Gender

 According to the World Health Organization "Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed".

In terms of gender roles, women are usually characterized as emotionally expresive, kind, cooperative and sensitive to the needs of other people. And they are supposed to be mothers, housekeepers, wives.... In the other hand men are characterized as independent, brave, dominant, competitive and strong. And they are supposed to be workers, providers of their families, leaders…

There are advances in gender equality but Chile still is clearly a patriarcal society, this means that  males mainly hold social power, predominate in roles of political leadership, control moral authority and have social privileges .

 This is clearly reflected in the laboral world, in Chile a woman doing the same work, get’s paid less then a man. The “highly ranked” job positions are mainly occupated by men, for example in chilean Parlament there are 158 quotas and only 25 are holded by women. Gender also impacts in which Jobs are “for women”(examples nursing, social work)  and which are “for men”(examples politician, businessman).

 

And the magnitude of the violence against the women is alarming, constitutes a problem of public health and a serious and intolerable violation to the human rights. This is reflected on the ammount of murdered women by men year by year.

“The oppressor wouldn't be so strong if it didn´t have accomplices between the oppressed”

(Simone de Beauvoir)

How green are you?

                                                                                 I believe that ecology and protecting the environment should be very important subjects in our society  People can learn a lot about looking after the environment by searching information in the Internet. Many organizations have well designed  web pages with information about how you can help the planet.

I like to read a lot about these subjects but surprisingly I haven't incorporated recycling into my habits and I feel a little guilty for that. For many years I believed that my little city didn't have a recycling center. A few I months ago I discovered where it was. I feel that Santiago has more organization to recycle so now I don't have any excuses. I need to improve my recycling habits.

I don't use car a lot because it's expensive, it pollutes a lot and  I don't have a licence for driving. I usually use public transport but I would like to use a bike to move myself around the city. However I am scared of riding a bike in Santiago and getting hitted by a car. Probably by next year I would buy a bike and carefully start using a bike. It would be easier if Santiago had more cycle-paths.

I would like to support a eco-organisation. I 've always wanted to, but I have lacked motivation and time. Maybe if I organize my time better I could participate more in activism world. 

I stopped eating meat five years ago, one of my reasons was to reduce my contribution to the  environmental degradation worldwide caused by producing meat for mass consumption. As and example "factory farming" is a environmentally unsustainable practice because produces big amounts of CO2 and methane gas, pollutes water and degrades the land. It has a big impact on climate change and loss of biodiversity.

I would like to consider myself an eco-hero but I know that I could be doing much better.

Visual arts

  

Visual arts

I like visual arts very much, but I feel that visual arts are a world that I haven't known yet. When I was at school had to choose between visual arts and music. It was a hard decision, but I  finally choose music. That decision left me with a void until today that I want to fill. I would like to know more about visual arts because it´s really interesting. 

Personally I understand art as any activity with a communicative and expressive intention.

I enjoy visual art because has the capacity of causing a variety of emotions in the viewer. I believe that everyone can say something different about a painting. It's like the piece of art says something different to each person.

I have not visited many museums. There were just two museums in my hometown. Maybe someday I will visit the museums of Santiago.

I would like to start painting because I remember it was very relaxing. I don't know I have visual artistic abilities, it's something that i have to discover. I have a good friend that used to participate in art competitions. He used to ask me about my opinion and I have believed that he is a great artist.

I am not 100% sure if a like modern art, sometimes I awesome it great and sometimes it make me feel nothing or maybe I don't understand it. I believe that anything can be called art, it's a subjective matter.

Nowadays I like a lot the work of Bansky and Frida Khalo. I feel that their paintings are full of interesting content.

My future job

My dream job is working as a sociologist in an organization that studies and solves people's and world 's problems. I’m playing with the idea of being part and working at an NGO because then I would be sure that my job has an impact. I need to feel  moved by my job.

I would like to be working at a combination of outdoors and indoors. For example going to listen and observe people problems at real life, applying techniques like focus group, interviews. Then thinking, studying and writing about them . And finally creating and executing ideas, projects to solve their problems and change the reality. 

I’d like to travel and meet people from many different places. But i wouldn't like to do it so often because I would miss my home. I would like to travel a lot while I am young and when I grow older I would travel less.

I have no major problems at working in the government if I agree with their politics,  I wouldn't be happy having a boring and bureaucratic job. I am not attracted by paperwork.

I like universities and I like "informal teaching" but I don´t know if I would be happy being a professional teacher. However I am very interested at learning pedagogic abilities to use in my life.

I wouldn't like to work in a market company doing studies in things like products impacts, consumers profiles and things like that. I become bored with just working like numbers. I need to feel motivated to work well. But maybe sometime I would take one of these jobs and see if my assumptions are real or not. Probably I would relax my conditions during hard times.

Currently I am not studying any major, but I am thinking of taking a major in ecology or social intervention. 

One of my goals is to never stop learning. There are so many thins I would like to learn and be able to apply them on my life.

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Controversial topic: Drugs!

Controversial topic: Drugs!

Drugs always are a controversial topic and I believe that they should be more discussed in our society. In scientific terms we can define drugs as chemical substances that affect the normal function of the nervous system altering the mood, perception or consciousness. Some of the most popular drugs are alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and LSD. I believe all drugs are potentially addictive in different levels.

 

      The most popular legal drugs in Chile are alcohol and cigarettes. I think they are legal for economic reasons like profit. Their impact in the lives of the people is really harming. Examples of this are lung cancer and the big amounts of accidents and violence in which alcohol has a big influence.

In my opinion the contemporary way of life is so stressful that push people into escaping by consuming drugs. I believe that some of them, like marijuana are relatively inoffensive and useful. Marijuana has many uses, like recreational, medical, cultural, religious, and probably many more. His prohibition causes drug trafficking industries that are far more dangerous and harmful to societies than the legalization. Drug trafficking always hit the most vulnerable parts of the population, and the legalization of marijuana will reduce his impact considerably. And in global terms third world counties like Mexico and Nigeria always get the worst part of the drug trafficking industries.

I believe marijuana should be legal for people in a mature age, because drugs can control your life if you don't have enough willpower. On the other hand there are harder drugs, like cocaine, crack, pasta base and a lot more that should remain illegal because they are so addictive and harmful that their consumption destroys people lives. Without information and without self-control, marijuana may lead you to experiment harder drugs.

If all drugs were legal I believe there would be less of some types of crime and more of other types of crime. Hard drugs could cause more violent types of crime. It will be like alcohol impact but like ten times bigger. It’s necessary to discuss the effects of each drug in society and then decide what thing to do.

It is not a simple and easy subject, but as a democratic society we have to discuss about it.

My best holidays: A journey to the south of Chile

 

My best holidays: A journey to the south of Chile

Great holidays always become great memories. In the summer of 2008 I traveled to the south of Chile with my whole family: My dad, Hector, my mom Nancy, my grandfather Alejandro; my three brothers Daniel, Claudio and Javier and my little sister Sofia.  My dad took us successfully from Los Andes to Puerto Montt. It lasted two weeks.

 

We traveled in our van, so there were many hours on the road. We carried all the necessary things to make a camp to sleep during the night: tents sleep bags, flashlights, food, med kits and a lot of stuff. The van was completely full plus eight people on it! Definitely a big part of my memories of those days are the long times in the van waiting to arrive to our destination.

Although I am not a camping person, because I love my bed and my fridge, I had a really good time staying in different places every night.

What I remember most clearly of those holidays is visiting the beautiful city of Valdivia; taking a bath in the thermal springs of Chillán; being amazed by Saltos del Petrohue and having delicious lunch in so many restaurants.

When I was a kid I used to read a lot of Chilean mythology. I remember when we stayed in Chiloe and went to swim to a lake. When I was in the water I got a little separated from my family and suddenly remembered a terrifying legend about a monster called Cuero that captures you, takes you to the depths and eat you alive. I was so scared! I swam quickly to the shore and stayed there until we came back to the camp. It’s so funny to remember that today!

I would love to have holidays like these again!  

Movies are my way to know great histories

When I was a kid, I used to watch a lot of movies with my group of friends, mostly scary movies, it was like a ritual of every Friday. We watched like hundreds of them and it was really fun. Now I don't have so much time for watching movies, but in vacations I like to watch marathons of them. In fact, during the year I constantly save movies to watch when I have time, they are like my secret weapon to fight boring moments.

My favorite kind of films are drama films that are about real life. I also like thriller films a lot because it makes me feel strong emotions and they keep me stuck in the narration. The combination of these two is a good film for me. Also a touch of fantasy or science fiction in the movie's history can be really nice. For me, a perfect movie is the one that  leaves you thinking a lot when it ends.

One of my all-time favorite films is V for Vendetta, a political thriller about a dystopian fascist England in which a mysterious freedom fighter called V, portrayed by Hugo Weaving, tries to start a revolution with the help of a woman called Evey, portrayed by Natalie Portman. It is based in a graphic novel written by Alan Moore. I like it because it makes you think in ways to get social changes in today times. I have seen this movie like five times, and one of these days I will read the graphic novel.

I would definitely recommend it to everyone, because it has a action, a love story, suspense and a deep political background.

And my final recommendation and movie I would like to watch again is The Help, because it's funny and sad at the same time. Also because it has a great history and it is stared by Emma Stone, one of my favorite actresses.