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Society has a way of making people think everyone should look a certain way but that's not true! Lucille Clifton, an inspiring poet, made sure of this throughout her poems ("Lucille Clifton") Enduring a lot of things in life as a child and adult Clifton still came out to be a strong woman. Lucille Clifton, author of "homage to my hips" grew up with an abusive father which contributes to her poem theme accepting one's body for what it is no matter what society says. Clifton's past, enduring sexual abuse seems to play an important role in her poetry. During her childhood she would watch her father be malicious to her mother (homage to my hips 2). As a adolescent child, Clifton was sexually mistreated which she seems to speak about in her poetry
Jennie Wade was the only civilian to die in the battle of Gettysburg. Jennie Wade was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and died there just twenty short years later. The battle of Gettysburg was then known as one of the bloodiest battles in the American civil war. This caused a single civilian to lose their life, Jennie Wade was that person to die at Gettysburg. Many other civilians died in the war itself, but only she died at Gettysburg.
One famous quote from Barbara Jordan is “If you’re going to play a game properly, you’d better know every rule .” Barbara Jordan was an amazing woman. She was the first African American Texas state senator. Jordan was also a debater, a public speaker, a lawyer, and a politician. Barbara Jordan was a woman who always wanted things to be better for African Americans and for all United States citizens. “When Barbara Jordan speaks,” said Congressman William L.Clay, “people hear a voice so powerful so, awesome...that it cannot be ignored and will not be silenced.”
“I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned.” (www.doonething.org). Lucy Stone was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts on August 13, 1818. Her parents, Francis Stone and Hannah Matthews, were abolitionists and Congregationalists. Stone retained their anti-slavery opinions but rejected the Congregationalist Church after it criticized abolitionists. Along with her anti-slavery attitude, Lucy Stone also pursued a higher education. She completed local schools at the age of sixteen and saved money until she could attend a term at Mount Holyoke Seminary five years later. In 1843, Stone enrolled at the Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College). With her graduation in 1847, she became the first Massachusetts woman to earn a bachelor’s degree. However, Lucy Stone was not done expressing her abolitionist and feminist beliefs to the public (anb.org).
...of Clifton’s signature poetic traits requires the solitary application of lowercase letters, which shows in her three poems “Good Times,” “My Mama Moved Among the Days,” and “Climbing.”
Sometimes knowledge of someone’s life can be taught by stanzas. It is not always simple being honest and open to discuss past troubles, but it is important that those negative thoughts do not stay bottled inside you. Expressing these feelings can help aid in recovering. Lucille Clifton uses poetry as her therapy to bring out all the shadows in her life. From the beginning of her career with the publishing of Good News About the Earth in 1972 to the most recent addition, Mercy in 2004, we see how Clifton relies on her writing to capture her past. Lucille Clifton’s poetry traces the life of a strong woman imprisoned by loss and disease, but eventually frees herself by living each moment as if it were her last.
While I was reading Homage to My Hips written by Lucille Clifton and Story of My Body written by Judith Ortiz Cofer I came up with many of the same themes and ideas that these stories had in common with each other. One broad idea that I found in both poems was that both of the authors, who are women, wrote about their physical appearance. This could tie into a sexual orientation idea. These poems both describe how the authors think of themselves positively and negatively in a physical way.
It seems if a woman does not follow what the television or magazines do, they will be considered a ‘disgrace’ to society. “By the 1930’s, mass advertisements on radio and in magazines persuaded women to purchase cosmetic products by appealing to her fear of growing old or being rejected by social acquaintances,” (Gourley 56). The beauty industry specifically targeted women, using the ideas of an often highly feminine related idea of vanity. This also talked about women’s apparel in clothing and how they weren’t able to dress casually since they would be titled, slob. As looks represent a lot in a woman, the body type of a woman has always struggled with maintaining since the ‘perfect’ body types are not what everyone has. “In the 1890’s women had full bosoms, round hips. In actual measurements they were probably no rounder than Miss Cox but they seemed so because they were shorter, tightened their waists into an hour-glass effect … Now, though, the ideal figure must have a round, high bosom, a slim but not wasp-like waist, and gently rounded hips” (“This is What…”). Ideals women that society has pushed onto women to be for them to have any chance in romance. Though many women can drift away from this the women, though they won’t admit to it, had struggled to meet the ‘set standard’ for women. This shows how after women have gained the rights of voting, gender roles
Since 1914, Canadian Human Rights laws have had a positive impact on helping to shape Canadian identity as one that is welcoming to various minority groups. Being a Canadian citizen provides you with the freedoms to travel, and settle in Canada at your own will and desire. Also, the freedom to express your sexual orientation is welcomed and well supported in many communities. Modern discrimination against categorizing human beings is very slim and everyone of all ethnic or cultural backgrounds are welcome with respect and good intentions. Canada is an extremely welcoming and protective place, in which nearly everything is done to promote equality, and a safe country.
What is it like to live a life with Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD)? Narcissism is a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy. People with this disorder can be vindictive, selfish, cunning person. They do not care who is harmed or hurt. Abigail was the leader of all of the girls that were seen dancing and calling on evil spirits. Abigail would threaten the girls by saying if they said anything, she would kill or harm them severely. She wanted what she couldn’t have, so that made her psychologically unstable. Abigail William’s would be convicted in today’s court because she gave many threats to kill the girls who were with her the night they were dancing if they spoke up in court, her behavior caused harm to many even though she may not have physically done damage herself and due to previous court cases, some people diagnosed with Narcissism were found innocent due to their mental instability but others were guilty because they were mentally unstable. As it is shown, Narcissistic Personality Disorder causes her to be selfish, arrogant, dangerous, and obsess over the man she could not have, because Abigail threatened the girls she was with the night they were dancing, to not confess to anything in court.
How people perceive their body can dramatically affect their self esteem, mental and physical health. During, adolescence, young people become more aware of how they look and can be made to feel inadequate if their appearance is different than their peers or diverges from the shapes toted by the media. A negative body image can cause unhealthy behavior or a poor self-image in teens. Self consciousness could prevent teens who are unhappy with their appearance from from trying new activities, pursuing their goals or wearing and eating what they want. In Real Women Have Curves the film’s protagonist, Ana , is pushed to conform to a thinner, less curvaceous body type by her mother and by the society as a whole, although she professes to have insecurities about her appearance throughout the film Ana is largely able to accept her body. By defying the expectation imposed on her physically Ana is able to choose her own identity and define her inner path. Although women and girl’s body image issues are largely what is focused on in Real Women Have Curves, in reality all genders struggle with self image. Men and boys, for example, are often expected to project a muscled, “masculine” appearance. Being slimmer or having excess weight is often seen as unattractive or
The poems “homage to my hips” and “Fat Girl” resonated with me the most. I connected to these poems more than the others. As a young girl I did not like my body. People would bully me for being a heavier set girl. I did not learn to love my body for the way it was until my sophomore year in high school. Lucille Clifton and Megan Fox poems encourage women to love their bodies but, there are also some differences in them.
Mackler, Carolyn. Body Outlaws: Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and Body Image. Ed. Ophira Edut. Emeryville, CA: Seal, 2004. Print.
We live in a patriarchal society with existing inequalities amongst men and women. There has been improvement, but every day we strive to fight for more equality between the sexes, especially when it comes to voicing opinions. Women are often discouraged from outspoken, based on the old belief that women should be “seen, not heard”. This collection of poetry is dedicated to giving a voice to one of the most silenced demographics in America, black women. All of these poems are written by African American women throughout various stages of their life. Within these poems, the inner thoughts, sentiments, and viewpoints that women have on society will be showcased through their own narrative, similar to an entry in their diary.
As a woman of color who has always been a big girl, I started struggling with my body image when I reached my adolescence years. Growing up, I did not realize that my body was abnormal and unacceptable. I saw myself just like other peers and age group. My experience of body dissatisfaction first started within my own family. I got teased about my size by family members. My parents, especially my mother, reminded me constantly about how obese I was. Reaching a certain age, she started controlling my food intake and she made sure I ate no more than three times a day. With all those disciplinary actions from my mother and the pressure I felt from family, I started noticing of external standards of beauty and body image. In this lens, one can see that body image is influenced by many factors and my mother became a structure that carried out directives. This example demonstrates that feminine body is socially constructed and taught to us. When this ideal body image or feminine body gets inculcated in us at a young age, it becomes internalized discipline that enables one to distinguish herself from other
Maya Angelou was born shortly after the Women’s Rights Movement, and was a social activist as an adult. When Angelou began to write, she chose to write about subjects that had substance and meaning to other people, such as abuse, religion, occupation, racism, sexism, relationships, and other topics. One such poem is “Phenomenal Woman,” a poem on societies standards for what makes a woman physically attractive. At the beginning of her poem, she claims that other women wonder how she attracts men when she isn’t “cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size.” In this statement, Angelou is recognizing that the majority of society believes that it is favorable to be skinny, but she goes on to state that it is “the span of my hips,” “the swing in my waist,” “the grace of my style,” and “the need for my care,” that attracts men to her. In other words, Angelou is claiming that it isn’t her size that attracts men, but her womanliness, her grace, and her kindness. In her poem, Angelou stresses the importance of self-confidence and makes it very clear tha...