Kultur5 - Joe Oliver

The thing that stuck out to me the most was the article about sex shops, weil ich ein Klasse in "Sociology of Sexuality" gehabt hat. We talked about the Safe Sex Shop in Ann Arbor, which ist wie sex shops in Deutschland: open about what they have inside, well lit, clean looking, right next to normal shops. Die Frau who owns the store knew meine Lehrerin. She tries to get rid of the stigma around those types of shops, an encourages people not to be ashamed about that stuff.

The other thing that really stood out to me was the contrast between the sex shop article and the flirting article. Es ist sehr interessant, dass German people aren't phased by sex shops out in the open, aber sie hat viele Angst für flirting. I suppose both the German and American views don't make much sense. Germans are open minded about sex shops but sound almost prudish when it comes to flirting, and Americans are the exact opposite.

I also really enjoyed the extra article about Kneipen und Bars. From the perspective of somebody in a relationship, I like the sound of German Cliques. I would prefer having a Kneipe to go and hang out and have a good time rather than going to an American bar, i.e. "Meat market." However Ich auch denke, dass it is unfair to the couple for a group/clique to expect their friend to always prefer going with them when their boyfriend/girlfriend doesn't want to. I would like to do both, have time with just my friends und just meine Freundin, und some mit beide. It seems that German cliques expect their friends to always hang out with them the same way they criticize American couples for always being together.