Challenging Hegemonic Masculinities: Female Police Officers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H676Q16WK4

I thought this video really related well to McElhinny's article and what we talked about in class today. In the video, Milwaukee police officers Amy Bartol and Stephanie Seitz describe what it's like working as female cops together in male dominated society. What's interesting is the fact that these two are not only partners together, but are partners assigned to the most dangerous part of their section. They are truly defying female stereotypes by taking on this tough job. They say they have to earn trust and respect.

I thought the part of the video where a nurse at a hospital makes the comment, "Oh they let two of you work together?", was very interesting. It is typically unusual to find two female police officers working together on the job without any male counterparts. These two ladies really have to hold their own, which appears that they do well after seeing them in action during the traffic stop. They both have confidence in themselves and in each other, which they say is very important for not only just a cop, but especially a female cop. Our society doesn't typically think of females as being aggressive or threatening, so female cops don't tend to receive much respect unless they prove they can defy the stereotype. The female officer was very aggressive and assertive when she was arresting the boy who tried to swallow the bag of weed . While she had male officer backup, she clearly was the one in control the whole time and shouting orders. Even when she was telling the crowd of people to move along, she had an authoritative tone of voice which suggests not to mess with her. At the end they said sometimes being a female officer is beneficial to them, because a lot of people don't see them as threatening and that makes it easier for them to handle a situation. This relates back to the article where McElhinny talks about how female cops are usually the easier ones to talk to. Women are better at sorting out problems and handling the more emotional part of the job. These two cops seem like they do a pretty good job of handling the physical part as well.

Brady Wolfe

What No Bedtime Story Means

In another class of mine, Children and the Media, we talked about how a child’s brain is developing the fastest between the ages of 0-2 more so than any other stage of development. We discussed how a child’s brain grows from interactions with the people in his or her environment, particularly mothers and fathers. Reading bedtime stories to young children is not only a bonding moment, but as Heath discusses in her article, it is a chance for children to learn skills that can be applied in later years. In an article I found online, the author discusses 12 benefits of bedtime storytelling.

http://hanagem.hubpages.com/hub/12-Benefits-of-Bedtime-Storytelling

The first claim the author makes directly relates to Heath’s reading. It states that bedtime stories develop a child’s language. By listening to parents read stories, children are hearing a variety of new words they might have never heard before thus expanding their vocabulary. Hearth talks about how in Maintown parents are continuously labeling the objects in the books and are repeating the words to instill it into the child’s brain. The second benefit mentioned in the article is that bedtime stories can help enhance listening and oral communication skills. It states that a good storyteller interacts with the listeners and asks them questions. Maintown also demonstrates this practice. Parents in the town constantly stop in the story and ask the child what different things in the story are, also known as seeking what-explanations. In the town of Trackton, on the other hand, parents are not as involved in tutoring their child and preparing them for school and do not engage in bedtime storytelling. By not practicing storytelling they are really putting their child at a disadvantage. The article stating benefits of storytelling goes on to say that bedtime stories help ignite interest in reading and writing, develop thinking and problem solving skills, and enhances creativity. I think that when I have a child I would want to do all that I could in order to enhance their learning and would follow the procedures practiced in Maintown. A child is most affected by the environment they grow up in, so I believe that a child would be more successful in school if they listened to bedtime stories and were encouraged to participate in answering questions about the topics they are reading about.

Chrissie Bock

Professional Vision- Charles Goodwin

• Today's article discussed was Professional Vision by Charles Goodwin. He starts out by using the word, "Discursive Practices. " This means (and is the basis of the whole article) the way members of a profession shape events in the domain subject to their professional scruinty. In other words, people use their jobs/identities to make others see the way they do. An example of discursive practices is the Rodney King Case. As show in class, the officers flogged and beat a black man for speeding. The officers were able to use discursive practices to brain wash the judge into viewing the video the way they wanted the judge to see it.
• There are two main words in the article that are key to understanding the article: coding and highlighting. Highlighting is more of the big picture and coding is picking out what the profession focuses on. For example, the police invloved in Rodney's case highlighted the fact that they are officers and have authority. The coding would be the police coding scheme they used to make the jury see the video in a specific manner.
• http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/03/19/148905661/killing-of-fla-teen-trayvon-martin-becomes-national-story-about-race
• In summary, this article is about a 17 year old African American boy who was shot by a neighborhood patrol officer because he looked "suspicious." This is an example of abusing your profession because the neighborhood patrol officer thought he had more authority than he did. Racism also ties into this, similar to the Rodney King Case, due to the fact that authorities treat black men more harshly than whites. Despite the fact that the neighborhood patrol officer had blood on his fists, he was not found guilty because there was" no evidence. " Discursive Practices come into play here because although the court knew the 17 year old boy was unarmed, the police portrayed themselves as using self defense and abused their profession's authority.
• In conclusion, Professional Vision is a very in depth article and has many aspects to it. The big picture is how people use their profession to influence others.

Pocahontas Goes to the Clinic - Inequalities in Health Care

Today in class we discussed the article, "Pocahontas Goes to the Clinic" by Cheryl Mattingly.  One of the ideas the article explores is that  there still exists stereotyping problems in the healthcare system which dictate what depth of care patients receive.  The power struggle between race, language, culture and class is what exists in health care everyday.   This struggle can exist between doctors and patients as well as between nurses and patients.  Mattingly argued that people of minority races or lower incomes do not receive the same health care as those who do not fall into these categories. She claimed that health care professionals treat those who have  a higher income, or are of cultural preference, get better quality medical attention than those who don't.  This could simply mean better information, more options, medication provided, services offered, etc. We also discussed how health care professionals use "code names" to describe people who are perceived to not "deserve" better health care.   These names are generally given to those with lower incomes or minority status.  This enables the staff to communicate about patients in front of others without the public understanding what they are talking about.  This use of "code names" or "group names" supports the idea that health care professionals do not treat all patients equally.  If there was equality for all patients these "names" would not be needed at all.

A couple years ago a video had spread all over the news about a Jamaican woman who lived in New York.  She was found dead on the ER floor of King County Hospital after being left there to die for six hours.  There is video footage of the woman going into extreme pain and falling to the floor.  While she is on the floor multiple security guards checked on her, however, none of them did anything to save her.  Also, no nurses responded to the medical calls to the desk about the event.  Everyone who saw her simply left her on the floor and didn't assist her.  Because she had waited so long for medical attention she ended up dying as a result of the neglect. The following is a link to the video footage and the news commentary that followed the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOJUujKxPg&feature=related

This event could have been avoided if the woman was given immediate medical attention when she first fell to the floor.  Since she was ignored and left to die this supports Mattingly's theory that racial inequality still does exist in the health care system.  Had the woman possibly been of a different race she may have been saved.

Pocahontas Goes to the Clinic

To many people in society today, including myself, the Doctor's office can arguably be one of the most never racking places to walk into. After filling out an information form that asks for every single detail of your life, a procedure follows that either hurts, is uncomfortable, or makes you feel gross for the rest of the day. When I saw the title of this article I wondered how Pocahontas or any Disney character could possibly resemble anything to do with the Doctor's office. After thinking about how my Pediatrics office was organized, I noticed many Disney characters were on the wall and the Lion King was on the 12 inch TV in the waiting room. The Doctor wanted all the young patients to be as comfortable as possible. My Doctor knew his patients were nervous and did anything in his power to make their time at his office enjoyable.

The speech seen in this article is common language and how that helps close the gap between Doctors and different races seen in the office. If a patient cannot communicate with their Doctor, that relationship will never last and that patient will move to a new doctor with better communication skills. Even the smallest of actions done by a Doctor can send a negative message to a new patient and it all starts with language. Mattingly hints on how Disney characters, such as Pocahontas, are seen in the same light by all different races. This "common ground" is used all the time in the Doctors office to make that important relationship needed to make patients comfortable.

The Youtube video I selected shows a girl facing her fear of getting a shot in her arm. For many young children having to get a shot taken is the worst thing ever. I personally did not like the feeling after it was done because your arm is sore for the rest of the day. In this video the sister of the patient seems more worried than the actual patient. During class the topic of how after a shot my bandaids have some sort of Disney or cartoon character on them to make the child feel better. In this video the Nurse feels the girl is old enough to get a plain white bandaid. She even asks if the bandaid is "Hello Kitty." I think the funniest part is when she is screaming with a smile on her face while the nurse administers the shot.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UTMcgHScXA

Pochahontas at the Clinic - Heather Hourigan

After reading the title for this article I was very confused as to how
Pocahantus could possibly relate to health care, however, through the use
of popular culture in our everyday lives it is evident to me now.  Popular
culture such as Disney characters, ?provide a common language for adults
and children, a set of public symbols that they can draw on to try and
connect with one another? (499). The type of speech that this article
examines is this common language of popular culture like the quote above
says.  No matter where you go in life there will always be an issue with
race and discrimination, including in heath care, but it takes having
something to relate to someone else that allows for people to overcome that
barrier. The example I found to relate to this article was a youtube video
of a girl getting a surprise trip to Disney Land. Her reaction was
priceless.

Trust needs to be formed between a doctor and their patient and in most
cases this is formed through our speech with one another. The doctors I
trust the most now are the ones that I have the best conversations with and
can tell they genuinely care about my health. This speech is hard to come
by in a child to adult situation. That is why popular culture such as
Disney characters is an immediate way of sparking conversation, which eases
the children?s minds. In a way this article touches on this adult to child
speech while using the idea of code switching. Not that the adult is using
a different type of language but is shifting the way he or she is speaking
to the child versus when they are speaking to that child?s parents.

The video that I attached to this post does not necessarily go with the
health care and Disney connection but I feel that it portrays the author?s
understanding on how important these Disney characters become to these
children. This video shows a young girl opening presents for her birthday.
Almost all of the presents she gets have to do with Disney whether it be a
Disney coloring book or pajamas. The most amusing part of this video is
when the girl?s mom says she gets to take all those things on a trip to
Disney Land. Immediately the girl is in shock and starts crying of
excitement. This shows not only how important these popular culture items
are to his young girl but the speech between the mom and daughter is
focused on this relationship of her love for Disney. The feelings are so
overwhelming for the young girl that she literally stops speaking and cries
out of excitement. Who knew popular culture could have such incredibly deep
feelings in the hearts of young Americans, and affect their speech between
adults.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOpOhlGiRTM

The Sperm and the Egg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_23vazNbgk

0:0- 1:25 clip (I just looked up a cartoon clip and up until this point was what I was looking for but its bad humor after this time)

In Emily Martin’s article about the egg and the sperm, she looks at the ways in which sociology shapes the way scientific research is being reported.  Her main focus here is that the women’s processes and egg are described with passive words, whereas, men’s sperm and processes are described as active and exciting.  In her research, she looks at different texts and reports that images of the egg are described as feminine and passive by using words like “drift” or “is swept,” while males’ sperm are said to “activate the developmental program of the egg” (Martin 199).  I thought her research yielded interesting results so I wanted to find an example myself that demonstrated what she was talking about. 

I was able to find a video on youtube titled “Sperm’s World,” which, right from the start was funny because it implied the importance of sperm from the title alone by suggesting that they had their own world.  Skip is a young hopeful sperm who is talking to Gary, a larger sperm.  He describes to Gary that he needs to stop watching TV that he needs to stop being lazy, and start training for the big swim.  In this sentence alone, he has implied that sperm are not passive in telling his friend to turn off the TV, and that they need to be active and energetic to prepare for “the big swim.”  Skip then goes into a story about how even though he is considered small, he has high hopes and dreams for reaching an egg and creating a child, all while a positive instrumental tone is played in the background.  This scene sets this small sperm up to be the knight in shining armor who has to train to take a long journey to reach the egg and create a baby.  He has portrayed himself in a very active way in which he will fulfill this heroic journey. 

I thought that it was interesting that in a small youtube video that was merely made for light funny entertainment the ways of speech Martin looks at are implied.  In this clip we can see the way in which the sperm set themselves up to be the high energy active agents in creating a baby.