22. October 2009 by student.

            There is a lot of argument about whether abortion is okay or not. When looking at the history of condom use, it was used as early as anti Egyptian times for protection of disease. However, in the 19^th and 20^th century, women wanted men to start wearing them so they wouldn’t be pregnant as much. Women would drink bleach or stick metal clothes hangers up themselves to abort the pregnancy. These were not the best methods of course since many woman died. This idea of controlling or taking charge over whether or not to be pregnant is not a new idea. However, women today are looked down upon when they do have an abortion. I would never imagine telling anyone other than extremely close, trusted friends that I have had one, hence the reason why there is a screen name attached to this rather than my real name. Religious people try to argue that you are killing the baby and give the stigma that you are a murderer. I understand there are a lot of different types of contraception on the market. However, what happens when the condom breaks or birth control doesn’t work? From the majority of my family, they would feel that it would be better for me to have the baby and deal with it. A good amount of my family is very religious, they are strict Catholics. There is no way that I would be able to make my grandmother who is very firm in her religious beliefs understand that it is something I did for myself so I could have a life. I wouldn’t be able to explain to her that I wasn’t ready, that the condom broke. Nor would I be able to make her understand that it wasn’t the easy way out. The procedure itself was excruciating. Since it was an early term abortion the doctor used the suction aspiration method which is defined according to Michigan Christians for Life (http://www.nonprofitpages.com/mcfl/abtypes.htm) as, “most common surgical method used in first-trimester abortions.¹ In a suction-aspiration abortion, the abortionist numbs the cervix and stretches it open.  He then inserts a hollow plastic tube with a knife-like edge into the uterus and suctions the baby’s body into a bottle. The baby’s body is torn apart.  Since the suction is much more powerful than a home vacuum cleaner, the placenta—well-connected to the uterus’s lining—is also torn away.” The doctor used nothing to sedate me or calm me before putting the equivalent of a high powered vacuum on me to suck the fetus out. That after the procedure I was in more pain than I had ever felt in my life. That at times the pain was so bad I couldn’t walk, I was crawling on the floor to the bathroom. And that my sense of taste was not the same for about a month. And that I am now and was then rack with guilt over the decision. However, I knew that I was in no position to be able to afford to adequately take care of a child. I was barely able to afford myself. Although, I have heard of people using abortion for their methods of birth control, personally I can’t understand this. There are so many other options on the market now for birth control.             Most people who are pro life base their opinions that abortion is wrong on the idea of where life begins. They believe that life begins with the sperm and the egg meeting to create the fetus. Although, I do not disagree with this, I am still pro choice. Personally, I made my decision based on my own feelings. I knew that financially I was not able to afford the child, and did not want to live my life off the state from month to month. Also, at the time I wasn’t mentally ready to devote my life to a baby in the proper way. A lot of pro life people that I have spoken with do agree that abortion does need to be an option for a woman who is the victim of rape or incest. A victim of rape or incest is not given the option to become pregnant, just as a person whose condom breaks. Understandably, there is the morning after pill, but that doesn’t always work. As most people would say, one shouldn’t be having sex unless they are prepared to deal with the consequences. However, if one’s birth control fails, to have or not to have a baby is not one person’s decision. And for me it wasn’t! We weighed the options and discussed it thoroughly before deciding what was best for us.   

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

22. October 2009 by student.

This question is spreading throughout the country. From the cover of the magazine, “The Advocate” to the Tyra Banks Show, many people are claiming that yes indeed, gay is the new black. Some are revolting, claiming that being black and being gay are completely different. But do they hold the same place in American society?

Fifty nine years ago, interracial marriage between a “person of African descent” and a “person of non-African descent” was still illegal in many states in America. African Americans weren’t allowed to eat in the same restaurants, use the same bathrooms, or attend the same schools as whites until 1954. African Americans have fought for over a hundred years to have equal rights in America, and although blacks now are legally equal in all ways, they are still not socially equal. However, they have slowly been integrating into American culture, and every day seems to be more widely accepted. This idea is reinforced with the election of President Barack Obama.

But now that blacks are becoming accepted, who are we going to discriminate against? Since our country started, there has always a group of people that the majority of Americans simply don’t like or accept. In the beginning it was the Native Americans. Almost every group in America besides the Caucasian American has experienced this- Italians, Jews, and African Americans. However, over time, all of those different groups of people have been accepted into our society.

Now we are denying homosexuals the right to marry, in the same way that we denied interracial couples the right to marry. What is truly the difference between skin color and gender? Does it really make a difference? We have moved on to target homosexuals as the new subject of our ignorant discrimination, just as blacks were. Both cases are civil right issues. Fifty years ago, the common white person couldn’t think of the day when blacks would be nationally accepted and integrated into American society. Today, heterosexuals can’t imagine the day when homosexuals will be accepted. The truth is that society is constantly changing, and different groups of people will go from being “out” to “in”. Perhaps fifty years from now we will have our first gay president Sounds crazy, right? But that’s exactly what the majority white population would have thought fifty years ago when you said the in 2009 we would have and African-America president, and it happened.

So, are homosexuals taking the former place of African Americans in society? Is gay the new black?

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »