Same Sex Marriage Essay Example for Free

Same Sex Marriage Essay Nancy Gill has been working for the American Postal office for almost 23 years but unlike other employees who can provide health benefits for their families, she cannot provide the same for her spouse because of one reason – she is married to a woman. Gill and her spouse, Marcelle Letourneau were married in Massachusetts in 2004 and now, they are challenging the federal law Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA that â€Å"defines marriage as a being between a man and a woman† (Seelye). The couple are backed up by Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders together with 15 other couples who also complained about DOMA. The same sex couples are fighting against DOMA because they claim that DOMA makes same sex marriage look very immoral. Also, it gives a big burden on same sex couples because â€Å"ended up hurting such couples by making them pay twice for health insurance, for example, or denying them death benefits† (Seelye). The Obama administration disagrees with DOMA but as of the moment, there is nothing drastic they can do about it because it is not unconstitutional. The issue here is not whether to allow same-sex marriage; five states and the District of Columbia have allowed it but it does not change the fact that couples in same sex marriages are left out of the benefits that the typical heterosexual couple receives. As one may notice, same sex marriages are not legal in all the parts of the United States. Only some states have approved of it and as of the moment, same sex marriages are not really prioritized by law as seen in the article. They are not given the same benefits as normal couples. Anthropology is useful in the subject of same sex marriage because the study of anthropology has documented the development of same sex marriage from all over the world. For example, it is only in some societies that same sex marriage is allowed such as Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium (Haviland et al, 20). Anthropology tells us that the development of same sex marriage is different depending on the society because â€Å"it is human societies that define the boundaries of social relationships† (20). According to many feminist anthropologists, the reason why same sex marriage is not readily acceptable in the society of the United States is because the societys has allowed men to dictate on the womens sexuality and make rules for it (Lewin et al, 71). That kind of society is called patriarchal and in that society, men use sexuality as a tool to dominate and oppress women through sexual objectification (71). From the feminist perspective, sex, marriage and family were all tools used by men to limit women to heterosexuality and as a result, under the male power. Anthropologists point out how males dominate the females in many aspects of culture and society. Examples of these are â€Å"arranged and child marriages, brideprice, foot-binding, purdah (the segregation of women from men typical in some Islam societies), veiling, the chastity belt, clitoridectomies, and female infanticide† (71-72). Practices like these are made by society to make sure that women are always paired up with men. That is how men dominate women in society through major and minor cultural and societal practices. Given this information, it is not a surprise as to why same sex couples are having a hard time attaining rights that are equal to the typical heterosexual marriage or marriage to the opposite sex. As stated above, DOMA dictates that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, not a union of two men or two women respectively. DOMA is a law created by the government, a patriarchal institution. The government patronizes heterosexual unions, which is a political institution in itself. Heterosexuality is a â€Å"political union that makes women less powerful† (71). Society goes by heterosexuality and dictates that women should always end up with men. The fact that there are more women nowadays who are open to same sex marriages is a threat to the political institutions because women, after all, can have the freedom to choose whether or not they would like to marry and who they will marry. This fact is unacceptable to society because it does not agree with the rules of societal relations that have been established. If one goes back to history, marriage in most cultures have always been known to be a union between a man and a woman. The union of two sexes is still highly unthinkable for many societies because in that union, most likely there is no more inequality between the two entities because they are of the same sex. Same sex marriage may be accepted in some states but it does not mean that it is warmly accepted. Life for same sex couples is still difficult because society sees it as a breaking away from the norms. Same sex unions are making progress in gaining acceptance but they still have a long way to go. After all, we are still governed by a patriarchal society. sWorks Cited Haviland, William et al. The Essence of Anthropology. California: Thomas Wadsworth, 2007. Lewin, Ellin Leap, William, eds. Out in Theory: The Emergence of Gay and Lesbian Anthropology. Illinois: University of Illinois, 2002. s Seelye, Katharine. â€Å"Marriage Law is Challenged as Equaling Discrimination. † New York Times,May 6, 2010. http://www. nytimes. com/2010/05/07/us/07doma. html. Accessed

Change Blindness Essay -- Health Medical Medicine Essays

Change Blindness After investigating spatial cognition and the construction of cognitive maps in my previous paper, "Where Am I Going? Where Have I Been: Spatial Cognition and Navigation", and growing in my comprehension of the more complex elements of the nervous system, the development of an informed discussion of human perception has become possible. The formation of cognitive maps, which serve as internal representations of the world, are dependent upon the human capacities for vision and visual perception (1). The objects introduced into the field of vision are translated into electrical messages, which activate the neurons of the retina. The resultant retinal message is organized into several forms of sensation and is transmitted to the brain so that neural representations of given surroundings may be recorded as memory (2). I suggested in my previous paper that these neural representations must be maintained and progressively updated with each successive change in environment and movement of the eye. Furthermore, I claimed that this information processing produces a constant, stable experience of a dynamic, external world (1). However, myriad studies and the testimony of any motorist who has had the unfortunate experience of hitting an unseen object, contradict the universality of that claim and illuminate a startling reality: human beings do not always see those objects presented in their visual field nor alterations in an observed scene (3,4,5,6,7,8,9). The failure to consciously witness change when distracted for mere milliseconds by saccade or artificial blink events is referred to as "change blindness." In order to comprehend this phenomenon, the physical act of looking and the process of seeing must be diffe... ...47/print 5)Cognet, a site on Cognition http://cognet.mit.edu/perspective/item.tcl?msg_id=00005N 6)Memory For centrally attended changing objects in an incidental real world change, An article by Levin, Simons, Angelone, and Chabris http://wjg.harvard.edu/~cfc/Levin2002.pdf 7) Scott-Brown, K.C. & Orbach, H.S. (1998) "Contrast Discrimination, Non-Uniform Patterns and Change Blindness". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. 256 (1410): 2159-2164. 8)Max Planck Institute http://wjg.harvard.edu/~cfc/Levin2002.pdf 9)A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness , Behavioral and Brain Sciences article from 2001 http://www.bbsonline.org/documents/a/00/00/05/06/bbs00000506-00/index.html 10)Glasgow Caledonian University, current research in vision sciences http://www.gcal.ac.uk/sls/Vision/index.htmlresearch/current_research/h.html

Compare and Contrast ‘Sonnet 130’ with ‘Blessing’

Compare and Contrast ‘Sonnet 130’ with ‘Blessing’ In this essay I am going to discuss and explore ‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare and ‘Blessing’ by Imtiaz Dharker. I will focus on the differences and similarities between both poems in terms of language, themes and poetic devices. I feel that ‘Sonnet 130’ seems to imply the fact that Shakespeare is insulting his Mistress. He does so by saying what she is not. He says negative things about her appearance and voice. The ‘Blessing’ poem is about people and children in a slum and their reaction towards water.They believe it as the ‘Voice of a kindly god’ because they hardly get any water in the slum. Water is rare to them. The poems are similar in that they are both descriptive poems. The ‘Blessing’ by Dharker describes how the people in the slum would react and feel if there was a sudden outburst of water. As I have mentioned befor e water is rare to them and they feel it is a gift from god. We know this because in the poem it says ‘imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god. In this stanza he is describing how rarely they get water and how much they believe just the sound of it makes them feel like it’s the sound of a kindly god. However, in ‘Sonnet 130’ Shakespeare is describing his mistress and how awful she looks and sounds. We know this because in Sonnet ‘130’ he says ‘I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses do I see in her cheeks. ’ By this line he is stating that ‘damasked roses’, meaning large and fragrant roses, are not what his Mistress’ cheeks are like.Another example is ‘And in some perfumes there is more delight, than in the breath that from my mistress reeks’. Shakespeare is saying that in perfume there is more delight in smelling it rather than his mistress’ breath which he says reeks-foul smelling. A difference between the two poems in terms of language is that Shakespeare uses old English as he was a poet, playwright in the 16th and 17th century whereas Dharker is a more of a modern day poet. For instance ‘That music hath a far more pleasing sound’. In this line Shakespeare uses the word ‘hath’ which is the old English word for ‘has’.But Dharker uses words that are from the modern day. Another similarity between the two poems is that both poems use enjambment. In Shakespeare’s sonnet the enjambment falls between the lines ‘And in some perfumes there is more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. ’ After the word ‘delight’ the rest of the sentence is on another line. Then after the word ‘reeks’ there is a fullstop where the enjambment ends. A difference between both the poems is that Dharker’s poem is a normal poem and Shakespeare’s poem is a sonnet.A sonnet is a poem with fourteen lines that has a unique rhythm called an iambic pentameter. However Dharker’s poem is a normal poem that describes people’s reaction to water in a slum. Similes are used in both these poems. A simile is when you compare one thing to another thing that is common and easy to picture in your mind. In other words a good poetic device used to create an image in your head. In ‘Blessing’ Dharker uses the simile ‘The skin cracks like a pod. ’ Dharker means that, because there is hardly ever any water in the slum the ground cracks like a pod.By using a simile he has compared the ground to something common and created an image in my head. Shakespeare uses many similes in ‘Sonnet 130’. One of many examples is ‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’. He is saying that his mistress’ eyes aren’t shiny and beautiful like the sun in fact they are the complete opposite. Both poems also use metaphors. A metaphor is a poetic device that is used to compare two things. It does so by comparing something to something else that is literally not possible. For example in Shakespeare’s poem he says ‘Coral s far more red, than her lips. ’ Shakespeare is explaining that his mistress’ lips are nothing like the coral. He is comparing it to coral because coral is red and having red lips is good but his mistress does not have nice lips. In ‘Blessing’ a example of a metaphor is ‘naked children screaming in the liquid sun’. By the words ‘liquid sun’ she means they feel as if heat is being poured over them and that’s why they have been longing for water. The theme of the poem ‘Blessing’, meaning the central idea or the main focus, is how people and children feel and react when they see water.It also focus’ on why they react this way an d how they feel when water is not there and how they are praying for it and when they finally do get water, they feel as if their prayers have been answered. We know this because in the second stanza they say ‘imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god. ’ This stanza is explaining that when they hear the sound of water they feel as if it is the sound of a kindly god. However the theme of Shakespeare’s poem is totally different to the theme of ‘Blessing’. The theme of Shakespeare poem is him insulting his Mistress and how grotesque she looks.We know this because in his sonnet all of his lines are insults. For instance, ‘If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. ’ He says that, if wires could grow on people’s heads then that is what is growing on his Mistress’ head. Overall I think that both these poems have used a range of poetic devices. There stanzas and line are relevant to their theme. I have discovered that both poems have a number of similarities and differences between them. They both have a good use of imagery and they are easy to understand. By Geerthana Sankar 8GR1 6C

Declaration On The Elimination Of Violence Against Women...

United Nations in Article 1 - Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines domestic violence as any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.[1]. As was ruled by the Supreme Court in Section 177(1) of the Housing Act, domestic violence can occur psychologically, physically or emotionally and also any other form of abuse which, directly or indirectly, may give rise to the risk of harm [3]. As reported in the Fornah case [4], common violent acts include Female genital mutilation, forced marriage, forced prostitution and sexual slavery. Mental violence also is now recognised as a form of violence as was established in Yemshaw v Hounslow London Borough Council [5]. Domestic violence is wrongly associated mostly with the female gender due to historic gen der-based discrimination as mentioned by Bonita Meyersfeld in [2]. This is not usually the case, as children and men also have been victims of violence even in recent times. In 2012/13, figures from England and Wales confirm that domestic violence is of significant importance both in the domestic and international law. It showed that there were 1.2 million female and 700,000 male victims of domestic abuse. The data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales suggests that thirty percentShow MoreRelatedThe International Context Of Violence Against Women Essay1089 Words   |  5 Pagesatrocities being perpetrated against women in various forms, combinations and modes. 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