Why just girls? What about the boys?

As we were sitting in class the other day talking about "My name is not Maria" and how females seem to have to act a certain way when they get to a certain age, I started thinking about this email that I got after our first football game this season regarding tailgating. It was made clear that our President and other WKU officials were extremely disappointed in the behavior of students, especially the females. Later, we find out that the main issue was girls dancing on the back of trucks. Now, I'm not saying that the girls on the back of the trucks weren't dancing and having maybe a little too good of a time...but for every girl that I saw on the back of a truck, there was a guy right beside her...some dancing and having just as good a time as the girls, if not more! What frustrates me about the email is that it was targeted toward the female population on campus and nothing was said about the guys who were doing the exact same thing. So as we were talking about "My name is not Maria" and the rest of the chapter, I could relate a lot more to what the book was talking about. It DOES seem like females have to grow into this "acceptable" gender role that has all these rules and regulations, while males can do the exact same things we do and its okay because they are guys. Why is it okay for them and not us? Sometimes its just not fair being a girl!

Changes

I think what struck me the most this week was seeing how much things have changed over time in terms of children. We saw a little bit in the movie "Tough Guise" of how different simple things such as action figures are now....they used to be pure, simple entertainment, but now they put so much emphasis on their appearances (which are extremely disproportionate to real life) that after you get done looking at how amazing they look with their perfect bodies (barbies) and their huge muscles (GI Joes) you don't even want to play with them! I know that as I grew into my TEENS my appearance became more of an awareness to me...but I feel like girls are starting to focus on looks wayyyy too early these days. My mom is a 4th grade teacher and she talks to me all the time about all these little girls coming into her class wearing all kinds of make-up or wearing skimpy little dresses and it just blows my mind! I didn't start wearing make-up till I was a freshman in high school! And in the 4th grade the only thing I was concerned with was who's basketball team I was going to be on at recess and what kind of drink I was going to get on our "pop break." Its not just the way they dress either, its their weight too. When you see someone like Hannah Montana on the cover of a magazine with only a sheet covering her boobs and looking like she hasn't eaten in a week or two, girls are going to get the wrong message! Hannah Montana is supposed to be this cute little innocent pop princess on the Disney channel that can do no wrong, then something like that crazy magazine comes out and girls just assume that's what they are supposed to look like since its the great Hannah Montana. It all goes back to these stick sized barbies that girls are supposed to love. They are getting the wrong impression at a young age and its becoming a bigger problem with each passing year. I would give anything to go back to when my biggest worries were basketball and pops! The big question is tho, what are those little 4th grade girls going to wish they could go back to worrying about when they are my age? Scary to think about that answer!

This is me...

My name is Caitlin Metcalfe and I am a sophomore at WKU. I am a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm not really your stereo-type sorority girl though, I'm really big into sports and you'll usually catch me in a pair of gym shorts and a t-shirt as apposed to being all dolled up.
WKU was actually my second choice for college, I really wanted to go to Ole Miss in Mississippi...but with out-of-state tuition and me not being able to keep any of the scholarships I got in KY, I decided to save my parents a second mortgage and go where I got the most money. In the long run, I'm really glad I did because I love Western and all it has to offer...minus TERRIBLE parking!
My major is Corporate and Organizational Communications, basically meaning I like to talk to people. I think this class is going to be interesting because I love listening to other people's opinions about certain things and then telling my opinions and comparing the two. It is kind of ironic to be in a women's studies class with mostly women giving out their opinions, because way back when, women basically weren't allowed to give their opinions about anything and if they did then it wasn't even considered.
I'm not exactly sure what I want out of life yet, right now I just like to take whatever it throws at me and try to roll with it...but I do know that I want to graduate in 3 years and get a job that I love doing....and that makes a lot of money :)