Personal Reflection Karla Merino Social Health & Diversity

One of the things I loved talking about in class was prejudice, and how it is different than discrimination. Prejudice is a judgment unwilling to change also being resistant to new information. While discrimination is an action that is an unjust way of treating a certain group. I didnt know that it can be brought out by fear, ignorance and insecurity. I learned a lot of terms like scapegoating which means to blame a certain target that has nothing to do with said problem. I feel like in this society we do a lot of blaming other groups for things they have no control over or things they havent even done. I loved talking about this because there were things that I had done that I didnt realize I was being prejudice against someone else. There were moments in class where I would think how is that bad? And then after getting an explanation of how it made have made someone else feel I would understand why that is bad. Before this class I never really thought about how a minority group might feel to things like a joke or a certain saying. One of our assignments was to read Psychological Aspects of Prejudice while reading this I learned that a lot of prejudice comes from a distorted way of thinking and it can be passed on to our children. If they are taught to act a certain way towards a group and also get reinforced for it, they will become just as prejudice. Thinking that way can be limiting to a certain way of thinking. Prejudice isnt just about race it can also be about gender, economic status, age, religion and sexual orientation. It can be made into assumptions from what they hear or see on TV. I never realized how very influential my parents could have been if they had hated a certain group and had taught me to also hate them. We can all stereotype people and I know I have done it before, I didnt realize how bad it can be and how it can make someone think less of themselves. I enjoyed reading this about racism because it is such a powerful

subject and I really connected to it in my daily life. It helped to see others opinions on the subject and what they have also gone through. We did this exercise in class where you go up to your partner and you say I think you think Im. I thought it was very hard at first but after a while I started saying things that I know from the past people have thought of me. Might not be true or it might be completely true. Its the looking glass self- I see myself the way I think you see me. This taught me that the way people see you might affect the way you see yourself. Another activity we did in class had to do with fundamental attribution error, so when you do it its who you are or your character but when I do something its because of a certain situation. In this activity we had to write down something that really bugged us that happened recently. I picked a fight with my boy friend. We had to write down the situation and then the facts/events after that we had to do the interpretation. After all that we had to do the alternative interpretation/judgment this taught me to see things from the others point of view. This can be very hard especially if you are frustrated with the person or the situation. I think this activity will come in handy when I start to get annoyed with a person I will think how are they seeing this from their point of view. I also see there are different types of discrimination not just against a certain race another can be against the opposite sex. One of the subjects I loved the most that we discussed in class was sexism. We did this exercise where we got into two groups and we talked about some of the sexist things we have seen or have had happened to us. We had mostly girls in our group, about six, and only three boys. I remember one of the questions was what as a woman was the most sexist things we have experienced. I shared that when I was going to buy a new car I took my boyfriend with me

to the car dealerships and when we would meet a sales man he would just assume the car was for my boyfriend. He would try to sell him a certain car and tell him all the good things about the car. That made me so mad! I think they shouldnt have been so nave and should have asked who was purchasing the car before they just assumed it was for him instead of for me. Other girls also shared many similar stories when they were discriminated just because they arent men. Another one of the questions that was asked was what are some things we jealous about of the opposite sex. We girls listed many things; like being able to walk in a dark alley alone without being too scared, not getting charged extra when we take our cars into the mechanics just because we dont know about cars, not getting cat-called when we go down the street, and how if girls have many sexual partners its bad but if men have a lot its considered okay or even good. When it came to the boys turn they said nothing, so we girls decided to help them and gave them some ideas. They disagreed with all of them saying things like Im not jealous of that or we could do that for ourselves. All I kept thinking was how ten minutes ago we had just discussed how men dont like to show their emotions and if they do its only anger and happiness and thats exactly what they were doing. After that class I went and discussed it with my boyfriend how none of the men shared what they were jealous of, and how it kind of made me mad. I asked him what he thought and he did give me some examples; how most girls could get out of a traffic tickets by crying, how most girls get stuff for free and how that would never happen to him. After talking to him made me feel a little better about how men feel towards

women, because he shared that he was in fact jealous of some of the things we have or can do. I do like to tell him about this class because I like how interactive it is. So I explained how there are different types of sexism I didnt know there was more than one. Benevolent Sexism is very hidden and usually isnt thought of as sexism. Its meant to mask the fact that its sexist by making the action seem as good. I liked the example the professor gave by saying youre too good to do that. I never saw it like that I never realized that was a type of sexism. This was my favorite subject we talked about in class because I never realized some things were considered sexist I was just use to it and thought it was normal. But now Im so much more aware of things and will speak up and say hey thats not okay. The other subject I found very fascinating was on religious oppression. The book had such wonderful stories I actually read more than the 3 we have to for our paper. The one thing I found so interesting is how people will act towards the Muslim religion and how they discriminate against Muslims. I have always loved learning about the Middle East and this chapter had so much to learn. There is a story about a girl and how she wears a Hijab and how everyone in her class is asked to say words that they think of when they see a woman wearing one. They say things like; sexism, no womens rights, oppression and how in the story she explains that in her religion its to keep the women safe. Also its so when they meet someone they see them for their personalities not the way they look and how its meant to respect women. I had never thought of it like that, I think we might n ot take other peoples beliefs into consideration and I just think that we get influenced by what we hear or how the media might portray Muslim woman.

In another literature I realized being Christian and not being the minority of religions in this country can be easy. Simple things like having a Christmas tree and being able to decorate your house without being ridiculed had never crossed my mind. I never thought about what people who dont have my beliefs must feel around the holidays. I would not like being made fun of for what I believe, or might have to suppress my beliefs. The other thing that kept coming up in the literature was when 9/11 happened and how a lot of Muslims got treated badly because people were being ignorant. I could never imagine how it would feel to be judged for something so big like September 11. I learned that some people like to just blame minorities because they might not have someone to blame. That is so horrible to me, and not correct I hope I have never done that. I now have the knowledge to never do that. Learning about other groups and minorities can help you understand what they have gone through and help you comprehend them. My volunteer experience was very unique and enjoyable I went in alone to The Road Home were my group choose to volunteer at. I went in on Friday and Saturday and helped the staff sort through donations and size the items for the men and women in need of help. The Road Home helps by; giving meals, shelter, permanent housing, providing products. At first I was very scared because I felt out of my comfort level I did have some prejudice thoughts about the homeless shelter. I was scared because I have never been around people that have lost everything. There are certain prejudice thoughts that were running through my head like what if they are all drunks or addicted to drugs? When I went in I noticed that some of the products they provide are things I take for granted like a coat and warm shoes for the winter, personal hygiene products, food and one of

the most shocking things was for the girls they provide them with bras and how I would have never thought about going without one. I did get the chance to talk to some of the people living there, this woman named Angela she had a 5 year old little boy. They were down in the storage picking out some coats for the winter. I talked to Angela for a while and she was so sweet and kept thanking me for helping her find a nice warm coat, she also kept asking me if I thought certain items like jackets and jeans were cute. That made me so happy to see how excited she got about some pants I thought were cute. She also got a couple articles for her son but he just wanted to see the toys. I talked to some more people they were mostly all men and helped them find what they needed they were all so kind. Not what I was expecting at all, when I talked to the residents there they all gave me their full attention and were very polite and not what I had in mind. That made me feel bad because I had been prejudice towards them before even actually meeting any resident. I learned about how the system works is if you are in need of some clothes or anything you need to tell your case manager in advanced if you need a certain item. That made me wonder how many people on the streets actually have a case manager to help them get the items they need. One of the things I found to be so cool is that they help families get into homes, they help pay the first 3 months rent and even give them voucher tickets for the D.I. so the families can buy pots and pan. I loved that idea helping them get into their own homes and trying to get them to be self sufficient. That amazed me because I just thought they lived there forever but they want to try to make it on their own, get good jobs, and even get schooling. Not what I had thought at all.

Overall I loved volunteering there I got a perspective not a lot of people get to see. I got to talk to some of the people going through hard circumstances and see how nice of people they are and how sweet they treated me. I also got to learn a little bit more about how the program works and how much help they can be to those in need. I wouldnt have done this volunteering experience if it wasnt for this class and the whole time I was thinking how I was a little prejudice against them and I had just learned about this in class. It took me meeting Angela and talking to her to realize how wrong I had been.