Class tends to be the most difficult topic for some people to talk about. There’s three different

types of class, the upper, middle, and working. The upper class is the group that has the highest

status in society. The middle class is the group between the upper and working classes. Then there

is the working class, which is the social group that has the lowest status. There are many different

myths about all of the classes, but middle class tends to be the one people talk about the most.

  

    A myth I found was all middle class needs is a return to solid economic growth. Lane Kenworth

said that “Since the 1970’s, the American economy has continued to grow fairly \quickly, yet the

middle class has seen a relatively small gain in income.” He also mentioned that “Wage levels in

the middle and below has barley budged since the nineteen seventies because of a barrage of shifts

in our economy and economic institutions.” There have been

economic growths, but there hasn’t been a solid one yet.

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    Another myth is almost all Americans name themselves as middle class. According to Emmie

Martin, seventy percent of Americans consider themselves to be middle class, but they have done surveys and only fifty percent actually are. She mentions that, “Of the survey participants who labeled themselves as middle class, fifty percent earn between fifty thousand and one hundred twenty five dollars annually. Although these Americans consider themselves in the middle, the actual dollar amounts needed to qualify as middle class are slightly lower.” She points out that “Single people are far less likely to consider themselves middle class. Only fifty seven percent of single men and fifty nine percent of single women label themselves as such, compared to eighty-four percent of non-single men and seventy four percent of non-single women.” Middle class in the most common group for people to list themselves as.

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    Another myth was in the long run the decline of middle class living standards are predictable. There is hope that the middle class in going to get better incomes and grow one day. It’s happening already. Slowly but surely. Technology is going to help with the process of the middle class growth. Technology advances more and more every single day. The education system is getting better as well. That’s going to make many more job openings. One day, hopefully, there won’t be a working class anymore. There will only be middle and higher class.

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    My final myth is that most people in the middle class don’t even have one thousand dollars in savings. Ben Norton says “Roughly fifteen percent of Americans live in poverty, and forty six point seven million people, in two thousand fourteen. Close to one in every four American children suffers from poverty.” Sixty three percent don’t even have enough saved up for emergencies. He also mentions “If most Americans do not have any savings, and this number is rising, the term "middle class" is useless. Politicians and news outlets may try to redefine it, but, if a majority of a country's citizens live paycheck-to-paycheck, that country has been hollowed out and replaced with an inverted bell curve whose peaks are getting farther and farther apart and whose trough is so overstretched it will eventually burst. It is time to admit it: There is no middle class; there is only the working class and the ruling class.” They aren’t going to be abled to be considered middle class anymore. With the way they are losing money and not keeping a stable amount of money they are going to be considered the working class and there isn’t going to be a middle class anymore.

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    A myth is a widely held but false belief or idea. Out of the three classes, the middle class just so happens to be the one that everyone talks about. They have changed so much and are going to continue to change over the years. Give it a few more years and there isn’t going to be a middle class anymore. There is going to be the upper and the working class and that’s it.

Works Cited:

• Kenworthy, Lane. “Five myths about the middle class.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Aug. 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-the-middle-class/2012/08/03/gJQAxPi6UX_story.html?utm_term=.d7eddfffa9e6. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

• Martin, Emmie. “70% of Americans consider themselves middle class—but only 50% are.” CNBC, CNBC, 30 June 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/06/30/70-percent-of-americans-consider-themselves-middle-class-but-only-50-percent-are.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

• “Myth of the middle class: Most Americans don't even have $1,000 in savings.” Salon.com, www.salon.com/2016/01/14/myth_of_the_middle_class_most_americans_dont_even_have_1000_in_savings/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017.

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Myths About Women

     Women tend to be a topic that people talk about quite often. There are so many different myths

about them. Some myths that include women are; They have a low pain tolerance, a women’s place

is in the home, they are emotional, they are better at multi-tasking, and they are less competitive and

herefore better at teamwork.

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Myth 1: Women Have a Low Pain Tolerance

     Ghia Smith said “Um, have you even heard of child birth. 'Nuff said!” Women are just like men

in this circumstance. There are some women and some men that have low pain tolerance. It’s not

just women that can’t handle pain very well. Signe Cane notes “It’s widely thought that women

tolerate pain better, thanks to an evolutionary history of having been repeatedly put through the

wringer of childbirth. However, in 2012 a team of researchers from Stanford University in the US

completed a review of over 11,000 medical records and discovered that women actually tend to feel

pain more intensely, particularly when it comes to acute inflammation. Within that zero-to-10 pain

rating scale, on average women's pain ratings were almost a point higher than men's.” Yeah, some

women do have a low pain tolerance, but they can at least handle it better then most men. As the quote says “Women’s pain ratings were almost a point higher then men’s”

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Myth 2: A Women’s Place is in the Home

     Gary Martin comments that “This notion has been expressed in a variety of forms by numerous people over the ages, all of them men of course. The proper proverbial place for a woman is usually expressed as 'the home' but is and has been also said to be 'the family' and 'the kitchen'. The ancient Greeks got in there first. The playwright Aeschylus, in Seven Against Thebes, 467 B.C., wrote: let women stay at home and hold their peace.” People over the years have changed that meaning around so much. Women, in the later days, were supposed to stay home and watch the children and clean the house. Men were supposed to be the superior ones. Now guys “joke” around by saying that women belong in the kitchen, I’ve also heard “go make me a sandwich” as if women are supposed to stay in the house and do nothing but clean and cook.

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Myth 3: Women are more Emotional

     Heather Huhman said “The basic gist of this myth is that women are ruled by their emotions, especially in stressful situations. When faced with a decision, they are unable to think rationally. And when they feel slighted, they become catty, particularly with other women.” Women are emotional, but I wouldn’t say that they are more emotional than men. Men have to make themselves look big and tough, so they try to hide everything. Women are socialized to express all but anger. While men are to hide all but anger.

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Myth 4: Women are Better a Multi-Tasking

     P. Murali Poraiswamy and Tara Swart mention that “This theory is based on the fact that the left and right sides of the cerebral cortex (“the higher brain”) are more densely connected in a woman’s brain than a man’s, meaning that information can bridge the two hemispheres more effectively. In contrast, men tend to have more front to back connections within a hemisphere. But in reality, no human brain performs very well when multi-tasking - we end up doing each task less well than we would if we tackled it individually.”  Multi-tasking is a thing that you have to practice with. For most people it doesn’t come naturally, and it makes it hard on them to do more then one thing at once.

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Myth 5: Women are Less Competitive and Therefor Better at Teamwork

     Women do tend to be better at teamwork. Tara Swart said “One of the underlying theories is that women are less competitive due to greater effects of estrogen and oxytocin (the bonding chemical) and less testosterone than the male brain. However, chemicals in the brain vary from individual to individual, as do levels of competitiveness. An experiment carried out by the Stockholm School of Economics, for example, sought to replicate prior claims that men tend to perform better than women in a competitive set-up. The team wanted to examine whether gender differences were “hard-wired” or biased by cultural norms.”

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     There are many different myths about women. The myths are going to continue to grow. Hopefully in a few more years people will realize that women don’t have a low pain tolerance, do not belong in the home, aren’t as emotional as they seem, are great at multi-tasking, and they aren’t less competitive.

Works Cited:

Cane, Signe. “Do Women Really Tolerate Pain Better Than Men?” ScienceAlert, www.sciencealert.com/do-women-tolerate-pain-better-than-men. Accessed 11, Oct. 2017.

Dfava. “The Top 10 Myths About Women.” CARE, 13 Oct. 2014, www.care.org/work/features/10-myths-about-women.

“5 Myths About Women.” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/5-myths-women.

Huhman, Heather R. “3 Myths About Women We Need To Debunk Now.” Inc.com, Inc., www.inc.com/heather-r-huhman/3-myths-about-women-we-need-to-debunk-now.html.

Martin, Gary. “'Women's Place is in the Home' - The Meaning and Origin of this Phrase.” Phrasefinder, www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/womans-place-is-in-the-home.html.

Doraiswamy, P. Murail and Tara Swart “3 Sexist Myths About Men's and Women's Brains Debunked.” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/3-sexist-myths-about-men-s-and-women-s-brains-debunked/.

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Myths About People who Engage in Self-harm

     Most people, when they hear about self-harm, think of people just cutting themselves. It is so much

more than that though. It is any self-injury that is not suicidal, or could be suicidal but ends up failing. It is

a way for some people to let out all the anger they have built up in them. People get hated and made fun of

for self-harm. Little do people know that they cannot really help it. Some people just have so much going

on in their lives that they think there is no other solution, and they probably do not have people to help

them through it like others do.

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Myth 1: It is a girl problem.

     When thinking about self-harm you probably get a picture in your head of a teenage girl. It is not just

girls that self-harm though, guys do it just as much as girls. Girls are just more known to tell people about

them hurting themselves though, as guys are not. Peggy Andover points out that “Rates of NSSI are actually similar between men and women. When we look at samples of people who self-injure, the gender split is usually 50-50. There may be differences in the ways men and women exhibit NSSI, but both genders are equally likely to hurt themselves.” That shows that it is not a “girl problem”. It is a guy’s problem just as well.

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Myth 2: Self-harm is for attention.

     I have heard many people say that other people self-harm themselves for attention. That is not the case. I could never imagine anyone hurting themselves just so people will notice them. They do it because they are broken and angry, and it is a cry for help. Life Signs said “Most people who self-injure suffer from shame and guilt over their actions. Those with the courage to seek help and support may have hidden for months or years before talking to someone they trust, like a friend or professional.” People who self-harm do not want everyone knowing that they are broke. If the person has the nerve to tell you that they self-harm, then they are really just looking for your support.

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Myth 3: Self-harm is a suicidal attempt.

     Most people that self-harm are not wanting to kill themselves, they are just wanting to relieve some pain that they are having. The Pieta House said that “Self-harm is a way to express unbearable emotional pain and overwhelming pent-up feelings. It can actually be a survival mechanism that allows someone to cope with difficult feelings they would not express otherwise. It doesn’t mean the person wants to die.” Someone cutting does not mean that they are wanting to kill their self. It is just some people’s way of relieving stress and they think that the only solution is to hurt their self. Not everyone that self-harms want to commit suicide.

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Myth 4: The wound is not that bad, so the problem cannot be that bad.

     It really does not matter how bad the wound is. They could be in just as much pain as someone who hurt their self more. People take their problems out in many ways. Some are worse then others. The wound has nothing to do with how bad the problem is. The Mix Team said “If somebody has the courage to tell you that they self-harm it’s incredibly important to them that you take them seriously, regardless of how severe (or not) the injury is. Your reaction may have a tremendous impact on them, so tread carefully.” You definitely should not judge someone on how bad they hurt their self. Telling someone that they are fine and that their problem is not that bad may just make everything worse. If someone trusts you enough to tell you that they self-harm, they probably expect you to be supportive and to help them through it.  

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Myth 5: People who self-harm are crazy and should be locked up.

     There is nothing “crazy” about people who self-harm. They are people, just as you and I. They just have a life that is a little harder then ours. Some people do not understand what It is like to be in their shoes. These people are not crazy, they are broken. No one deserves to be locked up for being broke. Recovery Newsdesk said “It is true that many people who self-harm suffer from anxiety, depression, or a previous trauma—just like millions of others in the general population, but that doesn’t make them crazy or dangerous. Self-injury is how they cope. Sticking a label like “crazy” or “dangerous” on a person isn’t accurate or helpful.” There are many ways to let out all your pain and anger. People that drink all of their problems away are no different than someone that self-harms. Everyone copes in different ways.

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     Self-harm is a very serious matter. People all over the world are doing it, more and more every day. They need help and need people to reach out to them. Self-harm is not a girl problem, for attention, a suicidal attempt, and It does not make people crazy. These myths need to be busted and people need to come to a conclusion that those are not true.

Works Cited:

Andover, Ph.D. Peggy. “The Truth About Non-Suicidal Self-Injury: 5 Myths and Facts.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 June 2012, www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-andover-phd/self-harm_b_1613574.html. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017.

“Pieta House.” Suicide and Self Harm Crisis Centre - Pieta House, www.pieta.ie/?%2Fhelp-someone-whos-self-harming%2Fmyths-about-self-harm%2F. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017

“Self-Injury myths.” LifeSIGNS, www.lifesigns.org.uk/self-injury-myths/. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017

“Self-Harm myths.” The Mix, 7 Oct. 2016, www.themix.org.uk/mental-health/self-harm/self-harm-myths-5695.html. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017

Newsdesk, ByRecovery. “The Facts And Myths About Cutting And Self Harm.” Reach Out Recovery, 18 Oct. 2017, reachoutrecovery.com/the-recovery-daily/trending-now/the-facts-and-myths-about-cutting-and-self-harm. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017