Pamela Cooper-White, in the second edition of The Cry of Tamar: Violence against Women and the Church’s Response, revisits violence against women in the United States and the increase of strategies implemented to end the physical and sexual abuse of women around the world. In her pursuit of exposing the detestation, prejudice and violence women encounter on a daily basis, Cooper-White first confronts the depiction of women in society. She proposes six patriarchal myths: (1) woman as nature, (2) woman as eternal mother, (3) woman as crazy, (4) woman as subhuman, (5) woman as bearer of sin, and (6) woman as gateway to death that serve as catalysts to woman abuse and the excuse for man to “control forces that are perceived as mysterious and threatening” to them. I will examine the first three myths concerning stereotypes of women to provide my perspective on or personal experience with each. …show more content…
According to Cooper-White, man’s “obsessive denial of death” comes from the belief that if not subjugated, nature will consume him as a hurricane does its casualties. The rejection of Mother Nature is evident in the natural processes of life and death, as both take place in controlled environments. We can also apply this theory to man’s invention of tampons and sanitary napkins. Proponents of “Free Bleeding” (a trend in which women refuse to wear “protection” during menstruation) believe that man created feminine hygiene products to affirm their status of superiority over their female
Hunnicutt illustrated that the concept of patriarchy is a useful tool in the theory of feminism. She also made use the concept of patriarchy to show how it can be employed to explain violence against women in society. Hunnicutt’s article presents an alternative way to understand violence against women by employing patriarchy as a core theoretical concept. Hunnicutt believed that in the society, women are typically oppressed and men also have been historically dominant over them, and most times it results to violence against these women. Hunnicutt stated that the theories of violence against women mostly focus on male power but via situating that power within a patriarchal order. This article is important to the topic of feminism because for its theoretical background to help ground my
“On average according to [Larimer], women in California pay about $7 per month for 40 years of tampons and sanitary napkins” (Larimer 1). Over the years, paying for these products has added up. Jordan Gass-Poore, author of “Citing Gender Bias, State Lawmakers Move to Eliminate ‘Tampon Tax,” argues that the tampon tax exists because of gender bias. One of the reasons why these products are taxed is because they aren’t intended to be used internally or externally, or for diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or to prevent illness or disease (Gass-Poore 1). This tax is making periods sound like an illness that all women have instead of a natural cycle that happens to most women.
It continues to exist because social production passes these associations with gender through generations. In addition, the division of labor in our society associates genders with different jobs. Through the social construction of gender, we learn how to present ourselves as a “male” or “female” through “our choice of behaviors, clothing, hairstyle, stance, body language, and even tone of voice” (Giddens 262). Men are expected to comply with “hegemonic masculinity” in which they are “strong, self-reliant, and unemotional” (Gideens 261). On the other hand, women are expected to be more emotional and open with their peers. These deodorants portray how even with heath items, there is a way in which we must present ourselves to be associated with a certain
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: William Morrow, 1991.
In the literature The Cry of Tamar the author Pamela Cooper-White provided an in-depth insight on how the act of violence has received increase attention over time throughout all over the world. I found it really interesting how the different violent acts that have been directed towards women, can all be directed toward really anyone not just women. This text helps the reader understand the acts of violence that are being used against people, and how the church should respond to assist the victims in coping and moving forward to get past these vicious acts. Pamela uses the story of Tamar the daughter of the king of David to help us get a grasp for the type of violence that can take place, shockingly even within a family. I found several parts
"Taboos and Social Stigma - Rituals, Body, Life, History, Time, Person, Human, Traditional Views of Death Give Way to New Perceptions." Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. .
In the past century, America has made great leaps in terms of equality. With the efforts made by the civil rights and suffrage movements, all people gained the right to vote. We are even moving forward with marriage equality, and currently fifteen states recognize same-sex marriage. But regardless of all of our progressive institutional movements forward, we continue to socially oppress women. Men’s violence against women has grown to be an internationally recognized epidemic, and will continue to grow unless measures be made to stop it. Domestic violence continues to be prevalent in the lives of many families, and is the primary cause of homelessness in half of cases for women in children. Many women have been forced to alter their behaviors out of fear of being sexually or physically assaulted. One out of every three women is sexually or physically abused in their lifetimes. The first thing that comes to mind is, there are a lot of people abusing women out there. Many people with opposing ideas may claim that men can be victims of violence perpetrated by women, but in instances not used for self-defense, it is rarely part of a systematic pattern of power and control through force or threat of force. In fact, 99% of rape is perpetrated by men, but when confronting men about the issue of violence against women, it is often combated with denial. Jackson Katz writes in his book, The Macho Paradox, “We take comfort in the idea of the aforementioned child-rapist murderer as a horrible aberration. A monster. We’re nothing like him.”(Katz 30). The sad truth is that most women who are raped are raped by men they know, or even men they love. Many men have a hard time believing that saying that most violence is perpetuated by men does not...
Susan Brownmiller’s excerpt Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape written in 1975 explores rape. It argues that from the beginning of time men had an advantage over women because their genitalia can serve as a weapon, which, in turn, generates constant fear. “Rape provides a sufficient threat to keep all women in a constant state of intimidation, forever conscious of the knowledge that the biological tool must be held in awe for it may turn to weapon with sudden swiftness borne of harmful intent”(Brownmiller, 312). Females are subjected to the harsh reality of rape at a young age through fairytales such as Little Red Riding Hood. Stories like these emphasize how weak women are and how heroic, brave and strong men are. Susan Brownmiller believes that the way to destroy the idea that “you can’t thread a moving needle,” and “no women can be raped against her will” by spreading awareness about rape and how it is a moral wrongdoing and punishable under the
The content of the article revealed products from numerous countries, such as the United States, Germany and from the author Tahlia Pritchard’s home country of Australia. The globalization of gender based consumer products expands to a wide range of industries. The industries providing these constant reminders that men and women are different are primarily the food, health and fitness industries, but also oddly include the home organization and tool industries. I have had exposure to some of these products as a consumer and observer of what gender specific products others seem to buy. Companies making these various products capitalize on consumers who wouldn’t dare to bu...
In the essay “On the Fear of Death” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross focuses on dying and the effects it has on children as well as those who are dying, while in Jessica Mitford’s “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” focuses more on the after fact when the deceased is being prepared of their last appearance. Both authors, point out that the current attitude toward death is to simply cover it up. A successful funeral is when the deceased looks “Lyf Lyk” in Mitford’s Essay, but in Kubler-Ross’ it is dying at a peace with oneself, no IVs attached. Both authors feel that the current views of death is dehumanizing. Mitford points this out with the allusion that the funeral parlors are a theatrical play, while Kubler-Ross comments “I think there are many reasons
Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that human beings have natural tendency for self-preservation if there is threat to one’s well–being (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997). It notes that we are the cultural animals that pose self-awareness on the concept of past and future, as well as the understanding that one day we will die. We concern about our life and death but aware that it is unexpected by everything. The worse matter is that we become aware of our vulnerability and helplessness when facing death-related thoughts and ultimate demise (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1992). The inevitable death awareness or mortality salience provides a ground for experiencing the existential terror, which is the overwhelming concern of people’s mortality and existence. In order to avoid the continued existence of threats, people need faith in a relatively affirmative and plausive cultural worldview and meaning of life (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1995). Cultural worldview is a perceptual construction in the society which explaining the origins of life and the existence of afterlife. We have to invest a set of cultural worldviews by ourselves that are able to provide meaning, stability and order to our lives and to offer the promise of death transcendence (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2004). On the other hand, we hold a belief that one is living up to the standards of value prescribed by that worldview and social norm shared by a group of people. This belief is derived by self-esteem of individual. We maintain the perception and confident that we are fulfilling the cultural prescriptions for value in the society and are thus eligible for some form of personal immortality (Landau & Greenberg, 2006). We Together with the assump...
Pearson, Patricia. When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence. New York: Viking, 1997
The depreciation of women and their overall inferior position in society can be attributed to the androcentric interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, especially the story of Adam and Eve. Throughout history, the story of Adam and Eve has been used by men to point out the inherent evil in women by pinning the eventual expulsion of Adam and Eve from Heaven on the neck of Eve. Eve has long been blamed for the expulsion from Heaven and in effect, women, even up until today, are portrayed as the “gateway to sin.”
When death occurs, the body is prepared for viewing. People of the same gender prepare the body by laying their “hands across the chest, closing the eyelids, anointing the body with oil, and placing flower garlands around it.” (Leming & Dickinson, 2011, pg. 384). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid a
The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual’s beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a begining for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former.