Women, Women, Women.....and Men?

People say that there are two things you shouldn't discuss with family and friends: Politics and Religion

But if you can't discuss these issues with family and friends, then who do you discuss them with? Yourself? And why shouldn't we discuss these issues with family and friends? Because you might hurt someone's feelings with your own opinions? Because they may think less of you for having your own opinion? Should we not voice our own opinions?

2009 marks the calendar for a new presedential elect and as such there has been a lot of rhetoric surrounding the campaigns and the now last two standing presendential candidates. Recently we discovered who the two have chosen as their vice presidential running mates.

On one hand we have the "less experienced" black male presidential candidate running alongside the "older, wiser more experienced" white male vice president and on the other we have the "older, wiser more experienced" white male presidential candidate running alongside the "less experienced" white female vice president.

Things could not have gotten more juicier than this!!! This is a FIRST in our history!!

We've been discussing issues of marginalization in class and this could not be better timing.

This morning as I was getting ready to go to work I couldn't help but overhear the conversation of the ladies from The View regarding vice president nominee Gov. Palin's daughter pregnancy. I'm sure you have all heard, but in case you haven't because you're not up to speed with what is going on with the election, it turns out that Gov. Palin's 17 yr old daughter is 5 months pregnant. According to McCains camp, they knew of the news when they offered Palin the vice presidency nomination. It was also confirmed that Palin's 5th child and newborn has down syndrome. Besides these two issues, Palin is a, dare I say, WOMAN! And, not only is she a woman, but she is, according to the Alaska Report, "American's Hottest Governor"!! So all of this is of course stirring up a lot of conversation and debate, primarily regarding the role of the woman.....duhn duhn duhn...

Ah, the role of the woman. The woman wears so many hats in this society: mother, sister, daughter, professional, lover, friend, etc. etc. But wait doesn't the man also? Father, brother, husband, professional, lover, friend, etc. etc.

As I was listening to the debate between the women, they discussed Palin's ability to be a mom of 5 and help govern the country and how she would manage all of these responsibilities. They touched on Palin's stance on abstinence and her stance on sex education in the schools (which she opposes in case you didn't know). They touched on how different the sentiment would have been had it been a black daughter that got pregnant (in other words, non supportive). Basically, most of the rhetoric surrounded the topic of women being professional moms and young women (teens) getting pregnant and their choice to keep a child. But what really got my attention within the conversation was a little comment that was made regaring the young man who impregnated Bristol (Palin's daughter)and how no one was talking about him.

It got me thinking, as the mother of two boys, where do men stand in all of this? What options or choices do men have when a woman gets pregnant? Bristol wants to keep the baby, so the family says (they are pro life after all), but what about the young man? What does he want? Does it matter what he wants?

I have my opinions on all of these issues of course, but I'm more interested in your opinions. You are the next generation of young voters, of which I hope all of you who are of age for this election are registered or will register to vote, and you will have a voice as you get older in helping form and mold the way society evolves.

I began this prompt by saying that there are two things you shouldn't discuss with family and friends; religion and politics. I then questioned why this is so and ask if it has to do with the fact that we should not discuss these matters because they are opinions. But what's wrong with opinions? Do you have an opinion? Or is your opinion formed by others, i.e your family, your religion, etc.? On the other hand, is your opinion formed by facts, stats, numbers? Or through experience? Do you question or challenge your own opinion or stances on issues? Do you look at them multidimensionally? Are you able to play devil's advocate with yourself? Can you put yourself in someone else's shoes? Do you care to have a voice? Or do you not care at all?