Multi #6 - New superhero is Muslim-American teen

I had never thought about this until I saw this article headline on CNN today.  The headline to the article reads, "Marvel's newest superhero is Muslim-American teen."  This definitely got me thinking about all of the superheroes I know.  All of them are white.  Just take a look at the picture I inserted above.  They are pretty much all white.  In fact, they are all white from what I can see.  The ones that are not white aren't exactly human; for example the Hulk and the Thing.  They are different due to the fact they are not human, not because they are of a different race.  Looking at this I am kind of appalled writers did not incorporate any type of diversity within superheroes.  Now---there very well could be superheroes of a different race that I don't know about because I'm not an expert in this area, but thinking about the major superheroes myself none of them are of a different race.  This article doesn't even really address that the newest superhero is a of a different race until the very end of the article.  It mostly talks about how they want this 16-year-old girl, Kamala Khan, who is a superhero to relate to girls who are going through adolescence.  "Like any teenager, all of her opportunities are in front of her and she is full of potential, but her parents' high expectations come with tons of pressure and has led Kamala to carve out a future that she has little interest in," (Duke, 2013).

Article can be found here.  The article talks about how Kamala is exploring many facets of her identity and is finding out who she is based on challenges that rock the core of her conservative values (Duke, 2013).  I think this can be true for everyone.  I mean who doesn't stand by their values when they are challenged?  I certainly do.  One part of the article that I did not like was how it stereotyped a group of girls.  Stereotyping is a form of prejudice and discrimination of certain groups (Erford & Hays, 2014).  The writer quoted, "High school was a very vivid time in my life, and so I drew heavily on those experiences--impending adulthood, dealing with school, emotionally charged friendships that are such a huge part of being a teenager.  It's for all the geek girls out there, and everyone else who's ever look at life from the fringe," (Duke, 2013).  Can you pick out the stereotype the writer used?  Geek girls?  Why does this have to pertain to "geek girls"?  What is a definition of geek girls?  I'd like to know his answer to that.  I feel like he could have worded it differently.  This superhero could relate to ALL girls and this superhero could also be a step in the right direction for more diversity within this area.  That is what the article should really talk about.

Article:

Duke, A. (Producer). (2013, November 06). Marvel's newest superhero is a Muslim-American teen [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/showbiz/ms-marvel-muslim-superhero/index.html?hpt=en_c2 

References:

 Erford, B., & Hays, D. (2014). Developing multifulcutural counseling competence: A systems approach. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

I said YES!

It finally happened everyone and I couldn't be happier!  Jared asked me to marry him on my favorite holiday!  I was hoping he would ask me on Halloween because of how much I love it.  I was hoping he would pop the question on Halloween night and he did.  What I didn't expect was how he did it.  He had his cousin's little kids (ages three and five) dress up as bride and groom and come to "trick-or-treat" at our house.  We have babysat the two quite a bit and am glad he chose them to be his little helpers. The little boy was holding a sign that said 'Will you marry me?' and that was one of the first things I saw as I opened the door for who I thought were trick-or-treaters. It was perfect. I was excited and confused and asked if what was happening was for real about four times and it was real :)

Multi #5 - New 'Third Sex' law aims to reduce surgery

The definition of intersex, according to experts on CNN's coverage on Germany's new third sex law, is when "a child cannot be identified as male or female due to physical variations.  Another piece to this definition includes the child's hormonal and genetic makeup may also impact gender identification," (Mann, 2013).  It doesn't mean they are born with both a penis and a vagina.  It has to do with the difficulty of deciding which part they have due to the size of the private area.  The video gave some statistics on how many intersex births there are; an estimated 1 in every 1,500-2,000 births (Mann, 2013).  Now, I have heard of individuals who are born with this condition, but I never knew that there could possibly be another option used for gender identity when someone is born this way.  German lawmakers hope that this new law will take the pressure off parents to opt for surgery when a child is born with this condition.  German's third sex law gives parents the option to register their child as "intersex" at birth.

Germany's New 'Third Sex' Law video

Makes me want to ask the question....Can individuals with this condition, who are already grown adults, change their gender registration?  Or can it only be done at birth?  They should have the choice throughout their life span, I believe.  I have not personally known anyone with this condition but I believe if adults who were born with this were given the opportunity to change their gender they should be able to.  I feel like giving them the power to change their registration would be a sense of security, freedom, or choice.  Being confused about your own gender can be frustrating, scary, and just hard to deal with.  A person with this condition may have trouble with their definition of gender identity.  It may be difficult for them to pin point theirs and giving them one more option might help.  Gender identity is the belief a person has about his or her gender and that includes the psychological aspect of it (Erford & Hays, 2014).  I feel that if these individuals were given this new option that it would help them with their gender identity.  They might be more confident in themselves and would have some stress taken off their shoulders.  Although having more options can be good, it can be bad as well.  In this case I think it would be good.

Video:

Mann, J. (Producer). (2013, November 1). 'Third Sex' Law aims to reduce surgery [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2013/11/01/ctw-germany-third-gender-annand-saggar-intv.cnn.html 

Reference:

 Erford, B., & Hays, D. (2014). Developing multifulcutural counseling competence: A systems approach. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.