The Societal Product that is Max Gersten

Of course the credit (the good and the bad) of Max Gersten goes to none other than Max Gersten himself. This I can be darn sure of. The question then becomes what factors molded the decisions and paths that have been taken. Of course much of the person I have become is due to my friends, family and teachers. Unfortunately, some credit goes to the media, and mass marketing. The one unifying thing that links all of these pieces together though is society. 

At a basic level, it is due to society's construct that my parents were even involved in my raising. Where was the conscious decision made that once a child is born it is under the care of the parents. There have been times in the history of humankind where this was not the case, and probably still isn't in parts of the world. As for the influence our friends and teachers have on us, it is easy to see society's mark. Is it nature that seems to separate boys to befriending other boys and girls with girls? Were we all born with the idea that woman are the care-takers and men the breadwinners? Of course not, but clearly some of society's influences are more easily noticed than others. 

The easiest societal force to recognize is the media. It also has to be said that the media is the hardest societal force to recognize. Sometimes I struggle to differentiate between society and the media as the two are so closely related and intertwined. Our idea's of dating, relationships, humor, friendship, being cool, hip, in style, punk, socially acceptable, and in general: 'normal' are, in large part, influenced by the media. The common perception of sex and gender are no exception to this.  From getting beaten over the head with how we should look, to defining what is sexy, through exactly how we should act to attract someone, the media is adjusting our thoughts. Again, this can be done in your face; through advertising and TV/magazines, to almost subconsciously; our default idea of heterosexuality and binary gender system. The question now turns to how all of these things molded Max Gersten's view's of sex and gender.

As is the case with all but the most disciplined, it is hard to distinguish what parts of me have been adjusted by society and which parts are o'naturale. To not be redundant, I just posted on how I felt about my own sexual identity. What I did not mention was why I have such thoughts. While I can credit society with influencing some of the things I am most proud of, I feel I have to blame society, in part, for my biased feelings towards gays. While I can say confidently that I have nothing against anyone who identifies that way, I would feel ashamed if I myself were gay. Even right after writing that down I'm disturbed that those are my feelings. To make a similar comparison I guess it is like my grandparents view of blacks. Growing up they were taught a certain thing, and even while they accept blacks as equals they have lingering racism that has stayed with them. Whatever the influence has been on my mindset of sexual preference, I have to admit that I have upheld what most would consider a common, yet unfortunate, view of sexuality.

Is Sexuality and/or Gender a Choice?

I personally don't think that ones sexuality is a choice. It would take a whole new reprogramming of my brain to believe that gender could be one either. When we look at why this is the case though, things tend to look less certain. 

When it comes to ones sexual preference, the idea of choice generally seems to be in debate. On the one side you have the idea that men and woman were created so to biologically reproduce. As you'd find in other mammals the male impregnates the female in order for the species to survive. This does seem to be a strong point, being that we are also mammals, but you'd also be hard pressed to find a person who likens themselves to wild beasts (there are definitely exceptions). As most of us would like to believe that we have evolved past being wild animals, it seems fair to say that so has our brains, and consequently our behaviors have evolved as well.

 I don't know many people (if any) who admit that their sexual orientation was one that they picked out to suit them. It is far more likely that someone thinks they are heterosexual by default, only to later realize that they were just attempting to choose their sexuality and in fact preferred same-sex partners. On the other side, it seems very unlikely (but not impossible) to me that a person would 'choose' to be homosexual, only because of the societal punishment and discrimination that you would have to face. As for myself, I can honestly say that I was unsure of my sexuality at points in my life. Not only do I possess a few characteristics associated with woman, but I also went through a very confusing and depressing time in my life where I questioned everything about myself. On top of this, all of my friends were guys, I struggled to talk to girls, I worked with boys (camp), and was called gay or a fag more than your average college guy. To be perfectly honest, if I ever did have homosexual thoughts I would try to immediately push them from my head. I was embarrassed to even be thinking that I might actually be gay. What would that mean? What would my friends and family think? I had been so socially programed to think negatively upon this group that I was actually scared that I might be a part of it; it was at this point that I could clearly see why it is so difficult for some people to come out. 

Jr High couldn't have helped my perception of being gay. For about 4 years of my life the most intense and frequent insult you could receive was being gay/ a fag. I don't know if this was the time period I grew up in, or a right of passage growing up, but in any case it is awful in the brainwashing of kids. Maybe I did consciously make a choice to be heterosexual. Based on the terrible struggle that others have had trying to do the same makes me think otherwise. While I clearly didn't know who I was, the scariest thing that could have happened to me was realizing I was homosexual. I say this despite the fact that I was suspended from school and considered myself to be wasting my life away, at least I didn't like men. It's unfair for me to try to relate my life to others, as we all have many things to cope with, but I genuinely feel for those people who were socially brainwashed as myself who do identify with sexuality they have come to think of negatively.