Essay on Rape, Racism, and the Law Essay Example for Free

Essay on Rape, Racism, and the Law Essay Jennifer Wriggins analyzes the significance how race, ethnicity, and class influence a womans vulnerability to rape, the meaning and impact of the rape, and the response of family, of community, and of social institutions. Her article, Rape, Racism, and the Law, specifically focuses on the history of rape in the United States between the rapes of White women by Black men. As a feminist, she specifically focuses on two very damaging consequences of this selective blindness: the denials that Black women are raped; and all women are subject to pervasive and harmful sexual coercion of all kinds. Thorough this powerful essay, she examine the legal systems treatment of rape and how racism plays a major part in denying the rights of African Americans, as well as, deny the veracity of womens sexual subordination by creating a social meaning of rape which implies that the only type of sexual abuse is illegal rape and the only form of illegal rape is Black offender/White victim. I was exasperated after reading this article. This article highly irritated and annoyed me because of the interconnectedness of rape and racism. As a woman, it is hard not to get heated about this particular subject. Presently, there are now many struggles against rape. And, in acknowledging the struggles against rape one must also acknowledge the difference among women and the different ways that groups other than women are disempowered. In one of the many examples in this essay, racism and justice collide when in 1859 the Mississippi Supreme court dismissed the indictment of a male slave for the rape of a female slave less than 10 years old. This indictment cannot be sustained, either at common law or under our statutes. It charges no offense known to either system. Slavery was unknown to the common law†¦ and hence its provisions are inapplicable†¦ There is no act which embraces either the attempted or actual commission of a rape by a slave on a female slave†¦ Master and slaves cannot be governed by the same system or laws; so different are their position, right and duties. This ruling is disheartening in a few ways: Black men are held to lesser standards of restraint with Black women that are white men with White women; second, white men are held to lesser standards of restraint with black women that are Black men with white women. However, neither white nor black men were expected to show sexual restraint with black women. This is truly upsetting,  to me, because no man no matter what color should have the right to exercise rape or sexual coercion of any kind with any woman of any color without her consent. This reading is important to social work practice because it reflects and expansive and integrated approach to understanding rape, racism, and the law. By exploring the interconnectedness of rape and racism, I learned to analyze the assumptions implanted in and surrounding rape, racism, and social institutions. Finally, it develops understanding of the narrow focus of the black offender and the white rape victim, and the denial of the rape of black women, which engages within the cultural assumption of American society that is important to understand in the field of social work. This reading also teaches up to be receptive social work professionals able to work respectfully and competently with diverse population groups, with at the same time to understand and develop a sensitivity and respect for human rights. Through this reading, it is easy to see how stereotypes of racial and ethnic differences can have impact on a persons life in regards to consequences, rewards, and punishments. It has not fit in because examining substantive justice arguably requires that human rights to life, well-being, and the commodities essential to life and well-being, be given priority whenever a societal decision is made. Societal conditions and institutional arrangements should be recognized as grounds for justification because they may impose limits and constraints on the choices available to an individual that are as unavoidable and compelling as those imposed by chance or by another human being. It is a scary thought that your skin color or sex could work against you in the legal system, but it does happen. For this reason, it is easy to understand why many women are not reporting these incidents. Reference: Rape, Racism, and the Law by Jennifer Wriggins

Roy Bhaskars Theory of Critical Realism

Roy Bhaskars Theory of Critical Realism How to Change Reality: Story vs. Structure Debate between Rom Harre and Roy Bhaskar Roy Bhaskar (15 May 1944 19 November 2014) was a British philosopher, renowned as the initiator of the philosophical movement of Critical Realism. He was a World Scholar at the Institute of Education, University College London. Critical Realism (CR) is an integrative metatheory founded in the 1970s by Roy Bhaskar with the publication of seminal works in the philosophy of science and social science, such as A Realist Theory of Science, The Plausibility of Naturalism, and Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation. Bhaskars consideration of the philosophies of science and social science resulted in the development of Critical Realism. The term Critical Realism was not initially used by Bhaskar. The philosophy began life as what Bhaskar called Transcendental Realism in A Realist Theory of Science (1975), which he extended into the social sciences as Critical Naturalism in The Possibility of Naturalism (1978). The term Critical Realism is an elision of Transcendental Realism and Critical Naturalism, that has been subsequently accepted by Bhaskar after being proposed by others, partly because of its appropriate connotations; Critical Realism shares certain dimensions with German Critical Theory. In this essay Roy Bhaskar distinguish post modernism, social constructionism, Critical Realism and Dialectical Critical Realism. He has discussed Rom and Charlies point of view on Social Constructionism and Critical Realism in a dialectical context. The first thing Bhaskar discussed, is how Rom and Charlie defended post modernization and social constructionism. Further, Bhaskar gave a dialectical context on Roms work, stating that his all works ends in some kind of reductionism, but before giving dialect on Roms point. Bhaskar gives a prolonged explanation to postmodernists saying that reality is a social construct. Bhaskar started elucidating postmodernism. According to Bhaskar, Reality is a construct of discourse, the text, the conversation, or if you like, people or even power relations. Bhaskar further criticized Roms dual aspect philosophy of social reality. In which he stated how Rom gives two different statements in different modes. According to Bhaskar, when Rom is in Vygotskian mode he says that social reality is a construct of conversation. That is because Roms ideas are closest as to Lev Vygotsky. Bhaskar further added that when Rom is in humanist mode, he says it is a construct of people. Both postmodernist and Rom a greed that social reality is conceptual, to which Bhaskar also agreed and proclaimed further that is it not exhaustive of anything, whether its people, powerful particulars, discourse or text. According to Bhaskar, interesting thing about dialectical critical realism is that it takes the dialectic a stage further. Bhaskars dialectical critical realism rejects any sort of reductionism. He asserted that there is no equation between social and the conceptual or social and the humans. He then gave prolonged description about conceptual moment in human life. He then discussed the connection to human freedom and they have a dialectical universalisabilty of forming a judgement. According to Bhaskar, humans have a vision of good society in which the free development of one is the condition for free development of all, by this statement free development (- -), he is asserting that human wants a classless society, the free development of each, the individual liberty and freedom to work of each individual allows for the building of a better society. He further asserted that being humans, we are more concerned about the factors that affects our freedom and we should get rid of those factors such as Nazism (The ideology and practice of the Nazis, especially the policy of racist nationalism, national expansion, and state control of the economy), bureaucracy and capitalism. He said that we should rescue our situation by considering our being and existence in a more serious manner and it is because we want to save the situation and have to take ontological (nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations) question significantly of whether structures, whether unconscious or social, are real. Bhaskar describes from a critical realist standpoint that how postmodernist deny existence of direct object to being. Bhaskar asserted that postmodernist normally says that they are not denying that things exist but they merely assert and says that they cant say anything about these things. But Critical Realism has shown philosophical position, or scientific position, or social position, all require a certain general shape of the world. He added that if we are restricted human knowledge to that which can be perceived by the senses, we will believe that social forms and social structures are immutable but if we are like Habermas (German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism.) in his account of nature that we will set up false resistance between nature and society. Bhaskar asserted nature is a very special thing, which is not governed by laws, mechanism or structures and he agreed with Roms words on nature that we are free to reinvent it very mo rning.Bhaskar added that Rom and Charles are not postmodernist; they do not believe reality, as such, is a social construct. But in their Social Constructivism , their views on social existence reduces to conversation or people. They have given example that one thing can be dependent on multiple factors i.e. Does the food depend just on cook? No. It depends on various factors like utensils, ingredients, resources that he/she is given by the authorities, to which Bhaskar added that the cook must have made more tastier food if there would have been more budget. Here, Bhaskar wanted to prove a point that we are constrained by various factor and we can do better without constraints. Bhaskar then dialect Rom and Charles idea of reinventing society. He criticized that why Rom and Charles do not reinvent a better kind of society if its so easy? He then further explained with an example of Oxford College, that how fellows can decide how much wine they can drink and how much to store for the next year. By this he means how fellows can change rules time to time. But then an Oxford college is subject to government finance, if privately endowed, to stock market fluctuations. By this example Bhaskar describes how things can be controlled using constraints and how things would act as a very powerful constraint. Bhaskar further explains social structure and causal powers. He explains how agent, factor or vehicle, anything that influences the course of events in some way, is the criteria for causality. He added the people are very special but what people can do in a particular social context must be examined scientifically. He says we should accept the constraining structures if we want human freedom and we should not deny it. To this, Bhaskar dialect Roms statement that social structures cannot be reproduced except by human activity. He further asserted what Rom has said is a fundamental principal and is common to both his(Bhaskars) transformational model of social activity and Giddens theory of structuration. But there is an important difference between the two models in morality of which cannot be equated, which Maggie Archer in particular has pointed out. Bhaskar, regarding his transformational model asserts how we, humans are shackled of doing anything new and are beset by the preexistin g structures, that restrain us. He asserted that fundamental Aristotelian model of society is correct. Efficient causality presupposes material causality; it presupposes a pre-existing material cause. And how we are heavily burdened by cruel presence of the past in this social world. He then talks about the one which validates Rom and Charless model, is, the birth of a baby, coming out of the womb, but that too, pre-existing life in the womb and out of the womb as well, pre-exiting thing are ready, fixed, pre-given. Bhaskars statement that at any moment of time we are heavily constrained by preexisting structures is a right theory From Bhaskars point of view, Charles account of relationship between people and organism lacks the concept of emergence. He stated, people are organism, but there is one thing that differentiate people from being an organism only, emergent powers. In Bhaskars word People are organism, but they are organism with emergent powers. He added that our society too, have emergent powers of human behavior to understand the society better but then everything eventually ends up with his former notion, everything is pre-existing human behavior. In this para, Bhaskar explains how humans are emergent from the animal world and human power are the ingredients in the animal world, thats what make us human, thats why we are humans. Bhaskar describes that there is a plausibility of good society, we have to strive and fight for making one. Bhaskar concluded that they might come to agree upon in terms of substantive proposals. But Rom and Charlie thinks that we have already achieved social construct but they do not know how we did it. Whereas Bhaskar thinks that there is a lot more hard work to do. And it is something humanity may or may not obtain contingently. But it is there as a task and moral imperative.

Electoral College Essay -- Political Science

According to critics, the Electoral College is a faulty system that should be abolished and replaced by direct election. Supporters of the Electoral College system make convincing arguments that it is the best system to decide the Presidential election in a complex society such as the United States. Many scholars place the Electoral College into a historical context by discussing its evolution and sustenance throughout the history of the United States. This paper will discuss the main arguments made by supporters of the Electoral College System. I will first provide a description of the Electoral College and offer justifications as to why it was conceived by the Founding Fathers. Next, I will present major arguments from the critics of the Electoral College. In the third section, I will present the findings from proponents of the Electoral College. Finally I will conclude by synthesizing the arguments made by both opponents and proponents; I also will present research questions that were raised while working on the paper; and finally, I will stress the importance of the Electoral College and explain why I think it is the best system we have to elect the President. The Electoral College system is a body of electors who formally elect the United States president and vice president. It was one of the most difficult agenda items in the 1787 Convention, where delegates were trying to create a fair and equitable way of selecting our President. As we would expect, there were numerous suggestions. For example, some delegates urged that the President should be selected by the Legislature while opposing delegates, in favor of direct election, believed that the Presidents loyalty would be to the Legislature instead of being independent in... ...ring Constitutional Conflicts. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. . 9. Haas, Karen L. "2010 Election Results and Vote Counts." Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. 3 June 2011. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. . 10. Reed, Lawrence W. "Keep the Electoral College!" [Mackinac Center]. 6 Mar. 2001. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. . 11. Vita, Matthew, and Helen Dewar. "The Framers, Federalism, and One Person, One Vote." JSTOR. 17 Nov. 2000. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. . 12. Longley, Robert. "Why Keep the Electoral College?" About.com US Government Info. US Government Info. Web. 29 Apr. 2012. .

Graduation Speech: Im Ready for High School :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Wow, three years have passed and the last day is just as long as the first. Three years of hard discipline and learning to get used to homework every night. Three years of standing on the front steps waiting for my parents and saying goodbye to my teachers. I never thought the goodbye might be permanent. 6th grade came and I was looking up at those giant 8th graders, and now I guess I’m one of them. 6th grade, and I was saying hello, and now 8th grade has come and it’s gone from introductions to goodbyes as my last days as a middle school student wind down. 8th grade, 8th grade from the opening day to the signing of the yearbooks. This is the year of memories, goodbyes, and regrets. 8th grade and I’m still realizing that there are people in the world that would die to go to a school like this. A school where every body knows everyone’s name, respects everyone, and where violence and fighting are about as common as the Yankees missing the playoffs. When I’m done with my homework and go to bed, as the days of 8th grade wind down, summer will come and go, and I will find myself in one of those giant, scary places called high school. The first time I heard C.R.I.S.P. all I could think of was my mom’s rich apple pies. Now C.R.I.S.P. has more of a meaning. Every day I see C.R.I.S.P. in the hallways and classrooms, not only on the walls but among my fellow students. Everyone wants to help each other out because that’s the way we work here. Everyone tries hard to do their best and be the best person they can be. Looking back on my three years at Twin Cities Academy, I find myself wondering how all these years came and went so fast. I still watch myself walking through the same halls and sitting in the same classrooms as I did back in 6th and 7th grade and I’ve seen myself grow so much, mentally, socially and physically. I still remember everything that has happened throughout my years, the best of times, and the worst. So here I am, not sure if I’m trying to stretch out my final days in a school that has taught me so much, or waiting for a 90-day-straight school-free period. I guess I want to savor these final days with some students that I just met, and some that I’ve known for 3 years because this may be the last time that I see them.

The Importance of an Ant :: Personal Narrative Ants Essays Insects

The Importance of an Ant I gaze carefully. My little red friend scrambles across my keyboard. Amazing, all those limbs and joints bending and stretching in a rhythmic fluidity, tiny feelers waving excitedly. He approaches a friend, and they tap each other in friendly camradrie, perhaps even love. He waves in understanding and he is off again, this time swiftly scampering toward the Collegiate Coupon book sitting on my desk. He surges upwards a few millimeters and slips into the crack between the pages. Okay. So my desk isn’t exactly Walden Pond. The last time I saw leaves change color in here was when my plant died last year. And there certainly are no long lines of wisdom-seekers at my door searching for inspiration. But the ants don’t care. They simply go about their business, whatever it may be. I used to think their existence was pointless. Now I know it is. They spend their lives migrating from the radiator to my computer and back. I have no idea what they could possibly eat in my room, unless they somehow discovered how to eat through the canned kidney beans or the dried pasta stored under my bed. Even their movements have no purpose. I watch in stupefaction as they turn around at least ten times while traveling a mere six inches. Maybe the most pitiful thing is that the ants have no individual identity. â€Å"Oh, that ant! The red one with the three body segments and the six legs. The one that likes to scurry. Why didn’t you say so?† Have you ever seen an ant smile? Have you swapped stories with an ant over a warm cup of cocoa? Do the ants that live by the Great Pyramids or by the Taj Mahal appreciate these wondrous monuments? Do they feel sympathy for the victims at the World Trade Center? No. My little friends just continue to walk around aimlessly. They are born in obscurity and they die in obscurity. Unlike ants, humanity has achieved greatness. We marvel at the intellect of Leonardo da Vinci or the musical genius of Beethoven.

Steinbeck presents Crooks

Steinbeck presents Crooks as practical and intelligent. This is shown in chapter in the passage â€Å"rubber boots† â€Å"alarm clock† and the â€Å"California Civil Code† book. The books show he reads and cares about his Rights. It also shows that he is practical and active with his alarm clock. It can alternatively mean that he has to be Intelligent to protect himself from getting beaten by the boss If he is late to which he needs to be protecting himself from horse manure.Also with the Californian civil code to be mauled† suggests he attacked the book with anger which could show a bitter hatred the way that people like him are treated Ilke outsiders causes him to lament his loneliness even in his home state. Steinbeck also presents Crooks as permanent and doesnt move around with evidence supporting this Is, â€Å"battered magazines and a few dirty books on a special shelf over his bunk. It show how he gets beaten down by loneliness and prejudicial treat ment of that he Is the only black man on the ranch. The word â€Å"special shelf† suggests the organisation In his home showing that he Ilkes o be stationary and kept whereas it could also mean he has to stay there by the boss and also live alone rather than mixing with white people so Crooks has to live alone and makes full use of living in the barn.B) His character shows us how coloured people were treated in the 1930's. It tells us that they were treated as second-class citizens and weren't worthy to share anything with non-coloured people, we know this due to Crook's having â€Å"his bunk in the harness room†, I think that it is because his boss doesn't think it's right for Crook's to share a bunkhouse with the other men n the ranch, so Crook's is forced to sleep in the barn.Shows how everyone targeted him as inferior because of the colour of the skin. The separation of his bunk implies that because of his skin colour no one wants to sleep in the same room as him a s they think that Crooks isnt worthy of living with them and so they show their racial hatred towards him by their abuse in calling him a â€Å"Nigger†. Due to this, Crooks could turn to books for company which are the only thing that does not consider him as an outcast.

Reflection on Chronicles of a Death Foretold

Reflection The cultural and historical context of Marquez life played an important role in his novel Chronicles of a Death Foretold. In the 16th century, Spain colonized many parts of South America and replaced the native religion with Catholicism. While the indigenous cultural practices celebrated openness about sexuality the orthodox Catholic ideals of chastity and purity that penetrated into the local tradition during colonization.The archaic perception of honour was founded on the grounds of the Catholic ideals and it promoted gender inequality and organized crime cultures promoted violence. Marquez offers a critique of the religious system when he describes the arrival of the Bishop who is representative of the power of the Church. In preparation of the Bishop’s arrival the town prepared many cocks which are rather a physical offering to the Church rather than a spiritual offering.The state’s inability to act upon the Vicario’s brother’s action is a M arquez’s critique of the decadence of the Old Christian value system. Father Amador does not condemn the Vicario brothers for their actions but instead he says that they are forgiven on the bases of acting to avenge their sister’s honour. The mayor is also unable to take action and he simply takes away their knives. We also explored the influence of Marquez’s life on his style of writing.The influence of Marquez’s grandmother on his style of â€Å"realism† was also explored. Marquez’s grandmother’s way of telling unlikely stories as if they were facts influenced his style in Chronicles of a Death Foretold. The murder of Santiago Nasar remains a complete mystery until the end of the novel and the episodes that unfold in the story seem extremely unlikely however; the death was accepted by the reader because of factual tone in which it was told. Word Count: 298 Dissociating the allusion elements from their referents