This week the subject of the FYS class was the Popol Vuh, creation myths, and Mayan civilizations. I still am a bit confused with the Mayan creation story because it is rather long and detailed. However I am surprised to see how many creation stories have such strong similarities. Many of them mention a "Great Flood". Many of these myths also blame women for something or mention a fruit that was not supposed to be eaten. (Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden tree and Persephone ate a pomegranate.) So many similarities between such random cultures and eras is very interesting. Even more interesting is that the Mayans had huge pyramid like temples, much like the Egyptians had only thousands of miles away. I am very curious as to how cultures that are so far apart physically can be so similar.
This week's focus seemed to be centered on the roles that society thinks men and women should have. It seems that no matter how someone looks at a social problem like street harassment, gender seems to be the gray area. The FYS class seemed to have different opinions on victim blaming and gender dominance. Unfortunately, I think both views are somewhat right. Women, at least in our current society, are not equal to men. The big example was that in a rape case, the woman should not have been dressed like a whore. If the victim wasn't dressed inappropriately, then she should have been in a group or should have ran faster. Well, if she had done things differently she might not have been raped. However, should of she had to do those things to avoid rape? No. The MAN was the one who raped her and that won't change. He was in the wrong and that is all there is. This gender role issue however, seems to no longer just be men over women. It seems that men are simply the only ones holding on to the idea that women are less than men. Most women are stepping out of their shackles and most men are letting them. When there is a dispute in this trend however, men seem to be the ones not allowing things to change. Do I know what the future holds, no. Do I hope that women escape their past and become equals, yes. I truly don't think there is much that can be done about this because I think the problem is psychological. Men will need to change their view of women. However, for now, women should take more preventive measures. Rape probably is more likely if the women provokes the man through appearance, even if she doesn't mean to. May the world someday reflect that men and women are equal.
On Wednesday, all of the FYS classes gathered to hear a guest speaker talk about International Anti-Street Harassment Week and about street harassment in general. The speaker showed this video which I thought was a nice little clip that fit in with what she was saying. One thing that really surprised me was that Egypt and the Middle East have really high numbers of gender based street harassment even though the women are hardly visible because of all of the clothing. It is so bad in Egypt that they have separate transportation modes just for women to limit harassment. This blew my mind. I knew that America would have bad numbers but I never thought the Middle East would. In America I have noticed women have a tendency to dress inappropriately, and men tend to be disrespectful perverts. (Not saying all men are perverts or women trash.) For the US I can simply understand why the numbers would be high. The problems line up. In the Middle East however, there must simply be a gender dominance thing that is not as prevalent here in the US. I don't see any other reason why men would hit on women that are so under exposed. Women in the US tend to over expose their bodies which would lead to harassment here, but I was truly shocked to hear about the issues in other parts of the world.
On a side note, I wonder too how the Mayan women were treated. I know some ancient cultures worshiped women over men, but others used the women as sacrifices and slaves. Just curious as to how street harassment would have been viewed in their eyes...
So this week the FYS class finished the cultural autobiographies. But as I looked back to write about them, I realized that the FYS all had similar autobiographies. That's because everyone is from America. However, what are other people's autobiographies? I looked on Youtube and found this video and it showed me how someone from a totally different place, views America from a cultural standpoint. Sudan's customs and practices, the way of life, is so different from those of America. They didn't have the same foods or habits and it was really interesting to see that. I hope that the Mayan culture will soon become a focus of this Seminar, but I understand now the global objective of this class.
Today my class went to a Study Abroad Fair. It really showed just how much other stuff is out there beyond the borders of the US. It was cool to find out about some of the interesting places people will go to study things like nursing or business management. As a pre-pharm student there wasn't much in the way of internships to other countries but there were still tons of cool trips that would benefit anyone. Surprisingly, I kind of want to travel abroad now, but I don't know if that will ever happen. It was interesting to say the least, but I'm sure the US probably looks just as interesting to foreigners who haven't been here before. I wonder how much of my interest is true wonder about a foreign land and how much is just curiosity of leaving the US? Is that country interesting because it really is, or is it interesting because it is not America?
This past week the class gave individual cultural autobiographies. From these autobiographies I easily gathered that what people define culture as greatly differs. Some people viewed culture as where their ancestors came from or what their religion is. Some thought it was what personality traits they have and where they got them from. In my opinion, all of those views are right, but I think culture is probably best defined as the combination of all of those. Ancestry affects people greatly but so do the friends and family around them. I also think knowing where you're from can help guide you where you want to go. After hearing all of these autobiographies and discussions on culture, I do wonder what the Mayan culture was like and what defines the Mayans. I think they were very religious and maybe their culture revolved around that. The big question is does their culture have a large affect on this Doom's Day 2012 thing? Maybe their culture doesn't have anything to do with it? The Doom's Day mystery seems to be centered on the Mayan calendar, but how important was this calendar to the Mayans and how does it fit into their culture? I guess I will have to wait and find out.
