Gloria Steinem Essay Example for Free

Gloria Steinem Essay Gloria Steinem views America as a largely male-dominant culture. In her efforts to speak out and fight against this unbalanced form of society she strongly enforces her views of female anti-submissiveness. Because of the seemingly unfair amount of rights men have deprived American women of, Steinem calls for drastic changes in the way women view themselves and are viewed both in the society and within the home. Steinems biggest problem with our society is the harsh stereotypical views that are laced all throughout the culture. Children are raised with the ideas that men dominate certain areas of life, and women others, and crossing these dividing lines into areas reserved for the other gender is an act seen as both unnatural and taboo. In her essay Life Between the Lines Steinem touches upon the common marital problem of housework. (Steinem, 8) Because of the deeply rooted tradition of females and housework, many women struggle with feelings of helplessness and even embarrassment when trying to get their husbands to help out around the home. In Huston and History, Steinem writes that because of the secondary status women are traditionally seen as having, they are more likely to relate to minorities and those seen as less fortunate. Frederick Douglass recognized this when he stated that the cause of the slave has been peculiarly womens cause. Relating back to the fight to end slavery, which was most enthusiastically fought by the women. The essay Sisterhood presses on this topic as well when it declares that the deep and personal connections among women living under patriarchy often causes them to leap barriers of age, economics, worldly experience, race, [and] culture. (123) Even though society builds many walls between different people, the common goal of subordination remains a very strong uniting factor. Male and female roles in society have always been seen as vastly different. The common childrens poem: What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, And everything nice, Thats what little girls are made of. What are little boys made of? Snips and snails, And puppy dog tails, Thats  what little boys are made of. (internet: http://showcase.netins.net/web/marys/LittleBoys.htm) is a perfect illustration of the generalizations our country has towards the two genders. Steinem suggests in her essay College Reunion that, through education, the boundaries between the two sexes might start to dissolve. Steinem states that Womens colleges have rarely taught us to fight for ourselves, or for other women. (137) Only in teaching women the skills necessary to break down the walls that tradition has built up, and equality and full humanity of women and men is achieved, can true feminism be accomplished. (5) Another major topic illustrated in this book is the authors concern about the sexual relationships between male and female. According the Steinem, our cultures stereotypical views of the sexes often envelopes all aspects of life, bringing male-dominance even into the bedroom. Three essays focusing primarily upon the sexual dominance of men are Erotica vs. Pornography, I was a Playboy Bunny , and If Men Could Menstruate. Erotica vs. Pornography centers on way the American society frequently sees sex. In America, children are raised with images of female sex symbols strewn all across the media which make women vulnerable for the pleasure of men. Steinem attributes the sexual male-supremacy to this trendy media tool. A common quote illustrating this point is sex will sale anything. Because of the steady moral decline in society, sex is also confused with violence and aggression in all forms of popular culture. (239) Pictures of females are seen in every form of media, from the television to the internet to the paper. This imagery drastically influences the way females think of themselves, and are viewed by others. I was a Playboy Bunny speaks of the time in which the author went undercover to become one of the famed Playboy Bunnies. Once within the Playboy realm the glamour and intrigue quickly started to fade. Steinem saw that the bunnies were used in affect as cheap labor to feed the vastly popular Playboy clubs. Working long hours with no or little pay (54), outrageous regulations on hair, heels, clothing, and even the bunny demeanor all added to the unspectacular life of a Bunny. If Men Could Menstruate is a comical look at how the world would be different if it was in fact the male sex who was on a periodic menstrual cycle. Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much, and Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (367) Although the essay is an interesting satire on what could be, no real arguments are held or reinforced. It is in affect an amusing look at how the culture might react if men were given the attributes of the weaker sex. Although many of Steinems arguments are well supported and easily seen as valid, they frequently focus on either to broad, or to narrow a topic. Essays like Men and Women Talking express the communication habits between males and females all over the world, from Europe (193), Australia (194), Japan (203), and the U.S. a very large base from which drawing any solid conclusions becomes drastically more difficult. The other extreme argumental stance occurs in being to narrow. Essays like Ruths Song concentrate on a single instance and circumstance. Because of the narrow focal point it is hard to relate a specific example to a larger, more common instance. In Ruths Song Steinem says that the biggest reason that my mother was cared for but not helped for twenty years was the simplest her functioning was not that necessary to the world. (143) Inferring that because her mother was a female, Steinem suggests that her only role in the economy was to produce and care for her offspring, and that because she no longer could do either one, she was not an important member in society. Although her point may be well made, it relates directly to only those females who have, or are directly effected by a mental breakdown. Because of the illness of one woman, it is hard to conclude that the fate of a single person would be the same for everyone else having a similar fortune. Steinems arguments all have the underlying theme of female limitation in a male-dominant society. To combat this she proposes that women learn to stand up for themselves and take action. Only through active change in every individual, can full and complete equilibrium among the sexes take place.

Should the 22nd Admendment be Repealed Essay -- essays research papers

In the political world today there are so many different opinions about several different topics. The topics that I will address to you will be, should the 22nd Amendment be repealed and also should the foreign born be allowed to run for president. In both topics you may have your pros and cons, but I am strongly against the both of them because I feel that the Constitution should not be taken advantage of. Government should not be allowed to manipulate the Constitution to suit his or her needs. While making adjustments to the Constitution to allow different things to take place for convenience doesn’t leave any form respect of the Constitution. There should be a line drawn to keep this from happening for years to come on these issues and others as well. Some will like for the 22nd amendment to repealed to keep who they like in office, but my feeling towards this is give other the opportunity to make our world a better place. There are more than enough qualified people to mak e a difference for our country no need to stick to one person who eventually will get tired of it anyway. In addition, with the foreign born, this issue came to play all over Schwarzenegger getting backed up by Congress and other governors in California to try to make necessary changes to the Constitution (CNN News, 2004). According to the US Term Limits, the 22nd amendment states, No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of Preside...

EU-Belarus Relations

This paper will utilize 5 articles from around the world on the question of the relations between Belarus and the European Union. The purpose here is to unmask the propaganda, the unsubstantiated rumors and western-sponsored attacks on Belarus and specifically, its president, Alexander Lukashenko, wildly popular in Belarus itself. The Moscow Times (May 4, 2009), speaks of the possibility of Lukashenko boycotting the EU’s summit in Prague that same week. There are two reasons given for this.First, that the visit might â€Å"irritate† some EU members, and secondly, that part of the agenda of the meeting is to promote the â€Å"economic integration† of eastern Europe within a EU run framework. Both of these reasons are telling. First, the economic success of Belarus outside of the system financed by the International Monetary Fund has threatened the European Union and the United States. The endless accusations of vote rigging and oppression are belied by the fact th at Lukashenko is overseeing a huge expansion of the post-Soviet economy of Belarus, and that he holds to a solid popularity rating of 80%, this after over 10 years in office.The Los Angeles Times (September 25, 2005) has said: â€Å"even [Lukashenko’s] fiercest opponents don’t question the accuracy of independent polls that rate him the most popular politician in this country. † Yet, the major papers and agencies here do not make reference to it at all. From the Financial Times (May 2, 2009), the Belarussian foreign Minister, Sergei Martinov, fears that the Prague Summit would have turned into a competition for Belarussian support. In other words, that the EU was using this summit to lure Belarus away from Russia.Martinov said that â€Å"We are not going to make a choice between the EU and Russia. We are not going to develop relations with one at the expense of relations with the other. † It seems that the fears of Lukashenko and his government are justif ied here. The only rational reason why the EU, whose public contempt for Lukashenko is daily made clear, would want Belarus to attend the Prague summit is so that they can take Belarus away from the protection of Russia with the aim of altering her highly successful political system.What other government would tolerate this? It seems more that the EU seeks the cooperation of Belarus, at least partially because Russian oil pipelines and much refining capacity goes straight thought Belarussian territory. While the EU publically condemns Belarus for vague crimes, the Belarussian foreign trading regime has been heaving tilted towards the EU and away from a dependence on Russia. Belarus is skillfully playing both sides, making herself indispensable for both the Russian and the European sphere of influence.The fact is that, vague denunciations aside, Belarus still sports a large trade and budget surplus, high economic growth rates and an unemployment rate of around 1%. These numbers are d ifficult to argue with, and hence, the EU’s approach has now been directed more towards dialogue rather then confrontation. In April 29, 2009, the Euro-Business newspaper from Brussels came out with a scathing article attacking Belarus from a Polish point of view.It relates the president of the European parliament’s condemnation of Belarussian policies while speaking in Poland, and reminds readers that Lukashenko was under a EU imposed travel ban lifted only in October. But what are the facts here. Again, the president of the rather toothless EU parliament attacks Belarus for a lack of democracy. But Belarus has 14 independent and rather large political parties, some pro-Lukashenko, some opposed. Belarus has dozens of privately owned newspapers of diverse backgrounds, including the large anti-government Charter 97 news agency.Apparently, the issue is not over â€Å"democracy† but Belarus’ strong sense of national independence, including in terms of econom ic integration with the EU. Pro-Belarussian professor Matthew Johnson had this to say about the situation in Belarus: In Belarus, a country the size of Kansas, there are about 800 newspapers. Of this, about 600 are privately owned. There are about 450 magazines are various kinds. Of these, about 300 are owned by private investors or entrepreneurs. In television, there are 9 state owned stations, and about 40 stations owned by private investors (Johnson, 2006).On April 30, 2009, the Soros owned Radio Free Liberty newspaper wrote that â€Å"Czech President Vaclav Klaus has said he would neither shake Lukashenko's hand nor invite him to the Prague castle if he comes to the Czech capital. † No reasons for this immature overreaction are given. It does strongly suggest that the EU and the US are putting quite a bit of pressure on European leaders to freeze out the independent Lukashenko. His economic success and thriving democracy are a threat to the west where democracy is synonym ous for â€Å"integration with the west.† Lukashenko’s independent course and economic success far and above either Poland and Czech Republic in terms of incomes and unemployment (cf. World Bank Report, 2009). The Russian News and Information Agency wrote on February 18, 2009, that â€Å"The EU plans to include Belarus in its new program, Eastern Partnership, on the condition that Minsk complies with EU demands on the country's democratization. † In other words, Belarus can be a part of Europe so long as she ceases to be an independent country and permits Brussels to restructure her domestic policy.And would Great Britain like it if Belarus refused to ship any oil to Europe unless she pull out of Northern Ireland? This is about power, and the foreign policy independence of Belarus. Refusing to follow any western line, Belarus has strong economic and military ties with Iran, China and Vietnam, hence standing in the way of western foreign policy. This seems to hav e more to do with the EU’s contempt for Minsk than anything else. But often, the newspapers dealt with here refuse to deal with the major issues.First, none of the above papers ever dealt with the economic success of Belarus, even when such success is seconded by the World Bank statistics themselves. Second, they refuse to deal with Lukashenko’s popularity and, lastly, refuse to deal with the long history of the CIA in attempting to destabilize that country, hence prompting Lukashenko’s paranoia about foreign manipulation. Paul Labarique writes in the Non-Aligned Press Network: The Bush administration’s many attempts to overthrow Alexander Lukashenko and destabilize Belarus to bring it to the North Atlantic orbit (NATO) have failed.Not precisely because the extremely authoritarian president has had the support of Russia, but because it has relied on his voters. Appreciating the country’s good economic performance and the maintenance of their indepe ndence, the Belarusian distrusted an opposition too openly submitted to Washington’s interests (February 18, 2005) While this is a dated reference, it does show that many are suspicious about the so-called anti-Lukashenko opposition and the CIA’s long running interference in Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Georgian and Belarussian elections.But none of this is spoken of in the major media outlets in America or the EU. The more recent articles dealt with in this paper refuse to deal with any of the major issues involved with the west’s irrational attacks on Lukashenko. But what are the newspapers leaving out? Apparently they are under a great amount of stress to paint Lukashenko in the most dire colors possible. But this is a problem: if the major newspapers worldwide are refusing the report the truth, than what does this say?It says that, especially in more obscure parts of the world, CIA involvement can lead to distorted reporting for reasons of â€Å"national se curity. † Or it may be merely that the reporters involved do not want to be thrown out of the country club, or that, even more, the Radio Free Europe report is motivated by the fact that the Soros NGO’s were thrown out of Belarus some years ago as agents of the CIA. Either way, the fact remains that newspaper reporting is highly suspect, and yet, the issues here are tremendous: Russia is a nuclear armed country, and pushing Belarus too hard is, to some extent, pushing Russia.To re-create the Cold War is likely not the best idea in the world, and the fact that Belarus is reaching out to China and Venezuela suggests that an alternative trading and military bloc is being formed. The picture the newspapers paint of Lukashenko is an unrestrained tyrant. Yet that is not backed up by facts in any forum. Hence, in reading papers about the relations between Lukashenko and the EU, one must be wary of the bias of the authors. The issues that the authors are not bringing up either because they are too ignorant of the subtleties, or they are under pressure, are that first, Belarus is an economic and political success.Lukashenko enjoys wide popularity and has controlled the effects of both the breakup of the USSR and the current economic crisis. But Lukashenko’s policies have been driven by state independence and the desire for a multi-polar world. This has led to threats from the west that has led further to the realignment of Belarussian politics towards anti-western centers throughout the world, including the crucial area of nuclear power (Kommersant, 2006). The west’s policies in this respect have been failures.But it is also clear that the media is also a major power behind the attacks on Lukashenko, often without the facts and research necessary to make sense out of the complex political situation of small states in a hostile environment. Obviously the media is misreporting the situation in Belarus. It seems to this writer that the real reas on Belarus is a threat is that they are an economic successful nation outside of the integrative structures of the west and its banks.Luskahenko has refused to permit his country to come under the control of the west, and has pursued a strategy of international equality, seeing all states as equal and as contributing to global justice. As a result he is vilified in the press, as some of the newspaper reports mentioned here show. History is in the making indeed, and it is being made by a handful of reporters and journalists in elite newspapers. References: Barber, Tony. â€Å"Belarus Fears Battle for Regional Influence. † The Financial Times. May 2, 2009. Moscow Times. â€Å"Lukashenko Expected to Skip EU’s Prague Summit.May 4, 2009 EU Business. â€Å"European Parliament Chief Calls for Democracy in Belarus. April 29, 2009. Radio Free Liberty. â€Å"Belarussian President Will not Attend Prague Summit. † April 30, 2009. Labareque, Paul. â€Å"Belarussians Defen d their Interests. † Non Aligned Press Network. February, 15, 2005 Johnson, Matthew Raphael. Belarus: A New Look. The American Journal for Russian and Slavic Studies, 2006. Kommersant. â€Å"Lukashenko Speaks Chinese. † May 24, 2006 World Bank. Belarus. 2009. (Cf www. worldbank. org/by) for all the statistical information on the Belarussian economy.

Religion Induced Fear And Its Effect On The Salem Witch...

Religion induced fear and its effect on the Salem witch trials During the Salem Witch Trials over a six month period over one hundred people were accused of witchcraft and nineteen people were hanged with no hard evidence (Louis-Jacques). Through the witchcraft craze, which lasted hundreds of years, many different methods were employed to prove a witch’s guilt. Salem used a very odd type of evidence, spectral evidence, which required no eyewitnesses and could be easily made up. Contrasted to many witch trials, which had a least some standard of evidence that attempted to prevent an innocent person from being executed. In Puritan Salem religion was important and present in every aspect of their lives, which contributed to the fear that the people felt during the trials. In most witch trials physical evidence was used to prove guilt, however the Salem witch trials used spectral evidence due to increased hysteria in the community. The Salem Witch trials began in January 1692 and lasted for about six months, during that time over one hundred people were imprisoned for being accused of witchcraft (Louis-Jacques). It began when two girls started screaming uncontrollably and having fits; soon a doctor came and diagnosed them with witchcraft (History.com). The family accused an enslaved person named Tituba who was taken to court and then accused other women in the town (History.com). During the trials, denial of witchcraft was seen as a sign of guilt (Louis-Jacques), but confessionShow MoreRelatedWitch Hunt : The Bloody Release Of The Fear2047 Words   |  9 PagesJialin Zhang English A4 Mr. Dennis 5/14/16 Witch-hunt: the Bloody Release of the Fear Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, Christianity, and tea, all those things are closely related to Scotland and England. However, like all the other things in the world, England and Scotland are not perfect nor ideal. They also have their own dark and bloody history, and one of the most important part of that history is the origin of witch-hunt, or in other words, the execution of witches. Witchcraft was treated as the