7/15 Welcome to the Gayborhood

It’s hard coming to class and being able to find a seat. I decided to make it my priority to always do my best to come early by at least twenty to thirty minutes. By the time I get there, Allonna and Jack are already there; the three of us were on the same page.

Class was run differently today. The student teachers had taken over teaching and discussing with everyone in the class about our lesson of the day: sex, sex category, and gender. Diamond had started us off by creating these polls about different people in the world. Once she had opened up the poll, we were to text a number along with a response of words that came to our mind when thinking of this specific or type of person. The people ranged from women, Kim Kardashian, Serena Williams, to men, Michael Jackson, and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. Seeing the different words appear on the screen, the connotations would differ varying on the person and gender. A few of the words in relation to Serena Williams were “strong, tennis, and, she-man.” In comparison to Dwayne Johnson, some of his related words were “strong, funny, and sexy.” People noted strong for Serena Williams as a way of being a “man.” It was as if it was strange for being a female and strong. Dwayne Johnson was found to be sexy for his abnormal sized muscles. Kim Kardashian was not even recognized for her accomplishments as a young business woman and entrepreneur. All she was remembered for is her butt and husband, Kanye West. Michael Jackson on the other hand was actually recognized for his singing talent.

Group About Sex Presenting

Closing the polls, Angie had lead us into the next part of today’s lesson. We were counted off and split into three different groups. I was in group three. Each of us were assigned a specific topic to give the rest of the class a lesson about. The three topics were sex, sex category, and gender. Those topics were assigned to the groups in the order that it was announced in. Our group had gender. As we merged together into our groups, we were all discussing a creative way to break down the meaning of gender. The intro to our project started off with a riddle. “A man and his son both got into a car accident. Each were sent to two different hospitals. When the boy was about to undergo surgery, the surgeon said, ‘I can’t work on this boy. He is my son!’ How is this possible?” The truth to this riddle was that the surgeon was his mom. What the majority of the audience would not get it because sometimes it’s not thought of that a woman could actually hold a job in that high of a status. For the next part, we defined what gender was in our own words and then broke it down with a cartoon of something called The Genderbread Person. It’s a cartoon drawing of the gingerbread man except with a diagram labeling different parts of it where sex and gender pertain to. We then followed with a skit showing different scenarios of guys and girls on a basketball team. We would act like our stereotypical “roles” as girls and guys getting hyped for the game, then we would switch. To close out our lesson out, we explained how no one could be fully straight. There will be some things that you like doing that aren’t considered straight for your gender.

The other groups such as sex and sex category both went up there showing a skit of a child being born but into more depth about what each was. Sex, is the chromosomes you were genetically born with making you physically male or female. Sex category is when a person determines which sex they are based on how they present themselves such as dressing. Gender is the way you act and your attitude about who you are and performing activities associated with what you claim as.

Mr. Krasulski Teaching Us About Philly's Gayborhood

Our guest speaker came on short notice. He prepared a PowerPoint presentation with only twelve hours to prepare. Our original speakers canceled due to a last minute issue that had risen for them. 

Michael Krasulski is an openly gay man who lived in Philadelphia for 16 years. He spent two of those years in downtown Philly and the rest in Philadelphia’s gay neighborhood, or gayborhood. He spent his time talking to us about the gayborhood and the life there. While presenting,  he passed along a book showing different gayborhoods in the United States. One that I had recognized while looking was San Francisco. It’s not hard distinguishing whether you’re in the area or not because there are rainbows underneath the street signs, on the cross roads, and on some of the buildings. This area turned prosperous because of new bars, clubs, and restaurants opening up in the area. The attention led to other straight couples to move into the gayborhood as well. His only regret of living in Philly was not moving there sooner. What I enjoyed the most about Michael’s story is how open he is about telling it. He’s honest and adds humor while telling it. He’s not afraid and is proud of his experience and identity.