Women and Pornography

A major issue in todays society is pornography for both male and female users and the consequences they bring. Users start when they are young by avoiding the parental controls set up by their parents, deleting the history and cookies on the computer so that there is no trace. However this has led to drastic increases of addiction for pornography. Over recent years the percentage of women looking and actively using pornography has skyrocketed, using it as a release to get a quick fix on their stressful lives. This only increases the terrible image given to women from pornography. Guys experiment while they are in their teens and unfortunately some become hooked, letting it get into the middle of their priorities in life. Doctors say that this release of dopamine-oxytocin produces a high similar to heroin, people feel relaxed and powerful which they most likely aren’t feeling in their current life situation.
However pornography not only complicates what is happening now but also in the future, with relationship issues and complications during sex. This release may feel great for the few minutes of pleasure you receive, however when you come back to reality it only makes things worse because you are expecting to have all your stresses and problems eliminated, when this really isn’t true. Not only this but the loneliness and depression that occurs as a constant effect of increased pornography use causes people to have medical conditions such as ulcers, as well as the possibility of contemplating suicide. I feel pornography is a serious issue and one that will only worsen with our media perceptions. I hope that anyone who has an issue or knows someone who does can go seek help either on the internet or to a doctor because it is a serious issue and isn’t the way to go about solving the problems in life.

Women in the Military

For years women have been in the military but serving with common feminine jobs such as nurses. In the later years up to today, these roles have changed and gave women almost equal opportunity to serve as men. There are only few areas in the military that do not permit women such as some areas of ground battle. Some women do choose their military job in ground battle but only few areas actually have the slots open for women.
Women in the military is a wonderful thing and equal opportunity should be a choice of the woman not the choice made for her because the job might be “too stressful” for a woman to handle. If indeed a woman requests to choose a stressful job, she will be fully prepared and equipped for her duties. The military should not put restrictions on women because not all women are the same and can handle situations differently.
The other issue for women in the military is family life and starting to have a family while in the military. People worry how having children will then affect a woman’s mind frame when it comes time to have to leave her family and possibly leave her new born child in result of her job. This often puts women in a stressful position creating more problems for her in job and when she comes home. Women who do not choose an area with combat tend to move up in ranks and become very successful in their career in the military. I feel this issue has gotten alot less severe over recent years and that women should have equal opportunities as men, especially in the military. Who is to say that one gender can protect and save the country while the other cant, to me that just isn't right.

Women and Religion

Religion is a sensitive issue particularly when it comes to the position of women. Depending on the religion, women have more equality then others. In different religions today, many have become more lenient allowing women to work and not just stay home. Some religions still perceive women as the keeper of the house and children while the man goes to work. In the Jewish community they practice sex segregation, women on one side and men on the other. They do this to prevent the women from “distracting” the men during prayer services and church. Or in the Islamic culture women must cover themselves up to as much as their entire body hands and face using the niqabs which covers everything but the eyes of a woman. They do this because in their religion, they are taught to cover their “awrah” which is the intimate parts of their bodies. Women are seen to have more restrictions as to what they must have covered like their hair and entire body. The women must do this in order to not entice men to look at them and lead them to covet them, flirt with them, and lose focus. In a sense they are really saying it would be a women’s fault if a man were to find her attractive merely by seeing her hair. This makes women inferior no matter how you look at it. Women must cover entirely while the men are free to dress with fewer limitations.
Women have come a long way when it comes to religious rules in how women should be. I believe progression is still being made and will take years before women will have the complete choice on certain issues. It also goes back to how the women were raised and what they have become acquainted with. Some women like and agree with the ways they know and others go just go along with it because they do not have much of a say. As the years go on, women will get more freedom and options according to their religion.

Domestic Violence Issues

I was able to see a special on MTV this past weekend on Chris Brown, it went into great detail about his childhood, as well as his career as an artist. Chris was born in Tappahannock, Virginia it was here where his mother and stepfather would raise him, however with many serious issues along the way. Growing up Chris was in a setting of constant domestic abuse, where his step father would physically beat his mother. Chris stated in an earlier interview back in 2006 that he disrespected anyone who showed any signs of this abuse both physically and verbally, saying even people using the “b-word” would be out of my life. Unforunately for Chris we all now know what would be lurking in the future for him, that being his own problem with domestic abuse involving Rihanna. Here Chris got into an argument the night of the Grammy’s and ended up punching her in the face several times. According to Sheryl Cates CEO of the domestic violence hotline, she states that there is a very easy explanation for Chris’ behavior, that since he was accustomed to seeing it happen in such a common occurrence when he was a child it became engraved into his mind. He may be outspoken about domestic violence, however if he is elevated to that level of anger he will quickly use that idea as a reaction because he has seen it so much over his life. Eventually Chris pleaded guilty to felony domestic abuse, and was sentenced to 5 years probation and many hours of community service. The show goes into the life of Chris Brown after the incident, noting that it wasn’t until he was performing Man in the Mirror a tribute for his close friend who passed away, Michael Jackson that everything came to a forefront. After getting through the first few series of lyrics Chris broke down and started crying on one of the biggest stages of the year, showing a great first step in knowing you did something wrong. According to Cates the next step is getting help, because if you don’t it will always be there with you. Personally I feel no sorrow for Chris, I think he is a talented musician, but for me treating women wrongly is a very sensitive spot in my heart. I just have always been taught the proper ways to treat a lady and to see him be pretty much a hypocrite about an issue he said scarred his life, is just plain and simply pathetic. I hope he is able to openly speak to people about his life and this incident and say that it is alright to get help before you act in a similar manner. It will definitely be interesting to see how Chris Brown’s career transcends after all these significant events in his life.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604730/chris-browns-family-has-history-domestic-abuse.jhtml

Transgender in Athletics

Today I had writers block and was limited on the events I was finding on the internet to write about for my blog, so I flipped on ESPN and watched “Outside the Lines” which focuses on very important stories and issues about sports with amateur and professional players. Here the main focus was centered on Kye Allums, a Junior basketball player for the George Washington women’s team. Kye is the first publicly transgendered person to play college sports. Her story goes into great detail about the emotion and events that happened to get to the point she is at right now. In high school she had occurrences with other females thinking she might be a lesbian. However this simply wore off and things didn’t feel right, believing that the body he was born into was simply the wrong gender Kye sent his mother an email stating his feelings. That he didn’t choose to be born in this body, and feel the he does. Kye will finish out his playing career then have the necessary procedure and drug protocol done to become a male gender. I personally don’t know how I can express my opinion on such a subject because I have never experience anything even close to this measure, being trapped in a body you never wanted would be a terrible nightmare. I think that I would do the same thing if I was feeling all the emotions Kye was feeling, however at the same time I definitely feel for the mother who has been pretty upset over the whole thing. It is your baby girl you raised when she was little all the way up until college and you never once would think that something like the idea of transgender would fall into the equation. I am really happy to hear that Kye has the support of her coach and teammates because with out them I don’t know how he could make it through this period of his life.

Tony Porter

I was able to attend the presentation by Tony Porter “a Call to Man”. Here he discussed his story and the proper ways to treat women and kids. Using his example of a “man-box” to prove his argument which was, trying to drive men away from that traditional view of masculinity. He used this man-box to have celebrities such as the Rock, who after doing shoot’em up movies decided to do a couple Disney roles as well, his point was that we are so ready to throw him out of there because he is going against our perceived idea of masculinity. However this isn’t the right way of thinking because in the Disney roles he is connecting with kids and showing them exactly what most men should be doing the right way to treat people. He goes into great detail into his own story about how he was led down the wrong path but eventually had the courage to overpower his friends because he knew what was wrong and he thought about how he would want his daughter treated. He went on to ask us if men these days would approve of the way college guys treat women if it was our own daughter. Myself personally I would feel absolutely disgusted with the way men treat women nowadays. It is no wonder we have greater poverty rates and crime rates, if these men who are mistreating women are teaching this to their own kids, not only that these children are even lucky if they have a dad to teach them the proper ways because there are more and more single mothers raising boys everyday. I got a lot out of Tony’s story and I know that the minor blemishes I have in treating women are definitely going to be changed if not for the sake of me and the person I am in a relationship with, then for the sake of my kids so they know how to treat somebody.

Women and Abortion

Abortion is one of the most controversial issues today. Many think that abortion should not be legal because it is “taking a life” and no one person has the right to decide if a child should live or die. I was raised my whole life with people constantly preaching this idea to me, I myself would not want my girlfriend or wife to get an abortion if she unexpectedly became pregnant but I do realize many situations are greatly different. Situations involving rape for one I feel that such a horrific act, rightly allows for a woman to have a choice. In our more modern society women should have the choice of what they want to do when a pregnancy occurs. Women have the right to determine what happens to them and their body. Abortion plays a role when the mother would end up without the father, and if she is financially unstable. There are countless reasons a woman would choose to have an abortion which to her these reasons are significant. Women like to look at the bigger picture especially if the pregnancy can cause them harm or if the child will have birth defects or developmental issues later in life. Parents can also play a role if a woman decides to have an abortion. If the woman is too young, the family has certain religious standards or she is unmarried. Parents could put stress upon the mother and lead her to the decision to terminate based on the negative consequences they have laid upon her. I feel whatever degree the situation is, as a whole women deserve to have that right to choose what they want to do with their body, however me individually I feel as if I would encourage the person I got pregnant to have the child.