Punk for a Month, Connecting with other Stories

In the movie Cars, Lighting McQueen is a famous race car, and lives in a luxurious world. He is a conceited car, and he only worries about himself and winning the Piston cup. after an accident that leads him to an old town, he meets some town cars. He judges them because of their appearance, and tries to escape from them. He thinks that this old cars are all crash, an dare completely weird, but as soon as he gets to know them he realises that those cars are not what he thought. Is very similar to the text "Punk for a month" in the aspect that Julie is judged by her friend by her appearance and not by her feelings, her inner side, which I think is more important. She is considered different (weird) because of her new look, but she is still the same girl she used to be the day before her change. I think this issue is very common in our society, we are used to judge people by their appearance and we let them outside our interest points. 

Punk for a month

1.-What does appearance indicate about a person? in what ways may appearance be misleading? When is appropriate to judge people based on appearance? When is it inappropriate?

 Maybe their social position may be given by their appearance, but it depends on each person. I think that judging because of the appearance being appropriate or not depends on the context. Judging someone that looks mysterious in the middle of the night may be appropiate in terms of your own security, but in other cases is completely inappropriate.

2.- Is Julie fair to her old friends in the change she makes? How might she have handled the change differently so as not to alienate her friends?

I don't think Julie is fair to her friends, because she makes a huge change and didn't gave them the chance to accept her. She should explain them her feelings and the reasons why. Also, she arrived with the intention to have a conflict, instead of talking overtly with her friends.

3.- Julie makes new friends once she changes her appearance. What problems can you predict with these new friends?

 That tis friends will like her because of her outside appearance, ad not by the inner part. Maybe they accept her because she belonged t their group, but they don't know her at all, so probably, when they get to know her, she could be rejected from this group.

4.- Does Julie change internally as a result of changing externally? Can simply dressing differently influence a person's character? Why, or why not?

I think she makes a little change in her inner part, by changing her friends, but she is still the same Julie. A change in the way people dress can make a difference in their character, maybe giving more confidence or security in that individual, because the way you may feel using different clothes can change your life style.

Personal Response

“The Akanksha clinic is at the forefront of India’s booming trade in so-called reproductive tourism — foreigners coming to the country for infertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization. The clinic’s main draw, however, is its success using local women to have foreigners’ babies. Surrogacy costs about $12,000 in India, including all medical expenses and the surrogate’s fee. In the U.S., the same procedure can cost up to $70,000.”

Science has developed considerably in a few years. But this development is facing some ethical issues that can’t be left a side. In this case, the surrogated mother is being a problem. Science has created a way to make unfertile mothers to give birth to their children by a “natural” pregnancy. But this process faces a lot of issues, such as abuse and slavery. The process can be acquired both in the US and in India, but in the last one is importantly cheaper. Why is there such a difference? Is an Indian mother less valuable than a US mother? I don’t think so.

Here we can appreciate abuse in a high level, but Indian mothers don’t feel like that. This is because, with the money they achieve while accepting this job, they can afford higher life expectations. But this is also an abuse, because they are paid less than a fourth than a US mother. Medicine is giving poor mothers the option of selling their body; “rent” their womb to American mothers who can’t achieve a pregnancy.  Because of the desperation of not having enough money, people are able to do anything. Science has opened the opportunity to be used by other people in exchange of money.  But is also an escape way to exploitation, because the amount of money a surrogated mother achieves in one birth is higher to the amount they may receive in another job in India. So it have negative and positive connotations that may affect or benefit mothers around the world.

Womb for rent

1. What does “reproductive tourism” mean? 

 This term applies to people who travel o other countries (India) to "rent" a mother to have  baby.

2. What issues might cause an American woman to seek an Indian surrogate?

An American woman may seach in India because of the lower cost that implies to "rent a womb", in comparison with the US.

3. What risks and benefits exist for the surrogate mothers in India? 

Risks: Maybe, the society wouldn't accept it. Also, it may be risky to mothers to lodge a foreign baby, in term of the biological reaction of the mother's body.

Benefits: The amount of money they afford is higher trhan the amount thei will achieve in their exsaustive job in a long time of hardworking.

4. What risks and benefits exist for the women who hire a surrogate? 

Risks: Maybe, the child could inherit a disease from the surrogated mother. Also, the pregnancy process could not be as safe as the biological mother would want to.

Benefits: Having a Child.

5. Do you agree with the people who believe that the Indian women are being 
exploited? Why or why not? 

I don't see this as explotation, becasue, as Dr. Patel mentions, mothers who "rent" themselves are hardly studied to acknowldge that thei are not being forcded or explode by their husbands or families. So is a completely voluntary option that mothers who wish to give their children a better li8fe can take.