Archive for April 2015

Home Archive for April 2015

Beauty pageants continue to hold a very controversial position revolving beauty as physical appearance or persona. They have been claimed as misleading the public into believing that physical appearance is much more important than persona, and in many ways we can see how these ideas still continue to play out in beauty pageants but at the same time are contested.

For many years beauty pageants have been driven by weight, appearance and skin complexion, which are "ideal aspects" not only visible in beauty pageants, but also in magazines that continuously display women in photoshopped bodies that are far from perfect in real life. Nuestra Belleza Latina is one pageant that has recently crowned one of their contestants, Francisca Lachapel, and has showed both sides to the beauty pageant dilema.

Francisca Lachapel is an Afro-Latina women whose skin complexion is dark, body weight is "ideal", but her beauty, that of her physical, was not that of a queen's, as one of the judges claimed. I would watch the show every Sunday night and, personally, I think there were contestants more beautiful than the winner herself, however I am grateful that the pageant is not solely based on physical appearance.

Throughout the show Francisca's personality and attitude was always complimented by judges and the public (including me!). In comparison to the rest of the contestants, her charismatic, humble and sweet personality out shined everyone and really gave her a foundation to getting the majority votes to become the new Nuestra Belleza Latina.

On the other hand, no matter the victory of Francicsa, the "ideal aspects" that a queen must have continued to be visible during the show and perpetuated by their own judge, Osmel Sosa. Skin complexion has always been an important factor in identifying a queen, and being dark was not the "ideal". Based on an article in the Huffington Post,

Mr. Sousa measures beauty by the European standard, and he is not shy about saying it. In 1997 in a Latina Magazine interview, he described his bias against contestants with African features saying that "black Venezuelan women are not very beautiful," he continued saying that "he would only choose a black girl if she had white features, just painted black." He has been the head judge of the competition since it started. It was no surprise to anyone why Ms. Lachapel, who has clear Afro roots, was not Mr. Sousa's favorite.

I find this very disturbing and enraging to hear someone say a lighter skin color is preferable to that of a darker skin color. Beauty should not be decided on by skin complexion, and I think with the victory of Frncicsa we can see how people are disregarding this "ideal" skin complexion that has been a factor is identifying beauty for many years. Being dark, brown, or white is beautiful and no one should tell you its not.

For any high school senior, May 1^st marks the day that will most likely decide the next 4 years of their life. It is the last day students accept, decline, but most importantly decide on the university they will be attending. However, due to a drop in acceptance rates and an increase in tuition - even at state colleges - many students have been taking several years in community college in order to transfer into a university to then work towards their bachelors. Ultimately, if prospective high school graduates are not legacies nor privileged in a high socioeconomic standing, the current educational system has and will continue undermining the success of millions of students with college’s year-to-year reductions in the number of acceptances.

Just recently, information regarding the acceptance rates of UCs and private universities has showed a drop for mostly all 4-year institutions. Consequently, many students who have graduated this year have not been admitted to many of the colleges they applied, two of my friends included. Stephanie Reyes, a senior in Torrance High School, currently has a 3.9 GPA and was not accepted to any UCs or Cal States. The same situation occurred to her boyfriend who has a 4.0 GPA, is involved in extracurricular activities, and has a number of AP exams with scores of 4s and 5s.

The question now is: If obtaining a 4.0 GPA, passining AP exams with 4s and 5s, and having extracurricular activities isn’t enough, then what is? Shouldn’t these students be more than qualified to be accepted by a university when admission directors themselves state that “most of the students they turn down are such strong candidates that many are indistinguishable from those who get in”? So then why have acceptance rates of universities dropped and rejected so many?

In an article called “Best, Brightest andRejected: Elite Colleges Turn Away Up to 95%”, the author describes prestige and status as one factor for the rejection of hundreds of students. Many universities desire a label that portrays the university as highly competitive and selective, which undeniably contributes to the decrease in acceptance rates and ultimately to the undermining success of many students;“[o]ne of the ways that colleges are measured is by the number of applicants and their admit rate, and some colleges do things simply to increase their applicant pool and manipulate those numbers”. Colleges sent out emails in order to motivate students – well aware that some students will not get in– in order to increase their applications and become even more selective by only accepting a few.

But yet, what is of concern is that many of these students who are being rejected are equally as competitive and able to excel academically as those accepted. Rather than a reduction in acceptance this demonstrates a need for an increase. Colleges should not be as concerned about the number of acceptance rates that can make them seem highly competitive or selective when the goal of an educational institution is for students to learn, excel, and prepare for their future.

Students who are academically successful should not be forced to go to community college, where many of them are likely to spend several years to transfer - minority students being more probable to take longer – due to a drop in acceptance rates. Many of these students have gone through rigorous curriculums that have prepared them for a higher education and so sending them to community college simply undermines their success because of the lengthy process that results from a shortage in classes in community colleges, especially remedial ones. For certain students this lengthy enrollment process becomes impossible to the extent that some begin to lose hope and drop out. This process therefore leads to the waste of valuable human capital from students that were unfortunately denied acceptance and could not afford education at a 4-year institution.

Don’t get me wrong. Community college is a great way for students who want to start over, save money, get an Associates degree, or who were not accepted to the university of their choice to obtain an education. I myself transferred from community college and really appreciate the college experience that I received because it allowed me to become better acquainted and prepared for a 4- year university education like USC’s. However, community college is no longer an alternative route for students with the above reasons. Rather, it is becoming a must even for students who have been academically successful during their high school years. The hyper-competitive admission process is leading to the undermining of students – particularly low-income students of color- who become trapped in the institutional problems faced in community colleges, such as the insufficient availability of classes needed to transfer.

So then who pays the price for this hyper-competitiveness in universities? Is it the elite? Of course not. Students who are legacies and are in high socio-economic standing have the ability to pay for the cost of college while many those who do not - low-income, minority students - are systematically pushed out and excluded from attending competitive four year institutions. In order to rectify this there must be an increase of acceptances to halt the undermining of success of hundreds of students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bhp7i7WNcM

Throughout time, individuals have not only characterized themselves as men or women. Rather, there has been an emergence of other genders that have been used to define those who do not see themselves as either one. The town of Juchitan, located in Mexico, is well known for having a new gender known as the Muxes.

Just recently I came across a video in youtube that talked about Mexico's third gender called the Muxes. Similar to gay people, Muxes are men who feel trapped in their body and see themselves as women. Therefore based on socially constructed ideas of gender roles, Muxes adopt the life of a woman by wearing skirts, dresses, applying make-up, wearing heels, doing household chores, and more. However, unlike gay people who are attracted to gay people, Muxes are attracted to men.

To my surprise however, they have become highly integrated in Juchitan. The Juchitan residents annually celebrate the Muxes by hosting a festival called "Las Intrepidas Buscadoras del Peligro" (The Authentic Fearless Danger-Seekers). As Muxes, they are described by many as being different, bold, and daring individuals who do what they please, thus the origin of the festival's name. The festival consists of parading around the town announcing the festival, attending mass, and hosting a party where a new queen of the Muxes is announced.

In my opinion this annually celebrated festival symbolized the complete integration of the Muxes in Juchitan, especially when we take a look at Mexico's long legacy of patriarchy where ideas such as machisimo (beliefs that portray men as the authority figure and women as obeying the men) have been extremely present in the lives of Mexicans; however it does not symbolize full integration.

Machisimo has not only been correlated with the idea of males being the authoritative figures, but also with homophobia. As machistas, they believe a man must act like a man, they must be strong, protective of their family, the breadwinners, can not cry, must not behave as girls or like a man. As a result, Muxes and gays have been the targets of these individuals.

It was surprising to see that living in Mexico, in a patriarchal society, Muxes were accepted, however the patriacrhal aspect of Mexico has not completely vanished. There is a consensus that Muxes must not have a partner and are therefore doomed to live a life of "soledad" (loneliness) as a Muxe describes. To have a partner is seen as morally wrong and so they become highly appreciated because they are the children who take care of their parents when they are old.

I think this situation can be seen everywhere by societies who still carry patriarchal beleifs. In this case it was even more surprising to hear how individuals who said were accepting of Muxes and even celebrated with them at the festival refused the idea of allowing them to have a partner. This consequently shows patriarchy as the one of the factors that results in the inability for full integration for Muxes and also gay individuals.

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