Teenagers: Don’t Succumb to Cheating, It’s Not Cool

Cherish Kalilikane
31 OCT 11
RD3
Teenagers: Don’t Succumb to Cheating, It’s Not Cool

From the beginning of a child’s education they are taught honesty as the best policy. People are deemed unethical if they use unorthodox ways to get their way such as lying or cheating. Teenagers cheating on their tests are greatly increasing every year.  These teens believe they are safe from getting caught and lead impulsively.  “It is very easy to point fingers at media, celebrities, divorced or single parents, working mothers, and "liberal" attitudes toward things like sex, drugs and alcohol. Much too easy. But the things that disenfranchise youth and lead them astray are rarely that simple. In fact, the tactic of laying blame at convenient targets usually only makes the problem worse. “(Teen advice, p.2) [THESIS] A teenager’s choice to lie will be greatly detrimental to their future and will carry through their lives. [THESIS]

Teenagers fail to realize that cheating on a test or lying about something can greatly impact their future. If they are successful in not getting caught, teenagers have a feeling of empowerment and tend to lie and cheat more often because they feel they can get away with it.  In Mundell’s reading it states,”Still, shame may not put the brakes on fibbing as deadlines loom. According to Ferrari, when asked 'would you stop lying?' even the most guilt-ridden excuse-makers said, "No, I feel guilty, but I'd do it again."(Mundell, p.1) As quoted by a lying student they will even agree that since it is easy to cheat they are willing to do so even if there is a little residual guilt.  Teenagers that lie and get away with it grow to be college students that make fibs to receive lenience towards late homework.  The negative attitude that is formed as a teenager slowly becomes a personality trait of the person. This attitude makes it acceptable in their eyes to lie about other facets of their lives. Personal lives are greatly affected by lies and can breakup relationships as well as cause problems in a person’s career.

As college students finish school and become career-oriented their school ethic transitions to their work ethic. Telling a boss an excuse as to why you couldn’t meet quota on time will not get you a free pass, it will lead you to finding a new job. The long-term consequences of lying in our personal and working relationships are like the story of A Boy Who Cried Wolf. The boy kept yelling wolf while there was no wolf around and as the story goes, when there was a real wolf by him no one believed him. A person can’t lie and get away with it all the time eventually they will get caught.  Once a person gets caught in a lie they are immediately looked at in a different light and it takes a lot for that light to change back into a positive one. It’s true that when someone lies it takes a hundred truths to make themselves believable again. Lie isn’t only what you say it is also what you don’t say. Lying by omission is a very debatable subject, one that I strongly believe is true. As Robert Gornichec says, “I think following the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is always the best way to respond in most situations.” If there is something you are holding back from a person that could possibly help their situation I believe you acting unethical and you are lying. If it is questionable that you are lying or not you can answer the problem by asking yourself, “if the roles were reversed would I want to know the information?”

Long-term consequences of lying start to become more evident as a liar goes through life. Lying to people makes them not trust you and makes anything you say unbelievable. By lying you are making it known to everyone that you are untrustworthy and people aren’t going to come to you for any kind of help or advice. It is important to be honest as a teenager because it sets you up for success in the long run. Being honest in you tests and quizzes allows you to know where you are in the learning process and helps you realize the areas you need to study more. As you gain more knowledge and continue to college being honest will help you become trustworthy to your teachers and allow them to be a favorable terms with you so they can help you if you’re struggling. Consequences of being honest in our personal and working relationships are, in my opinion, all positive outcomes. If someone is honest they are also trustworthy because they will “tell you like it is”. I would rather have an honest friend that is brutal about their statement but true, then a lying friend that is willing to throw me “under the bus” to support their own opportunities.

Being able to be honest throughout your life will set you up for successful consequences. As one would assume the word consequences seem to have negative connotations, I believe that in the case of honesty consequences of being honest has a positive connotation. Teenagers who feel empowered by getting away with lying only grow to college students who feel a need to make little fibs to vie for extra time on their work. These college students transition to their careers and feel as though they can get away with lying in the workplace. Eventually these liars are weeded out of the workplace because liars will never be perfect in their lying. It’s hard to remember a lie; it’s easy to remember the truth.  Honesty in our personal and working relationships lead to positive consequences such as having true friends you can count on and not be lied to. Indeed it is true, honesty is the best policy.

Works Cited

Mundell, E.J. "Professors Beware: College Kids Lying 70 Percent of Time." _Reuters Health_. Filippo A. Salustri Webpage. Ryerson University. 19 June 2003 <http://deed.megan.ryerson.ca/~fil/t/articles/cheaters03.html>.

"TEEN ADVICE." Teen Advice - Advice and Community For Teens. Web. 31 OCT 2011. <http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/aa012501a.htm>.

Gornichec, Robert. "Laulima." Laulima. 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 31 OCT. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/410566.page>.

Psychological persuasion? Bring it.

Cherish Kalilikane

17OCT11

FD2

Psychological Persuasion? Bring It.

American families use all types of media as a means to be entertained. Advertisements feed off of consumer’s needs and wants to be entertained and produce creative and informative commercials that appeal to families. Anyone can see how obvious it is regarding companies who are trying to appeal to families. People tend to question the motives of companies because of the commercial’s appeal. People need to understand that companies are constantly competing with other companies and their entertaining ads aren’t there to lie to you but more to limelight their business. [THESIS] Advertisements do not have negative impacts on our lives. [THESIS]

Advertisements have their logical fallacies but it’s up to you to understand the fallacy and look past it to understanding what the product can offer. I found MarkBen Paulino’s commercial fallacy report as he talks about the KY fire and ice commercials. Paulino states, “Trojan Condom and Lubricant (KY jelly) manufacturer is promoting their Fire and Ice brand of condom and lubricant. There is a male and female - a couple - present in the ad. The product a tube of lube is shown in the middle of the screen with the couple in the background before coitus. The screen then blanks and shows the couple with frizzled hair and an expression of ecstasy, which I assume is suppose to portray the cloud nine feeling that the couple had experienced during coitus with the aid of Trojan's Fire and Ice brand.”

As Mark goes through the visualizing of the commercial the logical fallacy understood in this advertisement was Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. This fallacy states that because Y follows event X, event X causes event Y. Thus far I have heard stories of people having sexual intercourse and having the feeling of ecstasy without the aid of Fire and Ice. In the end, one can feel ecstasy due to many reasons and not just because of Trojan's Fire and Ice.  Paulino states a good point that just because Y follows X doesn’t mean that X caused Y. The KY commercial slightly dramatized the effects of their product, however they are competing with various other lubricants and need to appeal to the audience. By using creative commercials other companies could have used, KY comes off as dramatized. KY is simply trying to limelight their product in the most effective way possible. No one ever heard of lubricants having a negative effect on society, in fact, they could actually help things run smoother.

Dean Kurozumi talks about a Double mint gum commercial that uses the plain folk fallacy, he states, “An ad that I stumbled upon on YouTube was an ad that was advertising Wrigley Double mint gum. The entire 30-second commercial was with Chris Brown singing a little jingle about Wrigley Double mint gum based on his "Forever" song. It's clear that the ad is appealing to those that admire/look up to Chris Brown, and if Chris Brown chew's Double mint gum, they should too. 

The Double mint ad is a good example of Plain Folk because Chris Brown's specialty is in music, more namely the R&B type and he has little to no knowledge of why a certain brand of gum would be better than others.  They are simply using him for his popularity to attract customers to buy their product with no real foundation whatsoever.” I agree with Dean in his theories of why the company chose to use Chris Brown in the double mint ad. Double mint gum is using Chris Brown to put their product in the limelight but I see no negative aspects to this advertisement. At the time Chris Brown had a positive persona and since he was advertising gum and not tobacco I see no reason for the persuasion of the ad to be a bad one. I agree that plain folk fallacies were used although I don’t think that this advertisement had a negative impact on consumers.

Comments by Carmen Lee saying advertisements have a negative impact on consumers by stating, “While most of us do not notice, many ads deceive us into believing what they have to present. It is not uncommon for us to bypass the fact that some ads can be misleading. It is common to see an ad that makes you think that it is too good to be true. Many of us share the same experience that we go out and purchase a product we saw on an ad, thinking it would work the way it advertises and you turned out disappointed. Not only the product does not improve or enhance our life in any way, it is also a waste of our time and hard earned money.” Carmen has a good point that ads can be exaggerated as to get the viewer enthralled into the product. However, saying a product does not improve or enhance our lives in any way is a bold statement that I find faulty. Products having great advertisements are primarily because the companies have been able to make enough money to make a great commercial. The product has some kind of sense of worth that makes people keep buying it. The logical fallacy you seem to be entailed with is Reification. Your statement that products do not improve or enhance is simply an idea of yours rather than a true statement.    

Carolyn Rose-Slane is also against advertisements she states, “Yes, Ads have a negative impact on our lives: I believe ads have a negative impact because they employ psychological research to make people believe they need the “new” or “better” products. This has a negative impact on our lives because some people are able to make planned purchases and avoid debt, but many people, more now than ever in our history, accrue debt while succumbing to the struggle to maintain the appearance of keeping up with the latest “cool” trend.” I agree that advertisers spend time to understand the psychological reasoning of their consumers and come up with commercials based on that reasoning.  However, I don’t think that using psychological research negatively impacts our lives. I believe that companies take time to research products as well as how they can best advertise it so that people will pay attention to the qualities of the product. Saying “companies are only out to get you with their advertisements” is biased as well as pessimistic.   

Companies may use appealing things in their advertisements to get people’s attention. However, the underlying reasoning to ads is the fact that these companies have great amounts of money to make advertisements for a reason their product sells! People before you have been successfully advertised to and are continually advertised to, not because they are gullible but because they liked the product the first time they bought it. People need to look at the fact that advertisements provide an efficient and convenient way of informing their consumers of new items. Companies pay a lot of money to advertise their product they wouldn’t waste their money on a bad product in fear of losing their business. If a person bought a bad product the first time it wouldn’t matter how appealing the advertisement was, they wouldn’t buy it again.

Works Cited

Kurozumi, Dean. "Laulima." 29 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/399262.page>.

Lee, Carmen. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/395910.page>.

Paulino, MarkBen. "Laulima." 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/400422.page>.

Rose-Slane, Carolyn. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/396305.page>.

Log of Completed Activities

_x__ Sep. 19- Intro to Paper #2. Read the Guidelines for Paper #2.

_x__ Sep. 23- Laulima Discussion: Ad Pros and Cons

_x__ Sep. 26- Complete readings for paper #2.

_x__ Sep. 30- Laulima Discussion: Logical Fallacies Exercise

_x__ Oct. 3- Submit RD2 [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.

_x__ Oct. 7- Submit three RD2 evaluations [50 pts]. Review the guidelines.

_x__ Oct. 12- Submit FD2 [125 pts]. Review the guidelines.

Psychological persuasion? Bring it.

Cherish Kalilikane

03OCT11

RD2

Psychological persuasion? Bring it.

American families use all types of media as a means to be entertained. Advertisements feed off of consumer’s needs and wants to be entertained and produce creative and informative commercials that appeal to families. Anyone can see how it is so obvious companies are trying to appeal to families and people tend to question the motives of companies because of the commercials appeal. People need to understand that companies are constantly competing with other companies and their entertaining ads aren’t there to lie to you but more to limelight their business. [THESIS] Advertisements do not have negative impacts on our lives. [THESIS]

Advertisements have their logical fallacies but it’s up to you to understand the fallacy and look past it to understanding what the product can offer. I found MarkBen Paulino’s commercial fallacy report as he talks about the KY fire and ice commercials. MarkBen Paulino states, “Trojan a Condom and Lubricant (KY jelly) manufacturer is promoting their Fire and Ice brand of condom and lubricant. There is a male and female - a couple - present in the ad. The product a tube of lube is shown in the middle of the screen with the couple in the background before coitus. The screen then blanks and shows the couple with frizzled hair and an expression of ecstasy, which I assume is suppose to portray the cloud nine feeling that the couple had experienced during coitus with the aid of Trojan's Fire and Ice brand.”

As Mark goes through the visualizing of the commercial the logical fallacy understood in this advertisement was Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. This fallacy states that because Y follows event X, event X causes event Y. Thus far I have heard stories of people having sexual intercourse and having the feeling of ecstasy without the aid of Fire and Ice. There are too many variables, as people may be having a better day when they are using the Fire and Ice or people who are naturally good at coitus and always feel great during their exercise.  Those who have learned the art of Kama Sutra are supposed to know the sexual behavior (physical and mental) of the human body and have the ability to heighten the desirable feeling of sex and thus feeling euphoria. In the end, one can feel ecstasy due to many reasons and not just because of Trojan's Fire and Ice.

Dean Kurozumi talks about a Double mint gum commercial that uses the plain fold fallacy, he states, “An ad that I stumbled upon on YouTube was an ad that was advertising Wrigley Double mint gum. The entire 30-second commercial was with Chris Brown singing a little jingle about Wrigley Double mint gum based on his "Forever" song. It's clear that the ad is appealing to those that admire/look up to Chris Brown, and if Chris Brown chew's Double mint gum, they should too.

I say this ad is a good example of Plain Folk because Chris Brown's specialty is in music, more namely the R&B type and he has little to no knowledge of why a certain brand of gum would be better than others.  They are simply using him for his popularity to attract customers to buy their product with no real foundation whatsoever.”

Comments by Carmen Lee saying advertisements have a negative impact on consumers by stating, “While most of us do not notice, many ads deceive us into believing what they have to present. It is not uncommon for us to bypass the fact that some ads can be misleading. Ads often exaggerate in order to impress their viewers. It is common to see an ad that makes you think that it is too good to be true. Well, if it seems this way, it probably is. Many of us share the same experience that we go out and purchase a product we saw on an ad, thinking it would work the way it advertises and you turned out disappointed. Not only the product does not improve or enhance our life in any way, it is also a waste of our time and hard earned money.” Carmen has a good point that ads can be exaggerated as to get the viewer enthralled into the product. However, saying a product does not improve or enhance our lives in any way is a bold statement that I find faulty. Products having great advertisements are primarily because the companies have been able to make enough money to make a great commercial. The product has some kind of sense of worth that makes people keep buying it. The logical fallacy you seem to be entailed with is Reification. Your statement that products do not improve or enhance is simply an idea of yours rather than a true statement.    

Carolyn Rose-Slane is also against advertisements she states, “Yes, Ads have a negative impact on our lives: I believe ads have a negative impact on our lives because they employ psychological research to make people believe they need the “new” or “better” products. This has a negative impact on our lives because some people are able to make planned purchases and avoid debt, but many people, more now than ever in our history, accrue debt while succumbing to the struggle to maintain the appearance of keeping up with the latest “cool” trend.” I agree that advertisers spend time to understand the psychological reasoning of their consumers and come up with commercials based on that reasoning.  However, I don’t think that using psychological research negatively impacts our lives.  I believe that companies take time to research products as well as how they can best advertise it so that people can pay attention to the qualities of the product. 

Advertisements may use appealing things in their advertisements to get people to look at them but the underlying reasoning to advertisements is the fact that have money to make advertisements for a reason, their product works! People before you have been successfully advertised to and continue to be advertised to not because they are gullible but because they liked the product the first time they bought it. People need to look at the fact that advertisements provide an efficient and convenient way of informing their consumers of new items. Companies pay a lot of money to advertise their product they wouldn’t waste their money on a bad product in fear of losing their business.

Works Cited

Kurozumi, Dean. "Laulima." 29 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/399262.page>.

Lee, Carmen. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/395910.page>.

Paulino, MarkBen. "Laulima." 01 Oct. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/400422.page>.

Rose-Slane, Carolyn. "Laulima." 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2011. <https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/tool/e24f70fd-6ce1-4c3b-8cb9-78e4e4cff63d/posts/list/396305.page>.

Success From Gender Roles

Cherish Kalilikane

06SEP11

FD1

The ideology of an American family where the wife stays home, cooks and cleans, while the husband is out working is slowly transitioning out of our society. Roles are what people title the identities of society, it’s where people are supposed to fit in and if they don’t fit into these roles they are characterized as unusual or strange. When one thinks about trauma a more likely response would be ideas of someone in a life or death situation, or someone dealing with something that is so emotionally or physically breaking that they cannot do everyday things.  [THESIS] Gender roles are not traumatic, instead they allow women to fight through the stereotypical roles and become successful. [THESIS]

Trauma, according to Oxford dictionary is, a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. It can also mean an emotional shock following a stressful event or a physical injury, which may be associated with physical shock and sometimes leads to long-term neurosis. I wouldn’t classify gender roles as traumatic because that would be a melodramatic, overdrawn statement. When thinking about gender roles one would assume that the discussion would be primarily about the women in these roles as opposed to the men because they have the stress of higher standards to uphold.

Michelle Wie, being a woman has certain gender roles needed to appeal to today’s society. Overcoming her “role” didn’t lead Wie into a traumatic experience, instead it lead her to fame and success. In the example of Michele Wie, she is a young woman golfer who enters various championships going head to head with men. Wie is marked as ludicrous for not sticking with her own gender and constantly critiqued for trying to keep up with the standards of the male professional golfers that compete with her. Gender roles made her seem unusual because she goes against the normal stereotype for a young woman. It also allowed her to gather more attention from golf fans whether it was bad or good. Dr. Richard Lapchick, the director of the institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the UCF says, "it gives added opportunity to belittle the accomplishments of women like Michelle Wie. The fact that they haven't won it all shouldn't get in the way of it. We have a society where sexism is at play.” Since Wie did not fulfill her stereotype of sticking with woman golfers she gained a lot of critics, which also led to being a great advertisement opportunity. As Hill said, “If her name were Bob Wie, nobody would be calling her a failure or questioning why she was trying to play with men.” Since she is a woman and has expected gender roles, people can’t stop talking about her.  Wie has been very close to placing in championships as well as the fact that she isn’t even in her 20s and she’s already grossed over 10 million dollars from her success. Michele Wie is a great example of how a woman uses the negativity that comes from gender roles to benefit her. She gained power and success from her critics and ironically, she became more famous.

Gender roles’ being traumatic is a highly exaggerated statement. Mary Pipher made the perfect example when she said, “Something dramatic happens to adolescence. Just as planes and ships disappear mysteriously into the Bermuda Triangle, so do the selves of girls go down in droves.”  Women don’t lose perspective or anything when they go through adolescence. Instead, women gain insight and the ability to understand exactly what they need to do to effectively use their gender role stereotypes to their advantage.   

The educators of society also realize the importance of gender roles. Teaching the girls at Sacred Hearts Academy the importance of ignoring society’s roles and becoming what you want in the world. At Sacred Hearts, headmaster Betty White states, “We want to break down the stereotypes that girls are better at English and history and boys are better in math, science and technology. We want to show them that girls can do anything that they set their minds to."  Although the statement may come off as biased because the headmaster happens to be a female, she is older in society and therefore she understands the importance of being a female and setting yourself apart from society’s roles and stereotypes. I know first hand how hard it is to become technologically savvy and work your way through science fighting the stereotypes that a female will most likely fail at learning technological advances. In the article regarding Sacred Hearts there is a female success story, Audra Bullock, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Hawai'i Manoa who specializes in lasers and optics. As Andrea Hamilton states in this article,  "She's a female in a male-dominated field and industry, so we want her to convey that message to the audience that in these times, the sky's the limit.” Bullock was a great example of a female who ignored society’s gender roles and excelled at what made her happy which happened to be different from the usual woman’s occupation.

In Laulima discussions Kendrya Cook stated a very interesting case, she actually compared the traumas of the male gender role in order to help understand the trauma women receive with their roles. The way of using an opposing example to create understanding was very clever, however the example lacked connectivity to the debate at hand.  Her solution for trauma is to talk early so situations don’t stay unnoticed but talking doesn’t necessarily lead to happier women. I believe that it only leads to women who now have their “eyes open” and understand their role can seem traumatic. Women talking about their roles should create understanding that gender roles aren’t really traumatic but they are stepping stones to give women the audacity to step out of their stereotypes. 

Society’s gender roles don’t need to be the deciding factor of a person’s life, male or female. People categorize normal when they have no right to. Women are slowly grasping the idea that they are very capable of fighting through normal gender roles and accomplishing whatever their hearts desire. Wie fought through the opposition of many critics that didn’t believe she should be competing in a men’s sport let alone with men. Bullock fought through gender roles as she went to school for engineering and was successful when she got her degree in lasers and optics. These ideologies are slowly being recognized for women and they’re starting to realize that there isn’t only one way about doing things, one can create their own path, a path less traveled by. 

Works Cited

“Wie Deserves Our Applause, Not Those Jeers.” 6 June 2006. MercuryNews.com. 8 June 2006 [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14756706.htm].

Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 7th edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2011. 347-354

Shapiro, Treena. “Girls Gather to Break Stereotype.” HonoluluAdvertiser.com 13 Jan. 2005. 13 Jan. 2005 [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jan/13/ln/ln20p.html].

Log of Completed Activities

__X Aug. 22- First Day of Instruction. Read the welcome message, which includes instructions on how to navigate our class blog. Next, log in to our Laulima discussion forum and your hawaii.edu mailbox. Become familiar with these instructional media. Carefully review the information in our class blog, especially the schedule and syllabus (click on the tab at the top of the page). In the syllabus, pay special attention to the grading policy and the document “Am I Ready for an Online Class?” These will give you an understanding of online classes in general and this class in particular.

_X_ Aug. 23- Laulima Discussion: Who Am I? Post your response by midnight. Possible topics: your academic and career goals; your favorite pastime; favorite book, movie, song; favorite physical activity or sport; favorite quote; personal philosophy on the purpose of life; your personal thoughts on why it’s important to become an excellent writer; favorite food or restaurant; favorite vacation destination; etc.

_L_ Aug. 23- Intro to Paper #1. Read the “Guidelines for Paper #1” by midnight.

__X_ Aug. 23-31- Set up your personal blog for all class papers. Click here for instructions. Alternately, see the “Blogger” links in the right sidebar in our class blog. To begin, complete the initial setup. You’ll be able to add finishing touches as the RD1 due date approaches. If you need help, post a request in the “Q&A About My Blog” forum in Laulima.

_X_ Aug. 26- Laulima Discussion: What Is “Trauma”? One definition or many different definitions? Post your response by midnight.

_X_ Aug. 29- Complete readings for Paper #1 by midnight.

__X_ Sep. 2- Laulima Discussion: Causes & Solutions: What causes gender role trauma? What’s the solution? Assume that there is more than one cause or solution. Post your response by midnight. [10 pts]

__X_ Sep. 6- Submit RD1 (Review Draft #1) [50 pts] Review the guidelines.

__X_ Sep. 12- Submit three RD1 evaluations in Laulima. [50 pts] Review the guidelines.

__X_ Sep. 16- Submit FD1 (Final Draft #1) [100 pts] Review the guidelines.

Success From Going Against Gender Roles

Cherish Kalilikane

06SEP11

RD1

The ideology of an American family where the wife stays home, cooks and cleans, while the husband is out working is slowly transitioning out of our society. Roles are what people title the identities of society, it’s where people are supposed to fit in and if they don’t fit into these roles they are characterized as unusual or strange. When one thinks about trauma a more likely response would be ideas of someone in a life or death situation, or someone dealing with something that is so emotionally or physically breaking that they cannot do everyday things.  [THESIS] Gender roles are not traumatic, instead they allow women to fight through the stereotypes and roles and become successful. [THESIS]

Trauma, according to Oxford dictionary is, a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. It can also mean an emotional shock following a stressful event or a physical injury, which may be associated with physical shock and sometimes leads to long-term neurosis. I wouldn’t classify gender roles as traumatic because that would be a melodramatic, overdrawn statement. When thinking about gender roles one would assume that the discussion would be primarily about the women in these roles as opposed to the men because they have the stress of higher standards to uphold.

Michelle Wie is a woman and therefore has a gender role needed to appeal to the today’s society. Overcoming her “role” didn’t lead Wie into a traumatic experience, instead it lead her to fame and success. In the example of Michele Wie, she is a young woman golfer who enters various championships going head to head with men. Wie is marked as ludicrous for not sticking with her own gender and constantly critiqued for trying to keep up with the standards of the male professional golfers that compete with her. Gender roles made her seem unusual because she goes against the normal stereotype for a young woman. It also allowed her to gather more attention from golf fans whether it was bad or good. Dr. Richard Lapchick, the director of the institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the UCF says, "it gives added opportunity to belittle the accomplishments of women like Michelle Wie. The fact that they haven't won it all shouldn't get in the way of it. We have a society where sexism is at play."Since Wie did not fulfill her stereotype of sticking with woman golfers she gained a lot of critics, which also led to being a great advertisement opportunity. As Hill said, “If her name were Bob Wie, nobody would be calling her a failure or questioning why she was trying to play with men.” Since she is a woman and has expected gender roles, people can’t stop talking about her.  Wie has been very close to placing in championships as well as the fact that she isn’t even in her 20s and she’s already grossed over 10 million dollars from her success. 

The educators of society also realize the importance of gender roles. Teaching the girls at Sacred Hearts Academy the importance of ignoring society’s roles and becoming what you want in the world. At Sacred Hearts, headmaster Betty White states, “We want to break down the stereotypes that girls are better at English and history and boys are better in math, science and technology. We want to show them that girls can do anything that they set their minds to."  Although the statement may come off as biased because the headmaster happens to be a female, she is older in society and therefore she understands the importance of being a female and setting yourself apart from society’s roles and stereotypes. I know first hand how hard it is to become technologically savvy and work your way through science fighting the stereotypes that a female will most likely fail at learning technological advances. In the article regarding Sacred Hearts there is a female success story, Audra Bullock, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Hawai'i Manoa who specializes in lasers and optics. As Andrea Hamilton states in this article,  "She's a female in a male-dominated field and industry, so we want her to convey that message to the audience that in these times, the sky's the limit.” Bullock was a great example of a female who ignored society’s gender roles and excelled at what made her happy which happened to be different from the usual woman’s occupation.

Society’s gender roles don’t need to be the deciding factor of a person’s life, male or female. People categorize normal when they have no right to. Women are slowly grasping the idea that they are very capable of fighting through normal gender roles and accomplishing whatever their hearts desires. Wie fought through the opposition of many critics that didn’t believe she should be competing in a men’s sport let alone with men. Bullock fought through gender roles as she went to school for engineering and was successful when she got her degree in lasers and optics. These ideologies are slowly being recognized for women and they’re starting to realize that there isn’t only one way about doing things, one can create their own path, a path less traveled by.  

Works Cited

“Wie Deserves Our Applause, Not Those Jeers.” 6 June 2006. MercuryNews.com. 8 June 2006 [http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14756706.htm].

Pipher, Mary. “Saplings in the Storm.” Dialogues: An Argument Rhetoric and Reader. 7th edition. Eds. Gary Goshgarian and Kathleen Krueger. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2011. 347-354

Shapiro, Treena. “Girls Gather to Break Stereotype.” HonoluluAdvertiser.com 13 Jan. 2005. 13 Jan. 2005 [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jan/13/ln/ln20p.html].