Female Infanticide Essays (Examples)

China: Female Infanticide

As soon as the baby girl was born, my mother-in-law kicked it with her toe and said, 'Who wants this?' She wrapped it in a wet towel and left it on the floor. My husband's sister, weak after the delivery, just wept. It died within a few hours." (Arvamudan, 1999)

Female infanticide has been present within some societies for centuries. It continues to represent a social justice concern because the occurrence of female infanticide has historically led to and accounts for millions of gender-selective deaths throughout the world. A feminist perspective of social justice can be utilized to best explain the occurrence of this problem. On the basis of a feminist perspective, female infanticide is a form of violence directed at and used against females, representing one of many different forms of such violence, deeply rooted in sex inequality. As such, female infanticide represents an act of…

Infanticide in China

In 2007, the United Nations Population Fund published a study that argued there were 60 million "missing" girls in Asia, a direct result of female infanticide (Karabin, 2007). Infanticide, by definition, is the unlawful killing of very young children, and in some cultures this practice is conducted against female babies in particular. The result is that countries like China have a serious population imbalance, with many more males than females (BBC, 2012). This paper will examine the issue of female infanticide in China, its causes and what potential solutions there might be to this serious problem.

Confucianism

Lee (1981) notes that female infanticide has long been practiced in China. riting just after the introduction of the one-child policy in China, Lee notes that "this form of discrimination against women…persisted in varying degrees over hundreds of years." She outlines the techniques used to commit the crime: "drowning in…

Infanticide in Australia

Infanticide is the act or practice of killing newborns or infants. It has been committed or performed in every continent and in every level of culture from the poorest hunters and gatherers to the richest and most advanced classes of people and from the time of our ancestors to modern age (Milner 1998). The act or practice has been so rampant that there is enough evidence on record to show that it has been more the rule than an exception and this evidence reflects that parents themselves kill their infants under distressing and stressful situations. The practice or act was so frequent in England in the 19th century that both the medical and the private communities had to think of ways to control the crime (Milner) described by medical practitioners as savage in a contradiction to human progress.

But infanticide is not a modern creation. It was…

omen in India

Often referred to as the "motherland," the Indian subcontinent boasts millennia-old traditions and culture in which women are symbolically honored and revered. The Hindu pantheon, for instance, consists of a wide range of female deities; motherhood in India is a reverential undertaking. However, beneath this mythological and theoretical facade, women are systematically persecuted in India, denied equal access to the already impoverished health care, educational, and justice systems. Carol Coonrod's report on the status of women in India lists seven major areas of discrimination against women in India: malnutrition, poor health care, lack of education, overwork, being unskilled, blatant mistreatment, and legal powerlessness. However, the problems extend far beyond these categories alone. For example, female infanticide is not uncommon; nor is the practice of satee, either willing or coerced suicide by widows. The message these practices send are clear: women are not as worthy of being born…

After all, it remains within the female's best interest to mate with a newly dominant male, even if he has killer her infant. Ultimately, this is because the female, having lost her offspring, needs to remain reproductively competitive and to mate with a male. Additionally, if she mates with a non-dominant male, who has not killed her offspring, she runs the risk of the dominant male repeating his actions. Accordingly, she is obligated to mate with the dominant male in order to decrease the risk that her infant will be killed again. It may also be the case that the mothers who are victims of infanticide are physically incapable of preventing the guilty males from mating with them because of the differences in size between the sexes.

In human societies, however, we see less infanticide perpetrated by males relative to our population. There are many reasons for this: there are…

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The religion of Islam is very misunderstood and pervasively skewed within its true meaning and original intent by extremists in the Islamic society. Never did the prophet intend that the abuses and oppression which today's Muslim women suffer should occur. It is the conclusion of this writer that extremists exist in all religions and these are those who garner the most attention and receive the most press however, those who are moderate and who adhere to the true beliefs and meaning of the Islamic religions receive little attention and little press and even littler in the way of chances to convey the truth of this religion to the world. The abuses and oppression will continue however, it is hopeful that the ignorance surrounding the Muslim religion will eventually lose out to better dissemination of information and to more intelligent reporting backed by diligent investigation of the facts.…

Methods of Killing

The methods of committing neonaticide, infanticide, and filicide are as diverse as the women who commit the tragic crime. According to ouge-Maillart, Jousset, Gaudin, Bouju, and Penneau (2005), strangulation, head trauma, drowning, and suffocation were the four most frequent methods of filicide. However, in these researchers' study, some mothers used what they deem to be 'more active' methods. Five children died after being struck by their mothers' fists. Two women in the study used a firearm to shoot their children. Two died after being hit with a heavy object, by their mother -- one a monkey wrench the other a stone. One woman slit her 13-year-old's throat. In one case, a 3-year-old boy died by defenestration -- being thrown out of the window. Lastly, a 10-month-old died of starvation and dehydration, after being deprived of food and water for 10 days.

Krischer, Stone, Sevecke, and Steinmeyer's (2007)…

Later legal concessions including the permission to have a second child if the first one is a girl) reflect some official recognition of these problems.

Sen's observations and the realities of second-class (or worse) status for girls and women in China raise several kinds of serious human rights issues. The first is the right to determine the size of one's family, a right that the Chinese government, for nearly three decades now, has steadily denied Chinese couples. Good economic rationales may lie behind this government decision; still, it nevertheless denies Chinese couples a basic human right that couples in other parts of the world (although not all: Sanjay Gandhi's involuntary sterilization program in post-1947 India, and the Eugenics Society's involuntary sterilizations of poor minority women in post-World War II America come to mind as other examples) have to determine family size.

Secondly (although it is debatable, depending on one's religious…

Shakespeare's Sister," and Maxine Hong Kingston's story, "No Name oman," reveal the theme of silencing women within literature, resurrection by the female author, while the lives of the authors' provide a dramatic contrast to the suppression of women depicted in their works. Ultimately, female writers like Hong Kingston are the fulfillment of oolf's dream for Shakespeare's sister, and represent the death of the tradition of silencing women's voices within the estern world.

The Silencing of omen Depicted in oolf and Hong Kingston

oolf's essay, "Shakespeare's Sister" is a clear portrait of the silencing of women by larger society. ithin "Shakespeare's Sister," Virginia oolf describes the fictional life of Judith, the sister of Shakespeare. She begins this analysis by noting the lack of women's presence in either history books or within literature. rites oolf, "what I find deplorable, I continued, looking about the bookshelves again, is that nothing is known about…

Advanced technology played a big role in infanticide as it allowed couples to check the gender of the child before it was born. Ultrasounds helped couples check the sex of their child and allow them to make a decision on abortion easier. Infanticide managed to unbalance the sex ratio in china as there were far too many males and not so many females. Women do not have a big role to play in determining the gender of their children as the husbands are the ones who make the decisions. There have been cases where a husband has beaten his wife to abort her child. Then are cases where the wife has to go into hiding so that people won't be able to know if she is pregnant. This helps a lot if they are expecting a girl and they need to abort it. There have been a lot of families…

Kabul is a cosmopolitan center and demonstrates a willingness to modernize but outside Kabul old traditions remain strong and there is little interest in these rural areas for any change.

III. Social Factors

The rural nature of Afghan society cannot be over-emphasized. The population of the country is estimated at 24 million but it is highly fragmented into a variety of ethnic groups that are further broken down into tribal groups. This tribal fragmentation has been encouraged by the countries bordering Afghanistan that have, in order to promote their own political agendas, disturbed any efforts by the Afghan central government from uniting these tribes. hat has developed is a system of ethnically-based rivalries supported by localized Islamic religious sects.

Tribal traditions inside Afghanistan tend to be more powerful than either Islamic theology or political philosophy and these traditions can be harsh toward women (Rohde). Gender roles under tribal traditions are…

Islamic women are now restricted from most activities, and their rights have been steadily decreasing. Her social and political as well as economic rights are all being violated everyday by unscrupulous men who have corrupted the very religion to their own advantage, and today, especially in most Arab countries, woman has become 'Awarah', or the very subject of concealment, wherein her public presence is banned; where even her very voice, must not be heard in public. (Women's Position, ole, and ights in Islam)

In India, there are only 960 women to 1000 men, a figure that when compared to the rest of the world, especially developed countries, which shows 105 women to 100 men, due to better health care for women, is quite miserable. It is in India that women are often considered to be burdens on their families, and the main reason for this is the 'dowry system', wherein…

Nor could a man repudiate the oath made by any of his female relatives." (Azeem, 1995)

VI. The ROLE of the MOTHER

Part two of the work entitled: "Women in Islam vs. Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth and the Reality" states that in relation to 'mothers' from the viewpoint of the Old Testament, there are several commandments concerning the necessity for kind and considerate treatment of parents and a condemnation for those who dishonor their parents. In Islam, the mother holds a very special place and as described by the Prophet Muhammad as follows: "A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father'" (ukhari and Muslim;…

gender selection ETHICS

History attests to the fact that couples from oyal families down to rural peasants have shown preference for a male child leading to numerous problems for the girl child and creating a sex ratio imbalance in some traditional societies. When preference for a male child is more pronounced and obvious, any method that can allow a couple to choose the gender of their unborn child is likely to create tremendous potential for gender discrimination and sex-ratio imbalance. Sex-selection or gender-selection as it is commonly known as is one such method that threatens to put female children at risk of being outnumbered by their male counterparts. The pre-conception gender selection techniques along with some other means of choosing the gender of the unborn child has come under severe criticism because of the ethical issues they raise. We must understand that while preference for a specific sex is limited…

Reflections

The United States and China as today's political and economic world leaders still suffer from the consequences of gender inequality and inequity. Combined economic, sociological and historical factors hamper and resist the achievement of equality between the sexes. Man's dominance for thousands of years will be strenuous to eliminate or minimize. It will not be an easy achievement but, nonetheless, an ideal objective for which every man and every woman on earth should pursue unrelentingly. #

ILIOGRAPHY

East Asia Environment & Social Development Unit (2002). China country gender review. World ank. Retrieved on February 15, 1020 from http://www.worldbank.org.cn/English/content/gender-en.pdf

Gaddis, R. (2010). Gender Equality in the United States. Associated Content:

Associated Content, Inc. Retrieved on February 20, 2010 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/pop_print.shtml

Haussman, R. et al. (2009). The global gender gap report. World Economic Forum:

Weforum.org. Retrieved on February 15, 2010 from http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf

Jordans, F. (2006). U.S. slips in gender equality survey.…

Lastly, the gender gap has meant that males need to engage in more intense competition for females. As a result, money has become a more important means of attracting females (ei, 2009). These different factors combined to push more rural Chinese into the cities in search of better work. This in turn kept the cost of labor down, fueling intense economic growth that kept the unemployment rate in urban areas down. Even with the recent economic downturn, official unemployment rates for urban China were at just 4.2% for the fourth quarter of 2008, up from 4.0% in the previous quarter (Xinhua, 2009). These official figures have never fluctuated too much, although they were significantly higher in the late 1970s when economic modernization began, between 5-6% (Giles et al., 2004). It should be noted that the official unemployment rates belie the reality of China's economy, which features tens of millions of…

Ethnographic/Social Considerations

Hall (1987) examined the effects of the one child policy from a cultural/anthropological and ethnographic perspective. Her study revealed that such policies unwittingly result in a cultural change in attitudes, beliefs and even behaviors exhibited by children. For example, couples may lean toward the decision that having more than one child "cramps their economic style" and that may lead to the one child being spoiled and the 'babyhood' period being drawn out (Hall, 1987).

The author suggests that a country full of only children will result in children who grow into adults that will be self-centered and less likely to be concerned with the welfare of the country as a whole, and more likely to be concerned with their own personal satisfaction. This goes against the Chinese ideology that it is important to serve the country rather than oneself, and Hall suggests that "a citizenry made up of…

Hindu society dictates that once a girl is married, she no longer belongs in the home of her parents and her husband's home is her entire future. She may never return to her maternal home on a permanent basis, for that would bring shame upon her in Hindu society. This is the reason why Hindu weddings are always characterized by much weeping as the girl ceremoniously bids farewell to her ancestral home. Her husband becomes her God, his home becomes her home and her life is dedicated to serve him and obey him. In the absence of the support of her maternal home, dowry was provided as a means to provide for the girl's new family needs in the event of a financial crisis. However, over the years this practice has degenerated into a mercenary enterprise, where a premium is placed on a male and the woman is bought and…

Culture and Health Care |

A eview of Culture on Health Disparities, Health elated Practices and Healthcare Outcomes

Social Status

The social status of an individual refers to the rank one holds within a group or community; and requires conformance to such rights, lifestyle, and duties as understood by prestige and social hierarchy (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). Status may be attained or ascribed in different ways. One, for instance may inherit such status at birth as it happens in monarchies and Kingships. This kind of status climb has nothing to do with one's innate abilities or skills. Ascribed status is based on such factors as age, family relations, lineage, birth, sex, and similar considerations while acquired status is earned. It may be based on such factors as the level of education, marital status, occupation and similar factors that come with accomplishment of certain feats that required some practical effort.

Status is…

idow Burning: The Practice of Suttee

Suttee or sati is a practice in which a widow will either kill herself by burning on the death of her husband. hile linked to Hinduism, the practice has never been a dictated part of the religion and many argue that it goes against some of the basic concepts of the Hindu religion. However, others suggest that there is a religious foundation for the practice. Regardless of its religious or social history, it is a controversial social practice. hile many condemn the practice in general, specific cases of sati are often considered to be examples of heroic self-sacrifice. However, the practice reveals much about the role of women in Indian society; widows are frequently left without any real position in the community, so much so that their deaths are seen as an acceptable alternative to life as a man without a woman.

From a…

82). He introduced plantations that included potato, cabbage, tomato, chilli and brinjal, and helped the Dongria Kondh create irrigation channels from the streams flowing down the mountains (Sachchidananda, p. 83).

The anthropologist also succeeded in resolving feuds and negotiated trades with the Domb so they could enjoy the benefits of fresh fruit and produce without exploiting the Dongria Kondh. According to Sachchidananda on pae 84, among the benefits of having a person who truly understood and cared about the Dongria Kondh and the Domb was that there was a more peaceful interaction between the two indigenous tribes. A "pragmatic rather than mere humanistic approach" certainly aided in solving development and socioeconomic issues as well (Sachchidananda, p. 84).

Vedanta Resources' mining proposal

Meantime, a proposed mining project that was conceived by the Vedanta Resources (of London, UK) -- owned by Indian tycoon Anil Agarwal -- created a major controversy over the…

hina's One hild Policy

In the last part of the 20th entury, hina, also known as the "sleeping giant," has transformed itself from a predominantly rural, pre-industrialized society to a political and economic challenger. Since the Maoist Revolution of 1949, also known as the Great Patriotic Revolution, hina has transformed itself from a feudal system to one of the world's faster growing economies globally. hina is huge -- in both geography and population. Over the last few decades it has experienced unprecedented economic growth with an average GDP of well over 10%. Even though the actual per capita income is still within the lower-middle category of global statistics, hina still remains the third largest economy in the world. Modern hina participates with a major role in the global economy, and organizations within the developed world take hina quite seriously. hina's own view of her economy is "Socialism with hinese haracteristics,"…

Friend by Any Other Name

Sex matters between friends. No, not in the way you might think -- or the kind of sex that you might think. Sex matters in terms of gender: Male friendship and female friendship really is different from each other. Of course, there are always exceptions to statements as broad as this, and other traits of any individual dyad matters a great deal. ace matters as well as gender, and age, and physical disability, and personality.

But aside from all of these factors there are substantial differences between the ways in which men and women (and before them, boys and girls) conceptualize and practice the art of friendship. These differing definitions of friendship reflect larger social and cultural ideas about gender, a point that will be taken up below in this paper that examines how sex -- that is, gender -- affects friendships.

The basis for…

Gordimer and Walker

ace and gender have been shown to be major social issues throughout the world as demonstrated through short stories written by Nadine Gordimer, who writes from a South African perspective, and Alice Walker, who writes from an American perspective. Gordimer's "Country Lovers" (1975), takes a look at South African apartheid and allows the reader insight into the discrimination that was prevalent in society. Likewise, Walker's "The Welcome Table" (1970), takes a look at discrimination within American society. Gordimer and Walker's short stories analyze racial discrimination and the impacts that it has on the female protagonist in each story.

Nadine Gordimer was born in South Africa on November 20, 1923 and has lived there her entire life (Nadine Gordimer, 2005). Gordimer published her first work at 15 years old and since then, she has written numerous short story collections and novels. Although Gordimer contends that she is not…

hen their state of denial lifts, they are often wracked with remorse for what they've done.

The final circumstance that Resnick lists is uncommon but not unheard of among mothers who kill their children: spousal revenge. Though this is rare among women, one recent case that highlights it is the case of an Ontario mother, Elaine Campione, who drowned her two daughters in the bathtub, allegedly to keep her ex-husband from getting custody and to inflict intense suffering upon him. She even made a video only minutes after the murders, asking her ex-husband if he was "happy now" (CTV News 2010).

ith all of these circumstances potentially leading parents, especially mothers, to murder their children, legal prosecution and defense of these cases can be difficult -- at times, heart-wrenching. In the cases of mothers who have killed their children, the great majority of the defenses center around pleas of insanity.…

Sarah laffer Hrdy is an anthropologist who specialized in the field of primate sociobiology (Zika 2002). Her undergraduate thesis was a study of mental adaptations that shape how and why humans fabricate imaginary demons, and then graduated at Radcliffe College in 1969. In 1975, she earned a Ph.D. At Harvard University for her research on why a species of monkey engaged in infanticidal behavior. It became the first socio-biological study of wild primates' wild behavior in connection with their gender. In 1981, 1984 and 1996, Hrdy wrote best sellers on female primates as active strategists and the natural selection and common traits shared by higher primates with other living creatures on earth.

Hrdy's works reveal the motivations behind some of our most primal behavior patters, including gender roles, choice of mate, sex, reproduction and parenting, along with the ideas and the institutions that have been established around them. They have…

Conclusion

China's growth rate has slowed dramatically in the last 30 years under the auspice of the One-Child Policy. In fact, at this point it is believed that growth rate is under 2% and that the population replacement rate is at 2.1%, meaning that if these numbers are accurate and hold up, the population of China could actually decrease at some point in the future.

Hence, the One-Child Policy could be seen to be an immense success. But at what cost?

The 'side effects' of the Policy have and likely will continue to have a staggering effect on Chinese society. The sterility and abortion atrocities by the government, like the abandonment and infanticide of female infants by the parents, not only scream of a Policy that has lost its moral compass, but it has created a huge disparity between the number of males to females. This disparity means there a…

killing of a child in real life has no symbolic meaning, no power other than that of an expression of evil and is, therefore, one of the worst acts a human, let alone a parent, can commit. In literature, however, the killing of children is symbolic of a diseased mind or of a diseased culture. Euripides' Medea kills her children, but she is a symbol of Mother Earth, of the Gods, and of nature all of which can exert, with no warning and no necessity of explanation, a death upon any or all of us. That which we are given can be taken away. The killing of a child in literature is, in some contexts, a symbolic reminder of the seeming arbitrariness of nature. While some critics interpret Medea as being a proactive population reducer, she can be rightly understood as a sick woman who, like the animals that eat…

Similarly, when a member of society becomes too feeble to contribute, leaving them in the snow is deemed the proper solution. Both practices are deemed proper, as they increase the survival chances of the tribe as a whole. Thus, while another society may cringe at the idea of infanticide and leaving the elderly to die, Eskimo societies see the survival of the tribe as the paramount concern.

There are many examples throughout history illustrating the difficulty of judging other cultures by one's own ethical yardstick. Thus, instead of being preoccupied with questions of whose society is superior, moral relativists believe that all actions should be judged within their cultural context. An action such as infanticide, no matter how abhorrent it may seem, may then be an ethical action in a society that values collective survival over the rights of one individual.

In that regard, Agnew's version of strain theory no longer explains the marked difference in male and female homicide rates, simply because it downplays the importance of the types of strains described by Merton. Whereas Merton's strains were associated more with the types of failures more likely to be experienced by males, Agnew's strains included many types of strains that, at least arguably, could be said to plague females even more than males.

Merton conceived of the source of strain as predominantly a function of identity roles and social success as defined in the cultural environment; Agnew added the many other sources of potential strain that relate to expectations of the individual rather than necessarily of society (Macionis 2003). More specifically, Agnew (1992) suggested that individuals vary substantially from one another and form many elements of their ideal "role model" more autonomously: whereas some individuals (of either gender) may value…

adud 10)

Female Circumcision:

Female circumcision, has been a point of contention for many years with regard to Islam, as Islam or more specifically the Quran and "secret" texts of it have often been used as the sited foundation of the practice. hat is abundantly clear is that this practice in its mildest to most extreme forms predates the Quran and the Prophet Mohamed. Once again this may be an example of a situation where Mohamed observed something that he believed was hurting women and he attempted to control the practice. Though there is also evidence that this is not something Mohamed would ever have observed, as it was a secluded practice, performed by women on women and that it was not prolific within the region, where he lived and traveled.

Gollaher 44)

Leonard 168) the Quranic evidence associated with circumcision is limited to two passages. One Hadeeth discusses circumcision…

Social Change Through omen's Sports

Promoting Social Change Through omen's Sports Leadership

The problems that cry out for social change solutions

No one who is intelligent, literate, and who is paying attention could avoid the fact that much of the world today is in need of fresh and creative ways to resolve cultural and social conflicts and to build better communities where families feel safe and futures seem secure. ar, bloodshed, racial rage, and mindless military carnage -- in addition to the disturbing, ongoing violence against women -- make up too much of the front pages of daily newspapers. Dramatic social changes are desperately needed, and the plans for those changes have yet to be drawn up by present political leadership in the United States and elsewhere.

Over the first week in October, for example: suicide bombers killed 19 innocent tourists in Bali; car bomb blasts killed numerous citizens and…

omen in Ancient Tragedy and Comedy

Both the drama of Euripides' "Medea" and the comedy of Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" seem unique upon a level of even surface characterization, to even the most casual students of Classical Greek drama and culture. Both in are female-dominated plays that were produced by male-dominated societies and written by men. Both the drama and the comedy features strong women as their central protagonists, whom are depicted under extreme circumstances, in relatively positive lights. And both plays, despite their very different tones, also have an additional, unique feature in that they show 'the enemy' -- or the non-Greek or non-Athenian, in a fairly positive and humane fashion.

The sympathies of the viewer for female's plights are immediately arisen by Aristophanes from the first scene of "Lysistrata," as Cleonice, the friend of Lysistrata, and a common Athenian housewife states, regarding the lateness of the other women that frustrates…

However, Edersheim also points out that Jews were more child-centered than their contemporary cultures. One example of the Jewish reverence for children is that only Jews and one other culture had prohibitions against infanticide, while other cultures openly permitted the practice.

In chapter seven, Edersheim goes on to discuss the raising of Jewish children. Different ages of children had different roles and expectations. Children learned early on the protection of the Mesusah. In addition to formal instruction, children learned by observing their parents engage in rituals. The book of Proverbs is helpful to an understanding of how Jews were to raise their children. The most important part of the education of a Jewish child was religious education. Much of this instruction came as the result of children watching their parents, because Jews lived their religion as part of their daily lives. In addition to informal instruction, some children received formal…

Of course, Western culture often holds material consumer products in high regard as status symbols, such as homes, automobiles, elaborate clothing, and the like. In the case of the Nepalese, however, the case is vastly different. In the mountain villages, land is the primary commodity that is held in the highest regard as a symbol of status, wealth and power. This is so for very specific reasons, given the fact that land is in short supply in Nepal, land is vital in a mostly agrarian society such as that of the Nepalese villages, and the very simple way of life that the villagers lead makes many of the common Western status symbols unnecessary at best and outright ridiculous at the very least.

The status symbol of land in Nepal seems to be mostly centered on the males of the culture; for the females, who are generally prohibited from owning land,…

For instance, according to Begley, "Men who were promiscuous back then were more evolutionarily fit since men who spread their seed widely left more descendants. By similar logic, evolutionary psychologists argued, women who were monogamous were fitter; by being choosy about their mates and picking only those with good genes, they could have healthier children" (2009, p. 52). Although modern men and women may not look like Cro-Magnums, they all want to act like them deep down inside because of these primordial drives. In sum, Begley concludes that, "We all carry genes that led to reproductive success in the Stone Age, and that as a result men are genetically driven to be promiscuous and women to be coy, that men have a biological disposition to rape and to kill mates who cheat on them, and that every human behavior is 'adaptive' -- that is, helpful to reproduction" (emphasis added) (p.…

Interestingly, Venus is a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, which is significant, since she was literally created from the male genitalia, and males were more strongly linked to sexuality than females, even at that point in oman history. In the rest of oman and Greek mythology, Venus/Aphrodite generally plays a benevolent role, though she does use influence women to use their sexuality in inappropriate ways, such as the willful seduction of one's own father.

Botticelli's painting captures all of the prettier elements of the birth of Venus without referencing the uglier parts of the myth. There are no castrated gods or vengeful sons in the painting, merely a beautiful, naked woman emerging from the sea, standing grown in a sea shell. The sea shell symbolized the vulva in art of that time period. Moreover, Venus was a frequent non-religious subject of paintings, because it was considered acceptable to depict…

"It is not just a Catholic and Protestant Debate"(13).

Some Catholic statements, like the 1968 papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, condemn the practice on grounds of the created order, which is thought to be structured in such a way that all sexual expression must be open to procreation. Other statements, notably various declarations issued from 1969 to 1989 by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) in the U.S. appeal instead to the nature of the human person and the idea that life begins at conception. Abortion must be rejected, such statements argue, because it terminates a human life. Yet a third subgroup can be identified. Statements like the NCCB's well-known 1983 pastoral on peace and the Catholic bishops of France's 1979 declaration do not emphasize the doctrines of creation and human persons but argue against abortion by granting priority to the gospel.

In addition, in the Protestant Church, several statements…

teenage pregnancy on the family of the effected girl. In addition to that, this paper also highlights the prevailing rates of teen pregnancy in the U.S.A. And the adverse consequences of adolescence pregnancy. Furthermore, the strategies to prevent teenage pregnancy have also been discussed by this paper.

Setting the Scene

Teenagers are forced to confront a crisis because of an unintended pregnancy, which in most cases is an unwanted pregnancy. The unmarried adolescents, who are pregnant, have to make a number of complex decisions. These decisions include choosing between aborting and giving birth, and choosing between raising the baby by themselves or placing them for an adaption. Simultaneously, other decision in relation to school, work and interpersonal relationships are to be taken by the affected teenagers. (Wirkus & Maxwell, 2010)

Another important decision that the teens confront is to opt the manner in which they will discuss this issue with…

Abortion

For the most robust philosophical debate, the morality of abortion should be argued based on both duty-based and rights-based ethical principles. Abortion does in fact point to both duty and rights-based ethics. The duty to care is one example of a moral duty relevant to the abortion debate. Abortion also raises the question of rights. In the case of abortion, the rights belong to several stakeholders but none more salient than the embryo/fetus/potential human being. Because it is scientifically as well as philosophically impossible to delineate any other moment in which a fetus becomes a person, it is logical to presume that the beginning of personhood is conception and not some random or arbitrary point in the gestation period. The rights of the pregnant female are less central to the abortion debate from a philosophical standpoint, because it is the fetus/embryo who stands the chance of being killed. In…

138). Despite the contribution these SEZs have made to the Chinese state, Becker cautions that such meteoric growth is probably not sustainable over the long-term. For instance, Becker points out that, "Technology is changing assumptions about the future of industrial labor needs. ecent studies suggest that the link between high growth and job creation may not continue forever. In the 1980s it took a 3% increase in economic growth to produce a 1% increase in employment. By the 1990s, it took more than twice as much growth -- a 7.8% increase -- to achieve the same result. (2006, p. 154).

6.

How has all of China's modernization affected rural China in places as Fengyang?

While the major urban centers of China have enjoyed spectacular growth in recent years, less prosperity (or none at all) has flowed to the country's rural regions such as Fengyang. Fengyang stands out because it was…

Dr. Semmelweis understood that the hands of physicians and students carried "cadavers' poisons" and infected the genital organs of women in childbirth (Costa, 2002, p. 669). To address the problem, Dr. Semmelweis made a cleansing agent of chlorinated lime solution and ordered all doctors and students wash their hands prior to delivery and vaginal examination. The results were remarkable, and the mortality rate of post-delivery mothers dropped from 18% to less than 3% in the First Division (Costa, 2002). Although Dr. Semmelweis's findings were not widely accepted into medical practice until the turn of the century, his understanding of skin-to-skin germ transmission and hygiene promotion allowed for countless lives to be saved, and delivering in sanitary environments remains the greatest practice to prevent puerperal fever.

eferences

Best, M., & Neuhauser, D. (2004). Ignaz Semmelweis and the birth of infection control. Quality and Safety in Healthcare, 13, 233-234. doi: 10.1136/qshc.2004.010918

Carter,…

Psychology

Attitude Change and Pesuasion

What is evolutionay psychology? How does it explain mate selection?

Evolutionay psychology (EP) is an advance that looks at psychological taits such as memoy, peception and language fo a contempoay evolutionay pespective in egads to social and natual sciences. It attempts to categoize which human psychological taits ae alteations that have evolved (Confe, Easton, Fleischman, Goetz, Lewis, Peilloux & Buss, 2010). In othe wods, which functional poducts of natual selection o sexual selection ae evolved adaptations. Adaptationist thinking in egads to physiological mechanisms, such as the heat, lungs, and immune system, is fequent in evolutionay biology. Evolutionay psychology elates the same thinking to psychology, aguing that the mind has a modula makeup simila to that of the body, with dissimila modula adaptations seving diffeent functions (Confe et al., 2010).

Evolutionay psychologists dispute that a lot of human behavio is the output of psychological adaptations that…

cultures of India and China share some similarities, yet are vastly different when answering the question of how ideally a person should live their life. India, as a country, embraces the diversity of their people, and lives peacefully despite the different religions that coexist. The country supports a large population that is estimated at over 1 billion people. The people of India speak thousands of languages, practice nearly every religion imaginable, and oddly enough still incorporate the caste system. China similarly supports a 1-billion+ population, along with social classes, but more emphasis is placed on being male, and receiving higher education. Communism has been a very intrusive government system, which has dramatically influenced the everyday way of life in China.

India's people, despite their similar characteristics physically, celebrate their diversity by coming together on common ground in reference to a common ancestry. Religion is very important in India, and the…

Gordimer's Country Lovers

Issues of race and gender have been considered to be popular subjects in literature and allow individuals to express how these issues have affected them and how they have affected society. "Country Lovers" (1975), by Nadine Gordimer, allows the reader to understand how issues of race and gender are universal. Gordimer also uses "Country Lovers" as a platform to show how these issues impacted her personally and the lasting effect that they have on people living in South Africa, where she was born and raised. "Country Lovers" (1975) analyzes how racial discrimination and gender influence how the story's female protagonist, Thebedi, is treated.

Despite the fact that Gordimer herself is not involved in politics, "her writings document, decade by decade, the impact of politics on personal lives and what an increasingly radical white South African woman felt, thought, and imaged during the rise and fall of apartheid"…

Sociology of Women

Family

Family, as sociology recognizes is one of the most important institutions that contribute to the process of primary socialization of an individual. However, like all other institutions, family is one of the crucial grounds where feminists have a lot to argue about and they fight for the rights of women and the need to be given an appropriate space and respect in the household.

As the distribution of work in the household goes, the traditional belief and concept is that the women are the ones who need to stay home and monitor all the necessary chores and the domestic work needed around the house. However, the feminists seem to be highly critical about this particular thought. They have begun to question why it is seen as the women's sole responsibility to look after the needs of the children and tend to every individual in the household.…

Orestia

Ancient legends are known throughout the world and retold in versions generation after generation. Authors take an old story and reimagine it and reinvent it to fit the perspective of their own generation. The first known version of the Agamemnon story comes from The Odyssey. In Homer's book, The Odyssey, the author relates the story of King Agamemnon and his untimely death, as well as the resulting familial tragedy that follows that event. In each version, Agamemnon was a king who returned from the war in Troy to his, supposed, loving wife and family. Unfortunately, his wife is not so happy for his return. This queen, named Clytemnestra, is unwilling to give up sole power of their kingdom. This is the point in the story where versions change the order of events and the various players in the game. The subsequent versions of this same story change certain details…

Witchcraft in the 16th & 17 Centuries: Response to Literature

At first glance, a logical 21st Century explanation for the "witch craze" (also known as a witch-hunt) during the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe was based largely upon human ignorance. That is to say, the belief that a sub-culture of the general population performed witchcraft (and other magic-related phenomena), and ate the flesh of children, helped the unenlightened explain the unexplainable, and helped the ignorant deal with the darkness. Witchcraft seemingly established a reason that a person had that bad luck and it explained illnesses, and probably it helped explain natural calamities such as tornadoes, seismic catastrophes and sudden killer bolts of lightning or sheets of rain turned into disastrous flooding. Or it could even explain a stillborn child and a puppy with a broken leg. Somebody put a spell on that poor dog. Mysterious events that had no…

witchcraft trials of Salem, and those that occurred on the other side of the Atlantic as well, have long been framed and understood as misogyny made visible in law. On that level, Karlen's The Devil in the Shape of a oman adds little to scholarly analysis on the subject. However, Karlen's research presents evidence related to core Puritan beliefs that predicated the witchcraft trials, and discusses some of the economic and demographic contexts within which the trials occurred. The book relies heavily on primary source evidence, but the author's biases and points-of-view are also plainly evident throughout the text. Karlsen does accomplish the primary goal of elucidating the intersections between gender, class, and social power. In so doing, the author substantiates related research on the subject.

Fundamental to an understanding of the witchcraft trials that took place in the 17th century is an understanding of how, why, and when they…