Susan Bordo's "Beauty (Re)discovering The Male Body"- Sex Roles using Plato's "Symposium"

   Plato's Symposium is the ideal book about young boys being pursued by older men. In Greek culture it was custom for men to sleep with still developing boys. Men are expected to play upon their desires, as well as woman since the Greeks believed that woman were animalistic in nature; only that in modern times it has been socially and culturally shown that men tend to lead with their impulses and woman are more taimed with emotions. This leads into how men are dominant in their society, they can sleep with who they want and must be the masters of their wants. These full-fledged male citizens were the ones who had to be active. The main point leads to the behavior of the dominant man and what is expected of them. Symposium uses many speeches to express the different sexual behaviors that are deemed appropriate for older men to perform on beautiful, sensual young men who were desired for their looks rather than their intelligence. This idea becomes the battle between a dominant and passive male. In Greek culture this is an example of what is expected of these roles and thus supports how times have not changed, and the ideals of male expectations in behavior have clarified the ideal of what it means to be an active and passive male.
     The Journal of Marriage and Family published an article in 1975 titled, "Sex and Sexism: A Comparison of Male and Female Sex- Role Attitudes." The article is essentially how men and woman view themselves due to expectations and societal values. Many of these views are affected by stereotypes and thus can reinforce how woman view their expectations of their husbands for example, and how men believe their wife should act in different scenarios. A man's dominant role is explored in the article and it really shows how a man views himself in society and how they believe they must behave.

Plato, and Plato. The Symposium. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

DFW-Commencement Speech: The Truth About Life

       This speech is definitely not your conventional commencement speech that you would hear during any type of graduation. On the other hand, this is exactly the type of speech which is able to tell people the harsh truth of life and the way it actually works. I know that in my high school commencement speech all I heard was about how we are going to strive in life because we are hard workers and that we are exemplary students for finishing a task that many people actually do not even get the chance to finish. However, not once in any speech given did I hear about the obsticles we would face in life. Being so far away from home is incredibly hard for me, I feel alone and am experiencing things that I have no explanation for; I am not wise enough to feel that I can solve my own problems. I feel that is where Wallace's speech was heading with his story about the fishes and the water. As young teenagers or young adults we are not so experienced with life, even though we want to think we are. We have only been taught basic knowledge that we are suppose to use in our future endeavors because it is deemed with importance. Yet when the older fish passed by and said "how's the water?" the two fish were in a state of discomfort swimming fast away from the older fish and then questioning the fish's question. I feel as if I just relived what my mom does to me all the time. She has a tendency to throw all this information to inform me and I just look at her as if she has lost her mind, doesn't know what she is talking about. But the truth is that with age comes better recognition of your reality, and at such a young age you may not know everything like someone who is twice your age. Of course you can have better mastery of a topic, subject, and product than someone who is older than you, consequently it does not mean that you are knowledgeable about the world.
       Another topic I enjoyed reading about was Wallace's statement and example about being charitable. We as Americans live in a world where it is all about self-gratification and we never stop to thing about others and how our actions affect others. Ambition is a terrible vice to have, and it can actually be very self destructive and can lead to envy, greed, pride, etc. Wallace says that by sacrificing we achieve freedom and I agree with him. We are the slaves of the corporate world and sometimes even the slave to our ambition. But humility is what can release you and allow you to see the world for what it is. Although it is a bit cheesy, sometimes even the cheesiest things can spurn some truth. You will never achieve true happiness if you do not allow yourself to give something back to someone or even to your society. Everyone wants to be succesful, ok, it has a lot of benefits. However is it really worth losing yourself and your integrity in the process.

The "Banking" Concept of Education- Becoming

            One of the most interesting ideas I have come across in this essay is Freire speaking of becoming. The idea of becoming is one of several examples from Freire's idea of problem-posing education. Becoming is defined as men and woman in an unfinished, uncompleted stage with a likewise unfinished reality. Apparently we are aware of our incompleteness and this unfinished character of humans and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity. I definitely agree with this idea! I feel that my education continues because I need to keep learning. I feel incomplete without that knowledge and I am sure many of us feel that way as well. We go to college with the hope of receiving some higher learning, hoping that we would be able to fulfill more gaps in our minds in order to feel complete.
          However, no matter how much we strive to go and look for more education, our learning never ceases to stop, thus our lives are just filled with more gaps. When we have a child, as a parent you start to learn how to manage the necessities of a baby. You are educating yourself in a real life scenario rather than just reading in a book how to manage a child. Day in and day out we are all learning about something new, no matter how old you may get, or how "educated" you may feel, there is always something new to be learned. That is where Freire is trying to get with the concept of becoming. We are trying to be the most educated versions of ourselves and we learn in so many different ways. That is why becoming is in the form of a gerund, because it is a verb and a noun. We are doing the action of becoming, but at the same time it is the subject of our lives. To be able to be that person, the person with more knowledge than some.