Reproductive Rights as a Historical and Feminist Issue Essay Example for Free

Reproductive Rights as a Historical and Feminist Issue Essay One of the biggest issues facing women in American society today has been an issue bouncing around in politics for decades: reproductive rights. Women can never have equal opportunity to men without equal opportunity to make their own decisions about their bodies. Reproductive rights for women not only include the right to abort a pregnancy, but it also involves any choice a woman may make concerning her body. She must have the right to choose when she wants to get pregnant, choose when she wants to have sex, have easy access to information about her body and reproductive system, as well as access to contraceptives and non-stigmatized medical care. Today’s women in American society still have to battle the right to information, the right to contraceptives, and the right to abortion. Sex Education in public schools has always been a widely debated topic in American History. Determining what information to give out and how old the children need to be is constantly being argued. However, many programs are only preaching abstinence, especially to young women. Young men on the other hand get the â€Å"condom talk. † Very little information about female contraceptives, physical or medicinal, is ever discussed in these sex education sessions. Rebecca Walker, in 1995, wrote that young women must be treated as growing, learning, individuals, and need information concerning â€Å"sex and access to birth control and abortion† in order to nurture their self-esteem and protect them from violence. With limited access to information, women are being denied the ability to make a fully cognitive decision about their bodies. Even women who have heard about female contraceptives tend to still only know very little about their options. Most women have only ever heard or relied on â€Å"the pill,† which during long-term use can sometimes have negative side effects on women. In its early stages of development and use, many women suffered severe side effects from the drug. The stigma against female contraceptives is very interesting. Could this be a resurgence of the idea that women should not have sexual inclinations? Female condoms, diaphragms, and other barrier methods besides the male condom can be confusing and intimidating for a woman to seek out, and many resort to the pill or â€Å"being careful. † In this instance both information and availability go hand-in-hand to allow women the knowledge to make an informed decision about their body. In 1891, Harriot Stanton Blatch (daughter of famous Elizabeth Cady Stanton) spoke out about a new term â€Å"Voluntary Motherhood. † She claimed that the upheld idea of motherhood as the highest moral position woman should strive to achieve was a lie, and that women who mothered unwelcome children were scorned. This creates another example of a double standard placed against women in society. The most notable of reproductive rights issues debated throughout history and into the present is the constitutionality of abortion. In 1973, the famous Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case made all state laws against abortion deemed unconstitutional. However, lawmakers sought to impose regulations that still kept women from being able to control their bodies, defining who, when, and under what condition a woman could have the procedure. Many â€Å"pro-life† activists began criminal attacks on abortion clinics, 167 were reported between 1982 and 1997. [3] Feminists, especially in the second-wave movement, insisted that the choice of having an abortion was not a medical or criminal debate, but a â€Å"highly personal decision that belonged only to the woman who was pregnant. †[4] Women of color in American society during the 1970s also faced reproductive rights issues of their own. Many women of color in low economic standing were pressured into having sterilization procedures. These women were forced to make the life-altering decision usually while they were on the table just after delivering their child. Female sterilization of colored women at this time was equated to racial genocide, as it drastically cut down the predicted birthrate. Repugnant as this was, many states were chastised because they would fund these sterilizations but they would not support welfare programs to support these same families. Women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies, especially when it comes to their sexual identity. Women should be able to decide whether or not they want to carry a child, and those who argue that women who deny motherhood are not listening to the women who argue for reproductive rights. Women need the power to control their bodies because that is the epitome of owning the power to be considered an equal in society. Women would not end up in abusive situations concerning their bodies if information and prevention were more readily available. With knowledge comes power, and that is proven in every argument through history. Argument for reproductive rights becomes a national topic every time the presidential race rolls around.

Use of Animals in Art Spiegelmans Maus: A Survivors Tale :: Art Spiegelman Maus A Survivor?s Tale

The Use of Animals in Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor’s Tale The Maus series of books tell a very powerful story about one man’s experience in the Holocaust. They do not tell the story in the conventional novel fashion. Instead, the books take on an approach that uses comic windows as a method of conveying the story. One of the most controversial aspects of this method was the use of animals to portray different races of people. The use of animals as human races shows the reader the ideas of the Holocaust a lot more forcefully than simply using humans as the characters. Art Spiegelman decided on a very interesting, and possibly offensive to some, scheme of different animals to use. The first type of animal that appears is the mouse (Maus 1 p. 5). Mice were used to represent the Jewish people during the Holocaust as well as the present day. Polish police were involved in the first arrest of Jewish persons (Maus 1 p. 27). Polish people were represented with pigs. Once the Germans appeared, the scheme of the animals began to make sense (Maus 1 p. 33). Germans were shown by the use of cats. The last animal to appear were the dogs (Maus 2 p. 12). The dogs are Americans, and were always friendly to the Jewish people. The relationship between these animals portray the ideas of the Holocaust very well. Mice are small and scrawny creatures which are usually hunted by Cats. Cats chase mice and attempt to devour them, much like the Germans hunted down the Jews during the mass genocide. Pigs are very greedy and self centered. During the story, the Polish(Pigs) sold out the Jewish people on many occasions (Maus I p. 143). An example is when Vladek and his family were staying at Kawka’s farm. â€Å"They may come search here any minute! You’ve got to leave!† In this situation, Kawka was not telling the truth, but only trying to protect herself. Dogs chase cats, which in the book was symbolic because the Americans sympathized with the Jewish people. These are very rudimentary overviews of the animals, but they will serve for the purposes of this essay. In the Maus series, the life of Vladek during the Holocaust was detailed. The animals were used to illustrate a point of view. Use of Animals in Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale :: Art Spiegelman Maus A Survivor?s Tale The Use of Animals in Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor’s Tale The Maus series of books tell a very powerful story about one man’s experience in the Holocaust. They do not tell the story in the conventional novel fashion. Instead, the books take on an approach that uses comic windows as a method of conveying the story. One of the most controversial aspects of this method was the use of animals to portray different races of people. The use of animals as human races shows the reader the ideas of the Holocaust a lot more forcefully than simply using humans as the characters. Art Spiegelman decided on a very interesting, and possibly offensive to some, scheme of different animals to use. The first type of animal that appears is the mouse (Maus 1 p. 5). Mice were used to represent the Jewish people during the Holocaust as well as the present day. Polish police were involved in the first arrest of Jewish persons (Maus 1 p. 27). Polish people were represented with pigs. Once the Germans appeared, the scheme of the animals began to make sense (Maus 1 p. 33). Germans were shown by the use of cats. The last animal to appear were the dogs (Maus 2 p. 12). The dogs are Americans, and were always friendly to the Jewish people. The relationship between these animals portray the ideas of the Holocaust very well. Mice are small and scrawny creatures which are usually hunted by Cats. Cats chase mice and attempt to devour them, much like the Germans hunted down the Jews during the mass genocide. Pigs are very greedy and self centered. During the story, the Polish(Pigs) sold out the Jewish people on many occasions (Maus I p. 143). An example is when Vladek and his family were staying at Kawka’s farm. â€Å"They may come search here any minute! You’ve got to leave!† In this situation, Kawka was not telling the truth, but only trying to protect herself. Dogs chase cats, which in the book was symbolic because the Americans sympathized with the Jewish people. These are very rudimentary overviews of the animals, but they will serve for the purposes of this essay. In the Maus series, the life of Vladek during the Holocaust was detailed. The animals were used to illustrate a point of view.

Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ Essay

Writing in a similar style to Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, Siegfried Sassoon also decided to attack figures of authority and those with no direct experience of trench warfare via ‘Base Details’. ‘Base Details’ is entirely speculative. The word ‘base’ in the title has two distinct meanings. It could be used as a noun, to mean ‘place’, as in a centre of operation; or you could interpret the word as an adjective meaning ‘morally low or unacceptable’. Sassoon has used play on words in the title so that the reader may more adequately perceive the irony and sarcasm expressed in this poem. The adjectives used in the first two lines of ‘Base Details’ reflect the author’s perception of his superiors: If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath, I’d live with Scarlet Majors at the Base, The first line indicates that Sassoon is contemptuous of these officers. He has classed the Majors as unpleasant stereotypes, to be criticised and jeered at. In the following line, the word ‘scarlet’ has a double meaning. On face value, it could be taken to mean that the officers have bright red cheeks. However, Sassoon has used the word as a metaphor, meaning that the Majors have been metaphorically splattered with the blood of the young men they had sent to the front line to die. The stanza continues: And speed glum heroes up the line to death. Here, ‘speed’ indicates haste. The Majors are unnecessarily rushing soldiers to their deaths. The soldiers are referred to as ‘glum heroes’ because that is exactly what they are. Their country is expecting them to be noble, intrepid and courageous. Instead they are despondent because they know that as soon as they are out of the trenches their grisly demise could come about at any second. All the hope, joy and energy that is a part of youth has vanished from these men. Sassoon then regales us with further speculation thus: You’d see me with my puffy petulant face Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, The first thing we notice about these two lines is that Sassoon has used alliteration in order to make more of an impact on the reader, and to vary his writing style. Also worth noting is the fact that Sassoon uses rhyme throughout ‘Base Details’ to good and memorable effect. Saying that the Majors are ‘puffy and ‘petulant’ indicates incredulity on Sassoon’s part, similar to that conveyed in the first lines of the poem. The phrase ‘guzzling’ and ‘gulping’ indicates greed, and animal-like actions. The Majors are inhuman. Then, we are told that the Majors stay in ‘the best hotel’. This brings home the stark contrast between the lives of the soldiers in the vermin-infested trenches, and the sedentary lives of their superiors. Sassoon continues: Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap’, I’d say. ‘I used to know his father well: Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’ The Roll of Honour referred to here was an official list of those who died in the war. The Major’s words regarding one of the deceased are not at all heartfelt. They are meaningless, detached and emotionally void. He is unconcerned and he has placed himself above feelings of pity for those lost and their families. Each new death is just another name on the register and another letter to be dispatched. In the last line of the stanza, the Major refers to trench warfare as a ‘scrap’ or ‘game’, which is identical to Jessie Pope’s view of war. This is a direct reflection of how little the Major knows about the fighting going on outside his quarters; and similarly, how unequipped he is for his job of directing troops. ‘Base Details’ closes with the following: And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I’d toddle safely home and die – in bed. By using the words ‘stone dead’ to describe the deceased soldiers, Sassoon makes a brutal and graphic impression on the reader. It is a cold and unfeeling phrase, and seems to render those who died as useless and unimportant. The Major wishes to die peacefully, and in bed – unlike those he sends out to the front. The Major considers himself superior in all aspects, even in death. ‘Base Details’ attempted to show the ignorant public back in Britain the hypocritical attitudes of many of these Majors; and how soldiers in the trenches were being treated in comparison to those who had obtained top jobs merely on the basis of their public schooling. Whilst ‘Base Details’ depicts the life of a typical Major serving during World War One, another of Sassoon’s poems, ‘The Hero’, depicts the sequence of events on the home front following the death of a soldier. The poem ‘Base Details’ by Siegfried Sassoon is a sarcastic attack against the army generals who view the war as a game similar to checkers. It is therefore evidence of why Siegfried Sassoon is known as the â€Å"voice of protest†. The first noticeable thing about the text is the title. The word base is a pun for the fact that base means headquarters as well as dishonourable or cowardly, which implies that he will talk about the dishonourable activities at the Army headquarters. Secondly, Sassoon appeared to have blamed the officers for the purposeless deaths of his fellow men, while they were behind the front line and had no idea what it was like. Sassoon uses many adjectives to describe his generalisation of those at the top â€Å"fat and bald and short of breath† which shows the hatred that he has. In this poem, Sassoon writes â€Å"poor young chap†¦I used to know his father well.† This statement alone is typical of an army general. To show the fact that army generals can not comprehend what war is like he uses the phrase â€Å"we lost heavily in this last scrap†. The army generals are calling this a scrap like it’s a fight between boys at school. Sassoon calls the army generals â€Å"Finally, Sassoon rounds the poem of with a phrase by reinforcing that they are unfit and fat. He also shows that those at the front line could die any moment by saying â€Å"When the war is done and youth stone dead, Id toddle safely home and die, in bed† which is a good ending because it says that the generals will die in a nice warm peaceful place, while the soldiers will die among the rats. Sassoon’s feelings towards the officers are best described in the poem ‘Base Details’. In this poem, Sassoon shows his resentment towards the officers by describing them drinking in the best hotels, and reading the names of those who died, saying ‘poor young chap †¦ I used to know his father well’ and saying ‘yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap’. The poem is finished with the lines â€Å"and when the war is done and youth stone dead, I’d toddle safely home and die – in bed† This poem truly shows the bitterness and resentment Sassoon felt towards the officers. He felt that they didn’t really care about those who died, because they were safe themselves and had no idea of what was going on at the front line – calling the battle that was fought a ‘scrap’, like it was nothing more than a small fight. In the last two lines of the poem, Sassoon’s feelings are clearer than ever, the way he says that they’ll ‘toddle home and then die in bed shows that he thought that the officers were safe and living comfortably while the soldiers, who were actually fighting the war, were living in shocking conditions, where they would die at any moment. Sassoon uses many different ways to convey his feelings, and particularly his bitterness and resentment towards the war and the officers, but in all his poems, his true meanings are clear and he writes in such a way that shows us clearly what he thinks and feels about the war. BASE DETAILS – ESSAY In the poem, â€Å"Base Details†, SiegFried Sassoon expresses his great disgust towards the majors in the military. He is horrified and appalled at the way the majors act while men are dying out in the battle field. Mr. Sassoon is so furious towards the majors that it takes more than just one word to describe how indignified Sassoon is. These great feelings of anger are derived from the fact that the majors are living a life of luxury while sending young men â€Å"up the line† out into the battle field. This is all suggested in the title of the poem with the word â€Å"base† suggesting a military base, and/or a base person. And the word â€Å"details† suggesting a command, an assignment, and something or someone lowly. â€Å"Base Details† is a poem which expresses the feelings of the author towards military majors using differentiable types of imagery. The poem begins by Sassoon describing the majors as demanding, mean, and belligerent men. Bald, out-of-shape and full of gluttony. Sassoon categorizes the majors under the word scarlet signifying childless, bright redness from excessive drinking and yelling of anger. Sassoon presents to us the fact of the majors sending up the young men as soon as they are drafted â€Å"up the line to death.† This attitude taken from the majors is what angers Sassoon to the point of hatred. To convince the reader of such horrific truth, Sassoon describes how disrespectful the majors are with their â€Å"puffy petulant faces† from eating and drinking excessively. Sassoon states how the majors are stuffing their faces and â€Å"Reading the Roll of Honor† in safe luxurious hotels while men are dying out on the field

The Democratic Party And The Whig Party - 1769 Words

During the time periods between the 1830s and 1840s, two political parties: the Democratic party and the Whig party had faced the challenges among their ideological differences on the role of federal government in the economy and the westward expansion, but did compromise in certain ways. The one-party system of Monroe’s presidency had led to the creation of a two-party system under the presidency terms of Andrew Jackson. The supporters of President Jackson were known as the Democrats and the supporters of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, rivals of Jackson, came to be known as the Whigs. The Democrats were influenced by Thomas Jefferson, whereas the Whigs were influenced by Alexander Hamilton. The Democrats were in favor of states’ rights and opposed the growth of a powerful central government. Democrats also favored in rapid territorial and external growth. The Whigs were in favor of a stronger federal government that was dominated by Congress. Whigs also favored gradual territorial expansions and internal improvements. In future reference, the Democratic and Whig party created the two political parties in which we see today, the Democratic and Republican Party. To start off, Henry Clay and the Whigs â€Å"†¦ developed a platform called the American System, which advocated increased powers for Congress; strong central control over foreign affairs and military issues; high tariffs and a national bank to build the economy; and extensive infrastructure improvements—financed andShow MoreRelatedThe Jacksonian Democratic Party And The Whig Party1770 Words   |  8 PagesThe Jacksonian Democratic Party and the Whig Party each, exemplified different beliefs on the role of the federal government in the economy and towards westward expansion in the 1830s and 1840s. However, the Jacksonian, laissez faire supporting Democrats and the economic nationalistic Whig party shared almost no beliefs except for the removal of American Indians in the areas their supporters wished to settle. The lack of similarities is because the Whigs formed their own party to oppose PresidentRead MoreEssay on American Political Parties1589 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Political Parties There have been many different political parties since the beginning of the American political system. A political party is made up of a group of people that share common goals and ideals, and these people work together to help elect people to offices that share these goals to represent them. Political parties work to try to control the government and their ultimate goal is to win as many elections and to gain as many offices as possible. During the time when theRead More The Key Differences between Whigs and Democrats? 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That means whatever group you want to belong to you can. There are also no membership lists that are maintained. Some of the ways to determine party affiliation comes from voting surveys and public opinion polls. The majority of voters in America consider themselves to be Democrats. Party identification does not mean that who is youRead MoreThe Political Issues That Dominatedu.s Politics847 Words   |  4 Pagespolitical parties including the Whig party and Democratic Party. The Whig party was formed in the 1830’s to oppose president Andrew Jackson. For instance, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John Taylor, William Henry Harrison and more ,were all part of the Whig party. 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This was seen in the Lincoln Douglass debates, legislation, and the evolution of political parties. The political debates that fueled the slavery controversy were derived from legislation. The first legislation passed was the three-fifths compromise. Naturally, southern states wanted slaves to be counted as a whole person because the slave population in the south was larger. The northern states opposedRead MoreThe Evolution Of American Democracy Essay1406 Words   |  6 Pagesrights and liberties. On the American frontier, democracy became a way of life, with widespread social, economic and political equality. The system gradually evolved, from Jeffersonian Democracy or the First Party System to Jacksonian Democracy or the Second Party System and later to the Third Party System. In Reconstruction after the Civil War (late 1860s) the newly freed slaves became citizens, and they were given the vote as well. (Web, 1) After 1815 Americans transformed the republic of the Founding