Just imagine a teenager, dropping out of high school to take care of her baby, changing her future plans for the rest of her life. Many teenagers get pregnant by accident and don’t realize their mistake until the last minute. Currently, the United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in the western industrialized world, while costing 8 billion dollars annually. Every year, 750,000 teenaged girls get pregnant, making up a third of all teenaged girls. The best way to prevent this dilemma is to create awareness through education and open discussions with the parents and children.
In the current world, the media overexposes explicit material such as sexual content in movies and T.V. shows. Thus, it influences young teens to misinterpret the truth about sex. More so, education is necessary to reveal the truth about sex. Sex education classes at school will help students and young teens practice safe sex if needed. Therefore, it can prevent accidental pregnancies in the long run.
The lack of communication between the parent and the teen is also a major factor to the cause of unplanned pregnancy. Picture this: Kira became pregnant at fourteen because, she says, her mother did not have "the talk" with her and failed to inform her about birth control. Her parent's only words to her about sex were "don't do it". If parents were more open about sex to their children, there would be less unwanted pregnancies.
On the bright side, the teenage pregnancy rates have dropped slowly because of increased education and programs for young teens. However, this growing problem can be prevented through constant up-to-date effort, making it more effective in every generation. The future of all teenagers can be changed for the better through open education and communication.
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Way Women Ruin Themselves
The Way Women Ruin Themselves
Kate Freeman
The past years have seen the women’s war. The media portrays women in a sick and disgusting way. Women are ‘supposed’ to be stick figures with giant boobs, tight butts and mechanically processed hair and nails. Today’s models weigh 23 % less than the average woman. Still, the media allows them to dominate our culture. Pictures of dying women plaster society while NEDA has reported a huge rise in the number of eating disorders affecting the United States. The problem isn’t just an image-it’s the way that women express themselves.
In some foreign cultures women struggle just for basic rights. African and Asian cultures (just as an example-there are more nations) restrict women and label them as property. In America and many European nations, the ‘feminist movement’ is just another restriction that women bring upon themselves. ‘Bra-burning’ and crazy politicians including Hillary Clinton rally for women in ineffective manners. It is important that women regain rights, but first we need to establish an image of strength and internal beauty.
Women fight for rights in a desperate attempt to make their lives better. They often destroy their own goals. Feminism is often a poison that has choked society. “I struggled to understand why feminism wanted me to make a choice between my rights and those of my future children.” Comments Wendy Priesnitz. Feminists often manage to show the world a twisted version of their gender that furthers men’s ability to degrade and destroy them with ease. We further destroy ourselves by submitting to the media’s image of women. “We don’t need Afghan-style burquas to disappear as women. We disappear in reverse—by revamping and revealing our bodies to meet externally imposed visions of female beauty.” Complains Robin Gerber. We take diet pills, pinch our stomachs and obsess over being ‘fat’. Women need to stop. They break themselves down by means that are all their own.
Many men believe women can only cook, clean, and reproduce. They eliminate the possibility that a woman could have intelligence-or a plan in life. Men often use women but we are often remain flawed and do not realize what actions do or mean to men. Short skirts to us mean we’re fulfilling the rights of fashion. To men they mean ‘easy access’ and they use us while we remain baffled at how they could be so ‘sexist’ and ‘rude’. We never own up to our actions while men never own up to theirs.
“Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.” There is no quick fix in life. The way that the media portrays every situation is twisted. We can have ‘four periods a year, great sex, lose twenty pounds and have a great life’. The only catch is we’ll suffer from internal bleeding, STDs, stomach disorders, and depression. But that’s just the price to pay for beauty-right???
90 % of women desire a different image-be it loss of weight or a changed personality. “Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.” Claims Jean Kilbourne. Popular shows have the same effect. There’s ‘this giant list’ wrong with you. “Oh-but if you change that-you’ll be like totally like amaziiiiiiing!” (MTV) There is no easy solution to looks, emotions, weight, or anything else-especially in a woman’s life. We live in America where, despite our luck, we are still second best. Our conditions are already damaged, but we have the power to make something out of ourselves. Women around the world need to stand up in a successful way, and forget what the media shows us about life. We do matter, and can have a huge impact-without destroying ourselves.
Sources:
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rocks the Boat> Wendy Priesnitz
The Anti-Women Women’s Movement and the True Women’s Manifesto> Bonnie Erbe
Women’s Rights>Elisabeth Prügl
The War against Women>Emily MacFarguhar
Beauty and Body Image in the Media> Robin Gerber
Study Results from Miami University>New Insights into Eating Disorders>Women’s Health Weekly
Kate Freeman
The past years have seen the women’s war. The media portrays women in a sick and disgusting way. Women are ‘supposed’ to be stick figures with giant boobs, tight butts and mechanically processed hair and nails. Today’s models weigh 23 % less than the average woman. Still, the media allows them to dominate our culture. Pictures of dying women plaster society while NEDA has reported a huge rise in the number of eating disorders affecting the United States. The problem isn’t just an image-it’s the way that women express themselves.
In some foreign cultures women struggle just for basic rights. African and Asian cultures (just as an example-there are more nations) restrict women and label them as property. In America and many European nations, the ‘feminist movement’ is just another restriction that women bring upon themselves. ‘Bra-burning’ and crazy politicians including Hillary Clinton rally for women in ineffective manners. It is important that women regain rights, but first we need to establish an image of strength and internal beauty.
Women fight for rights in a desperate attempt to make their lives better. They often destroy their own goals. Feminism is often a poison that has choked society. “I struggled to understand why feminism wanted me to make a choice between my rights and those of my future children.” Comments Wendy Priesnitz. Feminists often manage to show the world a twisted version of their gender that furthers men’s ability to degrade and destroy them with ease. We further destroy ourselves by submitting to the media’s image of women. “We don’t need Afghan-style burquas to disappear as women. We disappear in reverse—by revamping and revealing our bodies to meet externally imposed visions of female beauty.” Complains Robin Gerber. We take diet pills, pinch our stomachs and obsess over being ‘fat’. Women need to stop. They break themselves down by means that are all their own.
Many men believe women can only cook, clean, and reproduce. They eliminate the possibility that a woman could have intelligence-or a plan in life. Men often use women but we are often remain flawed and do not realize what actions do or mean to men. Short skirts to us mean we’re fulfilling the rights of fashion. To men they mean ‘easy access’ and they use us while we remain baffled at how they could be so ‘sexist’ and ‘rude’. We never own up to our actions while men never own up to theirs.
“Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.” There is no quick fix in life. The way that the media portrays every situation is twisted. We can have ‘four periods a year, great sex, lose twenty pounds and have a great life’. The only catch is we’ll suffer from internal bleeding, STDs, stomach disorders, and depression. But that’s just the price to pay for beauty-right???
90 % of women desire a different image-be it loss of weight or a changed personality. “Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight.” Claims Jean Kilbourne. Popular shows have the same effect. There’s ‘this giant list’ wrong with you. “Oh-but if you change that-you’ll be like totally like amaziiiiiiing!” (MTV) There is no easy solution to looks, emotions, weight, or anything else-especially in a woman’s life. We live in America where, despite our luck, we are still second best. Our conditions are already damaged, but we have the power to make something out of ourselves. Women around the world need to stand up in a successful way, and forget what the media shows us about life. We do matter, and can have a huge impact-without destroying ourselves.
Sources:
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rocks the Boat> Wendy Priesnitz
The Anti-Women Women’s Movement and the True Women’s Manifesto> Bonnie Erbe
Women’s Rights>Elisabeth Prügl
The War against Women>Emily MacFarguhar
Beauty and Body Image in the Media> Robin Gerber
Study Results from Miami University>New Insights into Eating Disorders>Women’s Health Weekly
Is there Honor in Killing?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0212_020212_honorkilling.html
Honor Killing is a practice in which a man, usually the head of the household, kills a female member of the family if she wants a divorce, refuses to enter an arranged marriage, commits adultery, has insufficient dowry, or is sexually assaulted. It occurs in mainly in the Middle East and Southern Asia (a cultural, not religious practice), but due to immigration, it has been happening everywhere in the world.
For example, last January around New Years Day, two Muslim teenagers were murdered by their father. The sisters both had American boyfriends, who were not Muslim. This is the main reason why this slaughter was a suspected honor killing. Their father still remains at large today.
Culture plays a huge part in human society. It influences how someone thinks, eats, dresses, lives, believes… It teaches them how to “be” in general. While it is good to have cultural diversity, it can also create a problem. Most people have pride in their heritage and its accomplishment. Each nationality has made discoveries and contributed to society. So they may find it difficult to give up a certain practice of their culture, like the honor killings. For example, the killer of the two girls didn’t believe he did anything wrong, perhaps because it is a common cultural practice in the Middle East.
I believe, no matter what the culture or religion, that killing is wrong and immoral. Everyone has the right to live. It makes me indignant that if a woman is raped, which is traumatic and not even her fault, she will be killed unless she has three male witnesses. These killings have most likely stemmed from religion even though it is not a religious practice. In the Koran, women are considered property with no rights.
The article has a very sad, but truthful tone. This is a problem. But with so many other things going on such as global warming, the economy etc. it is seen as a lesser problem. Especially since the war going on is currently IN the place where most of the honor killings occur. Does America care, at the moment, about women being killed in a place we are at war at? Of course not, as heartless as it may sound.
It states the facts as they are. Women are things in some peoples eyes. Property. Baby and pie makers. Woman, your job is this: Don't dishonor the family, stay hidden all the time, and have as many sons as you can. Anything else will be considered insubordination a.k.a "dishonoring the family" and you will be killed. Got it?
But, this article explains that it is not only men who like the idea of kiling women who shame the family. Almost always, women agree and support the decision. The article tells a brief story of Samia Imran who wanted to divorce her violent husband. Her family arrived at the lawyers office, with a male companion who shot and killed her. No one was arrested for her death.
The article also talks about the UN and human activists trying to stop these brutal acts. I'm not so sure they'll be successful. As I said before, people have pride in their culture and most Middle Easteners don't take kindly to those who want to interfere with their cultural practices. Lets just hope that women may be able to avoid this fate, by acting extrememly cautious twenty four hours a day, every day of the rest of their miserable lives.
Honor Killing is a practice in which a man, usually the head of the household, kills a female member of the family if she wants a divorce, refuses to enter an arranged marriage, commits adultery, has insufficient dowry, or is sexually assaulted. It occurs in mainly in the Middle East and Southern Asia (a cultural, not religious practice), but due to immigration, it has been happening everywhere in the world.
For example, last January around New Years Day, two Muslim teenagers were murdered by their father. The sisters both had American boyfriends, who were not Muslim. This is the main reason why this slaughter was a suspected honor killing. Their father still remains at large today.
Culture plays a huge part in human society. It influences how someone thinks, eats, dresses, lives, believes… It teaches them how to “be” in general. While it is good to have cultural diversity, it can also create a problem. Most people have pride in their heritage and its accomplishment. Each nationality has made discoveries and contributed to society. So they may find it difficult to give up a certain practice of their culture, like the honor killings. For example, the killer of the two girls didn’t believe he did anything wrong, perhaps because it is a common cultural practice in the Middle East.
I believe, no matter what the culture or religion, that killing is wrong and immoral. Everyone has the right to live. It makes me indignant that if a woman is raped, which is traumatic and not even her fault, she will be killed unless she has three male witnesses. These killings have most likely stemmed from religion even though it is not a religious practice. In the Koran, women are considered property with no rights.
The article has a very sad, but truthful tone. This is a problem. But with so many other things going on such as global warming, the economy etc. it is seen as a lesser problem. Especially since the war going on is currently IN the place where most of the honor killings occur. Does America care, at the moment, about women being killed in a place we are at war at? Of course not, as heartless as it may sound.
It states the facts as they are. Women are things in some peoples eyes. Property. Baby and pie makers. Woman, your job is this: Don't dishonor the family, stay hidden all the time, and have as many sons as you can. Anything else will be considered insubordination a.k.a "dishonoring the family" and you will be killed. Got it?
But, this article explains that it is not only men who like the idea of kiling women who shame the family. Almost always, women agree and support the decision. The article tells a brief story of Samia Imran who wanted to divorce her violent husband. Her family arrived at the lawyers office, with a male companion who shot and killed her. No one was arrested for her death.
The article also talks about the UN and human activists trying to stop these brutal acts. I'm not so sure they'll be successful. As I said before, people have pride in their culture and most Middle Easteners don't take kindly to those who want to interfere with their cultural practices. Lets just hope that women may be able to avoid this fate, by acting extrememly cautious twenty four hours a day, every day of the rest of their miserable lives.
Post 2-Cameron Black- The Automobile and America till death do us part!
The automobile has been Americas paramour for a century. We drive every where, to the grocery store, to the mall, and even to our neighbor’s house. America's infatuation with the automobile has escalated to an addiction. We refuse to contemplate other forms of transportation and I even found we denounce the existence of global warming.
Most people who deject the concept of global warming say " There really is nothing new about global warming. During the era of the Dinosaurs, from 248 to 65 million years ago, our planet was warmer, the sea level was higher, there were no polar ice, and we had one super-continent called Pangea." Well this is true, conversely it is far from being a valid justification for ignoring our current predicament. Because the warming period in both the prehistoric times and medieval times does not even come close to the severity of what we are experiencing currently.
Just to exemplify the severity of our current predicament take a gander at these ghastly statistics. 2005- the hottest year on record ,ever since the 1970's there has been a 100% increase in intensity and duration of hurricanes , 400,000sq miles of artic sea have melted in the last 30 years threatening numerous inhabitants including the enamored polar bear, 37% is the amount of plant and animal life global warming is estimated to eradicate by 2050, and in 2030 glacier national park will have no more glaciers. These are just a scarce amount of the horrifying afflictions that humans have implicated on earth.
After telling people about these trepid statistics they become stupefied and rebuttal with " well I cant do anything about this, I’m just one measly human." There is no statement that could possibly infuriate me more than this one. Because in the history of mankind there have been more marvelous discoveries and philanthropy done by one man, than any argumentative congregation could have ever done. So what I’m saying is all that it takes is one person to coordinate the first step into making a difference and with time you will have followers.
But now we come to the most horrifying portion of this piece. The part where I tell you what you can do to dissolve the effects of global warming. So Beware if you enjoy emitting green house gases and expediting the apocalypse, by all means don’t read on. First what you can do is take the bus once or twice a week. Shocking I know, but take it from me a person who has been doing this for two months now I can assure you it is not implausible or hazardous. Step two turn faucets and lights off when you leave a room. I know in this epoch it is truly a burden that we have to actually gut up to turn the lights off when they should really be another button on our super remote control. Step three start walking to places that are within a one mile radius. I do it and I have survived the excursions with minimal injuries. Step four be conscious of being green. What I mean by this is buy organic food, buy clothes made in America or composed of organic fibers, and buy environmentally friendly products. Finally recycle.
These are the bare essentials to going green, and I know these tasks are arduous and seem near impossible but if we continue with our automobile infatuation, and people live with no principles, then these are the signs of our inevitable apocalypse. The clues are all around us, there are no morals and values any more all we have to do is morally accept this untimely truth, and begin our new epoch of green living. This could be America’s chance to be a beacon of new innovative way’s of living, and finally tell our old paramour(the automobile) we want a divorce. But now I will leave you with this excerpt from a Navajo adage. Which will hopefully help your pondering minds concoct more theories on how to go green. " Rather than try to control nature, one should try to achieve balance with it. White people deal with flooding on a river by building a dam, while a Navajo would simply move to higher ground."
http://www.treasurenature.com/03/global-warming-is-fake/
Most people who deject the concept of global warming say " There really is nothing new about global warming. During the era of the Dinosaurs, from 248 to 65 million years ago, our planet was warmer, the sea level was higher, there were no polar ice, and we had one super-continent called Pangea." Well this is true, conversely it is far from being a valid justification for ignoring our current predicament. Because the warming period in both the prehistoric times and medieval times does not even come close to the severity of what we are experiencing currently.
Just to exemplify the severity of our current predicament take a gander at these ghastly statistics. 2005- the hottest year on record ,ever since the 1970's there has been a 100% increase in intensity and duration of hurricanes , 400,000sq miles of artic sea have melted in the last 30 years threatening numerous inhabitants including the enamored polar bear, 37% is the amount of plant and animal life global warming is estimated to eradicate by 2050, and in 2030 glacier national park will have no more glaciers. These are just a scarce amount of the horrifying afflictions that humans have implicated on earth.
After telling people about these trepid statistics they become stupefied and rebuttal with " well I cant do anything about this, I’m just one measly human." There is no statement that could possibly infuriate me more than this one. Because in the history of mankind there have been more marvelous discoveries and philanthropy done by one man, than any argumentative congregation could have ever done. So what I’m saying is all that it takes is one person to coordinate the first step into making a difference and with time you will have followers.
But now we come to the most horrifying portion of this piece. The part where I tell you what you can do to dissolve the effects of global warming. So Beware if you enjoy emitting green house gases and expediting the apocalypse, by all means don’t read on. First what you can do is take the bus once or twice a week. Shocking I know, but take it from me a person who has been doing this for two months now I can assure you it is not implausible or hazardous. Step two turn faucets and lights off when you leave a room. I know in this epoch it is truly a burden that we have to actually gut up to turn the lights off when they should really be another button on our super remote control. Step three start walking to places that are within a one mile radius. I do it and I have survived the excursions with minimal injuries. Step four be conscious of being green. What I mean by this is buy organic food, buy clothes made in America or composed of organic fibers, and buy environmentally friendly products. Finally recycle.
These are the bare essentials to going green, and I know these tasks are arduous and seem near impossible but if we continue with our automobile infatuation, and people live with no principles, then these are the signs of our inevitable apocalypse. The clues are all around us, there are no morals and values any more all we have to do is morally accept this untimely truth, and begin our new epoch of green living. This could be America’s chance to be a beacon of new innovative way’s of living, and finally tell our old paramour(the automobile) we want a divorce. But now I will leave you with this excerpt from a Navajo adage. Which will hopefully help your pondering minds concoct more theories on how to go green. " Rather than try to control nature, one should try to achieve balance with it. White people deal with flooding on a river by building a dam, while a Navajo would simply move to higher ground."
http://www.treasurenature.com/03/global-warming-is-fake/
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