Friday, February 28, 2014
Prostitution: Is it as bad as they say?
Prostitution by many is considered to be something horrible and morally corrupt, and of course there are some merits to this way of thinking, but if you don't do it yourself how can you properly judge it. Our culture today teaches us that prostitution is wrong and is something that should be vanquished from our country completely, this however was not always the case. Prostitution has been around since the early colonial years and it got really popular during the Victorian era in the 19th century. In the Victorian era prostitution was not illegal and there were many brothels and bordellos. Prostitution during this time was the largest occupational category for women outside of the home. Prostitution wasn't viewed with the horror it is today. Prostitution then was a pretty acceptable way for women to earn money. Prostitution was not made illegal until the mid 18th century. Americans changed prostitution from something that was at one point in time a widely accepted occurrence to something that should be cast out from society. I don't believe that this should be how we view prostitution because I believe that there are some definite positives to prostitution.
The biggest pro to prostitution is that it gives both women and men a chance to make money. Many people would probably say that there are better methods to making money and while they may be right sometimes these great options and opportunities aren't present for everybody. Making minimum wage at Walmart and McDonald's may be alright for a little while, but once you have bills to pay minimum wage is almost never enough, and that's just for taking care of yourself. Minimum wage is even more impossible to live off of when you have kids in the picture. Prostitution may not be what you would turn to, but for many it's a viable way of making money that doesn't involve stealing or robbing. I know that I personally would turn to prostitution before I sat there and let me or my children starve and I don't believe that people should be penalized for making that choice. This next point I make isn't necessarily a con, but it is something that supports prostitution none the less, and that is the freedom of choice. America is built off of this principle and I believe that illegalizing prostitution violates this right. Engaging in prostitution should be a choice not an automatic jail sentence. If two adults want to consent to sex and involve money who is the American government to stop that. As long as the prostitute is of legal age then the law enforcement has no business policing what goes on between two consenting adults whether it involves money or not. STD's can be easily spread through prostitution, but that is the risk that one takes when they decide to have sex with a prostitute and it is the risk that people take every time they have sex, so STD's are not isolated to only coming from prostitutes.
Prostitution has been here for centuries and it certainly isn't going away any time soon, whether it's illegal or not. Instead of wasting man hours and tax dollars on preventing and catching prostitutes the government could be turning prostitution as a way to make revenue. The government could legalize prostitution, and seriously collect on the money that they make. If they legalized prostitution brothels could be built, which would give prostitutes safe places to work and help create jobs for people, who would have to build the brothels, and for the security that could be involved in protecting the prostitutes from out of control customers. This would in turn make the streets safer and cleaner while promoting the welfare of all citizens.
Blogged By: Janae Clark
Women in the Workforce (Colonial - Present) - Linnea Hoops
Linnea Hoops
February Blog
19H
Women have always been the underdog in America in anything
since the colonial era especially in the workforce.
In the colonial era it was unheard of for a woman to do
anything having to do with paid labor.
All women were under the control of their husband and were in charge of
cooking, cleaning and raising the children. I personally don’t think I could
live in a time period like this. I think it’s wrong how women had no choice but
to submit to a man to have a good life.
Once the Victorian era came around women started working a
little bit more, but nothing significant. The most popular job was prostitution
and any women that wanted a little bit of respect they stayed far away from
that path.
The woman that stands out the most to me from this era is
Clelia Duel Mosher. Mosher was born to what I believe the wrong era. She was a
lonely woman that wanted to prosper in the medical field as a gynecologist.
Being a woman, men objected to working with her and disabled her from becoming
successful. She surveyed all kinds of different women and discovered that women
secretly did in fact enjoy sex and had sexually desires 1. I believe that if
Mosher was born into a different era she would have made extraordinary success
to uncovering the mysteries behind the female and their genitalia, but instead
she kept everything she discovered a secret and was very lonely.
After the Victorian era more women were required to go to
work and help support their family more than ever. Even though they were underpaid and not
treated the same it was still a job that helped them support their families.
They worked in factories and mills in poor work conditions 2.
Just recently women have started to be more competitive in
the workforce. Women have taken steps towards independence and engaged in jobs
like photographers, writers, office positions and even jobs in the government.
Even though women do not have equality in the workforce they
are getting closer. I think that this is awesome. It has taken some strong
dedicated women to change this and I cannot wait to establish myself in the
workforce and contribute to the hard work that past women have done for me to
have some sort of equality in my future career.
1 https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=29954
2 http://www.enotes.com/topics/feminism/critical-essays/women-early-mid-20th-century-1900-1960
Living With an STD in America
Living With An STD in America By:Aaron Roberts
An STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) is an infection that
is transmitted through sexual contact from a person who is already
infected. STDs more common then you
think in the United States. This past
year a study was done with some staggering results. Researchers found that 110 million Americans
(both men and women) are indeed infected with an STD.[1] There
are a lot of Sexually Transmitted Infections out there, around 24 or so, and of
those 24, eight were surveyed in this study.
Not only are these Disease/ Infections annoying, but also they are
expensive. In 2006 an estimated $14.7
billion dollars of medical coasts were directly linked with Sexually
Transmitted Infections.[2] Aids
has no cure known yet, but does have medicine available to keep it from
progressing into the final stage of aids.
People like Magic Johnson; an Ex-NBA player for the Los Angeles Lakers
was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and spends copious amounts of money on medicine
and drugs to keep his HIV from progressing into full-blown aids. He basically pays to continue living. Many
other celebrities in America also have or have had an STD at some point
including Trey Songz, Billy Idol, Pamela Anderson, Steven Tyler, and of course
Magic Johnson.[3] Although it is not ideal to have any sexually
transmitted infections, it is probably better to have one in America then it is
anywhere else. There is easier access to
good health care, unlike some countries around the world. In America they also keep things of this
matter private from other people, as it should be. To go along with medical care, some
infections are easily curable with medication, and while other countries may
have medical care, they still might not have access to any of the right
medicines needed to treat these sexually transmitted infections. Living with an STI is of course not favorable
even if it is in America, but there are precautions that can be taken to ensure
you don’t get one, including practicing safe sex and using protection and if
you do happen to contract a sexually transmitted infection then the
advancements in medical technology can provide relief by providing medicine to get
rid of it, or to subdue it long enough to prolong ones life. Always get tested to ensure you don’t have an
infection.
The debate on sex education in schools and at home By Danny Karrs
We've all taken that awkward sex education class in 9th grade, when no one was comfortable with anything that was being said. Whether its STI's, pregnancy or prevention of those two, no one wants to talk about it nor does the teacher seem to want to teach it. Either way its necessary to learn, but where and when is slightly more debatable. Some say its too late, kids have already had sex and they had no knowledge of what they were doing. Some say its too early, if you tell them how to do something and then not to do it they are going to want to do it. I think its more on the parents then it is on the school. Its up to the parents to make sure they're kids aren't out having sex and if they are the parents need to make sure they are using protection and not getting STIs and preventing Pregnancy.
So the infamous sex talk from your parents, i feel some do it better then others but i wouldn't know because I've only had experience with one. But you can see that some people treat sex a lot differently then others. And the way they treat it really reflects their chances at STIs and Pregnancy. Another proposed problem with talking about sex in schools is religions
reasons and is abstinence the best message to teach students? Some schools
don’t teach about contraception because of religious purposes and thus the
students go against the abstinence teaching and have sex with no knowledge of
contraception so it has more negative affects then positive. Some schools don’t
teach it at all because they feel its up to the parents or the church to teach
them about sex. I really don’t think all religions will be happy with anything
that happens so its really about focusing on what will make the majority happy
and what will prevent students from getting pregnant or contracting STIs.
Another Idea is to get the
parents approval before the kids take the sex class. This is probably the best
option but if the parents choose for their kids not to take it they better fill
in the role and teach their kids about sex at home.
In all I think it should
be a combination of multiple teachings, it starts at home, the parents should tell
you everything. Then its up to the school to fill in anything the parents may
have missed. Its not fool proof but I think this is the best way to lower the
numbers of STIs and teen pregnancy’s.
Boy will be boys by Courtney Holland
“What we don’t know
won’t hurt,” “boys will be boys,” ”they just can’t help it,” ”all men cheat,”
are things I have heard women say in today’s social world. Everyone is in fact
entitled to their own opinion, however, it is disturbing for me, a feminist, to
hear a woman make these comments. These comments add on to the double standard
that already exists today and to break it means we have to stop giving in to socially
constructed views of how women and men should behave within society. A woman
making these statements, as such, stated in the beginning of this paper, is
making what she feels she deserves inferior by accepting mistakes that I
believe can be controlled. According to Paul Eastwick, a co-author on a study
of men’s sexual impulses states, “Men have plenty of self-control -- just as
much as women; however, if men fail to use self-control, their sexual impulses
can be quite strong. This is often the situation when cheating occurs."
Clearly the thought that it is natural for men to cheat is not accurate. Men
can make their own decisions and should have self-control. I then try to ask
myself how this view we have today came about. This double standard has been
around for years which leads to a people being brainwashed in the 21st
century. In the colonial era, women were seen as daughters of Eve, who are
sexual creatures, promiscuous, and lustful. They were thought of as weak and
that they could not control their sexual desires, which is similar to the same
way men are viewed today. As we move to the Victorian era, the roles society
placed on women switch to men. In this era, the men are then seen as people who
have sexual desires that need to be met. In this time period men were allowed
to sleep with prostitutes while they were married. Women could not do the same.
It was accepted that the men had these so called sexual needs. Similar views of
male dominance and sexual desires that need to be fulfilled still exist as a
double standard today. These current social views make it hard for people,
particularly women to have hope for commitment and loyalty in a relationship.
Even though it may be hard because society and media play a big role in our
life, we need women as well as men to advocate against these socially incorrect
double standard. Self-control is real. We need to change this double standards
so that there are equal opportunities for the sexes. Males are seen as dominant
and more capable of doing jobs, and full of sexual desires that need to be met.
It is true that in a corporate jobs men have higher pay wages than women. It’s
true that some women expect men to cheat because of their lust for sex. The
change can start in our education systems. If teachers started teaching
equality between the sexes and upholding it in classrooms then it can spark new
views of society for the growing generations to come.
HUFFPOST, "Male Sexuality May Explain Why Men Cheat More Than
Women." Last modified September 23, 2013. 2014.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/male-sexuality_n_3976689.html.
(Accessed February 25, 2014)
Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Puritans and Sex
Many years ago America was
inhabitated by a very prominent and religious group of people who, although
lived by very strict standards, still managed to have a pretty normal and daily
sex life. These individuals were known as the Puritans. Known for colonizing a
large portion of the east coast, the Puritans went through quite a deal of
turmoil. A large portion of their population was off at war, while another
portion was dealing with diseases that they had never even seen before. Regardless,
the Puritans maintained a strict religious lifestyle and viewed marriage as
sacred. So sacred that the rules regarding sex were sometimes ridiculous. Any
non marital sex or any non-reproductive activities were seen as forbidden. This
included homosexual sex, masturbation, anal sex, and oral sex. [2] If you chose
to violate these rules then you could be punished in many different ways. Some
of these punishments included being fined, whipped, or even being publicly
shamed in the form of a scarlet letter. In order to understand where exactly
these ideologies come from, you have to look into the past. In the Victorian
Era, industrialization started to sweep the country and the value of children
in the workforce dropped dramatically. Because of this, couples began to limit
the amount of children that they originally wanted to have. This was made
possible primarily because of the invention of the condom which caused marital
fertility rates to drop drastically from the 1800’s to the 1900’s. So how did
the puritans view sex within marriage? The complete opposite. The Puritans said
that sex was an extremely important part of marriage and should be done in a
happy fashion. They didn’t just see sex as something that was desirable in
marriage, but instead as something that was necessary and essential to their
society. In fact often times marriage was described primarily in the eyes of
sex only. [1] As William Perkins stated: “the lawful conjunction of the two
married persons; that is, of one man and one woman into one flesh.” As you can
see, the act of sex was very important to marriage and created a so called
Godly union between the couples in the mind and body. Sadly with the changing
of technology and new ideas coming abroad throughout the 1800’s, the Puritans
eventually lost the strict ideals that they believed in and the Victorian view
of sex was changed into something that revolved around something else: love.
1. Challies, Tim.
"Challies.com." The Puritans and Sex. N.p., 06 Sept.
2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
2. Wade, Lisa.
"Sociological Images." Sociological Images RSS. N.p., 15
Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)