An Inside Look at S&M
Roy F. Baumeister explores the taboo lifestyles of sadomasochism. The main theme and purpose of the piece is to find out who are masochists, and what do they put themselves through in the name of pleasure. "Across the country, from sophisticated cities to subdued suburbs, men and women are acting out fantasies of sexual domination and submission." (Psychology Today 47) I believe that Baumeister describes a very accurate portrait of who one specific group of masochists is and what they do for pleasure, however, I feel that he fails to recognize the younger generation of masochists. I also feel that on the issue symbolic of sex change, Baumeister does not elaborate enough.
Baumeister's findings show that the majority of those participating in sadomasochistic behavior come from the upper class. He claims they come from high-powered jobs. They are people who make decisions everyday that effect the lives of many of their workers.
Baumeister believes that the characters' occupations are the reasons for their submissive behavior. He says, "Masochists seem to be drawn largely from the privileged classes; They are above average in education and income; Society's real victims do not seek out masochistic sex. Rather it is often the rich, powerful, and successful, the people with the heaviest burdens of selfhood, who need the escape of masochism." (Psychology Today 47)
What Baumeister means by ".burdens of selfhood." is he believes that "the self" is a very demanding entity. "It requires constant upkeep and maintenance." (Psychology Today 47) It requires that one be in constant control of one's self and surroundings. Those individuals that are so consumed with shouldering all the pressure or being the one that everyone counts on, that they sometimes need an escape. And for many of these people, their escape is masochism. It is a situation that requires their submission; it is a total role reversal. These people need this activity to be reminded that they are just normal humans, it is almost a grounding process for them. The masochist wants to contradict his or her own identity with these fantasies.
There are a wide variety of practices a masochist would enjoy such as loss of control, pain, and humiliation. But whichever activity they are participating in, it will always be consistent with the fact that one person is the dominator a...
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...ychology Today 47) WHY??? Why does he say this and not explain why this happens? I feel that he could have gone much more in depth with this subject. He could have brought up the character of Buffalo Bill, from the Tom Harris novel "Silence of the Lambs." In the book, Bill is a man who dresses up in women's clothing and posses for himself in front of a mirror. Or Baumeister could have showed some statistics on actual sex changes, to show that maybe more men change into women than vice' versa. But, he shows no such support for his claim.
He also claims that women fantasize about being submissive more than men, but men are more likely to act out those fantasies, but he never states why. He could have said that men act out on their urges more than women do because they are the more adventurous of the species, or shown some statistics or examples to better back up his claims.
All in all, I found "An Inside Look at S&M," very informative from a subjective point of view. However, there were those point had Baumeister elaborated on more, the essay would have been much stronger. It did however, stick to its theme of finding out who sadomasochists are and what they do for pleasure.
He would do anything he can to preserve and care for the field. This story is told from the point of view of the nameless main character. Its written in first person, by which the author gives us a deeper look in to the characters thoughts. This gave us an insight on how he succeeded with his dream to bring back...
“The New Jim Crow” is an article by Michelle Alexander, published by the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. Michelle is a professor at the Ohio State Moritz college of criminal law as well as a civil rights advocate. Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law is part of the world’s top education system, is accredited by the American Bar Association, and is a long-time member of the American Law association. The goal of “The New Jim Crow” is to inform the public about the issues of race in our country, especially our legal system. The article is written in plain English, so the common person can fully understand it, but it also remains very professional. Throughout the article, Alexander provides factual information about racial issues in our country. She relates them back to the Jim Crow era and explains how the large social problem affects individual lives of people of color all over the country. By doing this, Alexander appeals to the reader’s ethos, logos, and pathos, forming a persuasive essay that shifts the understanding and opinions of all readers.
Today, more African American adults are under correctional control than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began (Alexander 180). Throughout history, there have been multiple racial caste systems in the United States. In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander defines a “racial caste” as “a racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom” (12). Alexander argues that both Jim Crow and slavery functioned as racial caste systems, and that our current system of mass incarceration functions as a similar caste system, which she labels “The New Jim Crow”. There is now a silent Jim Crow in our nation. Mass incarceration today serves the same function as did slavery before the Civil War and Jim Crow laws after the Civil War - to uphold a racial caste system.
It is not very often, when you read a book that you see hopeful and stirring themes placed against a backdrop of terror and tragedy. The “Grapes of Wrath”, written by John Steinbeck in 1939, is a gritty and realistic picture of life for migrant families in California during the Great Depression in the face of a drought, all struggling to build lives for themselves and maintain their dignity amongst the rampant capitalist self-interest of landowners. “The Grapes of Wrath” is both a novel both a naturalistic epic and a social commentary. Steinbeck tackles major themes such as suffering inflicted from man unto man and the snowballing effects of both selflessness and selfishness, all seen through the eyes of an altruistic, omniscient narrator following the much begotten Joad family on their migrant journey. Through characters such as Tom Joad, a young man struggling to overcome his past and endeavoring to live in the moment who learns to be a leader of all people, and the painful yet dignified character arcs of his entire family and his best friend, Steinbeck shows what he most wants us to take away from this novel, which is the understanding of the transformative power of passion and anger, as well as respect for the holiness of our fellow man.
Racism has jumped to the forefront of conversation politically as well as socially recently. However, many fail to see the full extent of racism and the harmful effects it has had in American history. Post civil war brought a realization to the nation, that although now free, blacks, Indians and mixed descendants or mulatto’s were considered a lower class and Jim Crow Laws help cement them in this class of society. These laws, many referenced post Civil War, have origins dating pre Civil War as well. In 1835, “North Carolina passed a new constitution, which declared that ‘free Negroes, free mulattos, and free persons of mixed blood’ could not vote.” This de facto movement not only affected the lives of African Americans but also immigrants, Catholics, Jews and other groups of people.
Response to intervention (RTI) is an assessment procedure that consists of a multi-step approach to progressively intensive intervention and monitoring within general education for purposes of improving achievement outcomes and accurately recognizing students with learning disabilities. Components of the RTI process include universal screening, multi-tiered levels of support, evidence-based intervention, and using students' responsiveness to evaluate the status of their progress (Jenkins, Schiller, Blackorby, Thayer, & Tilly, 2013). Universal screening measures for students are not likely to result in definite identification for special education. Before students are placed they must be correctly identified with a precise assessment procedure. Many students who are at risk, or struggle academically are assessed with the RTI model to prevent failure and determine eligibility of services. Students, who are identified as at-risk for reading difficulties are provided with additional instructional interventions, also known as tier two intervention, in addition to their regular curriculum instruction. Students with persistently insufficient response to tear two interventions are given more intensive interventions at tier three levels (Denton, Vaughn, Tolar, Fletcher, Barth, & Francis, 2013). These interventions provided are specific to each individual students needs and implemented in accordance to recommendations from their teachers. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reading curriculum focusing especially on tier two and tier three instructional interventions of the RTI model.
Gorman, G. E. (2008). The plague of plagiarism in an online world. Online Information Review, 32(3), 297-301. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14684520810889637
Staats, P.S., Hekmat, H., & Staats, A.W. (2004). The psychological behaviorism theory of pain and the
In Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, she ties the history of the United States with social issues that exist between races in the modern era, including examples of the racial caste system, racial segregation, and white privilege. Although there are many thoughts on how America is a patriotic and free institution, Alexander’s view of the American history shows that white elitists will “rise to the occasion” to retake order and control over those who dare challenge their way of life, ensuring chaos amongst both sides. According to Alexander, the racial caste system in America never ceases but rather adapts. Alexander describes America’s history as a “story of the political and economic underpinnings of the nation’s founding which sheds
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There are two different types of assessments that are used to determine if a child has a learning disability. The first is when there is a severe discrepancy between a student’s IQ and their academic achievement. The second method used is the responsiveness to intervention (RTI). In this method intervention is used...
In chapter 1 of his book, Kimmel discusses how these differences are applied to men and women. We are
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Thurlow, Martha, and James Ysseldyke (2002). Including Students with Disabilities in Assessments. Washington, D.C.: National Educations Association.