...How Relevant Feminism Actually Is Salah Eddine Youssef Kadadou American University of Sharjah How Relevant Feminism Actually Is When looking at any population, the simplest way to start categorizing organisms of any species is according to sex; male or female. If you disregard the biological and physiological differences, how would you tell them apart? Amongst animals, males and females have different roles. A lioness for example does most of the work while the lion only serves as the protector in case of predators. This difference in roles is seen throughout the animal kingdom with the exception of humans. As humans, we have decided that both men and women should have the same roles in society with regards to everything, or at least this is what feminism preaches, or does it? Feminism is a tricky matter to discuss because if you do not know how this movement started, you would look at modern day feminism and instantly be put off by what you see. Webster defines feminism as: 1.: the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, 2.: organized activity in support of women's rights and interests. The original purpose or goal of feminism was to present women with the same opportunities and rights that men had and as hard as it is to believe, it still is. Therefore, if this is truly still the case, then feminism is still relevant even in modern day societies. On the one hand, feminism is still widely recognized as a movement with true intentions...
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...Kiana Rivera ENG 101/1:00 Shafer FEMINISM IS THE RADICAL NOTION THAT WOMEN ARE PEOPLE Bra-burning and man-hating extremists, feminists are branded as insane, radical women who want to establish a matriarchy. While some feminists are angry and some hate men, not all feminists do. Actually, according to Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner in The F-Word: Feminism in Jeopardy, feminism “simply means the belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” (Feminism, Oppoising Viewpoints, pg 14) We only ever hear of the negative associated with feminism. When anti-feminist people are asked questions, most don’t understand why they believe that feminism is wrong and extreme; they do not understand why it is so vitally important, and why, even in 2013, it is still a relevant issue. Although there's a lot of information about feminism out there, much of it is judgmental, misinformed, or quite simply false. Women should have equal rights as men, and taking a stand to achieve this ideal with feminism is what’s slowly accomplishing this goal. According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, feminism is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities; organized activity in support of women's rights and interests.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, pg 1) In an article by Rachel Fudge, published in 2005 she brings up a very valid point on the issue of feminism and the many years that is has been around: “Despite 150 years of activism in pursuit of women's...
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...Whether or not some stories have meaning is a question that many authors stumbleupon. While many stories tend to have a common purpose or moral, the question of it serving as a useful teaching tool is different for many stories. In “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, the story includes many autobiographical elements, including the narrator’s recollection of being a teenage mother with limited opportunities who is abandoned by the baby’s father. The story explores the effect that the child had on female identity during the Great Depression and World War II. The narrator tries to accept responsibility for her failings as a mother, but she also is very aware of the situation. The story here is relevant to today’s views on female identity and feminism. Tillie Olsen’s story focuses on the mother’s desire to live an acceptable life. The mother works long hours in order to get by, but it affects the relationship with her daughter. At the time, being a single mother that worked was considered a social norm. Olsen's story gives readers a sense of the challenges there are to be a working mother at that time. Even though the mother and daughter relationship in Olsen's story doesn't fit the stereotype, it reveals strong bond between them, one that cannot be broken....
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...Over the past few years the use of technology has increased and led to many consciousness raising uprisings. It is only recently though, that feminism has made its way into the Internet, and made the third wave of feminism felt. As a result, consciousness raising on feminists issues has now become mainstream and has raised many questions on the issue of women’s rights. The concept is not a new one, but it is one that has gained traction through social media, the news, and blogs. In the process, consciousness raising though the Internet has brought many changes to the way protests are organized and the way people share their stories. The Internet has started a revolution for feminists. Feminism and consciousness raising has moved in to the digital...
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...active in China: "One of the most striking manifestations of social change and awakening which has accompanied the Revolution in China has been the emergence of a vigorous and active Woman's Movement." Beginning in the 70s and continuing in the 80s, however, many Chinese feminists began arguing that the Communist government had been "consistently willing to treat women's liberation as something to be achieved later, after class inequalities had been taken care of."[9] Some feminists claim that part of the problem is a tendency on the government's part to interpret "equality" as sameness, and then to treat women according to an unexamined standard of male normalcy.[10] Chapter two: definition, development, and categories of feminism 1. Definition of feminism Throughout history, women have always struggled to obtain equality, respect, and the same rights as men. This has been difficult because of patriarchy, an ideology in which men are superior to women and have the right to control women. This ideology has spread...
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...think society currently is. Theories such as feminism, Marxism, and functionalism are structural and believe society influences the individual. Whilst theories like post modernism and interactionism are non-structural and believe that the individual influences society. There are major changes that have occurred in society recently such as: the growing impact of new technology and the media, and new social and political movements (based on gender, environmental concerns and so on). What is being questioned is the nature, cause and effect of these changes which have different theories for explanation. The first argument is that the changes are so profound they represent a major shift from the modern century of the last two centuries, to a new post modern society. The second argument is that recent changes have been significant but they are still a part of modern society- just an intensification of the existing features of a modern society. The second argument is seemingly more valid, especially in terms of science and trying to prove post modernism. For post modernism argues that nothing can be proved to be true and take on a relativism method also supporting interpretivism. if this is the case the theory itself cannot be proven to be true hence lacking validity and, essentially, proving itself wrong. We cannot possibly live in a world where we don’t know any truths, for this reason it cannot be accepted that we live in a post modern society for there are alternative theories, such...
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...Log My Personal Interest Project topic was chosen with my micro world in mind, due to my interest in art as well as being a Visual Art student. Through studying gender roles during my Visual Art course and exploring social exclusion in Society and Culture, it compelled me to want to learn more about the representation of women within the art world. As a socially aware individual with an interest in art, I felt the need to explore these inequalities to see if they still exist and how this may impact on other young artists. The research methods that I chose were interview, statistical analysis and content analysis, which would provide me qualitative results, as well as quantitative by being able to collect data and statistics. Originally, I planned on conducting a focus group discussion, however as my project progressed, I decided on content analysis as it allowed me to observe a variety of sources and immerse myself in the art world. By choosing an interview I was able to gain insightful knowledge from four females who were either art curators or historians and one male who is an art historian. This gave me qualitative results as I was able to receive in-depth answers from numerous people and allowed and exploration of my cross-cultural by interviewing both genders and gaining their perspectives on this. However, there were some limitations such as by completing my interviews through e-mail, I was not able to ask any follow up questions for answers to be further elaborated...
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...This was attributed to the nature of novel as a young genre that still holds flexible rules of composition, unlike poetry or epic which had “hardened and set by the time [they] became writer[s].” (Room 84) It is not until the 20th century that women were given the freedom to write all sort of books and not only...
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...Assess the view that science has replaced religion as the main ideological influence in society today. Many argue that the radical social changes brought about by industrialisation have led to religion being undermined by scientific rational thought. For instance, many phenomena, such as earthquakes and diseases, are explained in terms of science rather than through religion. On the other hand, religious thoughts are still dominant in some aspects of life- for instance; many still reject the theory of evolution, or see evolution as guided or initiated by some divine force. Whether or not science has replaced religion as the main ideological influence in modern society is a question that requires answering in two elements. Are science and religion ideological? Although there are many who argue that religion is an ideology or contains ideological aspects, whether or not science is remains a controversial subject which requires criticisms of the objectivity. If science is not an ideology then the view given by the essay question is falsified. If both are ideological then we may proceed to assess the whether science has supplanted religion in this sense. The term “ideology” is difficult to define. Roughly, an ideology is a belief system or framework of ideas which present a partial or distorted view of reality. In this assessment, I wish to apply Manheim’s definitions of two types of ideology- an ideology which justifies current social order, and an ideology which presents...
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...SCLY1 (Old Specification) Past Exam Questions Although June 2016 will be a new specification and exam structure much of the material you have learnt in families and households applies to the new exam. Below are examples of questions taken from the old exam papers that you should practice writing plans for as they are still relevant. However there are a few key differences: * The question you will answer will be worth 20 marks not 24 marks. * You will have 30 minutes to write a 20 mark answer. * The essays will consist 4 paragraphs and a conclusion containing new information. How to use this document: * Use the extract from the mark scheme and examiners’ advice to create essay plans of the questions. * You may not have heard of all of the concepts in the mark scheme but there should be at least some that are familiar to you. * The examiner’s advice usually outlines bad, moderate and good answers to the question so pick out the ways in which you can achieve top band and incorporate this into your plan. June 2015 Examine the impact of government policies and laws on family life. [24 marks] From the mark scheme: Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: patriarchy; familism; surveillance; ideological control; gender regimes; marital breakdown; family structure; family diversity; welfare dependency; underclass; reserve army of labour Policies/laws on abortion; divorce; contraception; reproductive technology; marriage; adoption; pensions; benefits; taxes;...
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...today. [33 marks] Feminism is a structural theory that takes a conflict view upon society. They view religion as a socially constructed institution in society that promotes patriarchy and is a tool used by men to oppress women. Feminism point out that religion is founded upon male-values, and use the example of Mary Magdalen’s unknown marriage to Jesus as a key point. However, some may point out that Feminist views on religion are outdated as religion today is less prevalent and no longer holds these patriarchal values as they previously have, and if there are any left, they are quickly disappearing. Firstly, a strength of Feminist views on religion is that they have recognised and criticised the inequality that is prevalent in religious organisations. They point out that women are not allowed access to the upper positions in the religious hierarchy in many of the traditional religions. For example, Orthodox Judaism and Catholicism forbid women to become priests. Karen Armstrong says to this that ‘the exclusion of women from the priesthood as evidence of their marginalisation’. On the other hand, the Church of England allowed for female vicars in 1994, and more recently in 2014/5, allowed for female bishops, with Libby Lane being the first. In addition, on the 12th January 2016, New Jersey Synagogue announced that they had hired the first female Orthodox Rabbi. However, one could point out that although women can today become bishops, they are still restricted from becoming...
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...The Hunger Games: Action-film feminism is catching fire Lisa Schwarzbaum Burning up Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is both strong and vulnerable – a new kind of action heroine who has powered The Hunger Games: Catching fire to a $158m US debut. (Lionsgate) Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is a new type of female action film icon, and moviegoers should be very excited about that, writes Lisa Schwarzbaum. As Catching Fire ignites on movie screens around the world, this is what we know about the 21st Century heroine called Katniss Everdeen: she is strong but also soft. She is brave but she has doubts. She is a phenomenal fictional creation, yet is real enough that moviegoers can draw inspiration from her values, her resourcefulness, and her very human inner conflicts. And she is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who appears not only to be handling her current duties as Hollywood’s finest model of well-adjusted millennial female stardom but doing so with charm. Everdeen and Lawrence: golden girls both. Personified in Lawrence’s lithe movements and cool, focused gaze, Katniss is a brave, resourceful and independent-minded fighter; but she is also a troubled and vulnerably guilt-ridden human being. Nina Jacobson, the producer of the Hunger Games film franchise, puts it this way: “She is a singular heroine in that the burden of survival weighs on her. She has a ton of survivor’s guilt. And she keeps surviving.” Girl on fire It is strange that behaving like a well-adjusted...
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...need them so they can be paid a wage and feed their families. Therefore, even though the Bourgeoisie were exploiting the proletariat and the proletariat could have walked away to stop being exploited, they never walked away as they needed the money. On the other hand, this can be viewed from a different perspective. The reason why these people may have not left their jobs is because they could have been in a state of false consciousness, whereby they were unaware of their exploitation by the bourgeoisie. This helps us to understand society as the Marxism theory provides reasoning on how the bourgeoisie were able to exploit the proletariat, which in turn fuelled capitalism and allowed the ruling elite to maintain their profits. It is also relevant to today’s society, as it helps to explain why many people who are in a hard laboured, low paid job (e.g. Factory workers) do not leave, despite hating their job, and this is because they need the money to survive. On the other hand, the Marxist theory can be seen as not useful in helping us in our understanding of society. Marx said that Capitalism will enter a period of crisis, whereby there are less large...
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...themselves are of no significance to the larger scheme of things, and without each other their presence in the installation would be futile. Although each of the objects is completely different to each other, they amplify and strengthen each other’s presence in the installation. The fact that the earth is slightly deflated compared to the alien would suggest that we as a race of people are draining the earth of its vitality and causing it to lustre to diminish. It seems as if the artist is trying to provoke the viewers into questioning the validity of the objects in the installation as art and it’s also evident that Ricks is basing his pieces on the reactions of the viewers. Ricks’ manages to push the boundaries on what is considered art in a modern society where art is considered to be important based on its retail value. In a gallery where there is a dominance of significant artworks that have tremendous retail value, Ricks’ manages to provide a solid and controversial exhibition for which the general public can determine the validity of these pieces as art in a contemporary...
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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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