I chose to watch Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love because although we covered some of the aspects of this topic in class, I thought it would be interesting to see a more visual interpretation of how the “art of love” is treated in India. The movie related directly to the readings from The Art of Tantra that we had in class. This relation in my opinion focused on religion and its connection to sexual intercourse, religious tradition when it comes to sex, and mutual cooperation between couples. While our lesson on the book Art of Tantra was relatively brief, thanks to Dr. Shaw it was very well put and we learned about the most important aspects of sexual union in the religion of Hinduism. Throughout the movie, there was a significant dominance of the overarching theme of sex and how it is both a way of connecting two people and separating them at the same time. We learned in class about just how powerful the power of sex is and what a woman is able to do with it. This interpretation in relation to Maya and how her sexual prowess made me think about the Devadasis and how they utilized their power but were shamed for it by missionaries and by their own people. In this same case, Maya was shamed for defying her own religious boundaries and being able to harness the art of sex into something that helped her get revenge on the individuals that she disliked. Even though king Raj wanted more than just sex with Maya, she would not give him her heart and devotion and in doing so she
In the Mayan Empire women varied according to class. The wealthy women had slaves and other servants who met their every need. Poor women like farmer’s wives had to cook, care for their children weave or sew and help their husbands grow crops. The wealthier women did not have any political power. Also these women could be used as pawns in marriage to secure better diplomatic relations between cities or between families, as was done in other societies at the time (Mahdavi, F.
Adhering to your religious and personal beliefs in a society where there have been generational shifts in attitudes toward nonmarital sex is challenging. These changes in sexual attitudes and behaviors are connected to growing cultural individualism in the United States. When a culture places more importance on the desires of the self and less on social rules, more relaxed attitudes toward sexuality are the almost inevitable result. You are faced with the decision of conforming to a society where the acceptance of premarital sex is at an all time high. Yet, your religion and personal beliefs have shaped your moral compass, which makes it evident that you do not wish to stray away from your decision of abstaining from sex until marriage. In efforts to assist you in effectively communicating your desires to your girlfriend we will evaluate your relationship through key communication concepts such as: culture, Social Exchange Theory, Social Penetration Theory, listening, and Self-Discrepancy Theory. .
When Maya has friends over she tries to keep them sheltered from that part of her life, because she doesnt want them to know about the kind of culture she belongs to. When you look out into the world many people relate to Maya, they all want to hide the kind of culture they grew up in and the kind of lifestyle they live in. These people will hide who they are on a day to day basis because of their culture. These people try to avoid the question “whats that” or “why is that hung up and what does it mean” or they just want to avoid being bullied because of
Two forces which gathered strength in the last half of the twentieth century now dominate the world religions at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The first is the globalization of religions and their resulting encounter with each other, and the second is the need to redefine attitudes toward gender as women have stepped forward to insist that their full humanity be acknowledged in the religious as well as the social realm.
For one thing, not only is Maya a girl, but she is an African American as well. This means there is the added factor of racism on top of society’s expectations for her. These two combined lead Maya to have very little self-esteem and confidence in herself. From a young age, she believed she was ugly, comparing herself to her brother Bailey saying, “When I was described by our playmates as being shit color, he was lauded for his velvet black skin” (22). She is constantly teased for her appearance because of her skin color, and believes the horrible things people say about her. Angelou shows us that the pressure from society to be attractive and beautiful suffocates her, and that she is under the belief that she is ugly for the majority of her childhood. This, along with her parents leaving her and her brother when they were only three and four respectively, makes Maya feel unwanted. Incidentally, it does not help when she notices a pattern for the heroes in the books she reads. Maya praises an author named Horatio Alger, claiming he was “the greatest writer in the world. His heroes were always good, always won, and were always boys” (75). Maya notices that heroes were always depicted as boys, and it makes her wish she had been born a boy as well. The lack of representation of female heroes makes her, and possibly many other little girls, feel as if there is no possible way they would achieve
At first glance, the documentary Meet the Patels could easily be billed as a real-life My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Centered on Ravi Patel – a first generation Indian-American man – and his quest for love, it certainly displays all the trappings and inner workings of a riveting romantic comedy. However, beneath the exterior mesh of a typical boy-meets-girl frame story, as well as Ravi’s interactions within his branch of the Patel clan, one can also detect various allusions to the struggles of American homosexuality and gay marriage within the plot.
This film showed the many different aspects of marriage and family in which we learned about in class. It gave examples of some types of marriages such as polygyny practiced in
Men and women cannot be friends because of sex. This is the premise of my favorite movie, When Harry Met Sally. When Harry Met Sally is a comedic movie directed by Rob Reiner, written by Nora Ephron, and staring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. I first watched When Harry Met Sally with my mother when I was eleven years old. Over 30 views and I am still in awe of this movie. I choose to focus my paper on this movie because of it qualifications that make it my favorite movie. When Harry Met Sally has a fantastic cast, great lines, and an intelligent premise. I intend to focus on the most iconic scene in this movie, the orgasm scene. This scene occurs while Harry and Sally are just friends and Sally is trying to prove a point about women to Harry.
Established with Adam and Eve, still surviving, marriage is the oldest institution known. Often the climax of most romantic movies and stories, whether it may be ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or ‘Dil Wale Dulhaniya Ley Jaein Gey’, marriage has a universal appeal. It continues to be the most intimate social network, providing the strongest and most frequent opportunity for social and emotional support. Though, over the years, marriage appears to be tarnished with high divorce rates, discontentment and infidelity, it is still a principal source of happiness in the lives of respective partners. Although marriage is perceived as a deeply flawed institution serving more the needs of the society than those of the individuals, nevertheless, marriage is
In the era, Maya grew up in men are considered accomplish and successful than a woman. Often women are homemakers with children based on the typical stereotype of what a woman supposed to be in society. Maya Therefore, Maya questions her sexuality after reading about lesbians because of her lack of interest in affection from men and appearances that isn’t considers a normal girl behavior. Maya had her first consensual intercourse with a classmate to ensure herself that she is normal, which result in her becoming a mother after she graduated high school. In her path of becoming a mother, she became better woman then the own mother because, unlike her mother, Maya raised her son as a single mother regardless of the outcome of her life. Therefore, Maya is also a great example of how much a woman can do even with a child. She never let the outcome of her life stop her from achieving greatness, showing that women don't have to sacrifice to achieve their goals. Maya learns to survive and thrive in a racist dominated society earning respect and title as an African-American and as a
Maya’s accomplishments as an excellent student show the idea that you must not let others opinions on who you are affect how you establish yourself. Maya always had good grades and proved herself, a smart young woman, even when she was constantly criticized by societal stigma as only a child, limited by the chains of segregation.
In traditional Western society, sexuality is defined, what is considered normal is established. Although, the borders of normalcy are being stretched with gay rights, a straight, monogamous relationship is still what is expected. A traditional Western relationship is built by spending time with your partner and sex is a form of shared intimacy. In stark contrast to traditional Western culture, Tayo has multiple encounters with Native American women, which quickly lead to sex. To a traditional Western perspective, sex seems to function like a handshake throughout Ceremony, it is a social convention. At a glance, there seems to be no emotional aspect because of the limited time spent together, but upon closer inspection there is a deep kinship and intimacy that goes beyond time. The women Tayo meets are not just for sex, they help him complete the ceremony of self-realization by playing the role of a guide. For Tayo, sexuality is a fluid and multicultural idea; there is not a clear line between what is and what it is not. Illustrating the limitations of normalizing sexuality. Both characters highlight the false dichotomy created through the process of normalization.
Today, romance is one of the most popular genres to watch on television. Unlike most, romance is a genre where the plot revolves around the love between two main characters as they experience the highs and lows of love. “Common themes that revolve around romantic movies are kissing, love at first sight, tragic love, destructive love, and sentimental love” (Taylor). These themes appear in many historical films and the pattern still continues in modern films as well. Watching romantic movies has a giant negative influence on the viewer's analysis of what love and relationships should really be like. These films give the wrong impression of reality when it comes to dating, marriage, having children, and even how to manage a relationship in
The poem “Sex Without Love” written by Sharon Olds is a poem about how people who do not love each other still manage to have sex. She begins with the question many people ask, “How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?”, which immediately gets readers intrigued and to contemplate the question at hand. The author’s use of imagery allows the reader to feel like he/she is actually experiencing the contemplation that Olds is experiencing. Many people argue that sex without love is not morally correct and that it can often give off a negative reputation for many people. However, some people believe the opposite and think that no prior connection is required to have sex. Sex is a very interesting topic because it stirs up many different conversations and opinions. According to Sharon Olds poem, people should have meaningful sex and connections with other humans rather than empty, careless relationships. Most people today prefer having the easy, casual relationship that does not require the extra work entailed in a loving relationship. Olds is able to use imagery, religion and metaphors to express her dislike towards loveless sex.
The Kama Sutra is compiled perhaps during the Gupta period in India (Crawford). During the Gupta period, the land of India is prosperous with a secured government as is reported in the account of travels by Faxian (Bentley and Ziegler 173). Nonetheless, the Gupta leaves the basic policy in social development in the hand of various religions in its country (Bentley & Ziegler 173). The prosperity of the country and the religious freedom leaves time for people to have deeper thoughts of goals in life and thus, creating many literature works involving society development. The Kama Sutra is written as a response to people’s wishes to know about how to satisfy their desire as an obligation to a life of Hinduism. In fact, The Kama Sutra portrays the goal of living the ideal holy life is to achieve Dharma (religion, truth), Artha (wealth, power) and Kama (love, sex) (Cohen). As the myth goes, Nandi, a pet of God Shiva, bestows Kama Sutra upon the human beings in order to teach them how to regulate themselves and how to pursue power in the righteous way. Later on, the Kama Sutra is compiled and written as texts by Vatsyayana (Cohen). The Kama Sutra lists the duties of both man and woman in achieving goals in life. A man is responsible to pursue his Dharma, Artha and Kama while a woman needs to stay beside her husband and support him. Indeed, the Kama