Man VS. Woman

Reading the article "Social Animal" by David Brooks I realized that there is such a difference between men and women culturally and genetically. Brook says, "For some reason, today's high status men do a lot of running and biking and so only really work on the muscles in the lower half of their bodies. High status women, on the other hand, pay ferocious attention to their torsos, biceps, and forearms so they can wear sleeveless dresses all summer and crush rocks with their bare hands. (2) I find it interesting that they are doing the complete opposite of each other. To be honest I would think it was the other way around. You would think men would be the one's working on their biceps and torsos so that appear strong and intimidating and woman would work more on their lower halves, especially because nice legs are so important to most woman. We all want our legs to look nice when were wearing shorts, or a skirt. Which most powerful woman seem to wear a lot, more than sleeveless shirts and dresses. Another thing that I would think to be the opposite of stated is the fact that "men fall in love faster and are more likely to believe that true love lasts forever" (7). As society has developed, and as I have grown up I have never heard much about the men being the ones to fall in love first or for them to believe in true love at all really. Society has made it for men to almost look down on true love and avoid it. In movies if a guy truly falls for a girl he gets made fun of by his friends rather than praised. Yet, when a girl truly falls for a guy and is in love her and her friends start jumping around and they go out to celebrate. It's weird that so many topics are generalized and the way we make them out to be is actually the opposite of what it truly is. 

Another difference stated in the article was when Brooks was talking about how men and women choose their mates. And the psychology behind it that we don't even realize. He says, "Woman everywhere tend to prefer men who have symmetrical features and are slightly older, taller, and stronger than they are" (5) and woman are "compelled to choose a man not only for insemination but for continued support" (6). Where as "Men could pick their mates based on fertility" and "he liked what he saw, from the waist-to-hip ratio to the clear skin, all indicative of health and fertility" (5) Men psychologically want a girl that appears healthy and fertile and woman psychologically want a man who is strong and supportive. And know matter how much one denies it, it is usually always the truth. It is something in our brain that we can't control, that's what psychology is. I find it interesting that these type of things are genetically planted into our brains. It also said in the article that a woman "rejected men who wore Burberry, because she couldn't see herself looking at the same patter on scarves and raincoats for the rest of her life" (6) and "She would have nothing to do with men who wore sports-related jewelery, because her boyfriend should not love Derek Jeter more than her.  (6)  This I do understand because it is something that we develop over time and realize for ourselves. You use your past experiences and knowledge to learn what you want and don't want. However, those are only the material things and we can only control that aspect. We can't control what first attracts us to someone, which never ceases to amaze me.

Happiness

I recently read an article called Social Animal by David Brooks, and it has a lot of very interesting concepts in it. One idea that was prevalent was happiness and how many people make their path of happiness unconsciously and use their past experiences. As David Brooks says, "Early experiences don't determine a life, but they set pathways, which can be changed or reinforced by later experiences" (pg 3). Experiences are the little things that help us go through the right "door". We try to use our experiences to make a path for ourselves that will make us happy, and will have us content with our life. This is all done within our subconscious and in our inner thoughts. "What the inner mind really wants is connection" and "daily activities most closely associated with happiness are social"(pg 5). Everyone wants to be happy and out mind and body make decisions for us without us even knowing or thinking about it. In a short scenario about a couple on their first date it says they "licked their lips, leaned forward in their chairs, glanced at each other out of the concerns of their eyes, and performed all the other tricks of unconscious choreography that people do while flirting" (pg 7). They were both showing signs of flirting and the fact that they liked each other, yet they didn't know it was happening. In the article it says "There was the hair flip: she raised her arms to adjust her hair and heaved her chest into view. She would have been appalled if she had seen herself in a mirror at that moment" (pg 7.) The fact that our body language tells a story without us even knowing is amazing. "When the tip of the eyebrow dips, that means the smile is genuine" (pg 5). There is no way to hide our feelings know matter how we try. Our body and mind know what makes us happy and will do anything to keep us following the right pathway. We can only ignore what our inner thoughts and body language say, but we can never deny the truth. We can only listen to our subconscious and embrace what we are being told. After all "the conscious mind chooses what we buy, but the unconscious mind chooses what we like" (pg 11.)

Insults

After finishing The Vagina Monologues and thinking about the book I realized that there are so many insults incorporated with girls. For example with the name "twat", so many people use that as an insult as well as the word "pussy". These are both nicknames for a vagina, yet they are both used as insults towards people. It's interesting how a part of the female anatomy can also be used as an insult toward someone and it's totally acceptable and normal. And the best part is if someone does call you a pussy or a twat it's a huge insult. Yet, if you called someone a vagina they would be like "what, what does that even mean?".  Yet in reality it's the same exact thing.
There are many different names that are insults that all have to do things with woman. Another example of a really common one is douche or "douchebag". I don't even know how this started to become something normal to call someone but technically a douche is a cleaning product for a girl. Yet when someone (usually a guy) is being rude or annoying he is called a douche and is said to be acting "douchey". The fact that you can actually describe someone as being a douche is just interesting to me.  Someone can say, "Yea, I used to like him but now he's a complete douchebag" and everyone will understand what they mean. It never ceases to amaze me how many of words incorporated with woman have become insults and well known ones.
You can also call someone and girl and have that be offensive. Obviously if you call a guy a girl he will get offended but the reasoning behind calling him a girl intrigues me. Someone would call a guy a girl if he jumps when he sees a spider run across the room, or if he

"My Vagina's Angry"

In the second reading for The Vagina Monolgues there was a chapter called " My Angry Vagina". The entire chapter is pretty much about all of the things women have to go through as they get older. Visits to the hospital, periods, and cleaning products. I liked this chapter because it made me laugh, and reminded me of some conversations I've had with both friends and my mom over the years. When we were younger we used to make fun of all these things.
My favorite line of the chapter is when she is talking about tampons and says, "You need to engage my vagina's trust. You can't do that with a dry wad of fucking cotton" (70). I remember when I was 9 my brother and I found a tampon and we took it out of the applicator and put it under running water. We were both shocked and confused on how it worked and how exactly girls were supposed to use them. I was terrified and told myself when I was old enough I would never use it because it was creepy. 
Then 7th grade happened and the whole calling people a "douche" became popular. Most people don't even know what a douche is they just know it's an insult to call someone. I asked my mom what a douche was and all she said was "it's something you use to clean yourself",  she couldn't have been more vague; I was more confused then I was before asking her. As I got older I realized what they actually were and what they were used for and I was confused. The entirety of the douche was just weird to me. Like she says in the book "Stop shoving and stop it up. My vagina doesn't need to be cleaned up" (70). We always learned in class not to use douches or other things like them because it was bad, and disrupted the bodies natural cleaning process. Yet, it's something that a lot of woman use and continue to use through out their lives.
Lastly, there's the doctors appointments. Uncomfortable and awkward are two words that come to my mind. Like she says, "Then there's those exams. Why the scary paper dress...Why the rubber gloves?...why the Nazi stirrups, the mean cold duck lips?" (71). They're just not fun. Every girl dreads the day she has to go to the doctor to get her "check-up". Although, it is something that we all have to do I find it interesting that there actually isn't anything they do to make a little bit easier. Like she says in the book "Why can't they find some nice, delicious purple velvet and wrap it around me, lay me down on some feathery cotton spread, put on some nice pink or blue gloves, and rest my feet in some fur-covered stirrups? Warm up the duck lips" (72). I mean, I don't think they should go over board and do all of the things that she says but some of it couldn't hurt.
There are some good points in this chapter and I liked it because I think most people can relate to a lot of the things that Ensler says and have similar views.

The Vagina Monologues

I am now reading the Vagina Monologues in my English class, and I love it. It's really interesting and brings up so many good points. Being a girl I can relate to some of the things that are stated, as well as knowing other girls who have said similar things to whats in the book. My favorite sections of the book so far are the lists of what people would have their vaginas say, wear, and be called, and the description of the word and what it sounds like.
A few of the things vaginas would say if they talked were "Feed me" "Whoah, Mama" "Where's Brian" "Bonjour" and a few things they would wear are "A beret" "A pink boa" "An evening gown" "Glasses" "Sweatpants" and "Cotton" (16-21). The list is much longer and I find all of them funny and they each have their own personality. You can tell a little bit about the girl who said them just from what they would want their vaginas to say or wear. My favorite excerpt from the entire book so far is "Let's start with the word "vagina". It sound like an infection at best, maybe a medical instrument. Doesn't matter how many times you say it, it never sound like a word you want to say. If you use it during sex, trying to be politically correct --- "Darling, could you stroke my vagina?"--- you kill the act" (5). I laughed so hard when I read this because it's true. I know so many people that refuse to say the word vagina just because it's awkward and feels inappropriate, yet they'll say other words that are far more vulgar. It's just a weird word in general. Even I feel awkward saying it around certain people just because the surprised expression on their faces, and the feeling you get because you don't know how certain people will react. There are so many different slang words that people say to express it and some of them are almost offensive yet it's become the norm and it's hard for people to go back. There are a few examples of slang words in the book as well, such as "twat" "pussycat" "nappy dugout" "tamale" "schmende" "monkey box" and "poonani" (6). I mean I'm not sure which one I would rather say "Darling, could stroke my vagina" or "Darling, could you stroke my monkey box". I think the surprised and confused expression on the guy's face would be priceless if you actually said "stroke my monkey box". Yet I guarantee so many people would rather say that than vagina.

Dieting

In The Beauty Myth it says "in 1985 90% of woman thing they weight too much" and "On any day 25% of woman are on diets, with 50% finishing, breaking, or starting one" (pg. 185). I asked 10 of my family and friends if they were comfortable with their weight and only 2 of them said yes. Three of them are on diets, two of them work out regularly and are trying to eat healthier, one is on the brink of anorexia, and the other two that are unhappy with their weight don't really do anything but complain about it. Six out out of the eight people that are discontent with their bodies are on diets and that number changes almost everyday. The first three go on diets, then break the diet, then start a new diet, then give up, then start up again. The two that work out regularly and eat healthy do work out regularly but can never keep up with a diet, it's always the "I'll start tomorrow" or the "today's my last day I swear" speech. And then there's the one friend who is almost anorexic with the 30 different daily diets shes on. It's interesting how out of six people who are on diets none of them can really keep them, and some of them have actually gotten worse since they started dieting and have risked their mental health.

I find it really interesting that dieting in The Beauty Myth has become such a negative thing yet in reality there are numerous of different types of dieting. If there is an obese or slightly overweight person and they come to you and say "I'm starting this new diet in a few days", the common reaction is "Oh good for you!" or "Good luck I hope it goes well". Where as, if a thin person comes up to you and says. "I'm starting this new diet in a few days" the common reaction is  "WHY!?" or "but you're already so skinny". Yet neither one of them actually said what kind of diet they're going on. The obese person could be going on a diet where they only eat once or twice a day or are cutting out nutritious foods that people need to stay healthy, and the thin person could just be cutting out chocolate and soda They are both going on completely different diets, one much more dangerous than the other. Yet, we perceive dieting as one thing, depending on the person who is doing it and don't actually realize the difference. Many people tend to jump to conclusions though because of the person that says they are doing the dieting and I think that has something to do with the way media and society has made many people view dieting.