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Rendering #1: Tough Guise

In Nancy Lesko’s Denaturalizing Adolescence: The Politics of Contemporary Representations, the topic of adolescent boys being masculine is brought up. Lesko explains how “to ensure potency, males [need] to control against feminizing, that is, weakening influences” (Lesko, 1996). When reading what Lesko says about how society wants to train boys to become “manly men”, Jackson Katz’s documentary titled “Tough Guise” instantly came to mind. In this clip from the documentary, Katz explains how men, particularly young men, often wear a mask in order “to shield their vulnerability”, having to put on a “tough guise”. Furthermore, Katz explains how many people believe that in order to be a man, one must be violent. If he does not act in this way, they are often given names such as “girly”, “sissy”, “wimp”, and “weak”.

Although I do not believe that youth or men need to act in a violent manner and hide their emotions in order to show their masculinity, I do understand Lesko and Katz regarding the way society pressures men into acting tough in order to prevent them being labelled negative words, words often associated with being feminine. It is not fair for boys who happen to, for example, dress nicely or dislike sports to be labelled “girly” for being who they are and having “different” preferences. Professor Gaetz brought up an interesting point in lecture regarding boys in school who get picked on for being “feminine”, but nobody takes into consideration that most teachers are in fact female. Why is it acceptable, then, to humiliate young men for being “feminine” if their teachers are most often going to be women? It is unacceptable. In order for this stigma to be put to an end, influential people in society, such as teachers, need to emphasize the fact that it is alright to be “different”.        

 Lesko, N. (1996) "Denaturalizing Adolescence". Youth and Society 28(2): 139-161

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Rendering #2: Treatment of teenagers

This is a popular quote that is constantly being shared on the internet, which reads “Teenagers are the most misunderstood people on earth. They are treated like children and expected to act like adults”.  This is a quote that I definitely related to as a teenager, and one that I am assuming would speak to many teens today. In Cote and Bynner’s “Changes in the transition to adulthood in the UK and Canada: the role of structure and agency in emerging adulthood”, they explain that there is now a prolonged transition that children and teenagers are having to adulthood. Cote and Bynner share that “One of the least contested issues in contemporary youth studies is that the transition to adulthood is now taking longer on average than in the past, delayed until the mid-twenties to late-twenties for a significant proportion of youth cohorts in many developed societies” (Cote and Bynner, 2008). Personally, I believe that it is better for the transition into adulthood for youths to be longer because it is not fair for people to expect younger people to do so much in such a short amount of time, making it easy for people to misunderstand them and what they should be doing by a certain age. For example, if a woman in the early 1900s wanted to get married in her late twenties, she would probably be looked down upon by society because that would be considered late for a woman to marry. It would be preferable for her to marry in her late teenage years. If a woman in her late twenties wanted to get married at this age nowadays, it would be considered as normal. This prolonged transition into adulthood is beneficial for youth because they will perhaps not be expected to grow up so quickly while they are still considered as children, just as the meme suggests. For this woman in her late twenties in today’s day in age, she would be able to do more with her life, preparing her for the next steps in life by having more time to do things such as receive a post-secondary education, and figure out what she wants out of life without having as much pressure on her.

Côté & Bynner (2008). “Changes in the transition to adulthood in the UK and Canada: The role of structure and agency in emerging adulthood.” Journal of Youth Studies, 11(3), 251-268.

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Rendering #3: Performing Masculinity in “Say Aah” by Trey Songz

While reading The Girl Hunt: Urban Nightlife and the Performance of Masculinity as Collective Data by David Grazian, the song “Say Aah” by rapper Trey Songz kept playing in the back of my mind. In the reading by Grazian, he goes into detail about the practice of girl hunting by adolescent heterosexual men, which is when they “aggressively seek out female partners in nightclubs, bars, and other public arenas of commercialized entertainment” (Grazian, 2007). Rather than doing this in order to gain “potential romantic or sexual rewards”, the girl hunt is more so for adolescent men to display the “ritual motions…in the company of men” (Grazian, 2007). The music video for the song “Say Aah” demonstrates adolescent men’s thrill of the chase perfectly. In the very beginning of the video, we see rapper Trey Songz surrounded by a group of male friends looking to be in their early twenties while he appears to flirt with women and touch them intimately. This demonstrates Grazian’s claim that men enjoy performing masculinity in order to gain approval from their peers.

Another reason the song “Say Aah” came into mind when reading Grazian’s work is because of the lyrics “we could take it to the condo, and if you like the condo, we could move the party to the bedroom”. Clearly, the topic of taking a girl home and having sexual relations with her is on the rapper’s mind, however, as Grazian states and as mentioned before, young men value their friends seeing them perform masculinity as opposed to them actually having sexual relations with the opposite sex at the end of the day. With this being said, although Songz sings about how much he wants to take a girl to his bedroom at the end of the night, he is likely saying this in front of his friends in order to gain their approval.

As previously stated, one of the claims that Grazian makes in this reading is that men often feel more comfortable seeking potential sexual partners in clubs. In this music video, Songz and his male friends are very clearly in a nightclub due to the bottles of alcohol being passed around, individuals having shots of alcohol, the dancing, and the way in which people are dressed. The lyrics “since we’re in the club for now, might as well get another round” is also proof that the setting is a nightclub. Grazian explains that “nightlife settings encourage aggressive interaction among participants” in addition to open floor plans create “clusters of anonymous strangers [who] can congregate and mingle”, therefore, bars and clubs are more attractive to adolescent men wanting to meet women with friends. With this explanation, it makes sense that Songz’s music video takes place here as opposed to a public space that is less accommodating for a large group of people, such as a coffeeshop.          

Grazian, D. (2007) The Girl Hunt: Urban Nightlife and the Performance of Masculinity as Collective Activity Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring 2007), pp. 221-243

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Reflection #1: Peer-Oriented Youth: Whose fault is it? Is it a bad thing?

In Nancy Lesko’s Denaturalizing Adolescence: The Politics of Contemporary Representations, one of the statements she makes is that “friends are the most important and influential people in adolescents’ lives”, making them seem as though they are “dangerous others” as opposed to “individuated adults” (Lesko, 1996). Although I agree with Lesko and other scholars she mentions about how youth often travel in packs and are easily influenced by peers, I do not think it is fair to judge them and associate them with negative words such as “dangerous” and “savage”. In Professor Gaetz’s lecture on September 24th, he explained how due to the lack of jobs in Canada after the Industrial Revolution, adults began having to compete with youth in order to work. This led to schooling being obligatory for youth, and for a greater amount of time in order for adults to have more access to jobs. With this being said, I do not see how it is fair for adults, the ones who wanted youth to stop working and start attending school with other children, to have such negative views of them. They are the ones who put youth in this kind of position in the first place, making them hypocrites.

In terms of youth being easily influenced by peers, why is this necessarily a bad thing? I find that when it comes to youth, especially teens, the negative is usually focused on, and the positive is often forgotten. For example, if there is a group of students who are driven to do well in school, and a new student wanted to hang out with them, then these students would likely be a positive influence on their new friend. Unfortunately, good influences on teens is not a popular topic of conversation, it is usually the opposite. In order for the stigma that teens act badly because of their peers to be put to an end, society has to start focusing on the good influences on youth.

 Lesko, N. (1996) "Denaturalizing Adolescence". Youth and Society 28(2): 139-161

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Reflection #2: The effects of Neighbourhood Poverty on Adolescent Behaviour

In McBride Murry’s Neighbourhood Poverty and Adolescent Behaviour, the concept of whether or not one’s surroundings, especially one’s neighbourhood, has anything to do with the relation to adolescent development is written about. It becomes quickly apparent that “neighbourhood poverty clearly influences many aspects of adolescent development and exerts influence during early, middle, and late adolescence” (McBride Murry, 2011). Some examples of negative activities impoverished youths may come into contact with are things like gun violence and excessive interaction with police. McBride Murry makes note that this is especially the case recently, when “the number of children living in poverty has increased by 21% from 2000 to 2008” (McBride Murry, 2011).

After reading these statements made by McBride Murry, I felt as though the treatment of adolescent youths was unjust, in addition to the negative stereotypes that often go along with these youths, teenagers in particular. Teenagers are often associated with being delinquents because of weapon use, getting involved with drugs and alcohol, and other serious violent behaviours. It is important for individuals to ask themselves why they associate youth with these behaviours. Is it really fair? Reading McBride Murry’s claims has taught me to understand that labelling adolescents terms like “violent” and “dangerous” shows how incompetent some people can be. As this reading proves, it is one’s neighbourhood in particular that causes adolescents in their early, middle, and late stages to act in certain ways as mentioned previously. When a person sees a teenager walking in public, it is not always apparent what kind of community that person lives in or comes from, therefore it is almost impossible to know what that teenager is going through. They could be living in an impoverished neighbourhood where crime is a common happening, which influences the youth. What is unfortunate is that the person walking past them and judging him or her would not be aware of this, and continue to believe that all adolescents act in this manner. In order to put an end to stereotypes about adolescent youths, people should educate themselves about how influential neighbourhoods are for youths at all ages. This is perhaps something that could be focused more on in the Ontario schooling system, allowing teachers to have the privilege of teaching this important message.  

McBride Murray, T. (2011) "Neighborhood Poverty and Adolescent Development". Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1), 114 – 128

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Reflection #3: Sexual Identity and Victimization in Highschool

The lecture about the topic of Sexual Orientation, Homophobia, and Transphobia has probably been one of the most interesting lectures from this course thus far. There are several reasons to why this is, however, it is mainly due to the fact that this is a topic that is clearly controversial based on what two students in lecture shared with one another. One of the students, who is openly a lesbian, believed that the topic of homosexuality should be taught in classrooms at a very early age, while another student strongly believed that this is something that should not be spoken about until students are in middle school. This same student also openly shared that although she doesn’t have any hatred against people that are homosexual, she does not agree with the acts that these individuals may perform, such as sexual intercourse with the same sex. I, along with most students in this lecture, was surprised to see how open this student was so open regarding her beliefs on homosexuality. In the Chesir-Teran reading titled Heterosexism in High School and Victimization Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Students, one of the focuses is that “homophobic harassment and victimization experiences are an unfortunate but all too common part of growing up for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) adolescents” (Chesir-Teran, 2009). According to this article, studies show that “students from schools with inclusive policies, GSAs, and teacher training programs (individually, as well as collectively) were more likely to perceive their school environment as safe, tolerant, and respectful toward sexual minority individuals than were students from schools without these resources” (Chesir-Teran, 2009). With this being said, I believe it is crucial for all students in teachers college to have classes on the importance of openly talking about LGBTQ+ adolescents and how to talk about this touchy subject in a classroom setting. The heated debate between the two students in our lecture is a perfect example of why it is important to educate students in elementary and secondary school on what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, and that these people can be accepted.

While I appreciated the message of this article regarding the importance of being accepting of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning students, I had an issue with it as well. There was not much of a focus on other members of the LGBTQ+ students, such as transgender students. It is a valid assumption that at one point or another all teachers will encounter a transgender student in their classroom, whether or not they are open about it. It is our responsibility as teachers, or teacher candidates to have the knowledge on how to accept and communicate with transgender students in a classroom setting, or with other settings who are learning about this. I feel that this article would have been much more beneficial to read if the topic of victimization of transgender students, or other LGBTQ+ students who are not mentioned, were being represented as well.        

Chesir-Teran, Daniel; Hughes, Diane. (2009) “Heterosexism in High School and Victimization Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Students” Journal of Youth and Adolescence38. 7 (Aug 2009): 963-975.

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Additional Posting #1: Continuity in Sex-Typed Behavior from Preschool to Adolescence: A Longitudinal Population Study of Boys and Girls Aged 3–13 Years

I really enjoyed reading about the topic of adolescence and what it means to be masculine, or act masculine according to Lesko and Grazian this term.  I plan on doing more research on this topic for my final assignment for this course, however, I am interested in learning more about what it means to be a feminine adolescent in addition to masculine, something that Lesko and Grazian do not touch upon very much. I found this article titled Continuity in Sex-Typed Behavior from Preschool to Adolescence: A Longitudinal Population Study of Boys and Girls Aged 3–13 Years, which I believe is a great resource for further research on this topic. I was able to tell from just the title that both genders are being looked at, and not boys only, which I appreciate. In addition, I like how the age range is very specific, which is 3-13 years old, as opposed to looking at a broad range of youth and adolescents.  

 Golombok, S., Rust, J., Zervoulis, K., Golding, J., & Hines, M. (2012). Continuity in sex-typed behavior from preschool to adolescence: A longitudinal population study of boys and girls aged 3–13 years. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(3), 591-597. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/10.1007/s10508-011-9784-7

Link to article: https://journals-scholarsportal-info.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/pdf/00040002/v41i0003/591_cisbfpobaga3.xml 

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Additional Posting #2: How to Explain LGBT to Kids

Based on the lecture Professor Gaetz gave on Monday, October 22, 2018, the topic of sexual orientation, homophobia, and transphobia can be a controversial and hefty subject. The Professor, as well as many students in lecture, shared how they believe it is important to expose adolescents about this subject at an early age, therefore, they will be able to grow up knowing that it is ok to be LGBTQ+. Since this topic has a lot of weight to it, some teachers may find it difficult to give a lesson based off of it, either because there is a lot of terminology that can easily be mixed up, or because it is a sensitive topic. Due to this, I thought this YouTube clip published by St. Louis Children's Hospital would be very helpful in assisting teachers or even parents on how to speak to kids about this subject. It covers some of the main terms necessary to teach children about what it means to be homosexual or heterosexual, however, not all. In addition, Dr. Sarah Garwood explains ways in which we can support LGBTQ people, which I believe is key.

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About Me...

Hello! My name is Krystal Barkhordarian and I am 21 years old. I am a student at York University. My major is English, and I am currently in my first year of the Concurrent Education program in the Junior/Intermediate division. My hobbies include spending time with my family and close friends, shopping, and going to the gym.

Ever since I could remember, I have loved working and playing with children, which is the main reason why I have always wanted to be in the teaching profession. There has never really been another profession that has ever crossed my mind. Coming from a large family with many younger siblings and cousins, I have always been known to be the sister or cousin that has always been involved with entertaining the kids at family gettogethers. I would do this by making up stories for them, teaching them how to read and write, and simply just making sure they were having fun!

My very first job was a camp counselor at a day camp, and this job only affirmed my love for working with children. Since then, I have had many other positions working with children as well. These include working as a substitute teacher on my days off of school, teaching grade 12 English students in summer school, and currently, working as a Sunday school teacher in my community. I have also volunteered in several different elementary schools throughout my life as a high school and university student.

By far, my favorite job working with children had to be teaching Grade 12 English. This is because English is my major, therefore I felt as though I could really help students improve their writing skills and prepare them for all of the essay writing they will be doing in University. One particular student I had was a boy names Ethan in my class who hated reading and writing essays, and I could tell that it was something he struggled with. Throughout the summer, I sat with him for a short amount of time after each class, and slowly, he began to improve his essay writing skills. By the end of the course, he ended up with one of the highest marks in my class as well, particularly due to his high score on his Final Summative Task. Helping Ethan grow as a student and have more of an understanding when it came to writing essays was a very satisfying experience as a teacher because I was able to see firsthand the impact you could make in student’s lives.

I look forward to learning more about what it takes to be an impactful educator in the Concurrent Education program. I know that with more experiences working with youth through my placements, I will have the skill set to be as effective as a teacher I can be.