Ethical Issues Surrounding Sex Selection During or Prior to Conception Whenever technological progress throws up great new possibilities there are also attendant ethical dilemmas relating to such possibilities. Such is the case with genetic engineering in general and human biomedical enhancement in particular. Allan Buchanan is well aware of some immediate pitfalls for society if…
Category: Gender Studies
Women and Global Leadership at Bestfoods – Discussion Questions
Should the headquarters of U.S.-based multinationals promote diversity initiatives in their worldwide subsidiaries? If so, what’s the best way to accomplish this? There is nothing wrong in U.S.-based headquarters taking the initiative for diversity promotion across other locations in the globe. The thoughts and measures of Brody and Shoemate are instructive, for they provide a…
Did women have an impact on American political culture through nineteenth century?
In many ways, women are history’s largest minority. Their voice was for most part suppressed under male domination. It is only in recent decades that they have attained legal and nominal equality with men. America has been a theatre for women’s rights going back to the late 18th and 19th centuries. The Catholic Church provided…
From the American Revolution to the Reconstruction era: A race & gender perspective
The time period between the American Revolution and the Reconstruction were one of uncertainly and instability in American socio-politics. Having valiantly won its freedom from the British Crown, the fledgling nation was taking cautious first steps toward self-assertion. But even as America’s presence as a global power was taking root, its society was beset by…
Existential Themes in the film My Life Without Me
The basic plot of the movie – that set on the last days of a dying young woman – hints at being a tear-jerking melodrama. But contrary to this threat My Life Without Me delivers a surprisingly novel representation of a life about to end. The announcement of death, instead of limiting the physical and…
Theme of Personal Obsession in The Emperor’s Babe and Purple Hibiscus
Both the stories in question have a female, colored protagonist. The two central characters Zuleika and Kambili are also similarly aged – it is their teenage years that are being explored. Even before they reach adulthood they go through enormous upheavals in their lives. Moreover, their stories fit into a colonial discourse with attendant features…
Asian American Woman before 1950s
It is fair to state that the status of Asian American women before 1950s was not any better than that suffered by minorities from any racial-ethnic group during this period. This is amply attested by first-hand accounts of discrimination and maltreatment by early immigrants. We also have copious legal indictments handing penalties, jail sentences and…
A response to ‘I Want a Wife’ by Judy Brady
This essay is a classic in feminist discourse and is rich in irony. The foremost of the ironies is the fact that the author is a woman and yet longs for a wife. There is no homosexual connotation here, but this device is employed to convey the ordeals and drudgery facing housewives. Author Judy Brady…
Reading Response to ‘Our Barbies, Ourselves’ by Emily Prager
This article takes a critical look at one of the most recognizable cultural icons in American history – the Barbie doll. While admitting to the popularity and appeal of the Barbie doll across generations, Emily Prager finds certain faults with what it symbolizes. The fact that the doll was first conceived and designed by a…
Gender Bias: ‘Cat in the Rain’ by Ernest Hemingway and ‘Sweat’ by Zora Neale Hurston
Both short stories contain abundant instances of gender bias. To be more accurate, the gender bias witnessed in these stories is so pronounced and persistent that it is fair to call them misogyny. In Cat in the Rain, the victim is an American girl who is married to a man indifferent to her wishes and…