Blog 5. Aging Gracefully

 Changing societal images of older women can be accomplished in a few different ways.  One simple way is to stop portraying them as little, old, helpless, gray headed women sitting in a nursing home.  Menopausal women are in their 50's on average and they are not old and crippled.  Has anyone seen Marie Osmond lately?  She is 51 years old and looks super hot!  She, and others like her, could be the poster girls for aging women!  And many of them are not gray headed!  So replace the gray headed ladies in advertisements with 52 year old brunettes or 55 year old redheaded women!  Back in the 1950's, only seven percent of women colored their gray hairs.  Today, that has changed and 75% of all women now color their hair (TLC, 2011). 

Beyond physical looks, the ladies that are aging gracefully have new attitudes, fit lifestyles and healthy bodies.  Society does tend to view the negative aspects of aging (Kam, 2011).  For society to change their outdated view, the women themselves will need to lead by example of how to age gracefully.  They need to keep living to the full!  Society (people) will take notice.  Their views will change when they see the change.  They will be encouraged to know that there is more to life than just the people who are under 40! Besides, the 50's are the new 40's!

 References

Kam, K. (2011).  The art of aging gracefully.  Retrieved from
     http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/features/the-art-of-aging-gracefully 

TLC. (2011). Hair coloring guide.  Retrieved from
     http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/style/hair-coloring.htm    

Blog 4. STD's, behavior and status

My thoughts with whether sexually transmitted diseases (STD's) can be equated with immorality, promiscuous behavior and low social status has to do with quantity issues than character issues.  Call me old-fashioned, if you like, but I believe in having a monogamous relationship, till death do you part.  That would be one mate for life.  Look at the definitions of these words.  Immorality means wickedness and evil (Dictionary.com, 2011).  This does not equal disease.  Promiscuous means having sexual encounters, numerous times on a casual basis.  Medically it refers to more than one partner (Dictionary.com, 2011).  Behavior means a way of acting (Dictionary.com, 2011).  Bingo!  If one engages numerous times, with various partners, the odds of getting an STD has risen dramatically.  It is all about the numbers.  Social status refers to classes of people and whether one is high, low, or middle has no bearing in this discussion. 

So what does one mate for life look like?  Well, in a perfect world, it means that one boy and one girl will wait until marriage to have intercourse.  They remain in that union and not stray outside of it until they grow old together and pass.  But the world is not perfect in most cases.  What if one of the spouses dies prematurely and re-marries?  What if initially one mate is a virgin and the other is not?  What if neither are virgins, but have committed from the wedding on to be monogamous with each other?  STD's are diseases spread through sexual relations.  The more sexual relationships one has with various people increases their chances of contracting a disease whether it is a cold, the flu, or a STD.

References

Dictionary.com. (2011). Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/    

 

Should Sex Education be in the Public Schools? If So, What Kind?

     Have you noticed that there is a lot of talk about "sex education" but very little about "health education," the class where sex education is taught?  I asked my educator friend from Dallas, TX when it was taught, and she said in the secondary classroom setting (C. Davis, personal communication, June 22, 2011).  To me, that is where the problem lies.  Sex education does need to be taught in the public school but before the children's hormones have taken off!  Plus, it may need a name change, something along the lines of "hormone education," "adult 101," or "personal responsibilities/consequences".  Sex may technically mean one's body makeup as a male or female (Alexander, LaRosa, Bader, Garfield, & Alexander, 2010, p. 68) but not in an adolescent's mind.  It means coitus to them in whatever form it involves.


     An abstinence-only program should be in the public school.  It should be taught at various times, to preadolescent (upper elementary school), as well as middle and high school children.  Hopefully, the school setting is reinforcing the message they get from parents, church and social organizations. Children definitely need to know the workings of their body parts.  But they also need to know the legal ramifications and possible consequences (pregnancy, molestation, and rape, to name a few) to their actions.  They need to know that legally, in the United States, this is an adult activity.  It is not for children.  There are responsibilities and consequences for not using abstinence when they are underage.  For example, in California, it is illegal for two minors to have coitus with each other.  It can result in juvenile or adult court (California Statutory Rape FAQ, 2009).  Even as children, respect for the laws of the land should be expected and taught.  If they choose to play by adult rules, non-abstinence, then they will quickly learn that they have to also live by adult rules.

                                                             References

Alexander, L. L., LaRosa, J. H., Bader, H., Garfield, S., & Alexander, W. J. (2010).  
     New dimensions in women's health. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers

California Statutory Rape FAQ. (2009). California Statutory Rape FAQ. Retrieved from
     http://www.sexlaws.org/california_statutory_rape#Q1

How can we encourage adolescents to follow healthy behaviors?

Encouraging adolescents to incorporate healthy behaviors can be somewhat tricky considering their fluctuating, independent, and sometimes rebellious attitudes.  Plus, their behaviors are highly driven by their peers (Hanson, Venturelli, & Fleckenstein, 2009).  Based on this, it seems like one idea would be to use slightly older, healthy peers to communicate to and influence the younger set of adolescents.  Health educators could plan health behavior programs for the school setting, music concerts, malls, and basically wherever youth hang out.  Plus, using current electronic devices, like the cell phone, to post messages and/or websites from various peer celebrities, who have a message of healthy behavior, could also work.  The key is to use slightly older adolescents who look like them, but their message is one of healthy behaviors. 

            Parents can work undercover and expose the child to various activities that involve people of all ages and health conditions.  This will open their eyes to more than just their peer set.  Also, I am not sure if the “yardstick” demonstration would work with adolescents, but I once was shown a yardstick and it represented a life of zero to eighty years.  I then was to estimate where I was on that stick in years.  It puts in perspective quickly how much life is left if I live to 80!  Let alone to have a healthy one!     

References

Hanson, G. R., Venturelli, P. J. , & Fleckenstein, A. E. (2009). Drugs and society. Sudbury,

            Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.