Human Rights: A Feminist Analysis

“The International Labour Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally. 68% of them are trapped in forced labor. 26% of them are children. 55% are women and girls.”(Polaris) 20.9 million victims, all over the world, mostly female, and portion of them children. All these people, these humans, innocent people just like everybody else, are steadily being forced into slavery, some right now.

Katha Pollitt, in her essay, “Marooned on Gilligan’s Island: Are Women Morally Superior to Men?” addresses the topic of how difference feminists actually weaken women. Difference feminists believe that women are morally superior to men. Pollitt was invited to sign a peace petition, but realized it was actually demeaning to women. Throughout her essay, Pollitt discredits several difference feminists by stating the flaws in their claims. The claims difference feminist make are such as the idea that all women are nurturers.

Although, not the entire series itself, but rather a specific piece, which states that all women are failures, otherwise they would have been men. With supporting evidence from Rebecca Solnit’s “The Longest War” which goes in depth about the unfair and unjust inequalities and brutality women face as being treated as a minority gender in the world of men. (Solnit 527) The message of this artifact is implying that women are incapable of success. Thus, perpetuating the social issue of sexism by assuming, and generalizing in the form of prejudice amongst an entire gender. Sexism is cruel, and undeserving for anybody let alone women.

About half of all South African teenagers aged between 15 and 19 reported having had sex. Teenage pregnancy is considered as one major distraction to the success of many girls’ education. Teenage pregnancy is a social problem with biological and physical consequences. Sexual education is now part of the learning area ‘Life Skills” in schools, but teenagers still fall pregnant because they are not open and lack transparency when discussing sexual matters. Teenage pregnancy has always been a medical problem no matter how many young girls are educated about sexual intercourse, condoms, contraceptives and HIV/AIDS.

This example can be compared to how in Waknuk mutations are thought to be a curse. It really shows that if you go against the things that society has developed to be acts of normality, you are labeled as not a human and are not treated like how humans should be. Lastly, a very common practice in Waknuk is sexism. Husbands have the choice of basically throwing out their wives if she gives birth to more than three children with mutations. Only the males are given high posts or authority and the women of Waknuk are always believed to be less superior than the males.

In his article Kimmel outlines why simultaneously being a man and a feminist produces resistance from other men and from feminist women as well. His explanations are spoken about as “fears of feminism” divided by gender. Kimmel sets up his argument by reminiscing about the two types of people that are offended by his work as a male feminist. One is the feminist who is determined to prove his intentions are patriarchal (60). Kimmel states he can guess that women may have the fear that all men are oppressors created by a patriarchal system, who all benefit from the system, and, therefore, are all the same (61).

Today, gender inequality still exists in the world. Specifically, today’s women are faced with sexist comments and attitudes from men that put women down. Therefore, it is important for both men and women to realize that they both are equal, even though men are more glorified than women. With

Week 8: How have feminist perspectives changed the way criminologists think about the causes of and responses to crime? Feminism is the belief than men and women should have equal rights and opportunities (White, Haines and Asquith, 2012). The feminist perspective is based on the notion that women are disadvantaged due to the structural position of men and women in society (White, Haines and Asquith, 2012). The feminist perspective argues that the justice system is bias towards men (White, Haines and Asquith, 2012). For many years, women have struggled with oppression and the fight for individual rights (White, Haines and Asquith, 2012).

Tyson writes that patriarchy is “sexist, which promotes the belief that women are innately inferior to men” (85). Although feminist don’t deny the biological differences, Tyson inserts, they do not agree that “physical, size, shape, and body chemistry make men naturally superior to women” (86). Tyson states that feminists argue mostly about the traditional gender roles that link to patriarchy casting “men as rational, strong, protective, and decisive” and “women as emotional (irrational), weak, nurturing, and submissive” (85). The patriarchal concept of femininity is linked “to frailty, modesty, and timidity” that “disempowers women in the real world” according to Tyson (88). A patriarchal woman is “a woman who has internalized the norms and the values of patriarchy” (85).

She eventually gets pregnant and suffers because she has to have an abortion. Charlies mom was beaten by her father when she was younger and she suffers because she can’t trust people because of her past. Lastly, Charlie’s new friends suffer because of their situation. Sam suffers because she has low self-esteem

By alluding to God, it poses a slight threat on men, saying that it is “self-evident” that these rights should be shared, not restricted to only one gender (para. 2). Stanton and Mott want women to know that because of the destructive and misogynistic nature of the men in government, because of the constant abuse and prejudice that has come from men in general, that if because this behavior is constant and growing in dangerousness, they have the right to “refuse allegiance” to said government (para. 2). It is unjust and discriminatory against women to deny the rights that should be fairly given to them since they are part of the government.

When they arrive they find themselves being victims of human trafficking. They are afraid to speak or ask for help because their captives have threatened them. These girls are abused physically, sexually and verbally. Human trafficking is the number one crime in America after drug trafficking and there are 50 thousand cases of slavery a year. The third story we saw was the awful working conditions children in other countries are put through.

“Now piercèd is her virgin zone; she feels the foe within it. She hears a broken amorous groan, the panting lover 's fainting moan, just in the happy minute”(Jon W.). Women are raised in a battlefield; they are taught to rely on men to protect them because they cannot protect themselves. This is an insult to many women everywhere, and it is a problem with society. If women were portrayed and viewed more independent, we could change the world we live in.

Houston is a hot spot for traffickers to find their next victim to add to the list of women they have taken away from home and force them to work. The mental abuse that women receive is just terrible to know that you might die at any time. Being used for only sex is what the victim feels like the only thing she is useful for. In her mind all the person can do is thinking to themselves that life is horrible and not worth living and start to slip into a state of depression. While in that state of depression the women feel like there is no one to help them, and there are right.

The term white privilege has become a bad term, just like the word feminism. Society has found a way to distort and change the definition of terms like these to avoid the actual issue that the term is bringing up. By definition feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities, but the word has come to carry a negative connotation (Webster). Many who believe in the principle would not call themselves feminists or participate in trying to reach equality to avoid that connotation placed on them. Their silence only aids the continuation of inequality between men and women.