, and personal experience

So before taking this class the only methods I had heard of for contraception were male condoms, pulling out, pills, and an IUD. I had no idea that there were so many different methods. Dispite this there are only a few very effective ones. Condoms are the most easily accessible forms of contraception and are one of the most effective. In addition to being very effective at preventing pregnancy they also are effective protection against STIs. There are a few diffrent types of condoms: male, female and oral despite this I have yet to see either an oral condom or a female condom in the “wild”. There are other types of contraception that are effective as well.

Birth control comes in a few different forms oral in the form of pills, the shot (ouch) administered through the use of a needle and a more permanent rod that is placed under the skin. The pills have to be taken on time and the shots have to be administered about every three months. The Rod however is good for around three years and can be taken out at anytime. While these methods do not protect against STIs they are harder to screw up than a condom or pulling out, they also require less thought and do not decrease sexual pleasure. The less thought required the better the option in my opinion so I am a big fan of birth control. Another option is an IUD or an insert into the uterus that prevents pregnancy. It does not protect against STIs and from what I understand can be felt sometimes during intercourse. They are also prone to causing infections.

The other more drastic option its surgery to prevent pregnancy such as Vasectomies. This usually is a pretty good way to prevent pregnancy and can be permanent or reversible. It does not protect against STIs and Male or Female I would not advocate for the cutting up of body parts for birth control there are better ways such as pills, shots or rods.

My personal favorite of the bunch are the pills because they are pretty effective, they do not hurt the girl like shots nothing foreign is planted in the body and it does not decrease sexual pleasure for either partner. It is also harder to screw up than pulling out or condoms.

Gender health gap

Patrick Keller

Help Received: Power points, Class discussions, personal experience

Men and women have different sets of health issues that face them. There is some overlap in conditions but there are also illnesses that are unique to one sex or the other. While I do think that the problems facing men and women are different I don’t necessarily think that one problem set is necessarily worse than the other as there are pretty terrible conditions facing either group. For example there are illnesses  that are more common in men such as: Parkinson’s, skin cancer (Because we are dumb and think we are too good for sunscreen), ALS, HIV(Gay population), and Autism. Women also have a different set of illnesses they face such as: Chronic Kidney Disease, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, breast cancer and complications from pregnancy. One thing that affects heath in either gender is gender roles. Gender roles have the ability to discourage either gender from seeking medical assistance. Gender roles can also cause mental problems in both males and females.

Women obviously face some significant physical health issues that males do not. Men do not have to deal with as many issues as far as reproductive health goes and they do not have to deal with pregnancy and its complications. Gender roles also put almost all of the responsibility for contraception on the female. These expectation also put most of the responsibility and blame on females for pregnancy and abortion. This is wrong as it takes two to make a baby but often the baby daddy gets the hell out of doge and leaves the mother to provide for the baby, then when the girl gets an abortion when she cant support the kid she gets ostracized for doing so or even calling them murderers. Even if the kid is born women are expected to stay at home take care of the kids and they lose their ability to have jobs and do the things they enjoy which causes depression and other mental health problems.

Men have a couple significant issues facing them that women do not necessarily deal with. The gender role of men is the head of the household, the protectors the fighters. Your not supposed to cry, show weakness, or talk about your issues. You are supposed to look invincible especially to your spouse. So this creates significant problems when men have health issues as they have a tendency to try and “solider  through it” until it gets really bad. This is especially true with sexual heath as the last thing guys want to do is admit they have problems with sex as that is a large source of pride to a man. the dark side of this coin is that because we don’t talk to others about our issues we keep it bottled up inside which is why the suicide rate for men is super high. Speaking from experience this has the ability to make you feel backed into a corner with no way out as you don’t want to show weakness. Especially at a place like VMI where the suicide rate has been historically extremely high (and even encouraged or forced at certain times in history) you have to force yourself to find at least a few people that you trust and talk to them regularly, even if your very busy. It’s so so easy to get overwhelmed and feel alone you have to keep engaged with your buddies and support each other otherwise you will lose your mind.

Consider your own views of menstruation and reflect.

Patrick Keller

Help Received: Class Discussion, My own ramblings and experiences (thanks for putting up with them ;))

A little background first. So I grew up as the oldest of three boys which effectively meant I knew absolutely nothing about menstruation until I started dating girls in high school.  While I know my mom had them when I was little I really didn’t notice or more likely was completely oblivious to what it was. My first experience with menstruation was when I was a senior in high school and actually started dating. My first Girlfriend, who we’ll call “girlfriend 1”, and I did not have very good communication skills. So it came as a surprise to me when some days when I would try to talk to her at lunch she would be very rude and then randomly start crying and not talk the whole lunch. So after a while I would just stop hanging out with her if she was acting strange that day. It took one of her friends who saw what was going on to pull me aside and explain what was happening, she was on her period. I felt really dumb for not realizing that but I was also at a loss for what to do. For someone who grew up in a house full of boys this was a new one. I wasn’t sure if I should just give her space or if I should double down on the lovey dovey stuff. I ultimately opted for the first option which ended that relationship pretty quickly.

The second girl I dated who we’ll call “girlfriend 2” was a more interesting case as the second half of the relationship was long distance. While I was around during the summer while I knew she was on her period the only real sign is that she would fluctuate from being really quiet to being really cuddly. I would usually just get her some chocolates before I came over and then cuddle with her a lot that usually worked fine and we didn’t really have any other issues … Until I left, the whenever she would get on her period she was angry because I couldn’t be there for her and complained a whole bunch over the phone. This eventually led to her seeking out the attention of other guys as I was not there to satisfy here. Such is life though.

The third Girlfriend however was different entirely as she was on birth control. As a result I didn’t see any mood swings or behavior changes at all. That did not mean that we didn’t butt heads at all it was quite the opposite. So I would say that menstruation in all honesty does not bother me that much at all. although it makes it inconvenient for sex for a few days other than that you just have to understand where your girl is coming from and be patient with her. Just because they feel like they are being attacked from the inside doesn’t mean that they aren’t human. Ya gotta treat em right especially during this time and they will take care of you. During class it was noted that girls feel really embarrassed about tampons and such. I really don’t know why. I used them as a lifeguard and in the army as ways to stop bleeding. Its basically a big cotton ball so I don’t understand why they would freak out about it. Us guys do understand that girls have periods and it’s not a huge deal at all to us.

I think it would have been a lot nicer if my mom had mentioned some stuff about it when I was younger but I am oblivious to everything so I probably would not have realized it anyway. I don’t understand why people make buying tampons out to be like buying condoms. Its not secretive or naughty its a normal function of the human body. It’s basically toilet paper and should be seen as such, nobody gives me sideways looks when I buy toilet paper and it should be the same for tampons. that being said I’m always happy to go pick them up for someone I’m with. I think the expectation of girls to be “lady like” makes it embarrassing for them to acknowledge their menstruation which is dumb because while yes us guys like girls to be lady like we understand that you guys are human beings too and your body does things you can’t control.

Patrick Keller

Help Recived: Lecture,  PowerPoint, and Tico Times Article

The global gender gap is defined as the discrepancy between what men earn verses what women earn. some countries are not that bad but others especially those in the middle east have horrible wage discrepancies. In the global gender Gap countries in Scandinavia like Finland, Norway, Sweden as well as countries like Iceland finish  in the top three places to be a woman the us is around number 51 so slightly higher than middle and Arab countries and the middle east consistently rank lowest on the list in the 140’s (Power Point). this had a lot to do with small Scandinavian populations and large

To measure gender gap researchers use things such as maternity leave, rape, sexual abuse, harassment, life spans, pay and other factors contribute to this. The united states is in or around the 51st position (Powerpoint) I would Imagine that it is not in the top 10 because of its size and diverse population which includes a large middle eastern population. The top 10 countries are relatively sparsely populated Scandinavian or European countries because they are small it is easy for them to solve gender gap issues. The US needs to do a better job of opening up government jobs to Women as an example for private firms to follow as well as adopt some sort of policy for maternity leave.

Women are relatively equal to men until they have kids then at least in the US they are expected to stay home and take care of the children which for the most part has been their traditional role with few exceptions. Men traditionally are supposed to be the bread winners and support the wife and children during this time. Domestically though the most I’ve ever seen my dad do is take out the trash and dishes. I can see how women might feel trapped in the house though with no job and no real ability to make new outside friends. My chosen country is Costa Rica and while they rank high on a list By FiveThirtyEight there is actually a big gender gap in this country. According to the Tico Times Ticas can earn up to 27 percent less than Ticos in the same job which is “no bueno”. There are also 21,000 more unemployed women than men in Costa Rica.

Sources: https://ticotimes.net/2017/04/06/gender-wage-gap-costa-rica

Patrick Keller

Help received: Articles on porn on list, porn, personal experiences, lectures and power points

Most people nowadays end up watching porn at a young age. This is doing a number of things to alter young boys and girls thoughts and attitudes towards sex and changing society as a whole. Porn has made it acceptable to be very aggressive during sex i.e. choking, slapping, anal, facials ect.. while there are folks out there who are into this sort of thing this does not represent the majority of the population. Porn has also made girls and guys feel self conscious about their bodies and their sexual performance. Watching porn can also lead to a lack of sexual performance especially in males because it leads to unrealistic expectations of women’s’ bodies and their willingness to do the things seen in porn. In more extreme cases this can lead to Erectile Dysfunction like symptoms.

So a large problem for males that results from porn is decreased sexual performance, and it can range from mild issues like trouble getting it up at first to complete lack of sexual arousal in actual sexual encounters. For example in the article Porn and the Threat to Virility The author mentions that despite the lack of scientific evidence that porn causes ED many men use the simple fact that they get boners to porn and do not get boners without porn even in sexual situations as a prime example of porn’s effects on the brain.

Many do not associate girls health problems with porn as far less females statistically watch porn according to the article Girls & Sex Navigating the Complicated New Landscape. This does not mean however that girls do not experience problems as well. Many have issues with trying to live up to how porn stars look and as a result there has been a huge increase in younger girls asking for surgeries to fix perceived cosmetic issues such as getting implants, Vaginal reconstruction and other unnecessary procedures.

I believe that this is a major issue partly because I’ve had personal experience with this. I used to watch porn the way most guys do and never really had problems with it until I started seriously dating. Hookups were never an issue but when I was with someone for a while and continued watching porn there would be time where it just “didn’t happen” I though something was wrong with me and it didn’t even occur to me that porn could have been the issue until I was on a field exercise and was taking with a buddy and we got on the subject of porn. He mentioned that men often experience sexual problems if they watch porn in relationships and immediately my jaw dropped. Turns out multiple people in the group had the same issue. so then I went back and tried not watching porn and it worked and the sex got a whole lot better.