Review Paper: Sociological Images Assignment

The social images from the articles Illustrating a "Normal" Lifecourse, Vintage Advice for Handy Moms, and The Cool Factor and the Display of Disinterest are examples of the social constructions and expectations for our youth/individuals within our society. What are these expectations precisely? To be a man is to be aloof, to not wear 'feminine' features such as laces, and to have a lifestyle that is acceptable by the standards of society (ie. not having children in your twenties).

In Vintage Advice for Handy Moms, what better way to have your child more presentable in your eyes than to have him fear being demoralized by laces in his eyes. This article suggests that by leaving shirt tails un-tucked, the boy is being less than presentable in some way shape or form. By doing so, he is assumedly being making his mother feel shame by going around like that (unacceptable to a standard in society). While the child will most likely not feel the direct effects of this shame, there is a level of unspoken fear from the mother this article is addressed to that she will be discriminated against by her peers (other mothers) for the way her boy presents himself in front of others. It’s the idea that how her child acts reflects upon how she raises him and it’s this standard of how we raise our children that leads us to discriminate others because it doesn’t meet the standard of what we think is acceptable.

In Illustrating a Normal Lifecourse, it’s shown what society perceives as an acceptable lifecourse for a woman. In her adolescence she is expected not to engage in intimate relationships whatsoever, the article refuses to acknowledge that such things that could be happening. It goes on to say that in her twenties, she would start exploring these relations; however when she moves to her thirties there is no ifs ands or buts that she will start having children. It is societies’ expectations that a normal woman would begin to settle down and start having children at her prime and afterwards it’s her job to care for the children until they’re out of the house. After they move out, she’s free to explore relationships again because chances are she’ll end her marriage or grow tired of it.

In The Cool Factor and the Display of disinterest, it shows that men’s standard for their masculinity is that they are aloof to intimate relationships. They should be experienced and it should all seem mundane (and rather boring). It underlays the prevailing theme with men that they cannot show emotions (especially not tears) because that feminizes them in some way, shape, or form.

These three articles stuck out to me because not only do I see it all around in society but I catch myself using these standards as well at times. During our lives and our socialization process we are taught that boys aren’t allowed to cry, girls play with dolls, and eventually one day Sally and Joe will get married, have 2.5 children, buy a house of their own, and grow old together after kicking the kids out of the house. It becomes both a social norm and a stereotype that children of their respecting genders grow up and adhere to these qualities. Often times, I catch myself thinking that a guy is ‘so girly’ because he complains and doesn’t shrug it off like men are ‘supposed’ to, or that a girl is ‘such a girl’ because she whines constantly and displays too much emotion. While we don’t always verbally discriminate, no one within their lifetime can say they have never thought  someone was strange for not adhering to social norms and perimeters set within their minds for how people should act.

The Tattoo (Chris McKinney) Novel Response 2

Hawai’i is most likely one of the largest meccas of ethnic humor in the world, mostly due to the shared past of so many ethnic groups in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Racial slurs are also probably most common place here, without any malicious meaning, all except the word haole.

In the section of The Tattoo by Chis McKinney Looking At Musashi, the underground world of Honolulu is revealed to readers. But more that than, it becomes apparent the views that locals (Ken) have toward mainlanders -- especially service men -- more so than in other chapters. With the introduction of the character Mama-san, the bitter feelings between locals and mainlanders becomes shockingly apparent with the revelation of her past: violated, raped, and impregnated by western military men when she was in her motherland of Korea. It is shown that Mama-san’s socialization processes greatly influenced her trade in life -- that she owned the largest chain of strip bars and ‘massage’ parlors in the islands (and inter-island famous at that). She was immersed in the environment of the male’s primal urges and, whether she cared or not, perpetuated it. Whether or not is was out of defiance in making these girls do what they did or out of bitterness for the life she led, it was made clear she did what she did for the money above all else. Her daughter Claudia attested to that name meant everything to her mother: brand name, school name, title occupation name, the list went on. Status was what Mama-san cared about, she wanted power and to overcome the power differential she saw in her past.

When Claudia speaks to Ken about moving to the mainland, his first thoughts and words are spoken in fear of the ethnic stratification he believes exists on the mainland. Claudia dismisses it saying it’s from all the books he’s read of people of black skin berating on the white man, but Ken is obstinate of what he believes. Here, to locals, haoles are the scapegoat. Here, Caucasians are the minority, and are often the first to be blamed as those ‘dumb haoles’. We all have different self justifications such as they come here on vacation and take up our beaches, or they stole our Hawaii Nei and overthrew our Queen, or even because they’re tacky with their silly tourist trap aloha shirts and ABC store plastic leis. Regardless of our individual justifications, generally, most locals blame everything on haoles.

This part of the story, while not a beautiful part by any stretch, caught my interest for the sheer fact that it spoke upon paths in life. Ken went through the dilemma of whether he would end up just like his father and Claudia to defy her mother even though her mother still meant more than anything to her. It was something that stuck me as really an uncommon theme in modern day literature and cinema (the bond of family). While she still broke her bonds with her mother, it was very apparent it was a painful and heart wrenching process for her. It’s something I think that many locals go through: this idea of being the individual as American philosophies dictate, but also preserving that family bond that is prevalent in Asian and local culture.