Takeaway 5

When I began writing assignment five, I knew that young adolescents having sexual experiences were not just in one place of the world. This type of activity is all over the world. One aspect that I was not aware of is the high percentage of Jamaican adolescents engaging in sexual activities. In Jamaica, 40% of women become pregnant before the age of 20. The problem that Jamaica has is the lack of education on family life for the children. The kids are not taught the dangers and risk of engaging in such sexual activities. Here in the United States the students are taught family life in schools, but we still have the problem of adolescents becoming pregnant. When I was in school, I did see a handful of teens getting pregnant and not finishing school. I think no matter how much we teach adolescents the risks and dangers; it is not going to stop them on making that choice. Teaching the young ones might decrease the amount of them that will engage in sexual activities, but it won’t fully stop it. If adolescents knew how much making one decision could change their entire life, they would think twice before doing so.

Takeaway 4

From doing assignment four, I learned how popular using gender portrayals are when it comes to advertising. Gender portrayals are not very obvious when you look at an advertisement, unless you know what you are looking for. Advertisements are there to persuade individuals to buy a certain product with hidden objects in the advertisement. For instance, if an AD is trying to sell cologne for men, the AD is going to make the man look strong and attractive to make the buyer to want to buy the product. Every AD is done in a certain way to a specific audience. I didn’t realize how much gender portrayals were used in advertisements until I started the assignment. I wonder if advertisements didn’t use gender roles how their sells would do; if they would drop, stay the same, or decrease. Now when I see advertisements, I do analyze them to see what audience they are aiming at.

 Geneder Stereotype

Takeaway 3

After completing assignment three, I realized that we should not take things in life for granted. We should experience everything life has to offer. It was very interesting to learn the different ways of living in Jamaica. Jamaica has a more relaxed society than many places in the United States. It is normal to take showers inside the home in the U.S., and it’s more normal to take showers outside the home in Jamaica. The United States has enclosed taxis and Jamaica has open taxis. The music, food, and structures are different from the U.S. too. When it rains there, it floods really bad and can last for weeks. Here we have drain systems to prevent standing water for long periods of time. This assignment made me realize how different other places can be, and this also makes you thankful for what you have. Just like Jamaicans, we all become accustomed to the way we live, so we don’t really desire any other way.

Takeaway 1

From completing assignment one, I learned that there are different ways that a person can view cultures. People can deny the differences in cultures, have a defense in difference, a minimization, an acceptance, an adaptation, and an integration of difference. When I did this assignment, I learned how I viewed culture. I look at culture with a denial of difference. After I read about “denial of difference,” I noticed when I have said things that made me in denial with difference. An example of this is, a couple of days ago I was walking on the Virginia Beach strip and saw a really nice big truck with the license plate from Hawaii. I said to someone that I did not know that they had those types of trucks in Hawaii. I picture Hawaii where there are gas buggies that people get around with, because it is a tropical little island. I would say that I am ignorant to the fact that other places do have what we have here in the United States. I do like traveling the world to see how other people live, and what they have in different places. I realized that I need to understand that Americans are not the only ones that have certain things in this world. A lot of places have the same things in common.