Waves Of Feminism And Theory Sociology Essay

Waves Of Feminism And Theory Sociology Essay Belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes, the movement organized around this belief. Feminist theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide. Feminism can be defined as a recognition and critique of male supremacy combined with effort to change it. Simply saying: Feminist fights for the equality of women and argue that women should share equally in societys opportunities and scare resources. First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It focused primarily on gaining the right of womens suffrage. The term, first-wave, was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities. Second Wave Feminism: The second-wave of the Womens Movement began during the early 1960s and lasted throughout the late 1970s. Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on overturning legal (de jure) obstacles to equality (i.e. voting rights, property rights), second-wave feminism addressed a wide range of issues, including unofficial (de facto) inequalities, official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and, perhaps most controversially, reproductive rights. Third Wave Feminism: Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave. and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldua, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other feminists of color, sought to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of race-related subjectivities. Types of Feminism: Liberal Feminism: All people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender. Liberal Feminists focus their efforts on social change through the construction of legislation and regulation of employment practices. Inequality stems from the denial of equal rights. The primary obstacle to equality is sexism. Marxist Feminism: Division of labor is related to gender role expectations. Females give birth. Males left to support family Bourgeoisie=Men Proletariat=Women Radical Feminism: Male power and privilege is the basis of social relations. Sexism is the ultimate tool used by men to keep women oppressed. Women are the first oppressed group. Womens oppression is the most widespread. Womens oppression is the deepest. Socialist Feminism: Views womens oppression as stemming from their work in the family and the economy. Womens inferior position is the result of class-based capitalism. Socialist believes that history can be made in the private sphere (home) not just the public sphere (work). Feminism and the Media: The mass media have played an important role in the dilution of feminist goals and ideals. They often ignore, trivialize, or belittle the principles of feminism. The media employs several techniques or strategies that contribute to the negative representations of women and feminism, which are also damaging to the central goals of feminism. Women are often represented as sexual spectacles, as being on display for men. Patriarchal society dictates that women be constructed as an object for the gaze of the male spectator. Women are positioned as the passive object of the male gaze, rather than the subject in mainstream media and come to internalize this view (Dow, 1999; 1997; Wahers, 1992). Wahers (1992) describes the male gaze as the idea of men determining the specific vantage point of media depictions of women, as occupying a privileged space in the process-of contacting ways of seeing. Ways of seeing remains an important text for feminist cultural theorists who contend that women are forced to identify themselves within in a visual society constructed for male pleasure (Walters, 1999; 1992). Wolf (1992) suggests that womens attempts at achieving equality are negatively affected by images of women portrayed as sex objects. She discusses the concept of the beauty myth, which refers to how womens societal worth is based on physical appearance and youthful beauty. Walters argues that objectification of women is not an added-on attraction, but rather endemic to the very structure of image-making (Walters, 1999, p. 235). This is exemplified in media advertisements where women are frequently represented in what Wahers (1999) terms a fragmented way. Women are often signified by their specific body parts; their lips, legs, hair, eyes, etc., instead of being represented as a serious whole or subject. In advertisements women are urged to think of their bodies as things or parts that need to be molded and shaped into a male conception of female perfection. The fragmentation of the female body into body parts that women should then improve often results in women having self-hating re lationships with their bodies. Media Feminism in Pakistan: Muslim women form a highly diverse and complex group and assumptions about them are often ill-conceived, miss-informed and grossly miss-represented. This is often reflected in images of them, particularly in the West, as oppressed, powerless and victimized. The voices of Muslim women, striving to keep their religious identity in Western contexts, are seriously under-represented within academic research. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in Islamic culture as a fundamentalist and sensationalist phenomenon. Media coverage and Western scholarship often views Muslim women as an oppressed mute victim and asserts or implies that Islam itself oppresses women. Islamic Feminism and Its Role in Cinema is a study derived to counter react the portrayal of Muslim women by the media. Feminists and Muslim women activists have sought to determine the cause of discrimination against women by examining the effects on Muslim women of patriarchy, kinship and norms within Muslim and non-Muslim societies. 6 Overall trends in the published material focus on colonialism, Orientals and the media as the cause of discrimination against the Muslim womans identity. An extensive study of the research literature has failed to identify how Muslim women filmmakers represent Muslim women and whether they support feminist agenda. Critical Analysis: Movie Name: Dragon Seed (1944) Dragon Seed is co-directed by Harold S. Bucquet and Jack Conway. It received two Academy Award Nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Aline MacMahon, and for Best (Black-and-White) Cinematography, Sidney Wagner. The freewheeling plot has a heroic young Chinese feminist woman, Jade (Katharine Hepburn), who goes dressed as a man to lead her fellow peaceful farmer villagers in an uprising against the Japanese invaders. It opens in the spring of 1937 with patriarch Ling Tan (Walter Huston) and his family planting rice in the valley of Ling, China. The farmers are concerned about the recent Japanese invasion of the north, and take out their anger on Wu Lienas an angry student mob insists that he stop selling Japanese merchandise or else. When he refuses their demands, they destroy his store. Soon after the farmers observe Japanese airplanes bombing the nearby city. The pacifist Ling is shocked by the attack, but along with Lao San and eldest son Lao Ta (Robert Bice) decide to remain on their farm despite the anticipated dangers of a Japanese invasion. While Lao Er and Jade join a resistance group of refugees in the hills. Upon their departure the Japanese Army takes over the valley, and Lao Tas wife Orchid is raped and killed by the invading soldiers, who also kill Wu Liens elderly mother. Ling and his wife remain secure as they go into hiding. This cruelty drives the remaining sons of Ling to join the resistance. In the conclusion, Ling must accept that he must destroy his land so that he can sacrifice his present gains to ensure the future of his grandson. When Jade and hubby rejoin the resistance fighters in the hills to ensure a Free China, they leave their son the, seed of the dragon, in the care of his loving grandparents. The story of this movie showed that how the brave women struggles and fight for their country, she appears as a caring mother, a loving and trustworthy wife and a true patriot. The movie shows that how the heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders. This movie truly reflect the feminism theory.

Comparing Femininity in The Woman Warrior and King Lear Essay -- compa

Femininity in The Woman Warrior and King Lear  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   What is femininity? What role should women play in society? These are questions that humanity has faced ever since the first hunter-gatherer tribes developed. Gender roles, at least in the popular imagination, were clear; the men hunted for big game, the women picked nuts and berries. There were clear reasons for this - hunting required the brute muscular strength of the male, while gathering did not. But as humanity invented labor-saving devices, physical strength became less and less important to survival, while "mental strength" - strength of character - played an ever-increasing role. This is a phenomenon that we see played out in Shakespeare's play King Lear and Maxine Hong Kingston's memoir The Woman Warrior.    Any work of literature can be said to make a claim about the nature of femininity; even a work with all male characters would be notable in this respect for the absence of females. But these two works are notable because rather than showing females in their "traditional" passive roles, they are made into active figures. Though the two works are vastly separated in space and time, they both make the same essential claim about the nature of woman. They make the claim that women can, and should, be empowered, and that the idea of the "woman warrior" is not a dream, but a viable reality. In order to show this, the character in each work that best exemplifies this "modern spirit must be considered. In King Lear, this is Cordelia, although the choice is superficially unobvious. In The Woman Warrior, the narrator - Maxine, for the sake of brevity - is the only female character well enough known to the reader for any empowerment to be perceived. In order... ...o begin the essay with the quote below:   The last thing I wanted was infinite security and to be    the place an arrow shoots off from. I wanted change and    excitement and to shoot off in all directions myself, like    the colored arrows from a Fourth of July rocket. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (68)    Works Cited Feldman, Erica. Personal communication. 28 Sept 2000. Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. New York: Vintage International, 1975. O'Brien, Tim. "How To Tell A True War Story." The Things They Carried. New York: Penguin, 1990. 73-91. Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. Rolfe, Alex. "Fa Mu Lan: an autobiography." The Woman Warrior reaction papers. 2000. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. 1608. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press, 1993.      

Heroism and cowardice in the Odyssey Essay

The most respected and venerated social group in Homeric times was that of the heroic warriors and kings. These were the people who lead their armies into battle and won accolades for their valor or courage displayed on the battlefield. The cowardly on the other hand, were subjected to strong prejudice. Their existence was considered a burden on the earth and they were ignored and ridiculed by everyone. This is evident in the Odyssey when Homer describes the incident of Elpenor’s death. â€Å"There was one called Elpenor, the youngest of the party, not much a fighting man and not very clever. This young man had got drunk and gone to sleep on the roof of Circe’s palace. Roused in the morning by the bustle and din of departure, he leapt up suddenly, and forgetting to go down the ladder and take the proper way down, he toppled headlong down the roof. † As is clear from this description, Elpenor’s death was never much of an issue for Odysseus or his crew, who laughed it off and ignorantly left his body unburied in their haste to go to Hades, because stupid and cowardly Elpenor was not worth mourning for. However the unparalleled sorrow expressed at the deaths of Agamemnon and Achilleus was justified because they were great heroes who deserved to be lamented. Elpenor’s body was only buried when he himself reminded Odysseus to bury him lest he (Odysseus) incurred the wrath of the Gods, at leaving a human corpse unburied. The suitors on the other hand were considered fine men in their own right-handsome and brave. It was only their wanton misuse of Odysseus’s property in his absence and their disrespectful attitude towards Penelope that turned many of the Gods against them. The suitor’s willful insolence directed at the property and wife of an absent man was seen as an act of cowardice and thus excited the wrath of the Gods. The suitors in truth were no more than mere cowards as was evident when they tried to make truce with Odysseus in the following lines-â€Å"So spare us, who are your own people. And afterwards we will make amends to you by public levy for all the food and drink that has been consumed in your house. † Thus they truly deserved their end and there were to be no tears shed in their memory because their cowardly acts had subjected them to an ill-fated end. Homer thus defines a hero not only to be handsome and brave but also god fearing, hospitable and one who never takes unfair advantage of others, especially in their absence. This is also evident in the Iliad when Paris’s abduction of Helen in Menelaus’s absence seals both his fate and that of his homeland- Troy. Odysseus is the only character in the Odyssey who thus comes closest to the ideal of the ‘hero’. He is strong, handsome, brave, and also intelligent and witty. In Homer’s world, no hero is complete without being endowed with the gift of intelligence and astuteness. Odysseus displays his acumen on many occasions-the encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops and Circe, just to name a few. Odysseus also seems to be the master of deceit as is evident from the countless tales of trickery he tells people in order to avoid detection. In Homer’s eyes, this treachery on the part of Odysseus is justified as he is only trying to protect his own interests without harming anybody else’s. However despite these heroic qualities, Odysseus fails to live up to the ideal of the true hero. In the final conflict with the suitors, Odysseus thinks nothing of shooting a whole quiver full of arrows at unarmed men but his knees go weak the minute he sees the defenseless acquire some form of defense. This is evident from the following lines: â€Å"when Odysseus saw them putting on armour and brandishing great spears in their hands, his knees quaked and his heart failed him. † Odysseus also disguises himself as a beggar instead of appearing in his original form before the suitors because he is scared of their numbers. But despite his infrequent acts of cowardice the Gods still support him and help him in his endeavor to rid his house of the suitors. This is because the very idea of his returning home after twenty years to restore his house and rescue his wife is very heroic and thus the means by which he achieves this end can be ignored. One cannot also help but think that it is more of the Goddess Athene’s help than Odysseus’s courage and bravado, which ultimately wins the day for him. This is evident from the following lines: â€Å"the six did as he ordered and threw with all their might. But Athene made the whole volley miss. † Athene herself made the suitors’ aims miss, but rather partially helped Odysseus’s lances meet their targets. Hence the impartial help of the Gods was the main reason behind Odysseus’s success. But this supernatural aid can be seen as a reward for past bravery and suffering on the part of Odysseus and as a punishment for cowardly insolence on part of the suitors. Hence the theme of cowardice and bravery plays a big part in the Odyssey. The book does take a certain amount of interest in the fate of the cowardly, but its primary focus rests with the heroic. Even the Gods favor the brave over the cowardly. The Gods take a supreme interest in the death of the heroic be it through noble (e. g. Achilleus fighting on the battle field) or poor means (e. g. Agamemnon killed by his wife and her lover) but as long as the cowardly are given a decent burial, the Gods don’t care about them and their name is never mentioned in their premises. (E. g. Elpenor’s death) People who have behaved in a way not suiting their status are also condemned to a coward’s death (e. g. : the suitors) and the Gods do not lament their end.

The Effects Of Divorce On Children - 2186 Words

The Effects Of Divorce On Children Josie Perez Pima Medical Institute Abstract Divorce is a topic of much debate in the United States. â€Å"Till death do us apart†, is the famous vow that married couples promise one another as a sign of everlasting love. However, over the last few years we have seen an increase in divorce rates. If you look back to a few decades ago, divorce wasn’t as accepted by society. Nevertheless divorce has become more acceptable in today s modern society in recent years. Many can argue that the negative consequences outweigh the benefits of divorce for those involved, especially the children that become victims. Majority can agree that due to the serious matter, divorce should not be taken lightly. Living in the United States allows people the freedom to make choices that are not always accepted well by society in other countries. Divorce can be a long and painful process for everyone involved, that is left with emotional and social consequences that take place throughout adulthood. The Impact of Divorce On Children From the moment children are brought into this world there exists a relationship and a bond that most parents hope is never broken. This is also true for the children, who grow up looking to their mother and father as their role models. Children s lives are influenced greatly by what they see and learn from their parents at home.Show MoreRelatedEffects Of Divorce On Children And Divorce1460 Words   |  6 Pagestoday’s world, most people accept divorce or separation as a way of life. Parents are unaware or do not understand the damage it can have on their children. However, in some instances, it is better to get out of an abusive relationship because that can be as toxic as divorce. On average, 50% of children who are born with married parents, will experience divorce before the age of 18 (Children and Divorce Baucom, 2010-2017). Along with divorce statistics, 40% of children in America are raised withoutRead MoreDivorce Effect On Children : Divorce1825 Words   |  8 Pag esApril, 2016 Divorce Effect on Children Divorce seems to become more and more common nowadays. Divorce can be a simple or complicated process depending if children are involved. This process can have negative and positive effects in a child s life. A divorce is the legal process of a marriage coming apart. A divorce with children involve cost more and takes about eleven months for the marriage to end. The majority of the divorces happening in the United States involve children. Divorce has differentRead MoreThe Effects Of Divorce On Children And Children1255 Words   |  6 Pages The effects of divorce on children Throughout time, people from all over the world have chosen to live together, or â€Å"get married†. Marriage is a beautiful thing, but there are some couples who are unable to maintain their relationship, because they choose divorce as a solution to cope with the problems between husband and wife. Although divorce can be solution to cope with problem between the husband and wife, it still has dangerous effects especially on their children. Children with divorced parentsRead MoreEffect Of Divorce On Children1068 Words   |  5 PagesEffects of Divorce on Children While divorce may reduce strain on a failing marriage, it may cause damaging effects on the children. Often times parents are too concerned on the marriage to notice the effects on children. From the way parents react in front of the children to new marriages all can directly affect the daily lives, and behavior of children. Though, there are ways to mitigate some of the issues that can come with divorce, possibly avoiding some of the effects all together. UnfortunatelyRead MoreDivorce : The Effect On Children1084 Words   |  5 PagesNicole Halterman Professor Tausch CTI 102 D Written Communication 4 October 2014 Divorce: the Effect on Children In today’s society, divorce has become a normal occurrence. Married couples today are getting divorces due to many different reasons; conflicts in the marriage, a loss of romantic feelings, perhaps a spouse is having an affair, or other types of problems. Most divorces have children that are really young and due to their age, they do not have any idea how to deal with this type of situationRead MoreDivorce And Its Effects On Children1296 Words   |  6 Pages50% of all the children born to married parents today, will experience the divorce of their parents’ before they are eighteen years old. Divorce in and of itself doesn’t necessarily harm a child, but the conflict between parents does. A child’s behavior correlates directly with the effects of their parents’ separation. Deep emotional wounds are created before, during, and after divorce and separation. It is rare that you find a child that actually wants their parents to separate, unless the ma rriageRead MoreDivorce And Its Effects On Children1343 Words   |  6 Pagesknow that the divorce rate in the United States hovers around fifty percent, including forty percent under the age of 21. In that fifty percent one of every six adults is likely to go through a divorce twice. 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According to Sirvanli-Ozen, recent studies confirm that the impacts of divorce on children are not restricted to the childhood period but are manifest during adolescence and adulthood as well. Many studies on the subject show that children who have experienced parent divorce have a lower degree of psychological accord and lower socioeconomic status in their adulthood (Amato Keith, 1991b; Biblarz Raftrey, 1993; Ross Mirowsky, 1999; Amato, 1996) and have more problemsRead MoreEffect Of Divorce On Children1207 Words   |  5 Pagesmarriages that end in divorce has been steadily increasing. When a marriage ends children are impacted and it’s not only emotional and devastating the couples but this also has a huge effect on the children of all ages involved. Many parents go thro ugh a divorce disaster with little knowledge of the effects that the children may go through. Some of the most common impacts that divorce has on children include the fact that children tend to start to blame themselves for the divorce, adjusting in areas