Symbols Emphasizing The Importance Of Sacred Representations

Throughout most of documented history women of all cultures and civilizations have lived under patriarchal circumstances. In almost every religion and civilization women's status was not equal to that of a man's. Women in most cultures are looked at as subservient, obedient creatures that were put on this world for very few reasons, mainly to bear children and do what their husbands require of them. In fact, religions are a big part of the reason of this oppression due to the religion's reinforcement and justification of patriarchal conditions. In this week's selected readings from different aspects of Islamic, Byzantine Christian, and Western Christian cultures, it is very apparent as to how these three religions did reinforce and

Throughout interpretations of Genesis one to three, there are a number of issues that repeatedly relate to gender. The issues start at the time God creates men and women in the image of God. Both should be equally existed, but different religions have different points of view and prove the inequality of men and women through multiple theories. Nevertheless, there are also some concepts are introduced to balance the inequality of men and women. Thus, Adopting attitudes regarding social roles to demonstrate relationships between men and women cultivate a context for norms that are highly diversified. In this essay, Philo of Alexandria feature a prominent opinion of gender hierarchy in terms of Allegory, while the Malleus Maleficarum authors justify

Just as Pygmalion sculpts Galatea, man sculpts the idea of woman. The consequence of this is that man perpetuates the idea of womanhood, and women obey it. Beauvoir encourages women to fight against this idea of womanhood, arguing that “To pose women is to [deny]… that she is a subject, a fellow human being” (De Beauvoir). Most people unfortunately do not fight back against this idea of womanhood, and remain passive to it.

Simone de Beauvoir was an existential theorist; she recognized and discussed the role of women in society today. Beauvoir believed that women react and behave through the examination of male opinion; she believed that women are somewhat confused and unable to separate their true character from that character which, is expected of them. In this inability, women are unable to create their own identity; they are too focused on meeting the expectation men have created. However, while pursuing this expectation, women fall further behind in the pursuit of equality. “And why don't you write? Write! Writing is for you, you are for you; your body is yours, take it. I know why you haven’t

According to Christian Scripture, women are presented as equal to men. This essay will show that the Christian Scriptures routinely outline parallel expectations for both genders, that the content of these expectations fail to promote one gender as superior to the other, and that the equality of men and women is made possible because of a common identity in Jesus Christ.

She then introduces the independent woman who is included many times and suffers from an inferiority complex. The independent woman is conscious but it is more difficult for women to establish relations with the other sex. This leads to many frustrated women. There is also more risk for women during/after intercourse. For example, they are more susceptible to contracting a disease, they face danger of conception, and have less physical strength than men. The identification of an independent woman allows other women to have an outlet to their inner feeling and can feel encouraged that a female philosopher is acknowledging them. In a time of females constantly being oppressed, Beauvoir gave a voice and face to consciously aware, independent women. Despite their mindsets, even independent women lack sexual equality. With the way society is set up, it is almost impossible for women to be equal sexual beings. According to Beauvoir, men want to conquer, and women must to passive. This theme of domination is evident through the relationship between men and women. Women have different expectations in a relationship than man, and it is pleasure that joins her with man, but separation that damages her. The expectations women have in relationships, and differences of risk with sex, prevent her from being an equal sexual being to

Women are objectified Others. The Second Sex written by Simone de Beauvoir explores the oppression of women forced into the role of an object, while men are the subject. In the second chapter “The Girl”, de Beauvoir studies the idea of this oppression during the transition from a girl to a woman. She coins the term of the Other to explain the phenomenon of female inessentiality and persecution. The Other is an opponent of a female’s sovereignty and limits freedoms. Simone De Beauvoir expounds a girl’s transition into an inessential object to men through the motif of the Other to demonstrates women’s role during first wave feminism.

“She is defined and differentiated in relation to man and not he in relation to her; she is the inessential confronting the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute-she is the Other” (502). Beauvoir’s argument throughout The Second Sex is this, that women are seen simply second creatures to “he,” essentially, men in general. At the end of the “Myths” chapter she states: “Perhaps the myth of woman will someday be extinguished; the more women assert themselves as human beings, the more the marvelous quality of the Other will die out in them. But today [in 1949] it still exists in the heart of every man” (505).

Inspired by the religion of Buddhism, a way of living based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, I decided to construct a sacred symbol and create a clay model for my Part C artefact. The Sacred symbol I have decided to recreate is inspired by Buddhapada (the Buddha’s footprint) and is significant to the religion.

The masculine symbolic world, therefore, denies woman’s subjectivity and shut her up, so she is considered as unspeakable and speechless, hence she must either babble or remain silent. With this intention, the woman becomes the “other”, but she is not the other as the term literally means, she is the other of the same (man), she is simply a eunuch. In this way, she is conceptualized by the masculine language as passive, object of desire, and never conceived as a desiring subject, she exists only in-between, and her only way to existence is through man, so he becomes essential once again. In addition, due to the growing sense of fear of castration the male child becomes more associated with the phallic order, whereas the female child continues to identify with her mother’s pre-linguistic language, for this reason, Lacan believes that girls acquire a different language than boys, a language that is primitive and silent like the “womb world” of the mother. Women’s language consequently remains strange and undeciphered by men and is thus repressed and silenced by the male discourse.

This extents into the Victorian times, where women 's rights and privileges were often limited. Coming into the 20th century, Atwood suggests that women were treated with more respect and they had ‘equal rights’ to men, when in actual fact they didn’t. The bible plays a significant role in this theme, as it underpins the fact that the men are there as defenders for the women, they are also the ones that provide for the women, this sees the woman as the weak one who serves only one purpose.

De Beauvoir’s “Woman as Other” lays out an elaborate argument on gender inequality; using the term “other” to establish woman’s alternate, lesser important role throughout her work, the author dissects and examines from its origin the female’s secondary position in society in contrast to man. Indeed, from the beginning of recorded history, the duality of man, by definition, positions woman at the opposing end of the spectrum in relation to her male counterpart. Even by today’s modern and accepting standards, the female suffers under the brand of being the sub-standard half of the duality equation; compared to her male opponent, women are paid lower wages, have fewer and limited expression of rights, achieve lower

However, in the case of the narrator, oppression through class and oppression through gender are cumulative and mutually reinforcing. Secondly the novel draws attention to the social construction of subjectivity; it traces the social and cultural factors which lead the narrator to internalise an oppressive model of class and gender relations. The book ‘Les Armoires Vides’ offers no recommendations for the struggle against oppression, the only position which it establishes for the reader is one of contestation. As a cultural representation of female subjectivity, it has a part to play in the construction of the readers own subjective awareness: if the novel enchances the reader’s sensitivity to the multi-faceted nature of social oppression, and her capacity to resist the pervasive influence of oppressive ideologies of class and gender, then its value to feminism seems

Lastly, “femininity” refers to behavioural activities or interests that are assigned to the female sex, such as cleaning and cooking (Beauvoir, 617). Although many critics have read her text and become confused due to her stylistic choice to fuse her voice with the voices of famous men, it can be said that the text ultimately leads the reader to begin to question what society sees as a woman (Zerilli, 1-2). Despite Beauvoir’s The Second Sex appearing to recognize the oppression of women throughout the world without giving an actual solution, I will argue that Beauvoir’s evaluation of each “natural” aspect of female oppression allows readers to recognize that the only thing holding themselves back as a woman is society’s unnatural definition of their body, relation to men, and personal freedoms. Of course, when it comes to one's freedom, it is difficult to obtain when your body feels like a

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all share a conception of a God who supposedly transcends gender, though the sacred texts of these faiths present God using male pronouns and masculine imagery. This masculine portrayal of God not only has the theological consequence of contradicting doctrine, it also alienates women. However, each faith faces unique challenges. Even though Jews and Christians use male God-language, Christians must grapple with the physicality of Jesus’ sex. Furthermore, unlike God in Judaism and Christianity, Allah in Islam is not as clearly understood in masculine terms. Nevertheless, a feminist response to these issues encompasses using gender dynamic language to describe God and expanding the institutional roles of women in these religions.