Abstract This paper shows how media images affect women and influences them to play a part in the Barbie Doll image. It analyzes the different effects caused by those media images and the writer concludes that until the media stops sending these messages women will continue to be affected.
From the Paper "With the new obsessions of weight loss, plastic surgery, and Hollywood stars, women believe they are not normal unless they fit into the so-called "Barbie Doll" image. Young girls are feed body images when they pick up their first Barbie-doll. Yet, research as found that the Barbie-doll would not be able to live if she was human. Her body would be too tapered to hold less than a half of a liver and her back would be too weak to support weight the her upper body (Gerber, 2). No longer do some women base their self-worth on personality, morals, or values but having an unblemished body with designer clothing that are wore by celebrities. Women are reading magazines and watching television, which project the image of rock-hard abs, long skinny legs, and huge breast. The media influences these unattainable images for women through model ads, television commercials, and by boosting Hollywood stars as examples of how women should look. The media influences the way women consume products from the market and her mental well being also."
Abstract This paper discusses the glass ceiling, a term referring to the barriers that seem to invisibly preclude women from advancing to the most senior level positions within business, law, academia and other fields. The paper presents a number of reasons that women face impediments to career advancement, supporting each with citations from experts and statistical data. The paper concludes with a review of an ethnographic study conducted at a hospital, consisting of four women in executive positions. The paper presents the study's findings and extrapolates from them general insights about the glass ceiling.
From the Paper "Despite female managers' high ratings in the study, relatively few have achieved a senior level in their companies (Patterson, 2005). Among Fortune 1000 companies, only seven have female CEOs, according to a recent article in Barron's magazine. According to Catalyst, a research firm, women hold 10.6% of board seats at the nation's 500 largest companies, a small increase from the 8.3% they held in 1993. Also, women who hold director-level positions say they lack the influence their male counterparts have on such critical issues as management succession and executive compensation."
Abstract This paper reviews and critiques the book "The Second Shift" by Arlie Russell Hochschild, which addresses issues related to work-life/home-life balance. The paper discusses the book's focus on the division of labor within the home when both partners work outside of the home, including the resulting gender inequality.
Abstract This paper explains that, in the Middle East, there is a societal belief in the superiority of men. The author explores the ways in which laws and customs based on religious beliefs and social and governmental policies violate women's human rights in Middle Eastern countries. The paper outlines the steps women have taken to attempt to protect these rights.
From the Paper "On December ..., the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration sets forth thirty Articles that listed certain inalienable rights of all human beings."
Abstract This paper presents a discussion of postpartum depression (PPD), the syndrome that some mothers experience after giving birth. The paper discusses detection of PPD, the barriers to detection of PPD and the value of early detection and risk intervention.
From the Paper "Postpartum depression (PPD) is a syndrome that includes multiple physical and emotional changes that a mother experiences after having a baby. This type of major depression affects around one in ten new mothers within the first year following childbirth and..."
Abstract This paper considers Bram Stoker's "Dracula" from a feminist perspective. The paper analyzes the novel's depiction of female sexuality and male dominance and incorporates Victorian ideals of womanhood.
From the Paper "While Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is often considered simply a thrilling Gothic tale of vampires and the eternal struggle between good and evil, there is much sub text underlying the novel that speaks to the social conventions of the period in which Stoker wrote the text. Indeed much can be gleaned about Victorian society from the narrative in "Dracula" as Stoker's characters all serve to embody various societal ideals or concerns."
An analysis of Voltaire's satirical critique of Europe as presented in the story of "Candide." This paper explores the exploitation of women through feminist criticism.
Abstract In Voltaire's "Candide", the accounts of three women serve to exemplify the questions of gender status in Voltaire's Europe. The stories of Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman are discussed to highlight the suffering of women during this time period. Collectively, the three women and their tales are used to demonstrate that regardless of financial status, political roots, or physical appearance, women are destined to encounter hardships. A variety of contemporary examples are provided to loosely draw a connection between Voltaire's Europe and the state of affairs in our current society.
From the Paper "In Voltaire's "Candide", women are used to accentuate the exploitation of the female race in Voltaire's Europe. In the course of the story, we meet several different women, each of whom provides an account of intense suffering and hardship. Cunegonde, for example, was the daughter of a German baron. At the outset, she is described as a beautiful young woman. However, by the end of the story, her physical beauty has diminished as a result of the persecution and abuse she suffered. The old woman, as we know her, was the daughter of a Pope. She provides perhaps the most disturbing story, which includes the death of her spouse, rape, and cannibalism. Again, Voltaire's satire is evident as he demonstrates that not even strong political affiliation could save her from suffering. The third character, Paquette, was originally a chambermaid for Cunegonde's mother. Her story is filled with tales of forlorn prostitution and affliction. Each of these women highlights the oppression and sexual abuse endured by females in Voltaire's satiric critique of Europe. In essence, they act as submissive recipients of action who possess very little complexity or importance."
Abstract Using symbolic theory and identity theory, this paper describes the internalization of symbols portrayed in the sexual consumerist culture and looks how these unattainable standards make self-verification near impossible. Self-verification--a matching of self perception and perceived identity standards--is a crucial part of one's self-esteem. The inability to feel we've attained the society standards creates a disturbance in our cognition and makes us feel incompetent and unworthy. This paper looks behind the production of fashion magazines and what implications these consumerism-driven values have on today's young women's self-esteem.
Outline:
Sexuality & Consumerism
Symbolic Interaction with Identity
Behind the Production of Fashion Magazines
Internalization of Identity Standards in Magazines
Implications of Low Self-Esteem
Conclusion
From the Paper "Self-esteem plays an important role in both our cognition and behavior. As Cast & Burke (2002) suggest that self-esteem serves as a self-motive directing our behavior; to an extent where we could be creating opportunity structures or social contexts that allow self-verification. Young women are at their transition phase in entering womanhood. They are unattached to major life demands, still exploring in the field of romance and sex, finding their identity. This explorative stage leaves their self-esteem and identity particularly vulnerable especially when they are the targets of the consumerist market. Sexual consumerism projects certain values that symbolically interact with young women's identity; and in turn has an effect on their self esteem. There are two main values in the contemporary brand of "femininity": being sexually seductive and attainment of physical beauty."
From the Paper "The most essential element of a cautionary tale is self-recognition; we are only warned of what current trends may bring if we see a view of ourselves, though distorted, in the tale. The effect of self-recognition is absent from The Handmaid's Tale; Atwood does not credibly link current trends in the United States to a sequence of events which would lead to the establishment of theocracy. Intended as a "forecast" of events in the immediate future of the United States, The Handmaid's Tale fails to demonstrate how the dystopic future of Gilead is reached. Therefore, the reader does not precisely know about what to be concerned in contemporary America that might lead to an authoritarian theocracy. Even when the religious right is seriously considered, no recognition occurs because one can not logically see the intolerance of the religious right lead to a biblical Puritanism embodied in an all-powerful government that bans reading and mandates procreation. Similarly, American "excesses" of tolerance do not lead to authoritarian puritanical government. Although liberality toward pornography may make some anxious, such liberality would not lead to the installation of a Biblicist government; there are no signs of rejection of liberalism leading to authoritarianism. In any case, fear of a backlash should not deter one from seeking principle, for that would be a form of cowardice. The old, hard line feminism, as embodied in the narrator's mother is similarly unlikely to result in a dangerous backlash of Gilead proportions."
Tags: atwood, canada, feminism, fundamentalism, gilead, margaret
From the Paper "In American colonial society, women were generally considered as inferior to men. Not until the Jacksonian era did women begin to openly challenge in any consequential way their seemingly inferior position in society, and even then reform was slow to begin, as male stereotypes were virtually innate. The Jacksonian age saw the commencement of a significant rise in the status of women as activists continued to press for equality and reform movements pressed on, though the actual results of this reform were not seen until well after the Jacksonian era. "
From the Paper "In Sylvia Plath's autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, the main character's mother plays a controversial role in the story. When Esther Greenwood falls into a life-threatening depression, her mother is not the usual, supportive parent - causing the reader to wonder why the mother acts the way she does. But analyzing the justifications for Mrs. Greenwood's behavior is complex. The reader is torn between blunt criticism and subtle understanding of the mother's role. While on one hand it seems inappropriate that Mrs. Greenwood is so cold, it is also apparent there are some noteworthy explanations for her behavior. Realizing Mrs. Greenwood may be downplaying her daughter's illness in a desperate attempt to maintain a happy front is an integral part to analyzing the mother's role. Another valid justification for Mrs. Greenwood's curious attitude is simple ignorance. Given the time period The Bell Jar was written in, depression was not widely known as the serious and blameless disease we now know it as. Hence, Mrs. Greenwood plays a complex, controversial role; the reader easily realizes Esther's mother is cruelly withdrawn from her daughter, while at the same recognizing there are some factors to consider when analyzing the mother's role."
Abstract This paper addresses the politics of sexuality and gender in three specific works from ancient Greece. These works are dramas, and are the "Iliad", "Antigone", and "Lysistrata".
From the Paper "The roles of men and women in Greek society are of particular interest, and demonstrate that a type of "fued" seemed to exist between the genders in ancient Greece. "
Abstract This essay on "The Wide Sargasso Sea", (a prequel) to Bronte's Jane Eyre, explores the inter-dependence of madness and sexuality. The importance of the place of the "woman" as prone to madness and how feminism affects our interpretations of an individuals actions and desires is also explored.
Abstract This paper is about Emma Goldman and her various theories, political, societal and moral. It focuses on her forty years spent as an American, especially the years when she was an active member of the anarchist party. It details her involvement in the assassination of Henry Frick, and her accusal in the assassination of President McKinley. It also discusses how her divergent views involving feminism without suffrage, created isolation among politics that she lived with her entire life. Her involvement in the burgeoning sexual revolution and her persona as a figurehead of the atheists and a violent inciter is also expanded upon.
From the Paper "Emma Goldman put very little worth upon the idea of government as a protector of the greater society. Emma Goldman rejected the idea that philosophy could ever be political and she spent her time and energy trying to defeat all types of organized government that she so detested. Her radical and uncompromising views on the nature of government left her without a political forum to embrace, and shaped her reaction to and participation in American anarchism? "
A look at the book as a triumph of the human spirit, as well as a personal narration that offers an insider's view of the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural life of an entire group of people.
1,910 words (approx. 7.6 pages), 5 sources, 1999, $ 60.95
From the Paper ?I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala" is a human story. In 1982, when this story was recorded, Rigoberta was only twentythree years old and had already witnessed and experienced a lifetime of unbelievable physical, psychological, and spiritual persecution. Her story is a testament to the strength and endurance of the human spirit under the most de-humanizing conditions imaginable. At the same time, this personal narration offers an insiders view of the social, political, economic, religious, and cultural life of an entire group of people. Through Rigoberta, a contemporary Maya community comes alive bringing with it the struggles that began with the Spanish Conquest and continue in the Guatemala of the twentieth century. "
