Murderball Film Review

What is the main thesis of this film?

The main thesis of the film Murderball was to emphasis that those with a disability, in this case those in a wheelchair, are just as capable of doing things as those who can walk. In this case, I believe that those that participate in Murderball are tougher than those that play simple sports such as basketball and football. However, it is not just sports that those with disabilities can do. I have included a link that was on our class blog that looks at how everyone can do anything. Sins Invalid

How does the thesis of this film relate to the course?

The thesis of this film relates to the course because we were discussing deviant bodies and what is considered a deviant body and why. Those in a wheelchair are considered deviant because of the fact that they cannot walk. They get pity and sympathy when all they want is to be treated just like those who can walk. Who says walking is the best thing in the world. Most of those in wheelchairs don’t wish they could walk. 

Which arguments/points did you find the most convincing?

The point that I found most convincing is those that are in a wheelchair are rated by their injury. Depending on where their injury is on the spinal cord and how much movement they have in their limbs, determines the points they are worth on the field. This was incredible to me that we rate people at all. The following site tells more about quad rugby.Quad Rugby

Which arguments/points did you find the least convincing?

I do not think I found any arguments or points least convincing. I believe that those in wheelchairs should not be pitied. We should treat them like we would treat anyone else. If they are a jerk you don’t have to like them just because they are in a wheelchair, you wouldn’t like a jerk if they could walk. So what’s the difference?

Choose one argument, point or question that most stands out for you. How would you study this point?

Briefly design a research study around that point.

Something that stood out to me was at the end when they were showing those soldiers that were injured how to play Murderball. I would study this further by getting those injured from war to play this game. It doesn’t have to be as violent but I believe that getting them to do things like this and showing them that they can still play sports and have fun would be a good self-esteem booster. 

Word count: 431

You're so DUMB

There are many words in today’s modern language that we use for insults. Some of these we know that we should not use because they can be hurtful to certain groups of people, such as the “r word” or gay. There are many words out there that most of us use probably on a regular basis that we might not think much of. The word I chose for this blog is dumb. Dumb is defined as “lacking the human power of speech”.[1] In other words, this refers to a person who cannot speak most likely because of deafness.

However the connotations today for the word “dumb” are very different. We use it today to describe something or someone as stupid or not intelligent. We use this word to describe a lot of things. If someone is acting in a certain way we might call them dumb. There are many different emotions that we can express when saying this word. We could be joking around because they are acting silly, we could say it because we are mad at that person, because we are frustrated, and so on. The connotations for this word are much different then when it was describing someone who could not speak due to being deaf.

The community that is impacted by this word being an insult is the deaf community. This word is still being used against the same group that it always was, the deaf, but it is now being used in a completely different meaning. It was once used only to describe that a person could not speak due to deafness, but now it is being used as an insult because they are deaf! This community is being thought of as unintelligent (dumb) because of the simple fact that they cannot hear, therefore they use sign language. How could this be possible that every deaf person is unintelligent? That is like saying that every non deaf person is intelligent. It simply is not true.

Members of the deaf community are asking that they not be referred to as dumb anymore. For the obvious reason, they are not “dumb”. In one of the blogs I found about the deaf community relating to the word dumb, I found a video that I thought spoke well to this issue Deaf Not Dumb. The individuals in this video are simply asking to not automatically act like they are not intelligent just because they cannot hear what others are saying. They just want to be treated with the same respect that those who can hear, and therefore speak get. When I first watched this, I could not believe that so many people think that because someone uses a different form of communication they are automatically unintelligent. It amazes me how ignorant people really are that they don’t think that what they say hurts people. I do not think that I have ever come across a deaf person and thought that they were not smart just because they were using their hands to speak. It is ridiculous. Bitch magazine

This word is not appropriate in only a certain community of people. I think that everyone uses, or has used, this word in their life. They have probably used in many times without even thinking about it. I know I have, quite a bit. I never thought about how it used to be used. I never thought that by calling someone dumb, it would be an insult to the deaf community. I think that there are many more words that are far worse than “dumb”, but after having to write this blog, and think about what the word really means, I will now think twice before I use it to insult someone or something.  

Word count: 624

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[1] Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved Feb 18, 2012

Middle Sexes Film Review

What is the main thesis of the film?

      The main thesis of the film is for society to acknowledge and learn how to accept people of   the “inner sexes”. These include transgender and those born with both man parts and woman parts. Society need to become knowledgeable of these individuals and not discriminate against them. Trans Forming Media

What were the main arguments in support of this thesis?

     The main argument that stuck out to me to support this thesis is when they were discussing the biological transformation of babies inside the womb. They said that all babies start out with the exact same parts. After three months, the hormones decide what gender that baby will become. However, sometimes the hormones that make up the brain do not always agree with the gender parts that determine the sex of the baby. 

How does the thesis of this film relate to the course?

      The thesis of this film relates to the course because the class is all about social deviance. Being intersex, transgender, a homosexual, or anything else that does not fit into our society of “normal” is considered deviant. Whether these people are actually deviant does not matter because they will always be considered it because of how they live their life.

Which arguments/points did you find the most convincing?

     The argument that I found the most convincing is when they were discussing how being transgender has nothing to do with their sexual orientation. Just because a man becomes a woman does not mean that she will like men. She could like women just as much as a lesbian born a woman. Being transgender is about how one feels about their gender, about who they are as a person. It’s not about who they are sexually attracted to.

Which arguments/points did you find the least convincing?

     To be honest, I cannot think of an argument from the film that I found was not convincing.

Choose one argument, point or question that most stands out for you from the film. How would you study this point? Briefly design a research study around that point.

     Something that really stood out to me was that doctors were deciding whether a baby was a boy or a girl if it appeared they had both parts based on which part was bigger. How could they possibly know how that baby was going to grow up to be at that point? I’m not sure this would be a good research design but I think that they should wait until they are older to make that decision. Yes, that child is going to have both parts, but if the family talks about it and the child knows that nothing is wrong with them I think that it could save them a lot of emotional stress than if the doctors choose one sex, but really they grew up feeling they were a completely different one.Intersex Roadshow

Word Count: 490

Deviance: Teen Pregnancy!

According to society, I am not a very deviant person. I am white, middle-class, and educated. I am not one to break the rules or do things that I am not supposed to do. However, I am a woman. Therefore according to society, I am incompetent. I am not as good as a man at anything I do. Is this true? Well of course it is if society thinks this way. But in all reality no, it is definitely not true.

Since I do not go against the rules, according to our textbook “Readings In Deviant Behavior” by Alex Thio, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers I would fall under the conflict theory, more specifically commitment. Commitment control theory happens when “men” (once again I am not good enough to be considered in this theory) “obey the rules simply from fear of the consequences” (Thio 2010: 31). If I were to ever consider participating in deviant behavior I would have a whole laundry list of things to go through to make sure that if I did participate in that behavior it would not hurt the things in life I am proud of. For example, if I was considering participating in a deviant act, I would have to think about the education I want to achieve, my future career, my friends and family, and so on. It would never just be a spree of the moment thing.  

Because I am white and from the middle-class I do not have to worry about affording college as much as someone who is not white or from the middle-class. However, let’s say there was no way for me to pay for school, I could not get any scholarships and the FAFSA just was not enough to cover a semester. What would be my next step? Suppose I had had enough of not getting what I thought I deserved (which would be education) and decided to take things into my own hands. I decide to commit a crime and rob a convenient store, or any store you want to imagine. This would be an example of strain theory. It would be innovation strain theory because I would be working toward my goal of going to college, but I would be going against all of the institutionalized means of getting there (Thio: 24). 

For my deviant act this week I decided to pretend I was pregnant and walk around the mall. Even though I am 20 years old and no longer a teenager, I look like I could be 17 or so to many. Therefore I wanted to play out the teen pregnancy role. To get started I taped a pillow to my stomach and wore a sweatshirt so it would stretch over my big belly. I predicted that I was going to get stares and probably a few snide comments and I was right. As soon as I got into the mall everyone that I passed looked at me with either sympathy, such as “you poor thing” or with disgust, “you slut”. It made me feel so uncomfortable that every single person who saw me walking was staring. It was sad that everyone was judging me based on the size of my stomach. As I was purchasing something at one of the stores, the woman at the counter asked when I was due, and I made something believable up. Then I could see it in her eyes that she felt sorry for me. I can only imagine that those teens who are actually pregnant would get so sick of everyone either thinking they are a slut or feeling sorry for them. 

The theory that I thought of is the labeling theory (Thio: 39). As soon as people know that you are pregnant at such a young age you automatically get a label of teen mom or slut or anything else you can think of. This will last most likely your whole life. You get the stigma of being a bad mom because you are so young. Everyone thinks that you are probably uneducated because you had to drop out of school to raise your child. 

 

I didn't record my experiment, but this is pretty close to what I did.

In all reality, yes there are some pretty bad teen moms out there. But there are also some really good ones! So don’t judge their parenting skills on their age, but base it on who they are as a person!

Word Count: 730

 Thio, Alex, Thomas C. Calhoun, and Addrain Conyers. Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2010. Print.