Table of Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Research and Studies
• 3 Conclusion
• 4 References
• 5 See also
• 6 External links

Introduction

The discipline of International Relations (IR) no longer revolves around the traditional issues of inter-state wars, security and weaponry – it has grown to include matters such as ethnic identity, economy and civil society. Further, the post Cold War era has witnessed the growth of the Feminist theory of International Relations, growing largely in opposition to the Realist Theory which is seen as essentially patriarchal and narrow.

The international political scenario is dominated by men – most top political positions are held by men. They make the decisions, the policies, they declare war and conclude peace. Further, IR is seen as a matter of interaction between states, rather that what goes on within states – i.e how its citizens, especially women, are treated. Discussions in IR are steered by those who have little or no consideration for women’s experiences and perspectives. Therefore, the question is, as put my Cynthia Enloe, “where are the women?”

Feminists argue that IR will thus remain a prime example of patriarchy, as long as it continues to undermine and exclude the lives and views of the female sex.

Research and Studies

Numerous studies have shown how the inclusion of women into the field of IR will lead to increased compromise in foreign policy, reducing the instances of war.

In order to test the links between Gender, IR and feminism, Mark Tessler and Ina Warriner conducted an empirical study based on survey data from four politically and ideologically varying regions, i.e Gender Equality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel , Egypt and Kuwait . Their research showed that women are not generally pacifists by nature. However, increasing the participation of women and having key actors in IR who believe in gender equality will lead to increased instances of negotiations and diplomacy.

Not only in practical politics, but even in IR academia, women’s voices remain unheard as compared to their male counterparts. As Betty Reardon points out, most world order studies scholars and and peace researchers are men. Further, Elise Boulding notes that new ideas do not receive widespread attention in any discipline unless they are adopted by men. Moreover, IR and and peace research remain male dominated disciplines.

Conclusion

However, feminist theory of IR is not concerned merely with the number and position of women in the field. Rather, it is the masculine nature of the field itself that is questioned. ‘Power’ is defined by men in terms of nuclear ability and ‘economic power’ is seen as the capacity for increased military spending. The core concepts itself in the discipline, such as war and security, reek of patriarchy.

Cynthia Enloe thus urges IR scholars to discuss and decide issues with a ‘feminist consciousness’ and include matters regarding women and girls. It is in this way that IR can truly evolve and enrich itself as a discipline, and understand issues with regard to gender worldwide.

References

• Boulding, “Women in Peace Studies,” in Kramarae and Spender, eds., The Knowledge Explosion.
• Sexism and the War System, ch. 4
• Mark Tessler and Ina Warriner, “Gender, Feminism, and Attitudes Toward International Conflict: Exploring Relationships with Survey Data from the Middle East. (1997)
• Wikipedia page Feminism and International Relations

See also

• Feminist International Relations Theory

External links

• MIC, Why Feminism is needed in International Relations

Social categories

Sociology

Sexologist John Money coined the term gender role in 1955. “The term gender role is used to signify all those things that a person says or does to disclose himself or herself as having the status of boy or man, girl or woman, respectively. It includes, but is not restricted to, sexuality in the sense of eroticism.” Elements of such a role include clothing, speech patterns, movement, occupations and other factors not limited to biological sex. Because social aspects of gender can normally be presumed to be the ones of interest in sociology and closely related disciplines, gender role is often abbreviated to gender in their literature, without leading to ambiguity in that context.

Most societies have only two distinct gender roles — male and female — and these correspond with biological sex. However, some societies explicitly incorporate people who adopt the gender role opposite to their biological sex, for example the Two-Spirited People in some indigenous American peoples. Other societies include well-developed roles that are explicitly considered more or less distinct from archetypal male and female roles in those societies. In the language of the sociology of gender they comprise a third gender, more or less distinct from biological sex (sometimes the basis for the role does include intersexuality or incorporates eunuchs). One such gender role is that adopted by the hijras of India and Pakistan . The Bugis people of Sulawesi, Indonesia have a tradition incorporating all of the features above. Joan Roughgarden argues that in some non-human animal species, there can also be said to be more than two genders, in that there might be multiple templates for behavior available to individual organisms with a given biological sex.

Consideration of the dynamics of societies like those above prompted debate over the extent to which differences in male and female gender roles are learned socially, or reflect biology. Social constructionists argued that gender roles are entirely arbitrary, and biological preferences and aptitudes are irrelevant. Contrary to social constructionism, essentialists argued that gender roles are entirely determined by biology, unmodified by social adaptations. Although these extreme views are common enough in the history of literature on the subject, both are now rare in the peer reviewed literature. Contemporary sociological reference to male and female gender roles typically uses masculinities and femininities in the plural rather than singular, suggesting diversity both within cultures as well as across them.

Feminism and Gender studies

The philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir applied existentialism to women’s experience of life: “One is not born a woman, one becomes one.” In context, this is a philosophical statement, however, it is true biologically — a girl must pass puberty to become a woman — and true sociologically — mature relating in social contexts is learned, not instinctive.

Within feminist theory, terminology for gender issues developed over the 1970s. In the 1974 edition of Masculine/Feminine or Human, the author uses “innate gender” and “learned sex roles”, but in the 1978 edition, the use of sex and gender is reversed. By 1980, most feminist writings had agreed on using gender only for socioculturally adapted traits.

In gender studies the term gender is used to refer to proposed social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities. In this context, gender explicitly excludes reference to biological differences, to focus on cultural differences. This emerged from a number of different areas: in sociology during the 1950s; from the theories of the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan; and in the work of French psychoanalysts like Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Bracha L. Ettinger and American feminists such as Judith Butler. Those who followed Butler came to regard gender roles as a practice, sometimes referred to as “performative.”

Sociologists consider society to be constructed, and it follows that gender in our society is also constructed. We tend to easily equate sex and gender, and assume that knowing someone’s biological sex implies her or his gender. Hurst states that some people think sex will “automatically determine one’s gender demeanor and role (social) as well as one’s sexual orientation (sexual attractions and behavior).” However, gender is not produced at birth, as sexual organs are, and we have cultural origins and habits for dealing with gender. Michael Schwalbe believes that humans must be taught how to act appropriately in their designated gender in order to properly fill the role. The way we behave as masculine, feminine, or any combination reflects the highly detailed gender maps that we have laid out in our society. Given how ingrained and detailed these gender schemas are, it is hard to imagine that we create and reinforce them ourselves. However, Schwalbe comments that we “are the results of many people embracing and acting on similar ideas.”

To maintain these detailed gender schemas, humans present and typically display their gender as either masculine or feminine. They do this through everything from clothing and hairstyle to relationship and employment choices. Schwalbe believes that these distinctions are important, because everyone wants to identify and categorize people as soon as one sees them. One tends to seek to place people into distinct categories in order to know how one should feel about them.

Hurst comments that in a society where genders are so distinctly presented, there can often be severe consequences for breaking these cultural norms. Many of these consequences are rooted in [discrimination based on sexual orientation]. Gay and [Lesbian|lesbians] are often discriminated against in legal system. Hurst describes how this discrimination works against people for breaking gender norms, no matter what their Sexual orientation is. He says that “courts often confuse sex, gender, and sexual orientation, and confuse them in a way that results in denying the rights not only of gays and lesbians, but also of those who do not present themselves or act in a manner traditionally expected of their sex. (Hurst, p.141)” This prejudice plays out in our legal system when a man or woman is judged differently because he or she does not present the “correct” gender. How a person presents and displays his or her gender has consequences in everyday contexts but also in institutionalized aspects of our society.

Legal status

A person’s sex as male or female has legal significance — sex is indicated on government documents, and laws provide differently for men and women. Many pension systems have different retirement ages for men or women. Marriage is usually only available to opposite-sex couples.

The question then arises as to what legally determines whether someone is male or female. In most cases this can appear obvious, but the matter is complicated for intersexual or transgender people. Different jurisdictions have adopted different answers to this question. Almost all countries permit changes of legal gender status in cases of intersexualism, when the gender assignment made at birth is determined upon further investigation to be biologically inaccurate — technically, however, this is not a change of status per se. Rather, it is recognition of a status which was deemed to exist, but unknown, from birth. Increasingly, jurisdictions also provide a procedure for changes of legal gender for Transgender people.

Gender assignment, when there are indications that genital sex might not be decisive in a particular case, is normally not defined by a single definition, but by a combination of conditions, including chromosomes and gonads. Thus, for example, in many jurisdictions a person with XY chromosomes but female gonads could be recognised as female at birth.

The ability to change legal gender for transgender people in particular has given rise to the phenomena in some jurisdictions of the same person having different genders for the purposes of different areas of the law. For example, in Australia prior to the Re Kevin decisions, transsexual people could be recognised as having the genders they identified with under many areas of the law, including social security law, but not for the law of marriage. Thus, for a period, it was possible for the same person to have two different genders under Australian law.

It is also possible in federal systems for the same person to have one gender under state law and a different gender under federal law (a state recognises gender transitions, but the federal government does not).

Gender and development

Gender, and particularly the role of women has become widely recognized as vitally important to international development. This results in an increased focus on gender-equality, ensuring participation, but includes an understanding of the different roles and expectation of the genders within the community.

As well as directly addressing inequality, attention to gender issues is regarded as important for the success of development programs, for all participants. For example, in microfinance it is common to target women. Besides the fact that women tend to be over-represented in the poorest segments of the population, they are also regarded as more reliable at repaying the loans. Also, it is claimed that women are more likely to use the money for the benefit of their families.

Some organizations working in developing countries and in the development field have incorporated advocacy and empowerment for women into their work. A notable example is Wangari Maathai’s environmental organization, the Green Belt Movement.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Gender Identity
• John Money, “Hermaphroditism, gender and precocity in hyperadrenocorticism: Psychologic findings’, Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital 96 (1955): 253–264.
• Gilbert Herdt (ed.), Third Sex Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History, 1996.
• Will Roscoe, Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America, Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
• Nanda, Serena (1998). Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India. Wadsworth Publishing. [0-534-50903-7]
• Reddy, Gayatri (2005). With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India. (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture), University Of Chicago Press (July 1, 2005).
• Sharyn Graham, “Sulawesi’s Fifth Gender,” Inside Indonesia April-June, 2001.
• Joan Roughgarden, Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People, University of California Press, 2004.
• Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949, as translated and reprinted 1989.”
• Chafetz, JS. Masculine/Feminine or Human? An Overview of the Sociology of Sex Roles. Itasca, Illinois: F. E. Peacock, 1974.
• Chafetz, JS. Masculine/Feminine or Human? An Overview of the Sociology of Sex Roles. Itasca, Illinois: F. E. Peacock, 1978.
• Stephanie Garrett, Gender, (1992), p. vii.
• Hurst, C. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences. Sixth Edition. 2007. 131, 139-142
• Schwalbe, M. The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of the Conversation Third Edition. 2005. 22-23

Further reading

• Chafetz, JS. Masculine/Feminine or Human? An Overview of the Sociology of Sex Roles. Itasca, Illinois: F. E. Peacock, 1974 (1st ed.), 1978 (2nd ed.).
• Lepowsky, Maria. Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

See also

• Gender Equality
• Judith Butler
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Two-Spirited People

External links

• Children’s Gender Beliefs
• Tell me, what does “gender” really mean ?
• Gendercide Watch: a project of the Gender Issues Education Foundation (GIEF), a registered charitable foundation based in Edmonton, Alberta
• WikEd—Gender Differences
• WikEd—Gender Inequities in the Classroom

History

According to some researchers, the history of feminism can be divided into three distinct waves. The first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second wave flourished in the 1960s and 1970s and the third extends from the 1990s to the present. Feminist International Relations Theory developed from the feminist movement. It takes a number of forms in a variety of disciplines such as feminist geography, feminist history and feminist literary criticism.

Throughout much of its history, most of the leaders of feminist social and political movements, as well as many feminist theorists, have been predominantly middle-class white women from western Europe and North America. However, at least since Sojourner Truth’s 1851 speech to US Feminists, women of other races have proposed alternative feminisms. This trend accelerated in the 1960s with the Civil Rights movement in the Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the United States of America of America of America and the collapse of European colonialism in Women and African Economic Development, the Caribbean, parts of Latin America and Southeast Asia. Since that time, women in former European colonies and the Third World have proposed alternative “post-colonial” and “Third World” feminisms as well. Some Postcolonial feminists, such as Chandra Talpade Mohanty, are critical of Western feminism for being ethnocentric. Black feminists, such as Angela Davis and Alice Walker hold a similar opinion.

Impact and Focus

Feminism has altered aspects of Western society, ranging from culture to law. Feminist political activists have been concerned with issues such as women’s rights of contract and property, women’s rights to bodily integrity and autonomy (especially on matters such as Reproductive Rights , including the right to Abortion, access to Contraception and quality prenatal care); for protection from Domestic violence ; against sexual harassment and Rape ; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of discrimination.

Since the 1980s, feminists have argued that the feminist movement should address global issues (such as rape, incest, and Prostitution) and culturally specific issues (such as Female genital cutting in some parts of Africa and the Women in the Middle East and North Women and African Economic Development (MENA) and glass ceiling practices that impede women’s advancement in developed economies) in order to understand how gender inequality interacts with racism, homophobia, lesbophobia, colonialism, and classism in a “matrix of domination.” Other feminists have argued that gendered and sexed identities, such as “man” and “woman”, are social constructs meaning that some gender roles are socially conditioned rather than being innate.

See Also

• Gender Equality
• Revolutionary Association of the Women in Afghanistan

External Links

• Association for Libertarian Feminists
• Famous Feminists
• Association for Women in Psychology
• Committee for Asian Women
• NOW – National Organization for Women in the United States.
• Muslim Women Rebel In France
• Feminists for Free Expression
• The Feminist eZine – 1001 Feminist Links.
• Women’s Forum Australia
• Radical Women
• Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
• Older Women’s League – The Voice of Midlife and Older Women (OWL)
• ROKS – Swedish women’s organization
• Feminism & Nonviolence Studies
• Susan Brownmiller.com: Where Feminism Lives
• RADAR
• Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution from the Jewish Women’s Archive
• Islam from Patriarch
• Feminist Mormon Housewives a cooperative blog
• Feminist Housewives a resource and community site
• Third Wave Foundation

Etymology

The first use of “Ms” has not yet been fully established though there are some claims that it may have been used as early as 1767. According to Dennis Baron, a tombstone of Sarah Spooner, who died in 1767 in Plymouth, Massachusetts (US), contains the reference to ‘Ms’ though this has been disputed.

The earliest known proposal for the use of “Ms.” appeared in the The Republican of Springfield, Massachusetts on November 10, 1901:

“There is a void in the English language which, with some diffidence, we undertake to fill. Every one has been put in an embarrassing position by ignorance of the status of some woman. To call a maiden Mrs is only a shade worse than to insult a matron with the inferior title Miss. Yet it is not always easy to know the facts… Now, clearly, what is needed is a more comprehensive term which does homage to the sex without expressing any views as to their domestic situation, and what could be simpler or more logical than the retention of what the two doubtful terms have in common. The abbreviation “Ms” is simple, it is easy to write, and the person concerned can translate it properly according to circumstances. For oral use it might be rendered as “Mizz,” which would be a close parallel to the practice long universal in many bucolic regions, where a slurred Mis’ does duty for Miss and Mrs alike.”

Ms and Feminism

The modern use of Ms. in preference to the traditional appellations was conceived by Sheila Michaels in 1961. Address-o-graph plates were difficult to repair, and small, poor groups would not waste resources to correct minor mistakes. Michaels’ roommate, Mary Hamilton (Congress of Racial Equality’s first female Field Secretary in the South), had spoken to the group in Detroit and been mailed a copy of their newsletter. Michaels “was looking for a title for a woman who did not ‘belong’ to a man.” Her efforts to promote use of a new honorific were ignored in the Civil Rights era, and seven years later in the nascent Women’s Movement. Around 1971, in a lull during a WBAI-radio interview with The Feminists group, Michaels suggested the use of Ms. A friend of Gloria Steinem heard the interview and suggested it as a title for her new magazine, The Ms. Foundation for Women.

References

• Wikipedia page
• Thesaurus

Definitions/Meaning of MGM or Male Circumcision

Male circumcision involves the removal of the foreskin. It may also involve frenectomy, the removal of the frenulum. A related procedure is preputioplasty, which is used as a treatment for phimosis. This procedure is most often performed upon infant boys. It has religious significance in the Jewish religion and in Islam. It spread into Western culture, and peaked in the early 80s. The bioethics of neonatal circumcision are a subject of intense debate, with circumcision advocates promoting it as beneficial, and supporters of genital integrity opposing it as harmful and/or a violation of the individual’s human rights. Some adults who were circumcised as infants engage in foreskin restoration, a method of stretching the penile skin in order to partially recreate the foreskin. Some academics use the term male genital cutting or male genital mutilation in reference to male circumcision. Wikipedia

Male circumcision is the removal of some or the entire foreskin (prepuce) from the penis. The word “circumcision” comes from Latin circum (meaning “around”) and cædere (meaning “to cut”). Early depictions of circumcision are found in cave paintings and Ancient Egyptian tombs, though some pictures are open to interpretation. Religious male circumcision is considered a commandment from God in Judaism. In Islam, though not discussed in the Qur’an, circumcision is widely practiced and most often considered to be a sunnah. It is also customary in some Christian churches in Africa, including some Oriental Orthodox Churches. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global estimates suggest that 30% of males are circumcised, of whom 68% are Muslim. The prevalence of circumcision varies mostly with religious affiliation, and sometimes culture. Most circumcisions are performed during adolescence for cultural or religious reasons; in some countries they are more commonly performed during infancy. Wikipedia

Types of MGM

• Type I – excision or injury of part or all of the skin and specialized mucosal tissues of the penis including the prepuce and frenulum (circumcision, dorsal slit without closure).
• Type II – excision or injury to the glans (glandectomy) and/or penis shaft, (penectomy) along with Type I MGM. Any procedure that interferes with reproductive or sexual function in the adult male.
• Type III – excision or destruction of the testes (castration, orchidectomy) with or without Type II MGM.
• Type IV – unclassified: includes pricking, piercing or incision of the prepuce, glans, scrotum or other genital tissue; cutting and suturing of the prepuce over the glans (infibulation); slitting open the urethra along the ventral surface of the penis (sub-incision); slitting open the foreskin along its dorsal surface (super-incision); severing the frenulum; stripping the skin from the shaft of the penis; introducing corrosive or scalding substances onto the genital area; any other procedure which falls under the definition of MGM given above.
• The most common type of male genital mutilation is excision of the foreskin (circumcision), accounting for the vast majority of all cases; the most extreme form is excision or destruction of the testes (castration), which constitutes a small percentage of all procedures

The Who, What and Why of MGM

In cultures where it is an accepted norm, male genital mutilation is practiced by followers of all religious beliefs as well as animists and non believers. MGM is usually performed either by a traditional practitioner, often with crude instruments and without anesthetic, or in a health care facility by qualified health personnel.

The age at which male genital mutilation is performed varies from area to area. It is performed on infants a few days old, male children and adolescents and, occasionally, on mature men.

The reasons given by families for having MGM performed include:

• Psychosexual reasons: elimination of the sensitive tissue of the foreskin and the stimulation that it provides, depriving the glans of its protective environment to reduce sexual pleasure;
• Sociological reasons: identification with the cultural heritage, initiation of boys into manhood, social integration and the maintenance of social cohesion;
• Hygiene and aesthetic reasons: the foreskin is considered dirty and unsightly and is to be removed to promote hygiene and provide aesthetic appeal;
• Myths: babies don’t feel pain, a foreskin is hard to keep clean, circumcision protects against certain diseases, male circumcision is less barbaric than female circumcision;
• Religious reasons: Most Muslim and Jewish communities practice MGM in the belief that it is demanded by the Islamic and Judaic faiths. The practice, however, predates both religions.

Consequences of MGM

The immediate and long-term health consequences of male genital mutilation vary according to the type and severity of the procedure performed.

Immediate complications include severe pain, shock, hemorrhage, infection, excessive skin loss, skin bridges, glans deformation, bowing, meatal stenosis, loss of penis, and injury to adjacent tissue. Hemorrhage and infection can cause death. More recently, concern has arisen about possible transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) due to the use of one instrument in multiple operations. Some researchers are also promoting MGM as a tool to combat AIDS by touting studies that show a link between medicalized circumcision and reduced rates of HIV transmission, which is likely to increase the number of forced circumcisions and related complications.

Long-term consequences include scar formation, keratinization, sexual dysfunction, loss of sexual sensitivity, and increased friction and pain during sexual intercourse.

Psychosexual and psychological health: Genital mutilation may leave a lasting mark on the life and mind of the man who has undergone it. In the longer term, men may suffer feelings of anger, incompleteness, anxiety, depression, and lifelong psychological trauma.

Prevalence of MGM

Most of the boys and men who have undergone genital mutilation live in 28 African countries, the Middle East, the USA, and parts of Asia. They are also found in Europe, Australia, and Canada.

Today, the number of boys and men who have undergone male genital mutilation is estimated at 650 million. It is estimated that each year, a further 13 million boys are at risk of undergoing MGM.

Castration Anxiety

Freud and other psychoanalysts have discussed male genital mutilations as inducing a form of “castration anxiety” in the child by which the taboo against incest and parricide is pathologically strengthened (DeMeo 1986). Montagu (1946) and Bettelheim ( 1962) have discussed their connections to the male fear of vaginal blood, where menstruation is imitated (sub-incision), or where the male must be ritually absolved of contact with poisonous childbirth blood (infant circumcision), or hymenal blood (pubertal circumcision). Reich identified genital mutilations as but one, albeit a major one, of a series of brutal and cruel acts directed toward infants and children which possess hidden motives designed to cause a painful, permanent contraction of the child’s physical and emotional self. Reich saw the real purpose of circumcision, and other assaults upon the child’s sexuality, to be the reduction of the child’s emotional fluidity and energy level, and their ability to experience maximal pleasurable genital excitation later in life, a major step in, as he put it, transmuting Homo sapiens into armored Homo normalis. Reich argued that parents and doctors blindly advocated or performed the genital mutilations, and other painful shamanistic medical procedures, in proportion to their own emotional armoring and pleasure-anxiety, in order to make children more like themselves: obedient, docile, and reduced in sexual vigor and emotional vitality (Reich 1967, 1973).

See Also

• Male Genital Mutilation (Circumcision)- A Feminist Study of a Muted Gender Issue
• Male Genital Mutilation- An Adaptation to Sexual Conflict: Cornell
• Circumcision- Male Genital Mutilation? BBC
• Why Male Circumcision and Female Genital Mutilation Are Not Morally Equivalent: Science Blogs
• MGM Policy Statement: MGM Bill
• Complications of circumcision
• History of male circumcision
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) and male circumcision: should there be a separate ethical discourse?
• Female genital cutting

References

• MGM Bill
• Wikipedia: Genital Modification & Mutilation
• Wikipedia: Circumcision
• The Geography of Genital Mutilations

Forced marriages are generally arranged because of family pride, the wishes of the parents, or social obligation. For example, according to Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, many forced marriages in Britain within the Pakistani Muslim community are aimed at providing British citizenship to a member of the family presently in Pakistan to whom the instigator of the forced marriage feels a sense of duty.

Western society and the United Nations view forced marriage as a form of human rights abuse, since it violates the principle of the freedom and autonomy of individuals. However, other cultures view forced marriage as the only valid form of marriage as they may not recognize Western notions of love and romance. The Roman Catholic Church deems forced marriage grounds for granting an annulment — for a marriage to be valid both parties must give their consent freely. Many Catholics and other Christians consider forcing a person to marry someone a sin.

See Also

• Child marriage
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

External Link

• Website that provides information and advice on forced marriage: http://www.forcedmarriage.net/

Symptoms

The following behaviours are signs that a person may have anorexia:

• Skips meals, takes tiny portions, will not eat in front of others, or eats in ritualistic ways
  
• Always has an excuse not to eat
  
• Will only eat a few “safe,” low-calorie, low-fat foods
  
• Loses hair, looks pale or malnourished, wears baggy clothes to hide thinness
  
• Loses weight yet fears obesity and complains of being fat despite excessive thinness
  
• Detests all or specific parts of the body, insists she or he cannot feel good about self unless thin
  
• Exercises excessively and compulsively
  
• Holds to rigid, perfectionist standards for self and others
  
• Withdraws into self and feelings, becoming socially isolated
  
• Has trouble talking about feelings, especially anger

Individuals with anorexia are known to control body weight commonly through the means of voluntary starvation, purging, excessive exercise or other weight control measures, such as diet pills or diuretic drugs.

Causes

A Swedish study has highlighted the role of culture (notably the promotion of the ‘ideal’ female body type) as a catalyst for anorexia nervosa. The study included the entire Swedish population of 989,871 individuals born between 1973 and 1982. Patients with anorexia nervosa were identified through the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register from November 1990 to December 1999. Information about sociodemographic, perinatal, and psychosocial variables was obtained from different national registers. Attributable risk (AR) was calculated for potential risk factors.  Females had the highest AR for hospital admission because of anorexia nervosa (89.2%). Another important risk factor was having parents born in northern, central, or eastern Europe (AR: 49.3%). Psychosocial risk factors also were associated with an increased risk for anorexia nervosa (AR: 7.6%), whereas perinatal complications had an AR of only 3.6%.

Anorexia in the United States of America

It is estimated that 8 million Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the Gender Equality in the United States of America of America of America have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men. One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia. Anorexia is the 3rd most common chronic illness among adolescents

Anorexia in Asia

Although anorexia nervosa is usually associated with Western cultures, exposure to Western media is thought to have led to an increase in cases in non-Western countries. Anorexia nervosa was first documented in Japan in the 1960s. Eating disorders are now estimated to afflict one in 100 young Japanese women, almost the same incidence as in the United States. Increased cases of anorexia have also been reported in Gender Equality in South Gender Equality in South Korea, India and China

Anorexia in Egypt

The traditional values of Egypt do not over-value a thin body; rather they attach significance to women’s fertility and idealize motherhood. For a long time, such values were thought to provide some protection against the development of eating disorders. A 1994 study indicates that anorexia is emerging in Egyptian society with similar rates to those in Western cultures. The susceptibility of the Egyptian culture to developing such disorders could be based on the easy accessibility of Western values through the media and a readiness to assimilate them.

References

• Eating with Your Anorexic: How My Child Recovered Through Family-Based Treatment and Yours Can Too by Laura Collins Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 15, 2004) Language: English ISBN 0071445587 ISBN 978-0071445580
  
• Anorexia Misdiagnosed Publisher:Laura A. Daly; 1st edition (December 15, 2006) Language:English ISBN 0938279076 ISBN 978-0938279075
  
• Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia Marya Hornbacher. Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (January 15, 1999) Language: English ISBN 0060930934 ISBN 978-0060930936
  
• Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence By Bryan Lask, Rachel Bryant-Waugh Publisher: Psychology Press; 2 edition (October 12, 2000) ISBN 0863778046 ISBN 978-0863778049
  
• Too Fat or Too Thin?: A Reference Guide to Eating Disorders; Cynthia R. Kalodner. Publisher: Greenwood Press; 1 edition (August 30, 2003) Language: English ISBN 0313315817 ISBN 978-0313315817
  
• Overcoming Binge Eating; Christopher Fairburn. Publisher: The Guilford Press; Reissue edition (March 10, 1995) Language:English ISBN 0898621798 ISBN 978-0898621792
  
• Nasser M. “Screening for abnormal eating attitudes in a population of Egyptian secondary-school girls” Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, (1994), 29:25-30.

See Also

• Gender difference and body image

External Links

• Mental Health America
  
• South Carolina Department of Mental Health
  
• Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal

Alternate Uses of Arranged Marriage

The pattern of arranged marriage can be employed for other reasons besides the formation of a promising new family unit. In such marriages, typically economic or legal reasons take precedence over the goal of selecting a well-matched couple. Criticism of arranged marriage usually targets abuses such as Forced marriage and Child marriage.

• In a Forced marriage , the parents choose their son’s or daughter’s future spouse with no input from the son or daughter. Occasionally, even if the son or daughter disapproves of the choice, the marriage takes place regardless, overriding their objections. In some societies, in order to ensure cooperation the parents may threaten the child with punishment, or in rare cases, death. Motivating factors for such a marriage tend to be social or economic, i.e., the interests of the family or community goals served by the marriage are seen as paramount, and the preference of the individual is considered insignificant.

• In a Child marriage, children, or even infants, are married. The married children often live apart with their respective families until well after puberty. Child marriages are typically made for economic or political reasons. In rural India and several other countries, the requirement of providing a Dowry for daughters is generally acknowledged to be a contributing factor to Female infanticide .

• In a shotgun wedding, the bridegroom is forced to marry the bride due to unplanned pregnancy (or other reasons). It is given this colloquial name from the traditional method of force used; holding a shotgun to the groom’s head until he is married. This can also be classified as a forced marriage. Although it is worth noting that the concept came about before the invention of the shotgun. Laws in ancient Israel said that a man and woman (who were not engaged) caught in extramarital sex were forced into marriage by law. This was done to protect the families from sexually transmitted disease. Failure to marry would mean that the man and woman would be stoned to death.

Coercion to marry is commonly considered a violation of fundamental human rights in most Western societies, primarily because of its usurpation of a choice that, in most Western thought, belongs solely to the individuals involved. People can “find themselves stuck in marriages with persons decidedly not of their own choosing…whom they may find personally repulsive.” (Xiaohe and Whyte, 1990). A further condemnation of the practice of arranging a marriage for economic reasons comes from Edlund and Lagerlöf (2004) who argued that a love marriage is more effective for the promotion of accumulation of wealth and societal growth.

Variations

Abuses aside, it is ordinarily a fundamental tenet of arranged marriage that the union is a choice made voluntarily by the two people involved. The main variation in procedure between arranged marriages is in the nature and duration of the time from meeting to engagement. In an introduction only arranged marriage, the parents may only introduce their son or daughter to a potential spouse. The parents may briefly talk to the parents of the prospective spouse. From that point on, it is up to the children to manage the relationship and make a choice. There is no set time period. This is still common in many parts of the world and especially in India . The same pattern also appears in Japan . It should be noted that this open-ended process takes considerably more courage on the part of the parents, as well as the prospective spouses, in comparison to a fixed time-limit arranged marriage. Especially women, but also men, fear the stigma and emotional trauma of going through a courtship and then being rejected.

To contrast, a traditional arranged marriage may be finalized in the first meeting. The parents or matchmaker select the pair, there is no possibility of courtship, and only limited conversation between the prospective partners is permitted (while the parents are present, of course); then the prospective partners are expected to decide whether to proceed with the marriage. The parents may exert considerable pressure to encourage the potential bride or bridegroom to agree to the match. The parents may wish the match to proceed because the son or daughter is beginning to engage in courtship (and the parents disapprove of courtship), the parents believe that they know best what kind of partner will make a happy marriage, the parents seek to fulfill the desire for parental control, or for other reasons.

A more moderate and flexible procedure known as a modern arranged marriage is gaining in popularity. Parents choose several possible candidates or employ Matrimonials Sites. The parents will then arrange a meeting with the family of the prospective mate, confining their role to responsible facilitators and well-wishers. Less pressure to agree to the match is exerted by the parents in comparison to a traditional arranged marriage.

In some cases, a prospective partner may be selected by the son or daughter instead of by the parents or by a matchmaker. In such cases, the parents will either disapprove of the match and forbid the marriage or, just as likely, approve the match and agree to proceed with the marriage. Such cases are distinct from a love marriage because courtship is curtailed or absent and the parents retain the prerogative to forbid the match.

A love marriage involves a couple who find each other without parental approval and choose to get married. In some cases, the parents end up approving the marriage and in other cases, they continue to remain opposed to the marriage. There is a considerable debate on the pros and cons of love marriages vs arranged marriages. No scientific data is available to prove or disprove the benefits of either of the approaches.

A Culture of Arranged marriage

In cultures with few possibilities to meet prospective partners, arranged marriages perform a similar function, bringing together people who might otherwise not have met. In such cultures, arranged marriage is viewed as the norm and preferred by young adults. Even where courtship practices are becoming fashionable, young adults tend to view arranged marriage as an option they can fall back on if they are unable or unwilling to spend the time and effort necessary to find a spouse on their own. In such cases, the parents become welcome partners in a hunt for marital bliss. Further, in several cultures, the last duty of a parent to his or her son or daughter is to see that they pass through the marital rites.

In some cultures, arranged marriage is a tradition handed down through many generations. Parents who take their son or daughter’s marriage into their own hands have themselves been married by the same process. Many parents, and children likewise, feel pressure from the community to conform, and in certain cultures, a love marriage or even courtship is considered a failure on the part of the parents to maintain control over their child. In such cultures, children are brought up with these cultural assumptions do not feel stifled. They experience them as natural boundaries.

Parents in some communities fear social and/or religious stigma if their child is not married by a certain age. Several cultures deem the son or daughter less likely to find a suitable partner if they are past a certain age and consider it folly to try to marry them off at that stage. In these societies, including China, the intragenerational relationship of the family is much more valued than the marital relationship. The whole purpose of the marriage is to have a family (Reaves, 1994).

Caste

Typically only high castes marry high castes. If caste is judged of great importance then only persons of the same caste may be considered for a match. Intercaste marriages do happen in India either as arranged marriages when the parents themselves are from different castes/religions or if they are influenced by progressive thoughts. Intercaste marriages that happen against the wishes of the parents (usually a love marriage between two people who belong to different castes) face considerable societal pressures and difficulties.

On the other hand, Indian families who consider the caste system as an artificial excuse for social inequity have the opposite preference. They prefer to marry persons of differing caste and tend to avoid matches within the same caste. It is believed that intercaste marriages weaken the caste system. Such families are also often open to marriages across national borders.

Immigration

In few arranged marriages, one potential spouse may reside in a wealthy country and the other in a poorer country. For example, the man may be an American of Indian ancestry and the woman may be an Indian living in India who will move to America after the marriage. Alternately, the man or woman may be a citizen of the United States of America and the other person is in Russia or another country and is willing to move to the USA after the marriage. The arrangement may be accomplished by a business created for such a purpose.

References

• Xu Xiaohe and Martin King Whyte: Love Matches and Arranged Marriages: A Chinese Replication. Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 52, No. 3. (Aug., 1990), pp. 709-722.
• Lena Edlund and Nils-Petter Lagerlöf: Implications of Marriage Institutions for Redistribution and Growth, *[http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-02-13-valentine-cover-usat_x.htm USA Today article
• Jo Reeves (1994): Marriage in China Not So Different than in the West. Asian Pages. St. Paul: May 31, 1994.Vol.4 (18); p.4.
• Love Marriage Vs Arranged Marriage – A Comprehensive Analysis   

See also

• Child marriage
• 2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index 2014 Edition
• Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base
• Family Code

About

Bride-burning is a type of domestic violence mostly practiced in Bangladesh , India , Pakistan and other countries located on or around the Indian subcontinent. A common form of bride burning is when a young woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family’s refusal to pay additional Dowry , thus the common term dowry death.

Flammable liquids like kerosene or gasoline are poured on the bride, who then is set alight, leading to her death. In 1961, the Government of India made the ancient custom of dowry demands illegal under the Dowry Prohibition Act. Yet, in 2001 the Government of India released statistics showing that husbands and in-laws killed nearly 7,000 women over inadequate dowry payments.

With terrifying statistics of bride burnings per year this issue has become defined as a public health problem in India. This emerging form of domestic violence has nevertheless gained international attention and suggestions consisting of increasing standards of education for women, encourage economic and emotional independence, proper implementation of existing laws along with new, stricter legislation to abolish dowry related crimes have been set forth.

References

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/3071963.stm BBC News, “India’s dowry deaths”, 16.07.2003
2. Love Burns: An Essay about Bride Burning in India, Jutla, Rajni K. MD; Heimbach, David MD, Journal of Burn Care & Rehabilitation: March/April 2004 – Volume 25 – Issue 2 – pp 165-170

See Also

• Dowry
• Domestic violence
• Domestic Violence in India

Purpose

For many centuries, until around 1175, Anglo-Saxons and then Anglo-Norman women, with the exception of young unmarried girls, wore veils that entirely covered their hair, and often their necks up to their chins. Only in the Tudor period (1485), when hoods became increasingly popular, did veils of this type become less common. For centuries, women have worn sheer veils, but only under certain circumstances. Sometimes a veil of this type was draped over and pinned to the bonnet or hat of a woman in mourning, especially at the funeral and during the subsequent period of “high mourning”. They would also have been used, as an alternative to a mask, as a simple method of hiding the identity of a woman who was travelling to meet a lover, or doing anything she didn’t want other people to find out about. More pragmatically, veils were also sometimes worn to protect the complexion from sun and wind damage (when un-tanned skin was fashionable), or to keep dust out of a woman’s face.

Veils with religious significance

In Judaism and Christianity the concept of covering the head was associated with propriety and can be witnessed in all depictions of Mary the mother of Christ, and was a common practice with Church-going women until the 1960s. A number of very traditional churches do retain the custom even to this day.

Women’s headcoverings

Traditionally, in Christianity, women were enjoined to cover their heads in church, just as it was (and still is) customary for men to remove their hat as a sign of respect. This practice is based on the Bible (Corinthians: 11:4-16).Unknown. (ND). Corinthians 11:4-16 (New International Version). Retrieved August 19, 2010, from Bible Gateway: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+11%3A4-16&version=NIV In many traditional Eastern Orthodox Churches, and in some very conservative Protestant churches as well, the custom continues of women covering their heads in church (or even when praying privately at home). In the Roman Catholic Church, it was customary, before the 1960s for women in most places to wear a headcovering in the form of a scarf, cap, veil or hat when entering a church. The practice now continues where it is seen as a matter of etiquette, courtesy, tradition or fashionable elegance rather than strictly of religion. Traditionalist Catholics also maintain the practice.

Western nuns

A veil forms part of the headdress of some religious orders of nuns or religious sisters ; this is why a woman who becomes a nun is said “to take the veil”. In many orders, a white veil is used as the “veil of probation” during novitiate, and a dark veil for the “veil of profession” once first vows are taken; the color scheme varies with the color scheme of the habit of the order. A veil of consecration, longer and fuller, is used by some orders for final profession of solemn perpetual vows. Nuns are the female counterparts of monks, and many monastic orders of women have retained the veil. Other orders, of religious sisters who are not cloistered but who work as teachers, nurses or in other “active” apostolates outside of a monastery, have abolished the use of the veil, or adopted a modified, short version; a few never had a veil to start with, but used a bonnet-style headdress even a century ago. The fullest versions of the nun’s veil cover the top of the head and flow down around and over the shoulders. In Western Christianity, it does not wrap around the neck or face. In those orders that retain one, the starched white covering about the face neck and shoulders is known as a wimple and is a separate garment. The Catholic Church has revived the practice of allowing women to profess vows as consecrated virgins; women who take the vows of religion without belonging to a particular order but who are under the direct care of the local bishop. These women may be given a veil as a sign of consecration. There has also been renewed interest in the last half century in the ancient practice of women and men dedicating themselves as anchorites or hermits, and there is a formal process whereby such persons can seek recognition of their vows by the local bishop; a veil for these women would also be traditional. Some Anglican women’s religious orders also wear a veil, differing according to the traditions of each order.

Eastern monasticism

In Eastern Orthodoxy and in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, a veil called an epanokamelavkion is used by both nuns and monks, in both cases covering completely the kamilavkion, a cylindrical hat worn by both monks and nuns. In Slavic practice, when the veil is worn over the kamilavkion, the entire headdress is referred to as a klobuk. Nuns wear an additional veil under the klobuk, called an apostolnik, which is drawn together to cover the neck and shoulders as well as their heads, leaving the face itself open.

Veils in Mormonism

Mormon women also wear a veil as part of ritual temple clothing. This veil, along with the entire temple ritual clothing, is worn only inside the temple. Normally, the veil is worn off the face; it is lowered to cover the face of the wearer during prayer, as part of the temple ritual.

Mormons who have undertaken the temple ritual will typically be buried in this clothing. During the viewing of the body, the face remains unveiled. Immediately prior to the closing and sealing of the casket, the veil is lowered over the face of the deceased.

Muslim veils

A variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women in accordance with khimar (the principle of dressing modestly) are sometimes referred to as veils or headscarves. Many of these garments cover the hair, ears and throat, but do not cover the face. The niqab and burqa are two kinds of veils that cover most of the face except for a slit or hole for the eyes. The Afghan burqa covers the entire body, obscuring the face completely, except for a grille or netting over the eyes to allow the wearer to see. The boushiya is a veil that may be worn over a headscarf, it covers the entire face and is made of a sheer fabric so the wearer is able to see through it. It has been suggested that the Byzantine practice of wearing a veil – uncommon among the Arab tribes prior to the rise of Islam – originated in the Byzantine Empire, and then spread among the Arabs.Review of Herrin book, and Michael Angold, Church and Society in Byzantium Under the Comneni, 1081-1261, pp. 426-7 & ff;1995, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521269865; see also John Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path,, p.98, 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Other veils

Veils with hats

Veils pinned to hats have survived the changing fashions of the centuries and are still common today on occasions when women wear hats. However, these veils are generally made of netting or another material not actually designed to hide the face from view, even if the veil can be pulled down, which is not always the case.

Wedding veils

It is not altogether clear that the wedding veil is a non-religious use of this item, since weddings have almost always had religious underpinnings, especially in the West: in the Christian tradition this is expressed in the Gospel passage, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mt. 19:6), but veils had been used in the West for weddings long before this (Roman brides, for instance, wore an intensely flame-coloured and fulsome veil, called the flammeum, apparently intended to protect the bride from evil spirits on her wedding day). The lifting of the veil was often a part of ancient wedding ritual. In many cultures, the lifting of the wedding veil symbolized the groom taking possession of the wife, either as lover or as property, or the revelation of the bride to the groom by her parents for approval. In ancient Judaism the lifting of the veil took place just prior to the consummation of the marriage in sexual union. The uncovering or unveiling that takes place in the marriage ceremony is a symbol of what will take place in the marriage bed. Just as the two become one through their words spoken in wedding vows, so these words are a sign of the physical oneness that they will consummate later on. The lifting of the veil is a symbol and an anticipation of this. In the story of Jacob in the Old Testament (found in the Book of Genesis), his father-in-law, Laban, tricks Jacob into marrying the wrong woman. Because of the heavily masked veil that was not raised until after the union was complete, Jacob married the older and homelier Leah instead of the young and beautiful Rachel. Rachel was his one true love, and the deceit resulted in Jacob eventually having both as his wives. The story also resulted in the Jewish practice where a groom lowers the veil before the ceremony and lifts the veil before the kiss. This practice is known as Bedeken.

Courtesans

Conversely, veils are often part of the stereotypical image of the courtesan and harem woman. Here, rather than the virginity of the bride’s veil, modesty of the Muslim scarf or the piety of the nun’s headdress, the mysterious veil hints at sensuality and the unknown. An example of the veil’s erotic potential is the dance of the seven veils. In this context, the term may refer to a piece of sheer cloth approximately 3 yards by 45 inches, sometimes trimmed with sequins or coins, which is used in various styles of belly dancing. A large repertoire of ways to wear and hold the veil exists, many of which are intended to frame the body from the perspective of the audience.

In West Africa

Among the Tuareg of West Africa, women do not traditionally wear the veil, while men do. The men’s facial covering originates from the belief that such action wards off evil spirits, but most probably relates to protection against the harsh desert sands as well; in any event, it is a firmly established tradition. Men begin wearing a veil at age 25 which conceals their entire face excluding their eyes. This veil is never removed, even in front of family members.

References

See also

• Purdah
• Syria bans niqab
• Burqavaganza