Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

I struggle when I hear the world's take on the battle between feminism and masculinity. I really have enjoyed discussing gender roles in class this week. Something that was amazing to me that I loved was how on Monday, we used the Proclamation to the Family as a reference in our discussion. In the world's arena of debate on this topic, the Proclamation to the Family is irrelevant. What I struggle with as I hear others talk about gender roles is that they don't understand that being a mother and taking care of the family isn't worthless and it doesn't hold a woman back from reaching her fullest capacity. As we've been discussing this in class, I've really enjoyed how we have shared our opinions of how "gender roles" are okay in some instances, and that being female and male has been part of our identity for all eternity. We have been discussing that males and females each add to the strengths that the other lacks, and I feel like in the world, people feel like men and women must be completely "equal" and the same, rather than embracing the roles each of us play. As we've talked about gender roles in class, I just feel like I want to sigh with relief. I feel like in our class, we as Latter-Day Saints are able to discuss gender roles with the knowledge of our worth as sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and we understand the uniqueness of our genders. It's really wonderful to talk about this topic peacefully.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

I thought that learning about diversity and cultures was interesting today. Something that I found particular interest in, however, was how any social scientist can "study" a culture, but doing so has its  negative aspects and its benefits. We can really never assume that we know what a culture is if we have not participated in it, and that statistical studies are often just that: statistics. A particular culture or family structure cannot be placed under a wide label or stereotype. I also thought it was neat how learning a culture can help one interact peaceably within cultures and can help communication. It'll be fascinating to see how ties between cultural boundaries and diversity changes and impacts a family. Does conducting these studies enable social scientists to be able to notice how trends and patterns in cultures can improve families or be detrimental to them? How much do internal issues within a family change the culture of a group? I can't wait to see how all these things tie together.

Friday, January 25, 2013

I really liked the role playing that happened in class today. I thought the representation of family therapy was really neat, and it could potentially be very eye-opening to one who doesn't understand or know the benefits of family therapy. I thought this was a great lesson by visual learning. I also enjoyed learning about what the ideal boundaries are in a family. I think keeping this in mind and establishing this with my own husband and family someday will be very beneficial.

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

I've thought that the discussions we've been having in class recently have been really interesting. I'm enjoying being able to discuss and begin to understand the effects that the familial trends of today (i.e. increased numbers of divorce, increased cohabitation, having less children, etc.) have on society and on the family unit individually. However, as we have been discussing the problems with family and social science research, it makes me feel skeptical. Is there really a way to know and measure these trends? Does it only consist of guesswork? I'm anxious to see if the answers to my questions will be solved as the semester goes on.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

I'm really excited to keep learning more in this class! Our discussion on Wednesday was fascinating to me, as well as learning about ways that sampling and the study of family science indeed has many issues. It makes me wonder as to how it would be possible to really get credible information, on any issue. Is it even possible to realistically portray information on such vast topics such as same-gender parenthood? Will there ever be a way to gather such information correctly? I feel that it'll be interesting to explore this topic further and to expand my views through these learning and thinking processes.