Where do Babies Come From?
missing works cited
Emily Martin argues that medical and scientific publications naturalize gender roles by presenting “facts” that reflect socially constructed ideas about gender. This misrepresentation is reflected in much of the information intended to educate children about the “facts” of life. Each of the pieces included in our course reader manifest this distortion to some degree. Because individuals begin to formulate ideas about gender at a very early age, such indoctrination is particularly precarious when presented during a child’s formative years. Feminists argue that Santa Claus, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are also dangerous fictionalizations but depictions of stereotypical male/female roles presented to young people as serious, straightforward answers to important questions is far more sinister and the implications more dangerous to a society that values and espouses equality.
Many of the tired old gender clichés are used in all of the books in order to weave together an answer to one of life’s inevitable questions: “Where do babies come from?” In attempting to answer this question, even the most well-intentioned parent is bound to instill false ideas about gender if he or she relies on most of the popular literature that attempts to broach this difficult topic. Females and their roles in the sexual process are almost always represented as passive mothers, caretakers, supporters of males—being acted upon—whereas men are the actors, initiators, adventurers, rescuers--in fact, the only ones really doing anything at all. The father goes on to say that “in bed” (an unnecessary assumption) a “daddy puts his penis inside” the woman’s vagina, “the sperm comes out of the daddy’s penis and goes into the mommy’s vagina, and then the sperm meets the egg and a baby starts” (Brooks). This typical description is repeated in another work with the “man lying so close to the woman that his penis can fit into her vagina” so that “one of his sperms can get to one of her eggs” (Sheffield, 17). In a more euphemistic description a “father bird puts his opening against the mother’s and sperm cells enter her and swim to the egg” and later “a shell forms around the egg” (Zapun). Rather than initiated by the egg, this action is carried out by one of it’s parts or, one could argue, a completely distinct part. Another book, What To Expect When Mommy’s Having A Baby states only that “the daddy puts his sperm inside the mommy,” giving absolutely no clue as to how this is physically accomplished.
Included within the anthology The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction,1[1] are the works of great Irish authors written from around three hundred years ago, until as recently as the last decade. Since one might expect to find in an anthology such as this only expressions and interpretations of Irish or European places, events or peoples, some included material could be quite surprising in its contrasting content. One such inclusion comes from the novel Black Robe,2[2] by Irish-born author Brian Moore. Leaving Ireland as a young man afforded Moore a chance to see a great deal of the world and in reflection afforded him a great diversity of setting and theme in his writings. And while his Black Robe may express little of Ireland itself, it expresses much of Moore in his exploration into evolving concepts of morality, faith, righteousness and the ever-changing human heart.
Martin, Emily. "The Egg and the Sperm." Fields of Reading. 6th ed. Ed. Nancy R. Comley et al. New York: St. Martin's, 2001.
Heaney does not describe his father and grandfather as rough, unclean men that are practicing hard labour. Rather they are described as artists performing a ritual. Heaney's father digs in a "rhythm" (8), which creates a beautiful image of a man that is doing something meaningful for himself. The words "nestled" (10) and "levered firmly" (11) suggest the professionalism of Heaney's father and establishes the idea of him as an artist and not a...
The Trickle-down theory, a well-known theory in fashion industry, has significant meaning in 19th to 20th century Europe. The American economist and sociologist, Veblen, published The theory of the Leisure Class by 1899, in which he discussed the split between the leisure class and the industrial class in the US critically. He concluded that leisure class treats dress as a sign of their status and possessions, furthermore, ‘Dress must not only be conspicuously expensive and inconvenient; it must at the same time be up to date’(Veblen 1994), by saying that, he refers to upper class was tend to create new fashion trend which was the top of the trickle-down theory. In the 20th century, Simmel, the German sociologist and philosopher, developed this theory further from a more sympathetic perspective. He drew much attention to sameness and difference amongst both classes in his book Fashion (Simmel 1973). The upper class gets self-satisfied and the proof of its priority by distinguishing itself from others, and working class follows the fashion trend which led by upper class in order to feel like he or she is ‘belonging to’ higher class. These opinions which were discussed by Veblen and Simmel were coined by a journalist in the mid-20th century, as ‘Trickle- down Theory’. During mid-18th to early 20th century, the trickle-down theory described the process of how fashion flows, and explains that fashion is a cultural and sociological phenomenon which includes the discourse of identity and uniformity, agency and structuralism. This phenomenon was not limited by geography, at the same period, in the other side of the world, similar situation happened in China which is a typical East Asian country....
...oncludes her narrative, “People notice me now, and I let them” (292). This indicates the release of her fear.
Society cements certain roles for children based on gender, and these roles, recognized during infancy with the assistance of consumerism, rarely allow for openness of definition. A study conducted by Witt (1997) observed that parents often expect certain behaviors based on gender as soon as twenty-four hours after the birth of a child. The gender socialization of infants appears most noticeably by the age of eighteen months, when children display sex-stereotyped toy preferences (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brian 1989). This socialization proves extremely influential on later notions and conceptions of gender. Children understand gender in very simple ways, one way being the notion of gender permanence—if one is born a girl or a boy, they will stay that way for life (Kohlberg 1966). “According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable” (Orenstein 2006). The Walt Disney Corporation creates childhood for children worldwide. “Because Disney are such a large media corporation and their products are so ubiquitous and wide spread globally, Disney’s stories, the stories that Disney tell, will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world, all over the world, and that’s an incredible amount of power, enormous amount of power” (Sun). Because of the portrayal of women in Disney films, specifically the Disney Princess films, associations of homemaker, innocence, and dependence are emphasized as feminine qualities for young children. Thus, children begin to consider such qualities normal and proceed to form conceptions of gender identity based off of the movies that portray the very specific and limiting views of women (...
Heaney, Seamus. The Singer’s House. Rpt. in The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch, et al. Vol. 2. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 2,893.
Gender is a popular topic in the world today. It is a subject that is talked about and argued over, yet even with all the discussions being had, there are numerous other matters related to gender that should also be considered and included in the conversation. One of these issues is parenthood. The two articles “The Social Construction of Gender” and “The Joys of Parenthood, Reconsidered” each talk about how their topics are influenced by culture.
Andrews, Elmer. Seamus Heaney A Collection of Critical Essays. St. Martins Press, . . New York. 1992.
Boys are encouraged to be tough, and competition is also supported. While girls who demonstrate competitive or bold personality characteristics are often labeled as “bossy” or “pushy”. Children construct their own gender identity through their family, but also through school interactions and the consumption of media. “An update of the classic Weitzman study found that although the majority of female characters were portrayed as dependent and submissive, male characters were commonly portrayed as being independent and creative” (Eitzen et al. 2012:246). The impact of this gender inequality goes way further than just childhood play. When male and female stereotypes are deep rooted and taught so early, it is easy to see the connection between that type of socialization and the misrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and politics. In “The Egg and the Sperm” Martin argues that even male and female reproductive processes are constructed using gendered stereotypes. The egg is described femininely and seen as passive, and the sperm is portrayed as active, behaving very masculine (Ferber, Holcomb, and Wentling 2013). The use of language perpetuates gendered stereotypes and normalizes the higher status of one gender over the
Women Report Being Harassed on the Street By a Male Stranger." Online Library. N.p., 22 June
The presidency of the United States has never stopped evolving and is more powerful today than the framers of the constitution ever would have imagined. The President of the United States is a crucial pawn in the way our government runs, functions and operates, and is the embodiment of the people and its nation. The president by far has the most influence on the direction our country shifts in, and is an important political figure. When we think of the president, we often think of one person that is in charge of our country, but the presidential role that we have today has grown into a complex and large executive organization (Bardes, B. A., Shelley, M. C., & Schmidt, S. W. 355).
Emily Kane begins her book, The Gender Trap, with a flash back on her attempt at gender-neutral parenting in the midst of “traps” that make this effort frightening: our societal world is arranged to focus on the differences amongst girls and boys, as Kane saw in such ordinary experiences as the narrow selection of “princess” or “cowboy” themes when shopping for children's apparel. Kane also observed some of the everyday consequences of gender-unbiased parenting in, for example, the social rejection her son faced as a result of not having the toys unofficially necessary for playing with the other boys at his preschool. The rest of Emily Kane's book explores this “gender trap”—“a set of expectations and structures that inhibit social change and stall many parents' best intentions for loosening the limits that gender can impose on us”, in a social scientific manner.
Sexual Harassment/Assault is a growing issue in the U.S. In this paper I will highlight the meaning of sexual harassment, some of the signs, behavior theories, and concepts of being sexually harassed. The history of sexual harassment dates back to slave days when it didn’t really have a meaning or name but women activist were protesting against it. I will explore the statistics of sexual harassment and how it occurs more common in women. Also I will connect my personal experiences as a teenager dealing with my sister being sexually harassed at her first job. Research shows that women are more affected by being sexually harassed or abused especially when it happens at their job. They find it more difficult to carry on after they have been harassed and to move on comfortably. This issue usually has a more long term effect on women then it would have on men. Men are usually the ones who initiate any sexual act that’s going to take place. Therefore it’s more common to find that the men are harassing the women not saying it’s never vice versa but women are shown more in my research. My personal experiences aren’t exactly direct but it gave me a firsthand view on how this issue is sometimes hard to recognize but very prominent in society today. Studies show that being sexually harassed can effect and devastate your psychological health, physical well-being and vocational development. Therefore it’s better to be aware of the history, and behavioral concepts of this issue to avoid it from happening to you.
Heaney begins the poem with an image of himself, pen in hand. He hears or is remembering the sound of digging under his window. It is his “father, digging”; however, the reader is told in line 7 that it is an echo from the past. Knowing that, “to ‘look down’ ” can be understood to refer both to the memory of his father’s presence below the window and to looking back through time to it. The image of his father as he “Bends low” can also mean two things: the bending that accompanies digging and the stooping of