Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Sexual Objectification of Women

The sexual objectification of women on the mass media is becoming an alarming affair. According to Faridah, et al.'s study, the uses of sex images of women in advertising by different companies who seek to promote their products are doing an injustice to women (Faridah, et al. 4). It is a challenge the in the modern democracies with regards to the objective of building an egalitarian society. It is worrying that the modern democracies would still promote women objectification. It seems that the leaders have remained so dormant and silent in pointing out the levels of discrimination exercised in the mass media in the name of advertisement (Berberick 12). Another thing is that mass media has been used as an instrument to advocate for equal rights among different genders in the society; while on the other hand, it is used to discriminate women sexually. This study is done through different means, which include social, psychological, philosophical and economic rights that examine the way sexual objectification of men infringes on their rights. In this milieu, the media should not be used to exploit women but should be used to promote their rights and the protection different people from the various levels of discrimination. Therefore, this study is important to address the issues of exploitation and discrimination perpetuated by the advertisement companies that promote various products in the market.Literature ReviewThe portrayal of women in the mass media makes them appear vulnerable to manipulation. Scholars such as Turner are worried that women are thinly represented in as actors in the existing news programs, but are instead used negatively in advertising certain products (Turner 2). They appear as young and slim in the advertising programs in the televisions as well as magazines for eye-catching purposes. The women on such advertisement platforms are explicated as instruments to inspire women to like certain products. Their main role is just to make men happy as sexual objects rather than people with value and personality. They are shown to embody every trait of beauty aimed to attract men in like those products. The society is tailored in a way that women are only perceived to look good to impress men, not for their own good. The products are advertised and made to imply that when used, the skin becomes flawless and beautiful that can be admired by men. It is a very unfortunate affair that should be discouraged by all means in the contemporary society for a sustainable greater posterity.Another thing to point out is that the decision to place anything in the media program is influenced by the current state of cultural and social values. In different societies, such values are greatly based on gender. Females in that respect are considered weak and lesser beings to their male counterparts. Through cultural and social norms, women's rights have been violated, and that is why the same spirit spirals to the media advertisements, which portrays women as objects, not humans with values and images to protect. Punyanunt-Carter did a study on the African-American portrayals on the televisions and confirms that this group of people is more objectified in the American televisions (Punyanunt-Carter 245). Faridah, et al. on the other hand states that the movies produced around the periods of the fifties portrayed women as perfect objects of domesticity, while in the contemporary world, women are portrayed as sexual objects that make men happy and satisfy their sexual desires (Faridah et al. 7). The most important question to answer is why women must just be implicated negatively and vulnerable. Even if at times they are portrayed as professionals at times when out of their offices, they are given a negative image. They are only seen as those that can only be teased, admired, played upon and desired by men. In her study on women images in Polish and Malaysian print media, her findings pointed out that even if done in done in different cultures, the study about women portrayal has some profound similarities and commonalities in the findings.The regrettable thing addressed by the experts involved in the subject of women discrimination in the social media is that despite the efforts to establish a gender sensitive society where people are treated equally, there are still rampant cases of discrimination against women in various fronts. Faridah et al. is worried about the same, more so the words used to describe women when portrayed in the social media (Faridah et al. 5). She says that when the media decided to focus on women in the public space during the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the terms used were very unpleasant. In fact, she considers the words like ‘burning bras', ‘hardcore feminists', and ‘nude women running around the streets of Huarious' among others to be devilish and uncalled for in the contemporary society. This is a weighty proof that the society still remains negative about women and only considers them objects of sexuality that cannot stand for anything good. Even if they try to do something significant, they are only seen to be irrelevant.MethodologyThe study relies greatly on the existing pieces of literature to paint the image of women portrayal in the televisions. It is part of the wider study of women and children's representation in the contemporary media, which include unprinted and printed media. It is generally a qualitative study that relies on the literature about women negative portrayal on the televisions in the United States of America, which is used as a case study to represent some of the discriminations against women that are undertaken silently i n the social media. The ideas by Faridah et al. and Punyanunt-Carter are significant since they explore different findings that have common issues worth addressing in women discrimination in the social media. The scholars are credible in their studies as they explore different pieces of information from different scholars to justify their arguments. They use longitudinal approach to expose the various stereotypical ways in which women are disregarded in the society. I chose the sources since they provide a thrust of the investigation, which is thought-provoking to the readers who are carried with their findings to be part of the fight against women discrimination in the social media.PositionalityI do this study with an aim of addressing some of the injustices done on women in social media. The negative portrayal of women in different fronts like television, magazines, and internet makes them feel less valued in the society. It appears that the society is only happy when they are used. They are seen to best fit as objects to make men happy and satisfy their sexual needs. Sexual objectification lowers their self-esteem. The awful thing is that women from other cultures are more objectified than others are. Women from African-American communities are more portrayed negatively than those from other cultures. This means that social media are only used by the society to promote the cultural negativity about women, something that seems to be more embedded in people. This implies that there is a serious need for attitudinal change to ensure that that mindset is alleviated. Women deserve recognition and respect just as their male counterparts are. They should not be seen as second-class citizens but should be regarded with an utmost value they deserve.Studies show that the spirit of discrimination against women stems from the tradition that only regarded men to manage media. Women are meagerly represented in the employment positions. Faridah et al. states that only 33.3% of women are in full-time employment among the 59 countries they surveyed (Faridah et al. 3). It implies that women do not equal men when it comes to job competition and other important positions in the society. Another unfortunate thing is that different studies have been done on the subject of women discrimination in the social media, but nothing much has changed. It means that various experts need to be more vigorous in addressing the problem of women discrimination in the social media. The revolutionary change in technology has made it easy to sexually objectify women, something that needs to be addressed with sufficient attention to change negative attitude that makes it easy to discriminate women in the social media and other areas. The numbers of women that appear in the social media as main actors are few, but those that are shown on the negative side of the shows are many. Even though men are also objectified, their number is smaller. It means that there is much to be done to deal with the issue of women discrimination. It is also apparent from the study that women are highly discriminated in the social media. The negative portrayal of women on television is fueled by the social and cultural norms that consider men to be superior beings to their female counterparts. They are seen to best fit to make men happy by serving their sexual desire. This mindset does not believe that women can look good for their own sake, but that they do so to attract men. As a result, it is ostensible that it is a negative mindset, which kills women's self-esteem, significance and values, as opposed to men who are seen to be important and worth the best in the society. It remains a serious matter that should not be allowed to thrive in the contemporary society.ConclusionThis study confirms that it is utterly bad to continue the negative portrayal of women in the social media, more so in the contemporary world. As pointed out herein, the portrayal of women in the social media has been marred by a lot of discrimination. For instance, during the fifties, women were pictured as perfect objects of domesticity. Today, they are portrayed as sexual objects that can only be used to make men happy and satisfy their sexual desires. As a result, they are seen to be significant and less valued in the society apart from being there to make men happy. The most regrettable thing is that besides the numerous studies than on the same area, the discrimination against women still thrives. This means that social and cultural norms that disregard women should be attacked and changed. The best way to attack such norms is attitudinal change communication, which would make the society to see life more differently. Instead of being viewed as objects to make men happy, they should be seen as entities that should be incorporated in different avenues to help the society to grow.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review Essays - Free Essays

The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review Essays - Free Essays The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review The Shawshank Redemption Movie Review HUM/150 December 16, 2014 The Shawshank Redemption The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is an outstanding typical hybrid film of both the crime and drama genre (Clifton, 2009). The films director Frank Darabont adapted Stephen Kings 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film relies heavily on great storytelling, acting, sound and editing to engulf the audience throughout the entire movie. The films debut in the box office was average at best but through word-of-mouth has gained popularity and became one of the best movies of all time. The Film and Analysis The movie has some very interesting narrative elements. The film is about a man named Andy Dufresne who is wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He is ultimately sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank Prison. The film was set in 1947-1966 and follows his experiences over the next 20 years at the prison. He has a very difficult time at first, but eventually befriends an inmate named Ellis Red Redding, who is also the narrator of the movie. Red was sentenced to life in Shawshank prison at the age of 19 and is known in the prison as the man who can get anything. Throughout the film, we see the movie through the eyes of Red, who serves as the narrator that leads to a surprising ending. In analyzing the film, I find it to be a story of hope with religious themes of freedom and resurrection. The director uses powerful themes of patience, hope, survival, friendship, redemption and in the end salvation to develop the characters. The use of effective cinematography, music, lighting and deep symbolism greatly assist enhance the feeling of the story. Get busy living or get busy dying is a symbolic quote by Andy in that it makes us remember just how precious life is. The use of dark lighting and low angles are used to film the gray and depressed prison scenes, thereby giving them an ominous feel of misery. This shapes the audiences appreciation of the inmates desperate need of hope. The sunlight surrounding the inmates on the rooftop scene appeals to fundamental human empathy. The scene allows the audience to understand the pleasure and liberation felt by these inmates whom at the moment feel like free men as they have a hint of normalcy. The close-up camera shot of Andy's face as he receives a response to the many letters he submitted to repair the library depict his determination never to give up. The long camera shot of him relaxing in the chair after defiantly playing the Aria further demonstrate his perseverance with the use symbolical musical elements. The use of high angled camera shots and shots of the inmates staring int o the loudspeaker as if they were mesmerized, allow us to see just how far Andy is willing to go to provide hope and a bit of normality to his fellow inmates. His merits ultimately lead to his redemption at the culmination of the final scene of his escape. After crawling through 300 yards of a sewer pipe and triumphantly emerging at the end in clean water with his arms spread wide he rejoices in the symbolic salvation through the blessing of the rain. Conclusion I believe this film deserves four stars and is my favorite movie of all time. Below is an explanation of my review criteria: **** Outstanding movie. It has ambitions to be more than an entertainment. It has a strong script. It is not only well made with elements of poetry (beauty), but it has a strong emotional impact on the viewer. A must-see movie for everyone! ***A good movie that does not have quite the same aesthetic and emotional impact as the previous category. It is an interesting movie. It might be a mainstream movie intended primarily for entertainment, but with strong characters and some serious themes. **An acceptable occasion for spending eight bucks. It may, however, be quite ordinary, falling within expected genre boundaries, perhaps depending mainly on star appeal for its audience impact. It is probably well made, but has deficiencies in characterization, script, etc. that are obvious to the discerning viewer. *Poor example of a movie. How could someone

Monday, October 21, 2019

Asking Questions for Advanced Classes

Asking Questions for Advanced Classes Speaking skills include the ability to listen, and that means asking meaningful questions. In class, teachers often take over the task of asking probing questions, but sometimes the students dont quite enough practice in this essential task in any conversation. This lesson plan focuses on helping students improve their question-asking skills to move beyond just basic questions. Students - even higher level students - often run into problems when asking questions. This is due to a number of causes: i.e., teachers are the ones that usually ask questions, the inversion of the auxiliary verb and subject can be especially tricky for many students. This simple lesson focuses on helping higher (intermediate to upper intermediate) level students focus on some of the more difficult question forms. Aim Improving speaking confidence when using question difficult question forms Activity Intensive review of advanced question forms followed by student gap question exercises. Level Intermediate to upper intermediate Outline Focus on auxiliary verb usage by making a number of statements in tenses the students are familiar with. Ask students to identify the auxiliary verb in each case.Ask a student or students to explain the underlying scheme of the object question form (i.e., ? word Auxiliary Subject Verb). Have students give a number of examples in different tenses.Review the question forms of some of the more difficult tenses and constructions such as: conditionals, used to, present perfect continuous, past perfect, etc.Split students up into pairs. Distribute worksheet and ask students to ask an appropriate question for the given answer taking turns.Follow-up check of questions either by circulating through the student pairs or as a group.Ask students to each take the second exercise (one for Student A the other for Student B) and complete the gaps by asking their partner for the missing information.Solidify question forms by quickly playing a verb inversion game using the various tenses (i.e., Teache r: I live in the city. Student: Where do you live? etc.) Exercise 1: Ask an Appropriate Question for the Response It was really rather wet and windy with temperatures well below normal.Since eight oclock this morning.I was cleaning up.Id buy a new house.She cant be at home, I tried to call her a few minutes ago.Why dont you go shopping?For about 2 years. Exercise 2: Ask Questions to Fill the Gaps With the Missing Information Student A The last few weeks have been very difficult for my friend ______. He discovered that he hadnt insured his car after his car was stolen __________. He immediately went to his insurance agent, but she told him that he had only bought ____________, and not against theft. He became really angry and ________________, but, of course, he didnt do that in the end. So, he hasnt been driving for the past two weeks, but ___________ to get to work. He works at a company about 15 miles from his home in __________. It used to take him only twenty minutes to get to work. Now, he has to get up at ___________ in order to catch the seven oclock bus. If he had more money, he would ___________. Unfortunately, he had just spent most of his savings on an _____________ before his car was stolen. He had a wonderful time in Hawaii, but he now says that if he hadnt gone to Hawaii, he wouldnt be having all these problems now. Poor guy. Student B The last few weeks have been very difficult for my friend Jason. He discovered that _______________ after his car was stolen three weeks ago. He immediately went to his ___________, but she told him that he had only bought a policy against accidents, and not ________. He became really angry and threatened to sue the company, but, of course, he didnt do that in the end. So, he hasnt been ___________ for the past two weeks, but has been taking the bus to get to work. He works at a company about __________ from his home in Davonford. It used to take him ____________ to get to work. Now, he has to get up at six oclock __________________________. If he had more money, he would buy a new car. Unfortunately, he had just __________________ on an exotic vacation to Hawaii before his car was stolen. He had a wonderful time in Hawaii, but he now says that if _______________, he wouldnt be having all these problems now. Poor guy.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Basic Vocabulary Youll Need to Go Shopping in France

Basic Vocabulary You'll Need to Go Shopping in France If you are shopping in France, youll need to know the lingo. You could just stick with one shop or market, go in, pay and get out. But most of us do more than that in our search for the right product and the best bargain. You need to be able to read signs so that youre choosing the right shop, getting the best quality, ferreting out authentic bargains and speak intelligently with salespeople. Keep in mind that France (and most of Europe) may have megastores, but most people still shop at their local small shops in order to find the freshest, highest-quality products. So dont discount the words for specialty stores; you will need to know them. Shopping Vocabulary une à ©picerie  Ã‚  small grocery storele marchà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  farmers marketle supermarchà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  supermarketun hypermarchà ©Ã‚  Ã‚  superstore, giant supermarketla boucherie  Ã‚  butcher shopla boulangerie  Ã‚  bakeryla charcuterie  Ã‚  pork butchers shop and delicatessenla confiserie  Ã‚  candy storela crà ©merie, la laiterie  Ã‚  dairy  shopla fromagerie  Ã‚  cheese shople magasin de fruits et là ©gumes  Ã‚  greengrocerle marchand de vins  Ã‚  wine shopla pà ¢tisserie  Ã‚  pastry shopla poissonnerie  Ã‚  fish storela banque  Ã‚  bankla blanchisserie  Ã‚  laundryla  laverie automatique   laundromatla droguerie  Ã‚  drugstore / hardware storele grand magasin  Ã‚  department storele kiosque  Ã‚  newsstandle magasin de confection  femme/homme/enfants clothing store  for women, men, children;  magasin de và ªtements  Ã‚  clothing store in generalla pharmacie  Ã‚  pharmacyla poste  Ã‚  post officele pressing  Ã‚  dry cleanerla q uincaillerie  Ã‚  hardware storele tabac  Ã‚  tobacco shopfaire les courses  Ã‚  to do the  shopping [for essentials];  aller faire les courses to go shoppingfaire du shopping  Ã‚  to go shopping, to shop [for specific items such as shoes];  partir faire les magasins to go on a shopping trip/expedition les soldes the sales; faire les soldes to shop the salesclient /  personne qui faire ses courses shopperà ªtre accro au shopping   to be a shopaholiccher  (chà ¨re) expensive; coà »ter cher   to be expensive  a bargain une affaire; a good bargain une bonne affaire;  bargain prices prix avantageuxmarchander to bargain, to haggle;  negocier, traiter avec quelquun to bargain with someoneheures  douverture business / shop hours  Ã‚  Ã‚   Expressions Related to Shopping Bon marchà ©:  can be translated as either inexpensive or cheap. Bon marchà ©Ã‚  can be both positive, indicating a reasonable price, and negative, insulting the products quality. Bon rapport qualità ©-prix:  The French expression  un bon rapport qualità ©-prix, sometimes written  un bon rapport qualità © / prix, indicates that the price of some product or service (a bottle of wine, car, restaurant, hotel) is more than fair. Youll often see it or a variation in reviews and promotional materials.  To talk about a better value, you can make the comparative or superlative form of bon, as in: un meilleur rapport qualità ©-prix   better valuele meilleur rapport qualità ©-prix  Ã‚  best value To say that something is not a good value, you can either negate the sentence or use an antonym: Ce nest pas un bon rapport qualità ©-prix. /  Ã‚  Il na pas un bon rapport qualità ©-prix.   Its not a good valueun mauvais rapport qualità ©-prix   poor valuele pire rapport qualità ©-prix   worst value While less common, its also possible to use a different adjective altogether, such as un rapport qualità ©-prix incroyable   amazing valueun rapport qualità ©-prix intà ©ressant   good valueun faible rapport qualità ©-prix   poor value Cest cadeau: is a casual, informal expression meaning  Its free. Its inexpensive. The underlying meaning is that  youre getting something extra that you werent expecting, like a freebie. It can be from a store, a boutique or a friend doing you a favor. It doesnt necessarily involve money. Note that Cest un cadeau with the article is a simple non-idiomatic, declarative sentence that means It is a gift. Noà «l malin: The informal French expression  Noà «l malin  refers to Christmas.  Malin means  something thats  shrewd or cunning. But this expression isn’t describing Christmas or the sales, but rather the consumer- the cunning consumer who is far too smart to pass up these amazing bargains. At least that’s the idea. When a store says  Noà «l malin, what they’re really saying is  Noà «l (pour le) malin (Christmas for the clever.) For example, Offres Noà «l malin Christmas offers [for the savvy shopper]   TTC: is an acronym that appears on receipts and it refers to the grand total that you owe for a given purchase. The initials TTC stand for  toutes taxes comprises  (all taxes included). TTC lets you know what you will actually be paying for a product or service. Most prices are quoted as TTC, but not all, so its essential to pay attention to the fine print. The opposite of  TTC  is  HT, which stands for  hors taxe; this is  the base price before the addition of the European Union-mandated  TVA  (value-added tax), which stands at 20 percent in France for most goods and services.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Suicide in our communities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Suicide in our communities - Essay Example It has been seen that the youth within the United States is a direct or indirect stakeholder within the bullying regimes. When bullying happens, there is bound to be serious problems for everyone. The one who does these bully acts is also someone who creates an issue for others. This leads into someone carrying out a heinous act and commit suicide. How bullying and bad grades have posed as a serious problem within the US schools, colleges and universities is an alarming scenario overall. This is because with the advent of time one can witness the spate of incidents that have increased and which seem to leave a lasting impression on the minds of the people, and that too for all the wrong reasons. The need is to understand where problems lie and how to counter them within quantifiable proportions. If this happens, anomalies would reduce drastically. The reason why bullying has taken on the front seat is because there are students who have resorted to violent behaviors as they are being constantly treated in a shabby way. If this is not the case, bad grades come up and destroy their mental peace which again is a source of immense agony. When the youth understands that there is no other alternative than to commit suicide and get free from the worldly pressures, then it does not think much. Either this youth wants to kill others around him and then die their own self or just plainly commit suicide. The manner in which these severe attempts come about are also a factor that need to be understood within proper contexts. What this suggests is the fact that the school authorities and the law making bodies have their work cut out. They need to think from the common student’s perspective and thus devise a way under which bullying is discouraged and receiving bad grades does not mean the end of the world. There has to be a beginning somewhere in the future to suggest that all is not that bad that one should commit suicide and bring

Friday, October 18, 2019

Sunday in the park with George Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Sunday in the park with George - Essay Example The particular song, â€Å"Finishing the Hat† was chosen because of the several meanings that it has throughout the song. The focus in this song is based on George and losing his loved one. When he approaches this, he calls it finishing the hat, which works as a metaphor to the incomplete piece that he is feeling at the moment. This universal theme of losing love is able to tie together to the rest of the emotions that George is feeling as well as the absence of his loved one at this particular moment. Even though this is the main theme of the song, there are other interpretations that can be added into this and which are noted from the lyrics as well as the musical techniques that are used through the piece. The â€Å"Finishing the Hat† song is not only interesting because of the main themes that George is singing about. There are several musical changes that are used throughout the piece to create different expressions. When listening to this piece, one is able to tie it into the rest of the musical, while allowing this particular theme to stand on its own. This combination of elements allows the piece to be one of the strongest in the musical and provides a deeper understanding to what is occurring in different parts of the song. This allows one to develop a specific relationship to George, the situation and what is occurring, specifically through the musical techniques. The song â€Å"Finishing the Hat† is used as a pause in the main story line to express the emotions that are occurring through the plot line. The first way that this relates to the plot line is through the main theme used with â€Å"Sunday Park in the George.† This musical was known to be taken from the painting that was a part of the time frame of 1884 (see Appendix A). The artwork that was depicted during this time is one of the most renowned pieces that are from the different

What drives facial diversity in primates (Central Hypothesis is Social Research Paper

What drives facial diversity in primates (Central Hypothesis is Social factors are more important in driving primate facial diversity.) - Research Paper Example Many researchers have resolved that social factors have the prevalent contribution in the emergence of primate facial diversity. Facial characteristics of primates are complex structures that are designed to fulfill several purposes. Primate face is made up of various phenotypes as it integrates various parts such as eyes, ears, nose, hair and patches of skin. All these organs differ in their traits and functions. These parts have different location, origin, colour, size and shape (Cartmill and Smith, 2009). The nature and shape of the elements in a primate face is to a great extent determined by social factors. In many social animals, facial traits offer an adequate source of information that is significant in social interaction. The face is used to express signs regarding primate behaviours, condition and identity. Given the role of face in social interaction, it is sensible to assume that social factors have a crucial contribution in enhancing facial diversity in primates. Facial diversity in primates is explained by the differences in characteristics, shape, colour and size expressed by different primate in the world. According to biologists, facial diversity among primates is highly contributed to by emerging social factors (Bradley & Lawler, 2011). The essay below will present some of the important social factors in driving primate facial diversity. In this essay, the author will provide evidence on the contribution of both social and ecological factors in directing diversity in primates. The table above illustrates the nature of social interaction among different primates in the world. It shows the social status of different players in their social settings. From the table, it is clear that the social responsibility among male and female primates varies from one primate to another. According to the table, facial diversity is highly influenced by social setting which primates engage in. Many primates spend