Social Awareness Journal - Days 3 and 4

Day 3
Sunday, October 24th, 2010
Poverty, And Its Effects On People Worldwide

What is poverty, anyway? Poverty is "the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions". While many people around the world can afford everyday expenses such as food or clothing, 97 million of the 471 million people living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia live on less than 2 dollars a day. Also of those 471 million, 24 million live on less than 1 dollar a day. Nearly 50 percent of sub-Saharan Africans live on less than $1 a day, and the number of people in South Asia who live on less than 1 dollar a day reaches almost half a billion. In South Asia, 240 million people don't have access to safe water, and half a billion don't have proper sanitation.
The poverty rates don't even end there. There are tons of families, children, and adults living in poverty in the United States. In fact, 37 million Americans are living in poverty, and nearly 35% of the poorer population in the US is children. The ratio of children who live in poverty in the US, is 1 to 6.

The fact that there are so many people who live in poverty around the world is so depressing. Here I am, typing this on a computer, in my own room, in my own house, with my own family, who makes an average amount of money each year. We're certainly not in poverty, but we're not rich, either. And the funny thing is that I never really remember thanking anybody for what I have. I know that on my birthdays, when people give me gifts, I say thank you. I say thank you when I get presents on the winter holidays. But have I ever thanked anyone for what me or my family has? Or what we don't have?

Day 4
Monday, October 25th, 2010
Sexism...

sex·ism - noun \ˈsek-ˌsi-zəm\: prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women

2: behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex
Sexism exists. As you read above, sexism is the belief or attitude that one gender is inferior to, or less valuable than the other.
Sexist statements include things like, "women can not play sports such as football or 'fight'" or "men can not go to salons or get their nails done". These statements discriminate against certain genders; male, or female. "But what's wrong with sexism?" someone might ask. To be short, sexism is just another form of any other kind of discrimination, no worse than racism or other types.

Just like what I said on my point of views of gay suicides and the people who bully people who are gay, I just don't understand it. And I don't understand this. Why would someone feel that they're more superior to someone else just because of their gender? I appreciate women who stand up against sexism toward women (although there is sexism against men, as well). I especially love feminist artists, and how they express their ideas about sexism and feminism in their artwork. It says a lot about how some people in our society today think about sexism.
I'd like to give a shout out to Kiki Smith, my favorite feminist artist, as of...yesterday. ;)

Cite: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/
globalissues.org
http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
thinkquest.org
savethechildren.org