Review of the book Women in Ancirnt Egypt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Review of the book Women in Ancirnt Egypt - Essay Example One point that Gay Robins make that is not all Egyptian women looked like Cleopatra or Nefertiti. Just like not all American women look like models, Egyptian women came in all sizes, shapes, and could be ugly, plain, or beautiful. Most of the Egyptian art that is famous contains pictures of the powerful and beautiful women. However upon second glance of the Ancient Egyptian art, Robins gleans information about all Egyptian women. Instead of taking a patriarchal look at Ancient Egypt, because that was the view in which the written and art was made, Robins delves into the past like no other. Although describing common women, Robins also looks at women rulers and other royalty. She shows how these women rulers were placed on the level of a goddess. The royal women had influence, although not directly. A king’s wife, mother, or daughter could affect his decisions. This shows that even in Ancient Egypt women were strong influences on the men around them despite the male dominant role in this society. Priestesses were also examined in this book. After years of a male dominated society stating that priestesses were pagan and evil, Robins show how these women did fertility and other rituals. These priestesses were the religion in Ancient Egypt. They were honored and adored by many in order to have their wishes granted. It might have seem superstitious to the current audience, but many of today’s religions would seem superstitious to the Ancient Egyptians. Since Robins is examining Ancient Egyptian women through a woman’s perspective, issues concerning women are shown. Examples range from fertility to marriage. Other issues were jobs outside the home, incest, and children. Cosmetics used by Ancient Egyptian women were explained. Soap and hair removal products were also examined. All of these issues did not just affect men, but women as

Social Contract Theory and the Nature of Society, Rules and Morality Es

Social Contract Theory and the Nature of Society, Rules and Morality Social contract theory is a philosophy about the nature of morality and the origins of society. Its adherents believe â€Å"social organization rests on a contract or compact which the people have made among themselves† (Reese, 533). This concept was first articulated by the Sophists, who said societies are not natural occurrences but rather the result of a consensus of people (Reese 533). Plato expresses these ideas in The Republic when he says that society is created to meet human needs (Encyclopedia 1). Various other philosophers, including Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, Marsilius of Padua, and Richard Hooker, incorporated the concept of a social contract in their applications to political theory (Encyclopedia 1). None of these philosophers, however, made the social contract their primary focus. They included the theory as just one component of their main philosophies. It wasn’t until much later that social contract theory was developed as a unique and sep arate philosophy. The 17th Century British...

Beauty Pageants May Not Be Safe

In countries all around the world, beauty pageants are held as a long-standing tradition. Often, young women participate in these pageants. While pageants are said to present a sense of self-esteem and value for the participants, these competitions often cause damaging emotional issues for an already trying adolescent life. One young participant anonymously said, â€Å"I used to think I was pretty, but once I got on stage and didn't hear my name called the world came to an end and from then on, I've called myself ugly everyday† (Anonymous, 2010).When a girl feels as if she is being valued solely on her looks, she may change her personality and dietary habits to an unsafe level to continuously garner attention. The beauty pageant process is far from the safe harmonious competition it attempts to promote. As the rest of this essay suggest, damaging emotional scars often remain after the competitions are long gone, and pageants themselves harbor predatory dangers to young naive g irls. The first kind of emotional damage young girls face is an overemphasis on physical appearance and a willingness to maintain beauty at any cost.When a female participates in a beauty pageant, she is taught to win by looking attractive. These young girls are conditioned to believe that the only way to look pretty is to starve themselves so that they can achieve a ‘perfect figure’. Although there are many different types of eating disorders in the world, the biggest one of all for beauty pageants is anorexia. Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents (Mirasol). Outside of eating disorders, anxiety and stress are common for participants.In a 2009 interview on Good Morning America, Brooke Breedwell, a pageant queen at the age of five, now twenty, explained there was a price to pay, â€Å"Pageants have put a lot of stress and anxiety on my life I feel the need to be perfect at everything, and I know that's not realistic. You can't be perfect a t everything. † Brooke Breedwell also claimed her mother â€Å"pushed her too hard. † When a mother enters her daughter in a pageant she expects her to win.Most girls receive the ‘no other girl is your friend here’ speech, which cause them to be untruthful by offering fake smiles and false hugs around other participants. It also creates a distant form of interaction causing the females to be shallow, hyper-competitive adults who are never satisfied. The second kind of emotional damage young girls face is an uncharacteristically elevated ego for a teenage or even pre-teenage girl. When a female wins a pageant, she may conclude that she is better than everyone all of her peers.While some might believe it to be healthy to compete in pageants because it creates confidence and it builds character, it’s not. Pageants teach young girls that self worth is in physical beauty only. Parents encourage their daughters to compete in these competitions and do whate ver it takes to win. In some cases, mothers try to live vicariously through their daughter, by entering their daughter in such competitions. This confuses many girls because they don’t know if their mother is their coach or their parent.With young girls participating in televised beauty it is hard to keep pedophiles away. Some pedophiles are driven out to live their fantasies and with young girls on air exploiting themselves it’s easy too. When girls participate they put on clothing that is meant to look ‘sexy’ and ‘inviting’. Girls prance along a stage in alluring clothing welcoming anyone to watch. Girls in pageants have yet to develop their own sense of self and are conditioned to be more pleasing to adults for attention and rewards. An entire television show is dedicated to young girl’s beauty pageants.Each week, viewers are able to watch little girls dress up in bikinis, mini dresses, and other revealing clothing that their mothers choose for them to wear. In conclusion, beauty pageants cause self-hatred and uncertainty of a female’s own body, which could create shallow adults who are never satisfied. Carleton Kendrick, a family therapist says, â€Å"†¦the hard fact remains they are called beauty pageants and they have been and always will be based on using arbitrary standards of ‘beauty’ to make one contestant better than all the rest† (Kendrick).Beauty pageants can cause eating disorders and unrealistic expectations of a female’s own body. Beauty pageants can also cause a female to self-hate if she doesn’t win, or enlarge an ego to an unhealthy level. Unfortunately, if a child participates in beauty pageants that may air on television, anyone can watch including pedophiles. Females should love their own bodies and not care how others judge them upon their appearance.

Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1300 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/04/26 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Holocaust Essay Did you like this example? To study history means that one must come to terms that it is ridden with evils, most against groups of human beings. Between the late 1930s and mid-1940s, one of the worst examples of a Genocide in history had taken place in Europe. The Holocaust saw Nazis in Germany slaughtering around six million Jews and an overall total of almost eleven million human beings. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights" essay for you Create order The use of gas chambers and experiments to torture and kill these innocent lives were used to both mentally and physically wipe out a race of people. The Nazi Germans had many reasons, some clear and some complex to understand, in acting in the matter they did towards the Jews. Through different perspectives and testimonies, the culture of anti-Semitism, fear of superiors, and nationalism in Germany were all driving motivations of the perpetrators of the Holocaust. This analysis could thus help in understanding why more genocides and crimes against humanity occur to this day. The study of the Holocaust sees anti-Semitism as one of the greatest motives behind why the Nazi killed so many Jews. The hatred towards Jews stems from Adolph Hitler and his beliefs of what was wrong with Germany. He and many that followed him,associated the Jews with economic hard times and foreign oppressors, although they did not pose an actual threat to anyone (Niewyk 194). They forced the Jewish people to wear yellow stars to not be able to hide their identity, were herded into ghettos, and eventually shipped off to concentration camps with the intention to be killed. The Jews were not seen as humans but rather as outsiders that needed to be done away with in order to have the Germans rise and make society right again. Many Nazi officers were made to believe that, Jews were viewed as enemies of modernity and could never be truly part of what Nazi Germany was becoming (Jones 235). Germany, with the Nazis leading, could only see themselves going in a certain direction and revamping their economic and social climates. It was to be believed that the Jews were going to hinder this progression and a ction needed to be taken before they took over. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped away the rights of Jews and added more fuel that this race was inferior to the Nazi Germans (Jones 236). No longer was it just a group of people oppressing another group of people, but with laws and a whole country were behind them in progressing along. By taking away of rights and livelihood, the Nazi revealed that anti-Semitism was rooted in every discussion that was made towards the Jews. Anti-Semitism was only the tipping point in the motivations of the perpetrators of the Holocaust. Fear played an important role in the operations of Nazi Germany and in how they carried out their plans. Many of the guards and assistants of concentration camps felt pressured to commit the killings or to construct the places where Jews may be killed. This was due to the fact that some felt that if they did not comply with their superiors, they may be kicked out or meet their own deaths. The chain of command was not only something to be abided in Nazi society, but was used as a tool for getting subordinates to do actions that they may not morally want to do. Karl Schultze, an engineer of crematoriums, expressed that he,was afraid of losing my position and of possible arrest if he did not build these deadly structures (Handout). He was not only afraid of the Nazi superiors, but fearful of going against his country and what he believed and stood for. It could even be said that some guards and workers could have been victims themselves, as they were made to have no choices in what the horrors that were going on. This fear was used in order for Nazis of higher ranks to have tasks completed, even if they were cruel and unimaginably. They made it seem that if you were not with the Nazis, then you would also become an enemy against the German state. Unfortunately, nationalism also played a role in the Nazis perpetrators actions during the Holocaust. Nationalism is having pride in ones country, whether it is through ones ideas and beliefs or through someones actions. It may seem that having pride in one country would be a positive attribute, however, it has been used to manipulate mass amounts of people to think that something may be right when it is not. The Nazis in Germany were able to systematically kill so man y Jews due to using nationalism to motivate others to commit monstrous tasks. Engineer Fritz Sander testified that, I saw it as my duty to apply specialist knowledge in this way to help Germany win the war, when discussing the building of bigger crematoriums (Handout). Similarly, when testifying, SS Wilhelm Bahr explained that I only had orders to pour in the gas and I do not know anything about it (Handout). Engineers like Sander and Nazi officers like Bahr were some of many who followed blindly by whatever Nazi superiors told them. They did so as they believed they were doing what was good for the country and did not see a reason to question anything. This became an excuse to not face the fact that they were killing innocent people in order to appease a dictator, Adolph Hitler. Many knew what harm they were doing, but looked the other way as it wasnt a good enough reason to stop. Many saw that these,ordinary Germans easily became genocidal killers and did so even though they did not have to (Jones 251). Although the Nazi gave very little choice on what certain things they had people doing, some of these men could have morally realized and stopped and hopefully escaped. But the pressure from superiors and the fear of going against the country made men turn the other way and carry on, as if nothing evil was going on. Nationalism could be an extremely manipulative way to get people to do what they want and that is exactly what the Nazis did. The Nazi Doctors were some of the evilest and cruel perpetrators of the Holocaust. These doctors would perform experiments on prisoners in the concentration camps and had no regard as to who they were experimenting with. Many of these doctors did not see the Jews as real humans, but rather as objects to tinker with. Robert Lifton explained that They [the SS doctors] did their work just as someone who goes to an office goes about his work, making what they did seem normal (Handout). These doctors almost seemed to separate themselves, from the people they were in the concentration camps and the people outside of it. By normalizing what they were doing, it made it seem as if they were not bothered by the fact that they were mutilating and killing Jews (Handout). These doctors were also being asked to do these horrific things and if they didnt comply, they might f ace consequences like anyone else who goes against the superiors of the Nazis. Isabella Leitner, a survivor of Nazi Dr. Mengle, stated that you would never suspect the evilhe was the genius of death when describing how Dr. Mengle came off before the torture (Handout). These doctors came off as normal people, yet turned towards cruel and unimaginable actions to experiment and ultimately bring death to the Jewish people. Nationalism played a huge role in the psychology of the Nazi doctors. Many of these doctors were conducting experiments for the betterment of society and hopes to help with the war. Through this reasoning, many were blind to realize what damage they were doing, as they only wanted to complete their tasks and help the country.