1. How, if at all, do Nisa’s experiences, thoughts or comments or ways of living, support or refute Meredith Small’s views of marriage, sex, and/or relationships between the sexes? Nisa’s experiences support Meredith Small’s views of marriage, sex, and the relationship between the sexes to a great extent. Marriage is a human universal in which men and women are paired through a public ceremony to formalize a family unit. The two commit to bear and raise children together, though this does not necessarily guarantee monogamous sex. When a baby is born, he/she is incredibly needy and vulnerable, so high parental investment is necessary. The majority of this responsibility tends to fall on women. The ideal woman is someone who is healthy, …show more content…
She explains how older boys lay down with younger girls and imitate what they 've seen their parents do. Nisa explains how she came to awareness about these things and grew in curiosity. She differentiates between the way girls play when they 're alone and how the dynamic shifts when there are boys. Nisa also talks about the differences between “good” and “bad” play. In our culture, in which there is an emphasis on virginity (though shifting), this kind of behavior might be deemed deviant. !Kung adults, on the other hand, turn a blind eye to these activities, understanding that it is a part of their culture and maturation process. Stripping off the culture, it is clear that children all over the world engage in exploration of their …show more content…
She was able to go back so far in her memory and tell stories from her early childhood. But Nisa did not simply state the facts and events. She was able to retrospectively reflect on those instances and sort through her emotions and understandings. Nisa closes the third chapter by asking, “Was my childhood a happy one?” (92). Answering her own question, she finishes, “By the time I had grown up and was a young girl, I knew that my heart was usually happy. But when I was a small child, I wasn 't aware of enough of things to be able to think about whether I was happy or sad.” (92). Her rhetoric was engaging and provocative, forcing me to ask myself the same question. Ultimately, Nisa’s answer was also
Shostak, when interviewing Nisa, considers that in the beginning of the book, Nisa seems to exaggerate the stories from when she was an infant. Although the stories are exaggerated by Nisa, a lot of women can relate to her life even with the geographic distance between them or if the society is completely different. Women of the same age can relate to Nisa, or if they went through the same situations like her. Certain women, even in America, have gone through a situation where they had to bury their own child or if they have lost a husband.
In Wade F. Horn’s article “Promoting Marriage as a Means of Promoting Fatherhood,” Horn discusses how having a child and being married is better for children because the father is more involved in the child’s life. Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas’s “Unmarried with Children,” on the other hand, takes the reader through Jen’s story about getting pregnant at a young age and deciding not to marry the father of her son. While both sources make appeals to emotion, reason, and character, Edin and Kefalas’s article makes more successful appeals and thus is the stronger argument.
In the graphic novel Fun Home, by Allison Bechdel, sexual self-discovery plays a critical role in the development of the main character, Allison Bechdel herself; furthermore, Bechdel depicts the plethora of factors that are pivotal in the shaping of who she is before, during and after her sexual self-development. Bechdel’s anguish and pain begins with all of her accounts that she encountered at home, with her respective family member – most importantly her father – at school, and the community she grew up within. Bechdel’s arduous process of her queer sexual self-development is throughout the novel as complex as her subjectivity itself. Main points highlight the difficulties behind which are all mostly focused on the dynamics between her and her father. Throughout the novel, she spotlights many accounts where she felt lost and ashamed of her coming out and having the proper courage to express this to her parents. Many events and factors contributed to this development that many seem to fear.
The early, twentieth century was not a positive time for females and marital relationships. As depicted through countless novels, there were two main female roles in society and neither created much opportunity for females. Whether a woman was a humble housewife or a mysterious mistress, there was controversy in every aspect of both roles. These roles also placed females in oppressive relationships that almost always decreased the qualities of honesty and loyalty that are necessary in relationships. From the beginning of the twentieth century all the way up until now, the treatment of females thrust into these roles has caused controversy and problems in countless marriage and all throughout our society.
Where there is a strengthening of the idea of love and companionship (Briggs, 2016b). That marriage should be based on friendship and a more intimate type of love. The capable women who were able to succeed in a “precarious male venture,” (Sleeper-Smith, 2000, p.440) that Sleeper-Smith presents contradicts the ideal women of the 19th century as being nurturing, gentle and in need of protection and support (Briggs, 2016b). Which reinforced the patriarchal model of marriage that native women worked hard to
Love can sometimes be seen as a counterintuitive and unconventional sense of life. The irony in it all is love could either be as warm as the Sunday morning sun or as cold as a New England winter when touched by the heart or the skin. As we grow up, if we believe we are cherished by the most respectful and admirable person, we give up the most vulnerable parts of ourselves: the body. However, throughout modern society, people tend to use sexual intercourse as a form of personal pleasure and gain without the obligations of emotions. Henceforth, stated in Sharon Olds’ “Sex Without Love”, premarital sex may be against God’s intentions to be pure but at the same time people love the priest more the teachings and are willing to go against the Lord
Girl by Jamaica Kincaid demonstrate how a mother cautions her daughter, in becoming a responsible woman in her society. Although the daughter hasn’t gotten into adolescence yet, the mother fears that her daughter’s current behavior, if continued, will tip to a life of promiscuity. The mother believes that a woman’s status or propriety determines the quality of her life in the community. Hence, gender roles, must be carefully guarded to maintain a respectable front. Her advice centers on how to uphold responsibility. The mother cautions her daughter endlessly; emphasising on how much she wants her to realize her role in the society by acting like woman in order to be respected by the community and the world at large. Thus, Jamaica Kincaid’s
Goode (Hale 1995, 342-343) argues that the whole concept of a family is rooted in sexual drives and the imperative of reproduction and in the sociological imperative of creating a social being.
The Bible which is seen as one of the most sacred text to man has contained in it not only the Ten Commandments, but wedding vows. In those vows couples promise to love, cherish, and honor each other until death does them apart. The irony of women accepting these vows in the nineteenth century is that women are viewed as property and often marry to secure a strong economic future for themselves and their family; love is never taken into consideration or questioned when a viable suitor presents himself to a women. Often times these women do not cherish their husband, and in the case of Edna Pontiellier while seeking freedom from inherited societal expectations and patriarchal control; even honor them. Women are expected to be caretakers of the home, which often time is where they remain confined. They are the quintessential mother and wife and are expected not to challenge that which...
There is much debate on what constitutes as a family today. However, Ball (2002) states, “The concept of the traditional family…is not an immutable one. It is a social construct that varies from culture to culture and, over time, the definition changes within a culture” (pp. 68). There is a growing diversity of families today including the commonality of sole-parenting. In order to explore aspects of sole-parenthood objectively, I need to reflect and put aside my personal experience of growing up in sole-parent household. Furthermore, this essay will explore the historical origins, cultural aspects discussing the influences and implications of gender identity, and social structures of sole-parent families, as well as consider the implications in midwifery by applying the sociological imagination. Mills (2000/1959) describes the sociological imagination as “…a quality of mind that seems most dramatically to promise an understanding of the intimate realities of ourselves in connection with larger social realities” (pp.15). In other words, the sociological imagination involves the ability to consider the relationships between personal experiences and those within society as a whole.
The male is supposed to be the main bread winner of the family unit, making money and protecting the woman while she tends to the children and the house. In the modern day this mold has been challenged to a certain extent with more woman moving into careers beyond the home. However, in Freud’s time these set matrimonial roles were still in place, especially the ones limiting women from having any form of sexual relations prior to her wedding. As he puts it, a high value is placed on a women’s “preservation of sexual chastity”. Practices such as ‘slut-shaming’ represent a continuation of this tendency to stigmatize the sexual promiscuity of women. Freud argues that this lack of sexual experience and knowledge of a woman will lead to problems for both parties in a marriage. If a woman is suffering in an unhealthy marriage he posits that a woman will develop mental problems as “nothing protects her virtue so securely as
Marriage was once for the sole purpose of procreation and financially intensives. Living up to the roles that society had placed on married couples, more so women, is no longer the goal in marriage. Being emotional satisfied, having a fulfilled sex life and earning money is more important in marriage (Cherlin, 2013). Couples no longer feel the obligation to put the needs of their partner in front of their own needs. In the 1960’s and later it was the woman’s job to ensure that the house was clean, the children were bathed and dinner was prepared before the husband came home work. However, once more and more women began to enter the workplace and gain more independence, a desire for self-development and shared roles in the household lead way the individualistic marriage that is present in today’s society (Cherlin,
Gayle Rubin’s “Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality” focused on the history of sexuality and sexual persecution. Gayle Rubin recognizes the idea of sex as a natural force that exists prior to social life and which shapes institutions and society. First, Rubin, emphasizes the idea of negative sex, by showcasing views by other scholars. Rubin notes Foucault in his 1978 publication “The History of Sexuality”, as “sex as the natural libedo wearing to break free of social constraint” (Rubin, 149). This leads Rubin to her understanding of sex negativity. Sex, as Rubin depicts, is dangerous, destructive and a negative force and sex negativity is any negative sexual behaviour other than married or reproductive sex. Many Western religious believe that sex should only be for reproductive reasons and that pleasure and anything outside of martial sex should not be experienced. Third, Rubin goes on to construct the charmed circle, distinguishing good and bad sex. Resulting from sex negativity, Rubin develops an illustration of good and bas sex, better known as the charmed circle. Instances of bad sex include; casual,
...ninity. Thus, through sexuality alone, gender is not purely established by agency, there is a social structure which has a great influence on it. Children songs, further this notion of social structure, through its ability to become a demonstrator for what each genders role is. The songs establish femininity as the nurturer and housekeeper, while it shows masculinity as the provider and laborer. Thus, we can see that agency fails to fully establish gender; social structure plays a huge part in creating gender through demonstrating gender roles. Both sexuality and children’s songs become self-fulfilling prophecies as well as examples of what true femininity and masculinity are. Ultimately, without social structure aiding in the development of gender, the very idea of gender and gender roles could not exists as there would be no basis for creation of such a concept.
Sex has been a taboo subject for many generations in nearly every culture present in the world. Many seem to rely on the traditional idea that one should abstain from sex until marriage, while others evolved and began to exercise the idea of sexual freedom and are not held down by any certain beliefs or traditions. Leslie Bell takes an in-depth look into this complex situation by taking into account various psychoanalytical theories and first-hand experiences in order to make sense of this complicated subject. One can argue that sex becomes a much more complicated rather than a pleasurable experience for women due to the confusing standards that society has put in place, their upbringing from childhood to adulthood, and their overwhelming desire