Group Video - Culture of Cool

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Female masculinity

I have never had a problem with the way I look, what I wore, and how I act. Growing up, I was tomboy and I loved it..I could say being a tomboy got me to where I am to day today, and that is here In America going to collage and playing division one Soccer. I loved wearing pants, shorts, and T-shirts with nice tennis shoes except for youth group or church on Sundays where I like wearing nice dresses and skirts). used to be tougher at sports than most of any of my male cousins (whether it was track and field, cricket, football/soccer, etc.), and I was often teased about it. Back then I could careless of what people thought or said.

In Jamaica, men do not like to see girls with a lot of muscle; at least that is what my observation was due to snide comments they would make sometimes. With this said, I would cheat on my sport by not putting in enough effort in training/workouts just so I would not gain any muscle. I still did well is sports, but I knew I could have even better. I hated having muscles so much that I sometimes got self conscious when wearing a tank top or anything sleeveless, because they showed my arms off.

Before I went to collage, one of things I constantly heard about was the intense workouts and lifting we would have to do, especially being a division one athlete competing. I got so worried because I had never lifted any weights before, not even in high school or playing for clubs. Every morning, before lifting, I would check my muscles in the mirror, and checked them again after to see if they had gotten bigger. I thought they did at times, so I complained a lot, if we had to do 10 reps I would do 7 or 8 sometimes, and I would also put less effort in speed training. The trainer also found out I was good at pull ups and wanted me to do more, but sometimes I would cheat the amount. While doing all this however, My teammates on the other hand was always saying how they wish they had my toned arms, and I thought they were crazy..I didnt like changing in the locker room because they always commented on my "ripped" arms (that's what they always say).

Its sad to say that because of the ways in which the media  and our stereotypical norms have constructed the way a man and a woman ought to physically look, act, and dress, people  like myself who are athletes (and others as well) and who might convey some masculine qualities are criticized, talked about, and made out to be someone we are not.

Because female masculinity is frowned upon and rejected by society, I told myself I will never go back to the weight room to work out again, because I am afraid of looking masculine.

Food Culture

Growing up in a country (Jamaica) where most of the food I ate was non-processed, I did not once stop to think that moving from a smaller country to a bigger country would change the way I eat. I love to eat; I love trying new things regardless of where it came from. Like a mentioned above, most of the food I once ate In Jamaica was grown by my family (fruits and vegetables), and I had other family members and neighbors who rear their own animals (cows, pigs, chickens, etc.) who we bought our meat product from. I also lived close to the ocean, so a lot of fishing was done thus, I had fresh fish to eat all the time. Another thing was that, my family rarely go out to eat, but rather, we had home cooked meals every day (a lot of the times for all three meals).

Going to a different country, one of the first thing I noticed was the way people eat, how they eat, and what they eat. First of all, a lot of people do not like to cook, they don't even like to take the time to prepare processed food properly. At first I was stuck in my old ways; cooking all the time and always looking for fresh produce food items. A few after however, I slowly adapt and started getting used to fast and easy to go lifestyle. I got so used to this, that when I went back home for a visit and was eating the food there, it was foreign to me; I wanted to go back to what I had gotten used to.

Now, there I was in class a few days ago watching Food Inc. and seeing all the horrible things relating to whats being going on with the food I now grave and eat so much of, is making me question everything single thing I now eat and drink. Furthermore, I even find myself telling other people what to eat and what not to eat.

"Culture Jamming"- Banksy

Banksy is a culture jamming graffiti artist well known for his street art. His identity remains to be unknown as most of ways he went about resisting mainstream and popular culture is illegal. In reading and researching some of the work he has done, I found myself intrigue especially with two of his art work that I found mainly because of the way he uses them to expose mainstream and in turn using it against them; making them look bad.









He uses the picture above (the broken window theory) to explain how mainstream culture has persuade us to believe that wherever graffiti and vandalism is present, more crime and violence is likely to occur because people think they can get away with it. However, Banksy is now laughing at them because guess what, more and more people are started to like his art, and is traveling all over to see them. People started writing to him and telling him to stop putting his work in their neighborhood, because it is getting too much attention from people and the media and they want to move into the neighborhood. This is a clear example of taking mainstream culture and throwing it back into their face.

















Banksy also compared a rats to culture jamming. Hi theory is that rats starts off small, in one place, and at the bottom. However, before you know it, they are everywhere. Culture jamming is the same if you think about it. First, you have something that starts off in one place, sometimes small with not so many people involve. However, before you know it, its everywhere.

These are only two examples of culture jamming, but am sure it is viewed in many other ways.

Conquest of cool-counter culture and mainstream culture

Am I apart of counterculture or am I predominantly a part of mainstream culture. The entire time in class today while discussing these two concepts, It was as if I could not comprehend the differences between the two. Reason being is that to me, mainstream culture and counterculture seems to be the same; its as if there is a fine line between the two. What I mean by this is if you look at a lot trends and lifestyle today, they are counterculture, but at the same time they are in fact mainstream culture also because that is what a lot of people is gravitating to, and in turn making it okay. I remember In Jamaica at one point where wearing cut-off foot jeans (both men and women) was looked down on, however, soon after, they flooded the market because everyone started to wear them. It seemed as if it all happen over night. It became so popular that even organized events were named after cut-off foot jeans, and today it is still a big thing.

Mainstream culture is defined as "culture perceived to be the norm or traditional of society, and counterculture is the unconventional lifestyles of living mostly by like minded people who resist these norms by mainstream culture. These norms of society to me are not the norms anymore, but rather dominant ideas and trends that are being endorsed and followed.

The language of fakebook-Reflection

Listening to all the comments today in class about fake-book got me wondering if I have been a part of that group. Maybe, subconsciously, I actually have and did not realize it up until this point of discussion. This leads me to ask myself the question, have I been creating a fictional persona of myself of Facebook all this time, and was not aware of it?

I class today while the discussion was going on i tried to think back as far as possible up until this point of all the different things I have done on Facebook, and how and in way way I have been using it. Personally, I don't think I can remember a time when I was trying to be someone who am not on Facebook, but I have seen people who I have known done and say things on Facebook that I would never in my lifetime expected to see.


Maybe I have tried creating a fictional persona of myself on Facebook, but was not aware of it. I use Facebook to mostly communicate and keep up with friends and family back home in Jamaica, and for them to keep up with my life. With this said, I don’t believe I have ever tried to use this social media be and act like someone am not. I rarely post any statuses, and I normally post soccer pictures or pictures and me when I travel. I rarely just take random pictures and post it just so I can get comments. This is just me, but I know a lot of people who are "Fakebookers"