Paper Example on Women in the USA: Improving Social and Economic Status

Forum #1

The social and economic status of women in the USA has not been steadily eroded in the recent past in all sectors of the economy, and it has happened in other areas only. This makes the statement above incorrect because women in the USA have continued to engage in another pressing economic and social activities today than in the past. Current gender equality allows women and men to share equal opportunities in the USA, and this has led to the improvement of the social and economic status of women. Example showing how the status of women in the USA is declining includes removal or decline of some women's studies in recent years which reject the notion that knowledge can be minimized to a set of the personal level to support a given vision. Under the administration of Trump, the same decline is still experienced because the state has not re-introduced women studies in the undergraduate option to date and therefore, the same problem or challenge is still there. For that matter, it is challenging to generate even approaches that can be used in ensuring that the study of women has a program that relates to feminine and qualitative models that captures all disciplines. It must have approaches that support the inclusion of women in most functions and activities and ensure that there are standards of intellectual values that underpin the incorporation of women in most social and economic activities of the Government. I, therefore, believe that the Administration of Trump has not captured all these approaches to fully incorporate women in Government functions in the same proportion as their counterpart men.

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Forum #2 (250 words)

From Romack and Redden's article, I learned that women are still neglected in the world, or they are still under attack. The studies of women are under attack by removing essential programs that allow them to be in the Universities. Women are attacked by their counterpart the Government by not allowing universities to have plans that studies issues of women such as feminism. The Government is fighting the studies of women because they have the mandate of promoting the education of women and ensuring that women studies are part of the programs that universities have to promote feminism. The enemies of women are afraid of fierce competition and the promotion of gender roles in society, and this is likely to increase the dominance of women in Government programs. I have a negative opinion about this state of affairs as it is a form of discrimination against women, and it also does not allow the empowerment of women in society.

Forum #3.1 (250 words)

Intersexuality plays a significant role in helping society determines the sex of members of the nation. Intersexuality defines the role that particular sex plays. The community expects members of a specific gender to behave in a given way. In most cases, society has particular functions associated with given biological sex. Based on the gender of a person, the community expects how men and women should behave. Through the behavior of either women or men, it is easy to determine the sex of a person. The society ensured that the practice of either male or female is based on norms and standards which are created by the community. For example, the behavior of male that can be used in determining their sex is strength, aggression, and dominance. These qualities are essential when identifying the sex of a child or an adult, especially men. For that matter, male people are expected to have strength, more dominance, and aggressive as compared to their counterpart female. The sex of women is determined by checking attributes such as passivity, nurturing, and subordination. These qualities are the behaviors that society expects from women or female. They are therefore used in determining the sex of females in the community. The, therefore, uses intersexuality in determining the sex of a person because the society expects female and male to behave in a specific way district from one another. The community also requires female to do specific roles different from males. On that basis, they can identify the sex of a child or a person based on what someone does in society.

Forum# 3.2 (200 words)

I learned that some societies believe that there is a third gender or third sex. These societies have the assumptions that some individuals cannot be either be categorized as men or women. It is a social category where some people in the community are found to have both female and male sexual organs. I also learned that it is the only biology which can identify whether someone is male or female through the determination of chromosomal and anatomical sex. The natural result can produce three different outcomes, namely, male, female, and intersex. I also learned that society identifies an individual as either male or female through gender role associated with the culture of the people living within the community. I, therefore, think that the idea about the third gender is not a societal issue but a vital issue because it is not defined by cultural practice of a particular people. The classification of such people is based on sexual orientation but not on gender role as the society classifies people. I also think that the community also recognizes the third gender. This is because it expects men and women to behave in a certain way and those who do not express their gender in a manner that the society expects then or those who do not exhibit features that the community can use to identify them as either men or female can be categorized to fall under the third gender.

Forum 5.1: White Women and Donald Trump

Emma Blackett seeks to make a case for the degradation of women, race, and gender in her study about the way women voted during the election that saw Trump become president. The finding from the study suggests that more than half white women voters played a vital role in the election of Trump as the president of the United States, thereby illustrating the issue of race in the election. The point of demeaning women is seen as the decision by Blackett to highlight the misogynist character of Trump. Gender is seen in the fact that the researcher decided to focus on how women make political choices.

The analysis of Blackett has portrayed the demeaning of women, race, and gender as intersectional. Intersectionality holds that many factors are responsible for how a group of people is treated in society (Gopaldas, 2013). For the case of Blackett, she is making the statement that the issue of degradation of women in American culture through politics comes to a result of race and gender. This is to say that matters of race, gender, and politics 'gang up' to fight against the interests of women as seen in the election of Trump. The three issues are intersectional in the sense that each contributes to the discriminative and demeaning experiences that women encounter in their daily interactions in the US society.

Forum #5.2.2 (120 words)

Biopower is the power that the Government has over life. The appropriate example of biopower is biopolitics, which is a way of controlling the population of a given group through the exertion of state control. The most common example is the battle in the USA over women's reproductive rights, such as abortion and birth control. Women are forced by the Federal Government to control the number of children they give birth to (Apostolou-Holscher, 2014). The birth control that the Federal Government force women to practice is an example of biopower because it against the wish of some women. Another example is the political battle to have the Affordable Care Act, which can control the health condition of Citizens of the USA. The Act can make low-income Americans to have the opportunity to receive better healthcare and make the employers contribute a considerable amount of money to pay premiums to their employees.

Forum #6.1 (250 words)

I think that it is true that celebrity culture is both good for the cause of feminism and therefore, should be taken seriously even though it benefits the system that creates gender inequality. I believe that is true because celebrity women find that their inclusion and exclusion depend on the judgment of non- celebrity citizens who have the power to value them useful or worthless people in society. Celebrity can easily make women gain reputation and be seen as an essential person in the society. Women of more fabulous celebrity can use their power and popularity to spread the conversation that makes people believe that women are better than men thus causing feminism. Spreading the idea that females are innately not capable of making ethical judgments or logically unfit of public life is a way of inhibiting the progress of women through conversation, custom or opinion of other people but not biology. This kind of conversations can only be overcome through the use of celebrity to show the capability of women in the society. Through celebrity, it is also possible to understand the ability and potential of women in the society. Women celebrities who are good speakers can defend and protect the rights of other women and ensure that other members of the population respect women. I, therefore, believe that celebrity should be taken seriously not because of the benefits it gives to the system that creates gender inequality but because of its ability to cause feminism.

Forum #7.2: Objectivation and Sexualization of Women

The media has recently enhanced its activities of portraying women as sex objects in society. This is seen in the new venture of the media where young girls have also been included. The media sexualizes girls by advertizing products of children that pass sex messages. These messages are depicted in products like toys, games, and cartoon television programs. The other way that media objectifies girls is through celebrity models. The models promote the idea of specific shapes of girls desirable in society as girls.

Treating girls as adults through media has negative consequences. It increases the desire of girls to look like adults as well as live the lives adults do. If, for instance, and advert products that promote imagery suggestive of sex, such ads may make young girls begin on a discovery journey which can be harmful to their reproductive health. The desire for discovering oneself may make girls adventurous, which can, in turn, expose them to sexual activities, thereby endangering their health. Women suffer low self-esteem and, in many extreme cases, depression due to the struggle to portray the image that is promoted by the media. The struggle to weigh a certain amount of weight or have a particular body shape is the ideal image of a woman put women under great stress to achieve such objective (Szymanski, Moffitt, & Carr, 2010). This affects the health of women adversely, preventing them from leading a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. Above all, objectification degrades women. It promotes a notion that the role of women in society is to fulfill the desires of others, especially men, which is not the case.

Forum #8.2 (180 words)

It is dangerous to deny rape culture. Denying rape culture is like saying that every interaction should be considered as rape. Because rape culture involves activities such as street harassment, gender norms, and media, it is wrong to punish someone for participating in such activities. Denying rape culture is like inhibiting people from watching media that reveal the body of women for their pleasure, and this is a way of denying someone his or her freedom. At the same time, it reasonable for men to have sexual desire towards women as men who are not attracted to women proves their manhood by rejecting women. In the same note, women also expect women to put men's pleasure before them. Such narratives are ways which...