Womens Gender and Sexuality Studies Cross-Cultural Issues Essay Example

Womens Gender and Sexuality Studies Cross Womens Gender and Sexuality Studies Cross-Cultural Issues Essay Womens Gender and Sexuality Studies Cross-Cultural Issues Essay The focus of looking at women cross culturally should be on the commonalities across cultures (104). And from there, we can build a global base of what basic human rights women have. As with any global civil rights issue, there are numerous cultural aspects that are blurred between being morally acceptable and culturally established. An example of one of these issues is the allowance of female circumcision. In many countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, female rescission is widely practiced on young pre-pubescent girls. But one of the basic human rights feminists around the world are fighting for is the right for women to have complete power over their bodies. Another cultural norm, right here in the United States, that goes against womens basic human rights are the degrading labels society puts on women who are not modest or are sexually exploration. Again, feminists fight for the right to have power over their bodies. Therefore, the actions and decisions women make with their bodies should not be as harshly judged. Men do not get negatively Judged for having multiple sex partners, because that is Just what men do. But the traditional sexual relationship between two people, which a large portion of this nation is still fighting to limit people to, involves both a man and a woman. Yet, in the situation of someone having multiple sex partners, the attitude towards men is that guys will be guys. So why is the women in the same situation viewed as a slut? These Judgments are mentally harmful to women Just at female circumcision is physically harmful. Both serve the same purpose: to control women. These two examples could be argued as strictly cultural and therefore invalid when it comes to womens rights. Society may argue that these practices and stigmas have been in effect over several generations and are unmemorable from the culture. And going along with ethnocentrism in mind, how far can societies over-step their limits? Female circumcision could be argued as beneficial to women so they are more attractive to men while stigmas against women could be argued as protecting women from getting raped or assaulted. Yet it does not excuse the fact that women are still being damaged. When to allow ethnocentrism to affect activism is a difficult morality call to make. But I do believe there are cases, like female circumcision, when it is necessary to have a foreign intervention. Female circumcision is not a temporary and superficial problem in other countries, it is a permanent, painful and evasive non-medicinal operation. Sofia Robinson Essay Question II International human rights principals are biased against women (106). This is because women are protected by the law in the public sphere but what happens behind closed doors is ignored. The first generation rights are directed toward retention of men within public life and completely disregard women (106). These rights are not beneficial to women because the majority of violence against women happens in the private sphere. The explicitly and implicitly held view that the government should not interfere with the private sphere allows for the deliberate neglect of violence against women (107). There are risks that women constantly encounter throughout their entire lives that governments have done little to prevent. From conception to old age, womanhood is full of risks such as abortion, infanticide, sees access to health care, battery, and rape (107). The second generation rights are supposed to be centered around economic, social, and cultural rights (108). But in actuality, there is not much to legally protect since the economic and social power resides with men. Cultural and religious rights are also counterproductive when promoting womens rights because they creat e a sphere protected from legal regulation (108). Within that sphere are many cultural practices and attitudes that are debasing and harmful to women. And even though the fight for womens rights is tot a modern concept, the oppression and subordination in the private sphere continues to cultivate and get passed down from generation to generation. Sofia Essay Question IV Even though the government claims to work primarily in the public sphere, it still directly and indirectly interferes with marriage and family in the private sphere. Society and the government have worked hand-in-hand to create the image of what every family should be like: the nuclear family. The assumptions based off of this model promote American families to be patriarchal with every member having a role. Women are forever legally dependent on men from the time they are born. Babies take the last name and citizenship of the father, not the mother. During childhood, in many countries, there is some form of dowers that is saved for when the daughter is of marrying age. This could range from a monetary agreement to the tradition of the brides family paying for the wedding. Even when a girl becomes a woman and decides to get married, the couple has to get a marriage license and possibly a prenuptial agreement. During marriage, the woman traditionally takes the mans