Marriage

1. One example of an ancient marriage from the text is that of Tibet. Prior to the Chinese occupation, a quarter of marriages involved brothers sharing one wife. Individuals didn’t live in couples but rather in clusters with groups of brothers and sisters raising children together. This is different from the “one man, one woman idea” of marriage because in this situation there were two men and one woman living together.

2. Women who seek higher education tend to postpone marriage until their late 20s, into early 30s. This is due to the amount of time it takes to receive their degrees. These women also prefer to seek employment after obtaining their degree before settling down into a relationship or marriage.

Lower and middle class women are also a bit leery toward getting married young due to their lack of economic stability. These women would rather find a steady job before marriage. It is their attempt to economically secure themselves and their relationship.

3. List all the wedding traditions in the clip.

1. Groom couldn’t see bride in her wedding dress before wedding
2. Traditional “white” wedding gown with veil
3. The groom is wearing a traditional Yamaka
4. Taking pictures in the park.
5. Drinking the wine from the churches cup.
6. Putting the ring on the woman’s finger.
7. Breaking of the glass at the end of the ceremony.
8. There was a best man/maid of honor.
9. Veiling of the bride.
10. Traditional salute of bride (the kiss)

Best Man/Maid of Honor:

Traditionally, the best man accompanied the groom as he went to steal his bride away from her family. He stood at his right side for the ceremony to help guard the bride and groom, just in case the bride’s family tried to steal her back. The maid of honor was used as a decoy for the bride. She dressed similar to the bride to confuse anyone who had something against the bride or to confuse any evil spirits that may have wanted to come upon the bride.

Today, we assign these roles to important individuals in our lives such as brother or best-friend for the best-man role and sister or best-friend for the maid of honor role. We want the individual closest to us standing beside us as we make one of the biggest, life altering decisions ever. For my wedding, I chose to have my sister stand beside me as my maid of honor. A tradition I was more than happy to oblige by.

LGBT & Q Families: Families We choose

1) According to the article, the support for gay marriage rose to a little more than 45%. This was big news because in 2004, same sex marriage did not have majority support in any of the states

2) Proposition 8 was an amendment in 2008 for the California Constitution that stated marriage was recognized in California only when it was between a man and women.

Proposition 8 began in 2008 and in August of 2010, a judge in California said that it was unfairly targeting gay men and women. A week later the judge wanted to enforce that it be dropped. August 16, 2010, the US Court of appeals put a hold on it until they can decide on whether or not there should be a ban on same sex marriage.

3 According to the Defense of Marriage Act Amendment website, marriage is between a man and women as a husband and wife. The word spouse refers to someone of the opposite sex and who is the husband or wife.

4) Connecticut became the first state to legalized civil unions in 2005. They legalized gay marriage in 2008. Arkansas passed a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2004 in addition to a Defense of Marriage Act which means that they will not honor a same sex marriage even if it is considered legal in another state.

Gender Roles

1. Sex is defined by your body parts, your chromosomes and your hormones. Gender is what is learned through your family and through society. For example, we associate gender with colors. Pink is for girls and Blue is for boys. We associate gender with toys: Ex Girls play with dolls and boys with trucks and balls.

2. I can’t remember anything specific of myself doing gender, but I can recall a Christmas that my aunt bought my son (who is her God-son) a doll. It was a little boy who said his prayers at night. My husband had a fit. He insisted that my son could only use the toy “only when he is going to bed and will be saying his prayers”. We argued and argued over this “doll”. Somehow, this doll mysteriously disappeared after a month. I wonder who is to blame.

3.

A) Interviewing was the method used to collect data. The study population was 44 middle school children in a mid-sized southern city.

B) The limitations that they encountered were that there were time constraints.

C) Most of the “tweens” showed an understanding that men and women were equal, but they displayed the opposite when it was put to the test. On page 346-347, they explain how they did a test where each student would have cards on male, female, or both and show job categories. Many of the students showed that there wasn’t equality between men and women.

D) One example explained that “girly-girls” were preoccupied with appearances in contrast to “tomboys”. One girl wanted to wear high-heeled shoes all the time. “Tomboys” were described as being athletic, etc.

E) I honestly believe that gender is learned through family and through society. We tell our girls its ok to cry, and to our boys we tell them that boys shouldn’t cry…they should be tough. Girls are usually given earlier curfew hours because parents are more concerned for their safety than their sons. Not that they aren’t worried…but they just feel more comfortable knowing that their “little girls” are safely in the house. Girls gossip…we say it’s their nature…but if boys do it…they are “acting” like a girl. Family and society define gender.

4) – 5)

1. False In the year 2000, 64.6 percent of mothers with children younger than age 6 were part of the labor force.
2. False The number of working mothers with children ages 6 to 17 increased by 15 percent between 1975 and 1980.
3. False During the period 1995 to 2001, the number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 increased by more than 5 percent.
4. True In the last five years on the chart, the percentage of working mothers with children younger than age 18 decreased.
5. True The number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 went above the 50 percent mark for the first time between the years 1980 and 1985.
6. False The number of working mothers with children ages 6 to 17 has not been below 70 percent since 1980.
7. True The number of working mothers with children younger than age 6 decreased between 1997 and 2001.
8. False In 1955, fewer than one-fourth of all mothers with children under age 18 were part of the U.S. workforce.
9. True Working mothers with children younger than age 6 have always made up a smaller percentage of the workforce than those who have children ages 6 to 17.
10. True In the year 2001, more than three-fourths of all mothers of children ages 6 to 17 were part of the labor force.

6) I think women are doing very well. We still have a lot of hurdles to overcome, such as equal pay in the workforce, but overall I think we are doing quite well. Just look at the offices we hold in the government. Who would have thought a woman would become Secretary of State, or a Supreme Court Justice. Although we may be few in number, we have a presence, which 20-30 years ago was never a consideration.

Theoretical Perspectives on Family Sociology

Question 1:

The “instrumental leader” is the person within a group who leads the discussions about how to accomplish tasks the group had been assigned. This role is commonly associated with the husband, whose labor provides the financial support to the family. The “expressive leader” is the person who keeps the groups moral up. They try to keep the mood light with warm, supportive remarks and jokes. This role is associated with the wife who usually provides emotional support to her family.

Question 2:

The main demographic change during the 60's and 70's led theorists to be critical of the functionalist's perspective was that women were beginning to join the work force in great numbers which changed the dynamics of the family.

Question 3:

Functionalist theory generally expresses how two counter-parts work together. However, conflict theory is more of a struggle for or conservation of power. It focuses on how certain individuals become dominant over other individuals and what circumstances help those who are dominated to reduce or eliminate the disadvantages they face.

Question 4:

Social exchange theory is based on ideas from the discipline of Economics. As long as men are making the money they continue to be more dominant. However, when women earn their own money their dependence on their husbands begin to decrease, which in turn decreases the husband's dominance.

Question 5:

Feminist theory is based upon gender, which distinguishes women and men in a society and the domination of women by men.

Question 6:

1. Are teens who talk to their parents about sex, less likely to succumb to the peer pressure to engage in sexual activity, than those who do not talk to their parents about sex?
2. I would study the family at the macro level.
3. The method I would use to collect data for this study would be by conducting a survey.
4. I would survey a total of 20 high school students…10 male and 10 female.
5. 
   

How do you rate the communication between you and your parents?

Ex: I rarely talk to my parents about peer pressure, or anything for that matter. 6-5-4-3-2-1

I think I have a good relationship with my parents, we talk about everything. 6-5-4-3-2-1

What is your Stance on contraception/birth control and abstinence?

Ex: I use a form of contraception every time I engage in sexual activity.

6-5-4-3-2-1

I choose not to have sex, it’s just not that important to me at this time.

6-5-4-3-2-1

What are your thoughts concerning Peer Pressure

Ex: I am confident enough in my own skin not to be persuaded by anyone else.

6-5-4-3-2-1

Peer pressure can be a difficult thing to overcome nowadays, it isn’t as easy as it seems.

6-5-4-3-2-1