...reject his writings arguing that he had pushed the envelope too far. Either way, it is safe to say that his theories still evoke a considerable amount of debate to this day. Out of all of Freud’s theories, however, it can be argued that his views on women and feminine psychology are the most controversial. The debate between Freud and feminists has been well documented through the writings of many authors. The Enigma of Women is one of several books that have been published that analyzes the issues between Freud and feminism. In The Enigma of Women, Sarah Kofman comments on Freud’s prediction that feminists would take to the warpath against his writings on the women arguing that Freud’s theories are “rife” with masculine prejudice (11). Other credible books, such as Samuel Slipp’s The Freudian Mystique raise important questions on Freud’s theories of feminism. Why did Freud make such grossly biased and incorrect statements about women, while in other areas he was a very perceptive and accurate observer? Slipp argues that it was Freud’s genius and his monumental discoveries in other areas of mental functioning that lent credibility to his theories on women (12). Some of the earliest disagreements about Freud’s feminine psychology had been voiced by the German female psychoanalyst Karen Horney. Horney composed a series of essays between 1922 and 1935 arguing against...
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...Vyas Professor Sircar 10/08/2014 Overview of Freudian Theories on Dreams and Sexuality In every intellectual field, there are those few individuals who shed light on new ways of thinking the status quo and ultimately having a profound and influential impact lasting generations independent of whether their work is agreed upon by scholars or simply a popular topic of conversation. Considering psychology and more specifically psychoanalysis, which is concerned with those factors that determine human emotions and behavior that individuals are often unaware of, there is no one more influential than the Austrian neurologist and the founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. In creating psychoanalytic theory, Freud himself developed various therapeutic methods to establish his central thought process. His analysis of dreams, outlined in his famous work, The Interpretation of Dreams, provided a framework that was used for clinical analysis and diagnosis. He redefined sexuality in his work, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, and formulated the concept of the Oedipus complex. Although Freud’s work dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he is still relevant and his theories equivocally influential. In this essay, I will outline Freud’s key ideas with regards to dreams and sexuality as seen in his famous works, The Interpretation of Dreams, and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality as well as provide a critical background on both themes along with a assessment...
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...Arguments in Regards to Traditional Marriage Angela Richardson PHI 103 Informal Logic John Ludes April.27 2015 Arguments in Regards to Traditional Marriage There are a lot of arguments in regards to traditional marriage and allowing same-sex marriage. This essay will review an argument in regards to the stance on not changing traditional marriage and will also provide a counterargument argument on the stance of not changing traditional marriage. This essay will also evaluate and identify the different components of both arguments. There has been a lot of debate in regards to whether traditional marriage should stay in tack or if it should be alltraled. The first argument we will review is against any changes to traditional marriage and that it should remain between a man and a woman. This argument consists of the idea that marriage should stay between a man and a women in order to produces and raise children together and that if marriage is changed it will no longer benefit society as it was originally designed. The argument also states keeping traditional marriage intact does not conflict with everyone’s liberty. One of the biggest premises the argument hold is that “Marriage exists to bring a man and a woman together as husband and wife to be father and mother to any children their union produces” (para. 8). This premise is based on the fact that it requires a man and a woman to produce a child and the belief that every child does better when raised by a mother and father...
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...GAY COUPLES SHOULD BE ALLOWED ALLOWD TO ADOPT CHILDREN INTRODUCTION Many people have different opinions on weather Gay couples should be allowed to adopt children. According to the web site http://www.debate.org/debate/gay-couples-should-be-allowed-to-adopt they define Gay couple and Adoption in the following manner, Gay couple “two people of the same sex (two women, two men) who are recognized as being in same sort of union by the law”, and adoption is defined as “the act of legally Assuming the role of parent for same one who is not one of your biological children”. Furthermore in this essay I will discuss society’s views on whether Gay couples should be allowed to adopt. Nowadays many Gays couples have expressed their desire of becoming a parent, but this had developed many polemic in society as same believe, they should be allowed to adopt while others argued this would be an immoral act towards the society. In 2008 February o1 the web site http://www.writework.com/essay/should-gay-couples-allowed-adopt argued in favor stating that research have been done and “it has been proven that being a parent is not influenced by sexuality, most influential in being a great parent is providing a loving home, it hasn’t been proven that children living with Gay couples have low self-esteem”. Many famous people have also expressed their opinion to the society such as (Romney(R) in his interview on may 12 2010 should gay couples be allowed to adopt) He said that “if two people of...
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...statements are not always so cut and dry. 1) The use of sexuality as a marketing tool has become a commonplace in the world of advertising. In the past few years, however, some companies have used sexually-oriented ads to generate controversy (and therefore sales) by pushing the limits of acceptable taste. Calvin Klein, for instance, recently ran a series of magazine ads featuring a nearly nude Kate Moss in positions that suggest bestiality, masturbation, and violence. If we care at all about the kinds of sexual messages being presented to our children, then ads like this one are simply unacceptable. It is the responsibility of the U.S. government to create a new agency whose role it will be to monitor the use of sexual content in magazine advertisements. 2) Most contemporary literary critics agree that ‘William Shakespeare’ designates an actual person who lived from 1564-1616 in England. Recent evidence, however, suggests that ‘Shakespeare’ was actually a name used by various Renaissance writers who wanted to remain anonymous. If this is the case, then nearly four hundred years of Shakespeare criticism will have to be re-evaluated, if not totally dismissed. The present essay will argue that there are indeed good reasons for believing that ‘William Shakespeare’ never existed, thus requiring a fundamental paradigm shift in our understanding of Shakespeare’s hegemony in Renaissance literature. 3) The familiar debate among philosophers of mind over the identity of brain...
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...Simply because I am Caucasian, I have a lower chance to be accepted to colleges and scholarships. Why you might ask? Because of institutionalized racism and sexism in higher education by means of repugnant race or gender-favoring policies that should be abolished immediately. Present injustices against a large group cannot correct the past injustices of some members of that specific group. It seems that college administrators have forgotten that one should be judged based upon their merit, not their identity. Often times when in conversations about race relations in America, someone will say to me “well you’re white so that’s irrelevant.” How could anyone possibly stoop to a level so low that they believe someone’s race, gender, sexuality, or some other piece of their identity has any bearing whatsoever on the validity of their argument? At least being a member of a single-mother family of three with income well below half of the federal poverty level should be recognized as being underprivileged by the reader of this...
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...Catholicism and Hinduism: Stands on Gender, Sexuality and Violence 1. Introduction This essay aims to compare and contrast specific aspects of Catholicism and Hinduism, more specifically their stands on gender, sexuality and violence. Catholicism and Hinduism are two of the world’s greatest religions; the former originated in the west and spread across the world whereas the latter is followed primarily in the Indian subcontinent and to some extent in the Southeast Asian states. Catholicism and Hinduism are essentially different in their approach towards god and religion; Catholicism believing that there is one deity, and Hinduism on the contrary recognizes the existence of many. Two essential points of Christianity, particularly sin and salvation, aren’t present in Hinduism. The two religions nevertheless have several points of similarity. Hindus worship a number of gods and Catholics worship several saints; both of them make use of the burning of candles and incense before the statues for purposes of worship. Both religions make use of images, icons, music and rituals. Catholics chant prayers, whilst Hindus chant mantras; both of them have tremendously wealthy temples, full of statues and golden artefacts and make use of priesthoods that intermediate between humans and gods. Such similarities and dissimilarities notwithstanding, these two religions have distinct and deeply entrenched religious ethos and epistemologies that govern their practice and the attitudes, approaches...
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...Michael Foucault’s intense and powerful essay, “What is an author?, claims that the author is not a person at all, but a “function” or “figure” which occurred in construction with literature , only after the Renaissance. Since it is a historical construct, Foucault argues, the author can also be deconstructed. His essay calls for putting an end to this figure altogether and for establishing a new and different way of dealing with literary texts. At least some of the shocking questionability of this view is only superficial. Foucault does not argue that one day we discovered that literature is composed by individuals. Rather, he claims that only at a specific time did literary writers come to be treated as authors. The difference is essential. All texts have writers, but only some have authors. To treat writers as authors, therefore, is to take a particular attitude toward their texts: it is to ask of them a certain type of question and to expect a certain type of answer. This attitude, Foucault claims, consists in trying to establish what the author of a text meant by it. We study literary texts in order to determine this constant and philosophical intention and subsequently to recapture the state of mind that led to their production. “Author” is a fairly loose term used to refer to anyone who uses communication. An author could be one person or many people. An author could be someone who uses writing (like in a book), speech (like in a debate), visual elements (like in a TV commercial)...
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...Development can help us to understand a client’s presenting issue?” In this essay I am asked to evaluate one aspect of Freudian theory. I will begin by first describing Freud’s psychosexual theory and demonstrate an understanding of its relationship to adult neurotic behaviour. Having done this I will examine some of the criticisms that have been levelled at Freudian theory in order to evaluate it. In 1905 Freud published ‘Three Essays on the theory of Sexuality and other Works’, one of those essays was titled ‘Infantile Sexuality’. In this essay Freud sets out his theory of psychosexual development. He asserts that there is in all humans an innate drive or instinct for pleasure, a sort of psychic energy, which he calls the libido and this energy needs to be discharged. He then goes on to describe how this drive finds outlet at the earliest stages of life, as babies, toddlers and infants and describes the oral, anal and phallic stages and the psychological effects of fixation at these stages. It is important to note that Freud separated sexual aims and objectives. His work on sexuality and perversions led to the wider theory of sexuality whereby he differentiated the sexual aim (the desire for pleasure) and the object (the person or thing used to fulfil the desire). He asserted that sexuality is more than just genital copulation between adults and this work is the background to his theory on infantile sexuality. He emphasised particular erogenous zones as being of primary importance...
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...What is the Difference Between ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’? To start this essay I will clearly state definitions of ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’ respectively. ‘Sex’ is described as ‘the biological properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles.’(Princeton University – 2010). Whereas gender is listed as ‘the state of being male or female, typically with reference to social or cultural differences rather than biological.’(Michigan University – 2010). In this essay I will explore and investigate both sex and gender, whilst identifying the differences between the two. I will start by elaborating on the given definitions. Sex is defined on the Princeton University website as ‘biological’. This is a word that has recurred in many other definitions that I have researched for the word ‘sex’. This would suggest that sex is able to be categorized in a straight forward manner. However, there are several high profile cases in the media, when the issue of ‘sex’ has come into question. Perhaps most recently is the case of South African athlete, Caster Semanya. Semanya won the 800m race during the African Junior Championship, with the fastest time of the year. This lead to some spectators questioning her sex. When looking at the athlete she has an incredibly muscular and angular frame, and this coupled with her record breaking run made the International Athletic Association ask for a sex test. This case brought the issue of ‘sex’ into much disrepute. Now, we are...
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...Comparing and Contrasting Essentialist Approaches to Social Psychology with Social Constructionist Approaches to Social Psychology. A widely recognised definition of social psychology is “an effort to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (Allport, 1985). However, how to measure this, the research methods to be used and what constitutes useful evidence has caused much debate in the history of social psychology. This essay will compare and contrast the two epistemologies of essentialist and social constructionist approaches to social psychology and the research methods of quantitative and qualitative used in each approach. Essentialists’ view of the world is that the properties possessed by a group are universal in that group and do not depend on context. However, a member of a group may possess other characteristics that are not required to include it as a group member but, it must not have characteristics that preclude it from being a member of the group (Burr, 1995). For example, essentialists believe that personality consists of a number of traits and personality of an individual is established by the level of each of these traits. Essentialists also believe that these traits remain more or less stable over time and it is our personality that influences behaviour (Maltby, 2010). As essentialists are able to classify groups as such, they use quantitative research...
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...Life Span Perspective Essay Mary "Beth" Walker PSY/375 October 28, 2014 Erica Yahya Life Span Perspective Essay Changes are always occurring in the development of an individual's life, from the day an individual is conceived to the day that the individual passes away. This essay will describe the physical and cognitive changes in the field of psychology that is called "Lifespan Development." This essay will also describe some of the theories involved in the field and how heredity and environment shape an individual. Each and every person goes through several stages, starting with infancy, childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle age, older age and then eventually death. The infancy stage, is the birth to two years old and is crucial stage for the development of relationships with others. The infant is totally dependent on an adult and learns that the world surrounding them is a safe place; this is the stage when bonding occurs. The childhood stage is two through ten years old. There are numerous changes in this stage; the child becomes less dependent on the adults in their life and gains more self-control of their physical and cognitive abilities. From the age of ten to twenty years old the individual is in adolescence, the adolescent is developing their identity and the thought process is more complex and logical. The early adulthood stage is from the age of twenty to forty years of age. In this stage the person is gaining financial independence, working in...
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...the latter cover areas of behavior (such as petty crime) for which “perversion” can be misunderstood for that term. There were many that were considered; dilatory and in psychology literature, the term paraphilia has been used as replacement, though the term is “controversial”. The neutral term paraphilia, derived from Greek roots meaning “alongside of” and “love” is used to describe what used to be called sexual perversions. A paraphilia is a condition in which a person’s sexual arousal and gratification depend on a fantasy theme of an unusual situation or object that that becomes the principal focus of sexual behavior. However we can say that perversion or being a pervert is the root of all human sexuality and its immorality. Many several activities such as oral sex, anal sex, sadism, masochism,...
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...Ashley Clark-Johnson Professor Stansbury English 101 27 May 2015 The Reason Why Same-Sex Marriage Should be Legal Everywhere “The question before us is whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry… The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens. In reaching our conclusion we have given full deference to the arguments made by the commonwealth. But it has failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples” (Baird & Rosenbaum 21). The first request for same-sex marriage was in 2001 in Massachusetts. There was a long 180 day trial regarding the topic. Eventually, the Supreme Court decided to allow same-sex couples to marry, or at least recognize their union. This stirred up a lot of controversy. Many people felt like victims and were disgusted with the final ruling. The people that felt this way did not know how to fathom that this could be happening in the United States and may have even felt ashamed of living in the county. This was the first time that same sex marriage was even brought to court in the United States and many people believed that it never would be. “Mike Huckabee, the erstwhile presidential candidate and former governor of Arkansas who now hawks the Religious...
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...50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies Jane Pilcher & Imelda Whelehan Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies i Recent volumes include: Key Concepts in Social Research Geoff Payne and Judy Payne Key Concepts in Medical Sociology Jonathan Gabe, Mike Bury and Mary Ann Elston Forthcoming titles include: Key Concepts in Leisure Studies David Harris Key Concepts in Critical Social Theory Nick Crossley Key Concepts in Urban Studies Mark Gottdiener The SAGE Key Concepts series provide students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. JANE PILCHER AND IMELDA WHELEHAN Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies SAGE Publications London • Thousand Oaks • New Delhi iii © Jane Pilcher and Imelda Whelehan 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the Publishers. SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP SAGE Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42 Panchsheel Enclave Post Box 4109 New Delhi 100 017 British Library...
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