How does the way your parents socialized you to understand your social class differ from the way the popular media does?

How about your understanding of your gender? How about your understanding of sexual relations?

According to the popular media, I am considered to be a middle class citizen. I live in an okay neighborhood close to a few public schools, a shopping center, and notable bus stops with actual benches to sit on and all. My income barely lasts me the week and if I weren’t living with my mother and sister would probably be living in poverty. Thankfully, my mother makes enough to take care of all of us. If we (my sister and I) weren’t around she’d probably be living it up in high class. To my mother, if she ever reads this: Thanks for not kicking us out of the nest! Social class is mainly based on total net worth in the popular media. Total net worth is pretty much what you are worth, monetarily speaking. If your credit is bad, if you live paycheck-to-paycheck, if you don’t own property you are considered to be a part of the lower or middle class, depending on the severity of your situation. But even though we aren’t at our optimum financial state, I never felt like I was missing out on anything. My family taught me true worth doesn’t lie in what you have, but instead in what you can give. If at any one point in your life you are able to give freely without wondering how it will affect you, then you can rest assure that you have all you need, no more no less. That is how my parents socialized me to understand my social class. If you ask me, I’m wealthier than most and almost always willing to give. I come from a Hispanic family. Hispanics are very strict when it comes to gender roles. When I was growing up, my father would jokingly suggest that my job as his daughter was to do laundry and specifically to wash his socks. I never did, and didn’t really understand why he couldn’t just do it himself. But as I take a look back, I realize that to some extent he did expect me to take the socks from him and to wash them. As a female of the household I was expected to learn these menial tasks. I never was much for domestic chores. Although, as I grew older these expectations made more sense when explained this way: Diana, you should learn to do laundry, cook, and clean properly if you hope to live on your own comfortably. You don’t want to depend on any one to do those things for you, whether it’s your boyfriend or a housekeeper. That gave much more meaning to household chores. The media’s take on gender roles has changed much since women began fighting for their rights, although there are times I wonder if that’s even true. I have a few sexist pigs as friends (males obviously) that there are times I want to clobber. Sexuality was always discussed openly amongst my family. Before my sister arrived I was given a book to read that explained “Where Did I Come From,” which is also the title of the book. After I read it my parents answered any questions I may have had. I have always been an objective observer of sexuality. I am most intrigued by it, but not on a lustful level. Sexuality, although uncomfortable for most, is not a topic to be ashamed of or to be considered taboo. And that is how my parents raised me to believe, although, my father was a little hesitant when speaking of such subjects with me. One thing I noticed, however, is that I was much more tolerant of sexual lifestyles other than my own, me being a heterosexual. I remember one heated discussion with my father when I told him I believed that everyone should be able to express without fear or remorse whom they loved be it opposite or same sex. The media however has exploited sex into a phrase very popular now, “sex sells.” Issues on sexual relations are everywhere, which star has a new porn video out, which two actors are sleeping together, even television programming has gotten quite steamy. I was taught sexual relations are intimate and should only be shared with the one whom you are being intimate with. I owe both my parents a million thanks for raising me the way they did, a balanced, open-minded individual. Through their lessons, and their mistakes, I have learned to be a better person.