[Juno]

I'm guessing you probably resemble the nudes in Titian's paintings (body-wise, anyway), or those old statues of Greek goddesses when you're a little bit heavier. Standards of beauty change from society to society and era to era. This societally agreed standard is reached haphazardly and is a topic of fierce debate in sociology; however, it is generally agreed that media (television, pictures, paintings, engravings, statues) serves merely to propagate and enforce this standard, rather than create it.

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Juno]

They are tourists with that 'We were here, hooray!' mentality. I used to get the same request from American tourists who visited London or Hong Kong. It's a group of people, having fun, visiting different places and wanting to remember that yeah, they were all there.

Then again, there's a slightly more complex answer involving the isolationist nature of Japan, the supposed freedom of being able to leave an island where 60-hour workweeks are the norm, and the desire to keep memories of their 'escape' as handy as possible, but I think the professor who taught me that is full of it. Seriously, I can't think of a set of vacation photographs I've seen where the vast majority of the photos weren't of my friends (Asian or otherwise) in front of various locales. If I want pretty scenic pictures, I'll buy a postcard. Sometimes, a rose is a rose, yeah?

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Juno]

A friend used to tell me that white folks who made racial comments were bigots, while minorities who made racial comments were stand-up comedians.

Seriously, though, here are a few points:

1. It's a double standard, but a double-standard that carries some heavy history with it.

2. While race plays a big role, it's mostly a matter of who the dominant (in terms of power) group is - in the case of the Western world, that happens to be white people (white males, specifically).

3. People have a tendency to resent the dominant group, so they'll react unfavorably toward it when they can get away with it - you, being a white woman without a college background and of a lower income class, present an ideal target. A black person surrounded by rich white folks in an upper-class neighborhood probably would not have made the same comments as he/she would have around you.

4. White culture is not celebrated because it a) only exists in the loosest of terms, and b) being the dominant culture, has no need to be celebrated. The answer gets a little more complicated if you're talking about a more specific 'white' culture (German, Slavic, Irish, etc.), but remains essentially unchanged.

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Juno]

My mother is half-French, and I lived most of my life in Hong Kong and London. She raised me like she was raised - a little bit of wine, usually diluted with water (about half), with dinner, and maybe a bit before I went to bed. As I got older, the wine got less and less diluted until about 12, 14 or so. My parents never gave me enough to get me drunk (a little buzzed during holiday times, maybe) and while the matter hasn't come up, I'm thinking they probably would have frowned upon it. While I don't have any children, I can say that my experience is probably pretty standard with many European kids, and my experience has left me a lot more responsible with alcohol than most of the friends I've made here. Have yet to get drunk, for example.

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Juno]

As an orthodox Christian, I believe being homosexual is an active decision made by the individual, and is a sin because the person has a choice in the matter. Science isn't of much help here, either - I could pull sociological and psychological articles that could put forth a strong argument for either nurture or nature.

Just because it's a sin, though, doesn't mean that I love my homosexual friends any less. They are still human beings, equally deserving of love in God's eyes. I don't preach to them or try to 'convert' them, as mankind is fundamentally flawed to begin with. I struggle with this dilemma sometimes; sometimes I wonder if love should win out over faith in the end.

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Juno]

When I see a woman I want? I agree with the other guy - I mentally undress her, imagine what she would be like in bed. Kind of crude, but it's true.

But when I see a woman I want to be with, it's a different story. Occasionally I'll meet someone who seems genuinely interesting, and I'll think 'I should get to know her better.' After that awkward meeting period, if she's as interesting as I think she'd be, I'll start thinking about what a relationship would be like, what her hair smells like, and whether she'd rest her head on my shoulder or chest when we're holding each other. Truth be told, I start feeling a little frightened.

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Juno]

I take it you're not white? In any case, in the United States and the vast majority of the 'Western' world, white people are the majority. They are in control of the dominant power structures. While white people are subject to the same laws that govern everyone else, sometimes it seems to minorities that they are above them because minorities seem to get the shit end of many similar deals. It should be understood that it's generally not the racial group that has the problem, but the society that they live in.

User Detail :  

Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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