Messages in Media

For me, classes have started to blend together; my professors have begun giving lectures on the same topics and they can seem fairly repetitive. I found one of these topics to be fairly interesting: "Are we just born that way?" Gendered messages in the media and cultural nurturing tend to be different in every society. From a young age, children are placed in an environment and are told, based on their gender, how to proceed; each human group determines its own ideas of what's masculine and feminine and what's proper and not proper. For example, the common greeting among friends and relatives in Chile consists of a hug and a handshake and sometimes embellished with a kiss on the right cheek for women. It is repeated when saying goodbye. As for Americans, personal space is valued and most would consider a kiss forward instead of friendly.

Changing residency from one part of the country to the other, I have learned that even states and different social societies can be drastically different. When I can hear Disney songs sung in public places and where words like "rad" are still cool, it feels like living in a different world.

Every collective group of people holds themselves to different social norms and I have begun to notice them more frequently.

AT BYU...

1. Hold the door if the next guy is within 15 feet of you and you may get stuck there for five minutes while ushering in the crowd.

2. It is ok to run through the dorm at night and yell as long as you are doing it with friends.

3. If there are no empty tables available, sit diagonally from someone and don't even worry about talking to them.