How did the foreign media negatively and positively affect the events Essay Example for Free

How did the foreign media negatively and positively affect the events Essay Tiananmen Square in 1989 refers to the pro-democracy protests that took place against the communist regime in the People’s Republic of China between May and June 1989 (Gilboa 200). As has been the practice, flow of information in China is always limited. That is why the foreign media played a very significant role in Tiananmen Square; in fact up to today, the incident is referred to as the Tiananmen Square Massacre in most of the outside world while it is simply referred to as the June Fourth Incident (Gilboa 200). Foreign media therefore played a big role in bringing the event out to the world; and this had many positive as well as negative impacts on the outcome of Tiananmen Square. There have been a lot of controversies surrounding Tiananmen Square. Even up to today, the number of people who died in the riots is still established. The impact of the media started being felt early on in April when after the death of reformist leader, Former Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, University students from Beijing started putting up posters in his praise while advocating for freedom, democracy and the rule of law (Gilboa 200). The Chinese communist regime was largely anti-reformist, and this political activism was not to be received in kind. Having strict media and information censorship policies, this event would not have captured the audience it did, thanks to foreign media (BBC, 2010). Foreign media thus fuelled the intensity of the riots and the resolution of the demonstrators. If it was not for the foreign media, the events that transpired during the Tiananmen Square riots would not have been known outside the borders of communist China (Fenby 2008). But reporters from foreign media houses transmitted news feeds live from the scene and brought the cause of the demonstrators to the whole world. People, governments and human rights activists where then able to know how the situation was in China, and there was increased pressure on the communist regime ruling in China to grant its subjects the basic rights and freedoms (Gilboa 200). The brute force with which the government descended on the demonstrators even made the then president of the United States, George Bush, to halt any further trade in arms between the U.  S and the People’s Republic of China. Foreign media, being largely biased towards democracy and other western ideals, amplified the events occurring at Tiananmen Square and therefore gave the movements a lot of momentum (BBC 2010). Even when the government intervened with a brute force whose actual destruction of life is still not clearly established, the student protestors stayed put, buoyed by the support of the foreign media. It can thus be said that foreign media played a role in the total number of fatalities that actually occurred as a result of the Tiananmen Square Riots of 1989 (Fenby, 2008). Through deliberate exaggeration, the foreign media reports working on the Tiananmen Square story fueled international tensions further. Many western nations including the United States and most of the countries in Western and Eastern Europe condemned how the Chinese government was approaching the Tiananmen Square riots and questioned its human rights records (Richelson, Evans 1999). Many other nations in North America, Latin America and Oceania also condemned the Chinese communist regime. India, which had been on a collision course with the people’s republic of China, advised her local media houses to censor the content streaming in from Beijing to prevent a possible escalation of tensions between the two countries (Gilboa 200). In fact, media exaggeration in some way altered the international political landscape. Citizens in communist countries became wary of what the communist juggernaut would do to them. Elections were due to be held on the 4th of June in Poland, where the Polish Communist Party was in rule. This was just hours after the Tiananmen Square massacre but the polish public voted overwhelmingly in favor of leftist politicians, starting a process that would eventually remove the Polish Communist Party from power a year later. The United Nations and other human rights watchdogs had their attention attracted by foreign media coverage of what was actually happening in Tiananmen Square (Gilboa 200). The then Secretary General of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, called on the Chinese government to practice maximum restraint while handling the rioters and hunger strikers on Tiananmen Square while the European Economic Community cancelled all high profile dealings with the Chinese in protest of the violation of human rights that was being orchestrated by the Chinese government on her citizens (Richelson, Evans 1999). In conclusion, the effect of foreign media in covering the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989 had more positive effects that negative effects. The plight of the Chinese people was brought to the fore leading to increased concern and measures to force the Chinese government to respect rights and freedoms that are internationally recognized as being universal and unalienable to every person. However, much of the information broadcast by several media houses was inaccurate and this led to misunderstandings and tensions between the Chinese government and several other authorities.

Sir Gawain And The Green Knight: The Role Of Women :: essays research papers

In the fourteenth century, chivalry was in decline due to drastic social and economic changes. Although feudalism-along with chivalry-would eventually fall for other reasons, including a decrease in cheap human resources due to a drop in population caused by plague epidemics and the emergence of a mercantile middle class, the Gawain author perceived a loss of religious values as the cause of its decline. Gawain and the Green Knight presents both a support of the old feudal hierarchies and an implicit criticism of changes by recalling chivalry in its idealized state in the court of King Arthur. The women in the story are the poet's primary instruments in this critique and reinforcement of feudalism. The poet uses the contrast between the Virgin Mary with Lady Bertilak's wife to point out the conflict between courtly and spiritual love that he felt had weakened the religious values behind chivalry. The poem warns that a loss of the religious values behind chivalry would lead to its ul timate destruction. Although superficially Sir Gawain and the Green Knight appears to be a romantic celebration of chivalry, it contains wide-ranging serious criticism of the system. The poet is showing Gawain's reliance on chivalry's outside form and substance at the expense of the original values of the Christian religion from which it sprang. The first knights were monastic ones, vowing chastity, poverty and service to God, and undertaking crusades for the good of their faith. The divergence between this early model and the fourteenth century knight came with the rise of courtly love in which the knights were led to their great deeds by devotion to a mistress rather than God. The discrepancy between this and the church's mistrust of women and desires of the flesh is obvious, and the poet uses women in the story to deliver this message. In contrast to reality at the time, women in the story are given great power: Mary, when properly worshiped, gives Gawain his power, Lady Bertilak operates alone in th e bedroom and singlehandedly taints the chevalier, and Morgan the Fay instigates the entire plot, wielding enough power. The author is using them as a metaphor for other anti-social forces and dangers outside the control of feudalism and chivalry, drawing upon biblical and classical examples in his audience's minds of where femininity is linked with subversiveness. Lady Bertilak is clearly seen in the Biblical role of the temptress, the Eve who led Adam astray--in Gawain, she represents the traditional female archetypes of courtly love, disobedience, lust and death. Sir Gawain And The Green Knight: The Role Of Women :: essays research papers In the fourteenth century, chivalry was in decline due to drastic social and economic changes. Although feudalism-along with chivalry-would eventually fall for other reasons, including a decrease in cheap human resources due to a drop in population caused by plague epidemics and the emergence of a mercantile middle class, the Gawain author perceived a loss of religious values as the cause of its decline. Gawain and the Green Knight presents both a support of the old feudal hierarchies and an implicit criticism of changes by recalling chivalry in its idealized state in the court of King Arthur. The women in the story are the poet's primary instruments in this critique and reinforcement of feudalism. The poet uses the contrast between the Virgin Mary with Lady Bertilak's wife to point out the conflict between courtly and spiritual love that he felt had weakened the religious values behind chivalry. The poem warns that a loss of the religious values behind chivalry would lead to its ul timate destruction. Although superficially Sir Gawain and the Green Knight appears to be a romantic celebration of chivalry, it contains wide-ranging serious criticism of the system. The poet is showing Gawain's reliance on chivalry's outside form and substance at the expense of the original values of the Christian religion from which it sprang. The first knights were monastic ones, vowing chastity, poverty and service to God, and undertaking crusades for the good of their faith. The divergence between this early model and the fourteenth century knight came with the rise of courtly love in which the knights were led to their great deeds by devotion to a mistress rather than God. The discrepancy between this and the church's mistrust of women and desires of the flesh is obvious, and the poet uses women in the story to deliver this message. In contrast to reality at the time, women in the story are given great power: Mary, when properly worshiped, gives Gawain his power, Lady Bertilak operates alone in th e bedroom and singlehandedly taints the chevalier, and Morgan the Fay instigates the entire plot, wielding enough power. The author is using them as a metaphor for other anti-social forces and dangers outside the control of feudalism and chivalry, drawing upon biblical and classical examples in his audience's minds of where femininity is linked with subversiveness. Lady Bertilak is clearly seen in the Biblical role of the temptress, the Eve who led Adam astray--in Gawain, she represents the traditional female archetypes of courtly love, disobedience, lust and death.

Gender Inequalities Essay

Gender Inequality is the differences in the status, power and prestige women and men have in groups, collectivities and societies. Gender inequality usually affects women more than men due to the status in society. Many women are affected in the workforce due to gender inequalities, in many countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan women are held at a lower position to men. In countries such as those, women are thought of as property other than human beings. Why does gender inequality happen? The answer to this question is not as simple as it may seem. The most enforcing cause of gender inequality would be stereotypes. Typically women are thought of as housewives, to stay home, cook and clean, and take care of children. Men are suppose to be the breadwinners, they are suppose to work and support the family. In modern society the thought of the typical â€Å"housewife† has changed. Ever since the Rosie the Riveter revolution during World War II, more and more women are working in the workforce instead of staying at home. Even though during this time women were encouraged to take the place of their men and work in the workforce, a glass ceiling was still created keeping women unable to be promoted and gain higher positions. see more:gender equality essay for kids Interesting enough, almost 40% of women today make more than their husbands, and women today make up almost 60% of U.S. college students and earn the majority of doctorates and master’s degrees. So why does gender inequality still exists? Its a long interval of gender differences, including roles of biology, gender socialization, and findings from other cultures. Also the different forms of gender inequalities suchs as women in the workplace, inequalities at work, and the gender pay gap take a huge toll on gender inequalities. As the differences between girls and boys are explored, the differences between men and women are also explored. Many scientist say that nature vs. nurture has a huge involvement with the biological makeup differences of men and women. A quote from Intro to Sociology states that â€Å"Scholars disagree about the degree to which biological characteristics affect gender identities as â€Å"feminine† or â€Å"masculine† and the social roles b ased on those identities. The debates is really about how much social behavior is learned versus innate (or â€Å"inborn†)†. (Intro to Soc 295). I agree with this statement because the  biological characteristics do not makeup a gender identities. Only because a woman is not built like a man does not mean she is more weak. Only because men were not exposed to more cooking and cleaning as much as a woman or young girl is, does not mean that woman or man is incapable of doing it. When thinking of the differences concerning men and women its hard to compare the behavioral differences to an overall audience. Depending on the different cultures, women and men have different morals and behaviors. For example women in Iraq are held as property to their husband, also in some Muslim countries, some women are stoned to death for wrongdoings. These example show complete inequality differences between men and women. For examples, as humans we are trained to think that woman can not perform strenuous work, its up to men to perform difficult task. These stereotypes are the ones that create gender inequalities and make it unfair for women to gain equal rights. Most sociologist argue that a mans aggressiveness varies between cultures and that women are still are as aggressive but display their aggression in a more discreet manner such as using strategies and â€Å"bad mouthing† rather than physical fights. I agree with this statement, usually men are more confrontational because men always look to be the Alpha male. When women are in a confrontation, more women will be more sneaky and rather talk than just fight physically. When it comes to the different forms of gender inequality, there are many different forms and disadvantages mainly pertaining to women. The first most common is women in the workplace, women in the workplace have more disadvantages than men. Another disadvantage would be the gender gap and pay. Men tend to receive a way higher pay than women. Each of these are examples of gender inequality, in the workplace it can be found most typical due to the stereotypical judgements of women working. The gender gap payment has a great affect on gender inequalities, since men are paid more this creates a glass ceiling for women trying to advance in the career path. In a quote by the feminist majority foundation, â€Å"In the Wall Street Journal/Gallup survey, women managers were asked what they consider to be the most serious obstacle in their business careers. Only 3% cited â€Å"family responsibilities,† but half named reasons related to their gender, including: â€Å"male chauvinism, attitudes toward a female boss, slow  advancement for women, and the simple fact of being a woman.† (FF 1) This quote shows that the main thing holding back women in the working society is stereotypes. Many women stereotypes claim that its family issues holding back our women from reaching higher levels. Many assume that if a women is a single mother, divorced, or divorcing this may take an effect on her work ability. In society when it comes to gender and family, each gender is expected to have a certain type of role. When it comes to family there are many different types and levels. Usually in a family women are expected to take care of the children and men are expected to work and provide. In this modern day society women usually do both, work and take care of their family. Since the beginning of humankind women were suppose to bare the children and men were suppose to provide for the family. Since this though was considered since the begnning of mankind its hard to earse this thought. Still til this day, women mainly do the cooking while men provide. Since women are mainly thought of being in the kitchen, its hard for men to picture women in the workfield. Since the beginning o f time women have been thought of as the housekeepers. When World War II came around things changed and women had to step up to the plate. Ads such as Rosie the Riveter promoted women to get jobs and work outside the household. Before this time the life for a woman was boring and just an endless cycle of the same tasks. Many books were written explaining the average life of the housewife such as â€Å"captive wife† by Gavron in 1966. During the 1970s and 1980s a spring of debates and research formed on family from feminist viewing this topic. Before feminist began to look t the value of family, the researched typically focused on the kinship and family ties and how society affects them. Feminist began to focus on inside the family to examine a woman’s experience in the domestic atmosphere. Many feminist argued that there was an unequal power instilled in the families and that more family benefitted more than the other. There are three spectrums that feminist found important when examining the importance of family. One is the domestic of labor, which is the way tasks are allocated among household members. Feminist tend to disagree about the historical upcoming if this division. Some view it as a effect of the industrial capitalism. Another theme would be unequal power relationships, whi ch equals domestic violence. Many feminist argue that violent and abusive sides of families have been ignored  in both academic contexts and legal and policy circles. feminist feel that the family serves as a gender oppression. The last theme would be caring activities, this theme extends from looking after a person who is ill to looking after an elder. Not only do women complete household chores and child care they also have significant emotional labor in maintaining personal relationships (Duncome and Marsden 1993). Caring activities are grounded by in love, deep emotion, they also require an ability to listen, perceive, negotiate, and act creatively (Intro Soc 500). Women play a huge role when it comes to family and society. Women provide a nurturing environment for society because of their loving nature. Without a mothers nurturing nature, children wouldn’t have the ability to grow properly. A woman is the foundation to any family, without a woman a family wouldn’t be able to function properly. When it comes to a family women aren’t just housewives, they are the emotional base and protectors of the family. In conclusion I feel that men and women should have equal power, especially w hen it comes to the work force. Many women have to deal with stereotypical comments in the workforce and sexual harassment. Harassment is also a big difficulty for women to proceed in the workforce, a quote from a Huff Post article â€Å"The HuffPost poll found that one in five women said they’d been harassed by a boss, and one in four said they had been harassed by another co worker. And although women were more likely than men to say that they had been victims of one or both types of sexual harassment, men also reported being sexually harassed — 6 percent said they were harassed by a boss and 14 percent by a coworker.† (Huff Post 1) This proves that women not only have to deal with stereotypes but also have to deal with sexual harassment which is even more difficult. Women should just have an equal position in status compared to men because, women can do anything a man can do. In some cultures such as Muslim cultures, women have little to no rights and sometimes even die for committing the sm allest thing against their husbands. Women typically have it more difficult than men because women are seen as a piece of property rather than being their own person. Its concerns me how much we seem to belittle our women in society even though they are the foundation to any family and the rock to any man.

Is the Wife of Bath a Feminist Character

Of all the narrators in Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath is the one most commonly identified as feminist — though some analysts conclude instead that she is a depiction of negative images of women as judged by her time. Was the Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales a feminist character? How does she, as a character, assess womens role in life and in marriage? How does she assess the role of control within a marriage and how much control should or do married women hold?  How does her experience of marriage and men, expressed in the books prologue, get reflected in the tale itself? The Wife of Bath Analysis The Wife of Bath portrays herself in the prologue to her tale as sexually experienced, and advocates for women having more than one sexual partner (as men were assumed to be able to do). She sees sex as a positive experience and says that she would not want to be a virgin — one of the models of ideal femininity taught by her culture and the church of that time. She also makes the assertion that in marriage, there should be equality and says each should â€Å"obey each other.† Within her marriages, she describes how she was also able to have some control, even though men were supposed to be dominant, through her wit. Also, she takes on the reality that violence towards women was common and considered acceptable. One of her husbands hit her so hard that she went deaf in one ear. She did not accept the violence as a man’s prerogative only, and so she hit him back (on the cheek).  She’s also not the ideal medieval model of a married woman, because she has no children. She talks about the many books of the time, which depict women as manipulative and depict marriage as especially dangerous for men who want to be scholars. Her third husband, she says, had a book that was a collection of all these texts. Ongoing Theme In the tale itself, she continues some of these themes.  The tale, set in the time of the Round Table and King Arthur, has as its main character a man (a knight). The knight, happening on a woman traveling alone rapes her, assuming she is a peasant, and then finds out that she was actually of the nobility. Queen Guinevere tells him she will spare him the death penalty if, within a year and ten days, he discovers what women desire most. And so, he sets out on the quest. He finds a woman who tells him that she will give him this secret if he marries her. Though she is ugly and deformed, he does so because his life is at stake.  Then, she tells him that women’s desire is to control their husbands, so he can make a choice: she can become beautiful if she is in control and he is submissive, or she can stay ugly and he can stay in control.  He gives her the choice, instead of taking it himself. So she becomes beautiful and gives him back control over her.  Critics debate whether this is an anti-feminist or feminist conclusion.  Those who find it anti-feminist note that ultimately, the woman accepts control by her husband.  Those who find it feminist point out that her beauty, and thus her appeal to him, is because he gave her the power to make her own choice and this acknowledges the usually-unrecognized powers of women.