Category: Uncategorized

In the book, ‘Cheap Sex’ written by Mark Regnerus, chapter 5, ‘The Transformation of Men, Marriage, and Monogamy’ focuses on marriage rate differences from 2000 to 2014. Early on in the chapter, we were presented with a graph that clearly shows a decrease in those who have been married before. In relation to this, there has been an increase in those who haven’t been married before. The group that was being studied included individuals from 25-34 years of age, an ideal time period in which couples agree to get married to one another. There was a 21% point gap difference between married and never-married 25-to-34-year-olds in the U.S. Less than 10 years later, this gap created not only vanished but also reversed.

In the book, ‘Cheap Sex’ written by Mark Regnerus, chapter 3, ‘Cheaper, Faster, Better, More? Contemporary Sex in America’ highlights the dating scene within this specific time period. Early on in the chapter, there is much discussion about the dating app called ‘Tinder’. Tinder is a meetup application that can be used for straight or gay peoples. Author, Nancy Jo Sales spoke out on this new and modern technology describing it as a dating apocalypse. One of her interviews was conducted with a psychologist by the name of David Buss. Buss also had comments on this new advancement. In his terms, dating apps are the free-market economy that comes to sex. He further states that the act of choosing consumer brands and sex partners has become interchangeable. Moving off of general comments and statements, Sales performed another interview with Elizabeth Armstrong, a sociologist from the University of Michigan who was investigating into the sexual decisions of undergraduate women at the University of Indiana. I found that most of her comments seemed to be quite bold as she implied that young women have problems navigating sexuality and relationships due to gender inequality. Furthermore, historian Stephanie Coontz makes claims that make Armstrong’s come off as mild. Coontz exclaims that exploitative and disrespectful men have always existed. The new era of hookup culture is said to be preventing men from evolving for the better. These various statements imply that her position on males as a whole is negative and not wholesome by any means.

Most of all Mexican natives reside in the United States, and Mexico should see that as an issue. And they do, yet it is just not illuminated on the media. More than 12 million migrants from Mexico, including legal and illegal, live in the US. They make up most of the immigration to this country. Immigration affects the economy greatly. Not only the economy is suffering from immigration, but also market pools, as well as the family and social culture. 

Mexican immigrants leave their own native land and leave behind open jobs that aren’t fulfilled that ruin its own economy. How is the economy supposed to function without low-skilled workers in Mexico? Without the proper labor and jobs being fulfilled in Mexico, the country would collapse, and it would be chaotic! If most of the population is leaving Mexico, who is buying? The demand for goods will decrease which leads to less business. With all the families seeking a better life, the economy would fall apart in Mexico leading to the collapse of the country. Low-skilled Mexican natives leave their families in search for a better life to prosper until they can help out the rest of their family. Leaving children behind, growing in a single-parent household or lack thereof, don’t develop properly. With the absence of one or both parents due to immigration, children are more likely to grow up without the proper development which could lead to them becoming criminals in their country. Therefore, immigration causes higher crime rates, a bad family structure culturally and a lower population rate since crime isn’t attracting. 

“People leaving their country for jobs in another country is a very or moderately big problem.” Mexico sees the problem with labor by American business owners to their people. They government in Mexico feels the economic effects of the workers leaving their own country. They see the crumbling of the family that leads to more crime. And the economy is just suffering in demand. This is an underground topic that isn’t exposed in the media too often and it should be recognized to the United States. 

This movie was a very moving experience. Immigration is a topic that has been talked about for so many years in the classroom and in the world. Living in the north east you only experience the after effect of immigration and not the in person constant struggle. The documentary allowed for people to experience in real time the struggles behind why so many people are risking their lives to make the journey to America. The documentary follows the 2,000 mile journey many have made for a better life. 

            In the first half of the movie you see the beginning of the journey start for the people who are trying to escape their lives. In their native country they are struggling economically and socially because of revolts and police brutality. This is no way for any human to live and many have realized that. The one woman talks about the hardships for her family. They are natives of Honduras and she has two little girls. Her husband can no longer work because he is sick, and she is the sole person keeping her family alive. She was driven to America by her motherly instincts. She knew that if she stayed not only would her children starve but they would have no future. She wanted her children to have an education, a basic human right, so they can get a good job and not have to worry about food and money for their children like she has too. 

            The hardships for many of these immigrants does not stop once they have left their country. They face imprisonment in America since they are illegal, because they couldn’t get visas. Starvation and brutality are very strong among these immigrants. Once in America they need jobs and a home, which are both hard to come by since they have to do so secretly. They are subject to the worse types of treatment because they cannot go to the police, or they will be deported. Family drives so many immigrants. Mothers and fathers see that their current situation is not humane, so they take their children and run to what they think will be a better life. 

            The most moving part of this movie is the sections on immigrant shelter. These men and women have dedicated their lives to ending the suffering of those who decided to leave their country. They provide food and shelter for those who are displaced. They see the children suffering on the train and it brings them to tears, all they want it is to help them. They help those who have been captured by Mexican police on their journey to America. Not only were their dreams crushed when the Mexican police, because they didn’t make it to America, but they were brutally treated by them. Many of them lose hope for a better life under the care of the Mexican police when they are shipped back to their countries. This is where these shelters come in, the men and women take them in and try to help them regain a hope for life. The women in the film from the shelter cried when she talked about the children who were on these shipments back. They were alone, hungry, confused. She said that she never wanted her son to immigrate because she has seen this fate for so many that have tried. So she is trying to give him a better life where they are.