Women and feminism raised in The Handmaids Tale Essay Example for Free

Women and feminism raised in The Handmaids Tale Essay Margaret Atwoods novel The Handmaids Tale was written in 1986 when the feminist movement was happening, the word feminism is hard to really define into one term but it is usually recognised as meaning equal rights for women. The first wave of feminism happened in the 19th century and this was about sexual division in the workplace then the second wave of feminism started in 1960s and this was known as the Womens Liberation Movement this aimed to create a women centred world by making their voices heard through the demonstrations such as burning pornography (which Offreds mother was a part of. ) In this essay I will be concentrating on the women and the issues of feminism in the handmaids tale. In the society of Gilead the women are grouped into categories concerning their age, fertility and their marital status. Although these women do have their own separate roles in the regime they all share the same theme which involves staying within the household. Such as the Marthas who are responsible for the domestic side who keep the house clean and tend to the cooking where as the handmaids have only one specific role and that is to reproduce they are known as only womb on legs to give birth to children for the commanders wives who are unable to have children and their role is to raise these children after they are born. We can see that handmaids are like shadows amongst the house quiet and replaceable as Rita claims about the last handmaid She didnt work out showing that they are treated as products that can be easily replaced if they dont work out for the purchaser the handmaids are just like property and this is shown in their names such as OF-FRED they belong to the commander of the household although their role is one of the most important in this patriarchal system they are however not treated this way, they are treated as one of the lowest class. Even the roles of the commanders wives have little importance they are given trivial meaningless tasks such as tending to the gardens as this is their domain which they can control and care for maybe a replacement for the children, they also knit scarves for the Angels upfront however Offred claims that Maybe its something to keep the wives busy, to give them a sense of purpose. There is also the role of the aunts which could also be seen as very important as well because it is these older women who brainwash these teachings into the handmaids to let them fulfil their duties. The womens roles are also represented in the colour of the clothes they wear for the Marthas it is green for the commanders wife it is blue and lastly the handmaids wear a red nun-like uniform where the red represents their function suggesting the blood of the menstrual cycle and giving birth to a child, the colour can also represent their imprisonment in the Gilead society the colour of blood, which defines us. The roles of the women are very dependent on their relationship with the men in the regime and their ability to have children which effectively steals the womens individual identity being categorised gives the society much more control over them. The colour of their clothing makes the women easy to recognise which group they belong to, dehumanising them completely treating them more like machines than human beings. It could be seen as some kind of sisterhood with the different roles that the women play and how they co-operate with each other because this could be seen as a feminist world with women appreciating their roles and helping the other women however the use of the roles of women just creates more power for the regime as having a hierarchy of women just creates conflict amongst them so they dont really see the true enemy which are the men. Womens status before Gilead was completely different, women were allowed to have education Psychology, English, Economics. We studied things like that, then. Giving them a chance to have a career of their own, which earn them their own money allowing them to have choice of what they wanted to buy. Women had much more independence allowing them to think for themselves and make the choices they wanted which I will elaborate on later. There were women who were feminists in the time before, fighting for their rights and having a voice to rebel against the treating of women because in them days they were seen as sex objects but in a different light through pornography magazines or by seeing them in certain outfits which screamed out sexuality, Offred remembers this because when she walks away from the guard at his post she purposely sways her hips knowing that the guards are staring after her in a sexual sense. However now the status of women in Gilead is defined by their ability to reproduce, they are treated as objects, all their rights have been stripped away from them they are denied an education, not allowed to have a job, they cannot vote and they are banished from writing or reading. What I put into them: my own clothes, my own soap, my own money, money I had earned myself. They have no family or possessions they dont even have their own identity as they are mentioned only with their male owner even the wives are only known through their title as the commanders wife. Rebellion and independence is not in the question, the women should never undermine the men or act against the system of the society the only thing that a woman is worth is for the use of her reproductive system and their only job they have is the function they must perform. The body that women once used to express their sexuality, the body they used to feel comfortable in which defined who they were as a person has now become the thing they are now afraid and ashamed of My nakedness is strange to me already. My body seems outdated. They are ashamed of their body because it is now what defines them and keeps them trapped in this wretched society. Although it is the Aunts that have achieved high status as it is up to them to show the handmaids their new way of life and the rules they must abide by, it could be seen that these women have some power of the handmaids but they are not permitted guns like the men do which shows that although the Aunts do have a powerful role with authority it is still men that obtain the ultimate power because women cannot be trusted with guns.

Effects Of Creatine Essay -- essays research papers

The Effects of Creatine   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creatine has been used in sports throughout time. Athletes have always had a fascination with being excellent at what they do. With the banning of steroids from competitive sports and the implementation of random drug testing in most sports, most athletes are still somehow hoping to gain an edge on their competition. This edge that they are using is creatine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to understand how creatine works, we must discover what creatine is. Creatine is an energy producing nutrient found in our bodies. It is synthesized from three amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. These amino acids are primarily found in the liver, pancreas, and kidneys. It is also consumed in our everyday diets from fish, meat and other animal products. Creatine is not considered an essential nutrient in our diets. In general, we consume approximately one gram of creatine per day in our diets (www.healthlink.mcw.edu).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creatine helps provide the energy our muscles need to move, especially movements that are quick and explosive. Approximately ninety five percent of the body’s creatine supply is found in the skeletal muscles (www.pacific-nutrition.com). The other five percent is spread throughout the body, but mainly found in the heart, brain and testes. Creatine is easily absorbed from the intestinal tract into the blood stream.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creatine was first discovered in 1832 by a French scientist, Cevreul. In 1847, it was noticed that the meat from foxes killed in the wild had ten times more creatine than meat from inactive foxes. The conclusion from this was that creatine accumulates in muscles due to physical activity. It was discovered in the early twentieth century that not all creatine consumed was excreted in the urine, but in fact, stored in the body. In 1912, researchers found that ingesting creatine can dramatically boost the creatine content of muscle. Fiske and Subbarow discovered creatine phosphate in 1927, and determined that creatine is a key player in the metabolism of skeletal muscle. Most studies focusing on creatine and sports performance have only been done since the early 1990’s (www.pacific-nutrition.com).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When we use our muscles everyday we use oxygen to make energy. This energy is created by breaking... ...rity. It claims to increase muscle strength and to delay fatigue, allowing athletes to train harder and longer. Companies promoting creatine supplements also claim that creatine can help burn fat and increase muscle mass. Annual sales of creatine in the United States alone are well over $100 million (Performance Enhancing Substances). Although creatine use in athletes is expected to increase because it is not on the list of banned substances as of yet, it is possibly going to be banned from professional sports, as well as NCAA sports, as early as next year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I feel like creatine is great and should not be banned. How are athletes going to gain a competitive edge without a supplement that will allow their muscles to train harder? I have used creatine and I am still currently using creatine. I have seen the gains in muscle mass already only after two weeks of taking creatine. Drinking plenty of water is the key. As long as you take creatine as suggested, there should be no problems. There are no known serious side effects, therefore, I don’t think that creatine should be banned. Creatine is a great supplement for athletes to gain that competitive edge!

What Can Parents Do to Protect Children from the Bad Influence of Television Violence?

Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior in the developing children’s mind. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming has a highly explicit violent content. Numerous studies has been conducted on the effect television violence has on children and adolescence, and all of it shows negative feedbacks. Children tend to develop emotional numbness to all the horror seen on the screen, and gradually accept violence as a norm and a way to solve problems. Parents can protect their children by engaging them in different after school programs, paying attention to the television their children are watching and try to block some channels showing inappropriate content. One of the most disturbing facts of modern life is the abundance of wasted time spent watching mindless television programs. Children who spend more time in front of the television are more susceptible to all the violence in the media, and not only that they grow to be more aggressive, but also more passive. One way to avoid that is to involve the kid into different after school activities like arts and crafts programs or outdoor sports. Extracurriculars let the children enjoy themselves in a fun, stress-free environment, get some exercises, and make friends outside of school instead of being trapped at home alone with the only source of entertainment, the TV. It is a proven fact that television and media content are affecting how children and teens perceive the world around them. One way to help ease the negative effect of it is to help them understand what is wrong and what not. Parents should be aware of what children are watching, and if there is something violent and upset them, it is important to help them through that. Although the violent content, television can offer some very valuable educational programs as well, which could open doors to new fields of knowledge, when viewed responsible and sensibly. That is why parents should not eliminate the television, just get involved into what the child is watching, and explain why violent and the explicit is not worth watching. Parents can not control what children are doing, or watching every second of the day, that is why many parents rely on some sort of channel blockers. By restricting access to certain channels with violent and explicit language, parents can keep the unwanted content away from the eyes of their children. Childproofing the cable television is one of the best ways to keep the kids away of television violence, but yet it does not guarantee that the kids are protected. The control of the parents over their viewing time and content is most important of all. Television has become more violent in content in the recent years. Although the media experts are trying to market the explicit content, there are still should be some limits and restriction on what has to be shown on the big screen and what not. Until that happens, parents are the only regulators of that content and as so, they have the right to rule the remote control in their living room.

Basic Assumptions of Economics

A basic assumption of economics begins with the combination of unlimited wants and limited resources. We can break this problem into two parts: Preferences: What we like and what we dislike.Resources: We all have limited resources. Even Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have limited resources. They have the same 24 hours in a day that we do, and neither is going to live forever. All of economics, including  microeconomics and macroeconomics, comes back to this basic assumption that we have limited resources to satisfy our preferences and unlimited wants. Rational Behavior In order to simply model how humans attempt to make this possible, we need a basic behavioral assumption. The assumption is that people attempt to do as well as possible for themselves—or, maximize outcomes—as defined by their preferences, given their resource constraints. In other words, people tend to make decisions based on their own best interests. Economists say that people who do this exhibit rational behavior. The benefit to the individual can have either monetary value or emotional value. This assumption does not necessarily mean that people make  perfect decisions. People may be limited by the amount of information they have (e.g., It seemed like a good idea at the time!). As well, rational behavior, in this context, says nothing about the quality or nature of peoples preferences (But I enjoy hitting myself on the head with a hammer!). Tradeoffs—You Get What You Give The struggle between preferences and constraints means that economists must, at their core, deal with the problem of tradeoffs. In order to get something, we must use up some of our resources. In other words, individuals must make choices about what is most valuable to them. For example, someone who gives up $20 to buy a new bestseller from Amazon.com is making a choice. The book is more valuable to  that person than the $20. The same choices are made with things that dont necessarily have monetary value. A person who gives up three hours of time to watch a professional baseball game on TV also is making a choice. The satisfaction of watching the game is more valuable than the time it took to watch it. The Big Picture These individual choices are only a small ingredient  of what we refer to as our economy. Statistically, a single choice made by a single person is the smallest of sample sizes, but when millions of people are making multiple choices every day about what they value, the cumulative effect of those decisions is what drives markets on national and even global scales. For example, go back to the single individual making a choice to spend three hours watching a baseball game on TV. The decision is not monetary on its surface; its based on the emotional satisfaction of watching the game. But consider if the local team being watched is having a winning season and that individual is one of many choosing to watch games on TV, thus driving up ratings. That kind of trend can make television advertising during those games more appealing for area businesses, which can generate more interest in those businesses, and it becomes easy to see how collective behaviors can start to have a significant impact. But it all starts with small decisions made by individuals about how best to satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources.