Abortion Essay Example for Free

Abortion Essay Lucinda Seongbae Eng : Persuasive essay on abortion Prof. Fitzgerald A Positive View on Pro Abortion Abortion has been a controversy for many years and viewed in many different perspectives. Some individuals see it from a very positive point when this is being caused by the nature of the womans health, the age and others. It may also be seen as a way of getting rid of an unwanted or accidental pregnancy for reasons that are positive and beneficial for most women. According to feminist perspectives on reproduction and the family, in some cases abortion can be a positive act depending on the cause. For instance, in the case of a rape, health reasons or in the case of having an unwanted child for reasons of age, marital status, and economical reasons abortion is a potent tool to undo some mistakes. However, whichever ways it is perceived abortion gives a woman the right to choose and should not be viewed as a negative act but instead can be seen as a positive act in most circumstances. Based on the many positive reasons for abortion, abortion should be supported. Concerning the womans health an abortion can be performed when the woman cannot hold the fetus for health reasons. For example a woman who has AIDs and the fetus infected already can obtain an abortion because there is no life for the baby. Also a woman who has cancer at an advanced stage cannot keep a child in her womb or she will risk dying at birth. In the case of some diseases, kidney disease, severe hypertension, sickle-cell anemia, severe diabetes, etc that can be life threatening, an abortion often helps to avoid serious medical complications from childbirth. This also brings emphasis to Roe V. Wade (1973), which granted women the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, based on an implicit fundamental right to privacy and argued that it must be weighed against competing state interests in maternal safety and the protection of prenatal life; it protected this right during the first trimester of pregnancy (Thompson, 50). At this juncture the person has very good justifications of her action and is considered a positive act on her part. Another positive issue concerning abortion is a situation where girls below fifteen years are pregnant. In such situation abortion is possible because the girls are too young for child bearing. Also in situations where very young girls have little or no health facilities to ensure safe delivery, such as in developing countries, abortion is the only possible answer in order to avoid some major complication. According to researcher Mayor, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged fifteen to nineteen in developing countries. An estimated 70,000 adolescent mothers die each year because they have children before they are physically ready for parenthood, and more than 90% of these births are in developing countries the report says (www. bmjjournals. com). In this case, if a girl of these ages chooses to get an abortion to avoid complications of childbirth and/or death she is only making a positive decision for her life. According to those against abortion or those who perceive abortion as a negative act, one would argue that since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human life. In contrary, most abortions take place in the first trimester, when a fetus cannot exist independent of the mother. As it is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb. Therefore, in this case abortion cannot be considered murder. According to Thomson (1971), â€Å"if women have rights over their own bodies, then they have rights not to have their bodies used by others against their will† (Thompson, 35-65). Therefore, even if it is argued that the fetus is a human life, the state has no right to force someone to donate use of their body to another person, even if that person is in extreme need. Another may argue that those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing. Many have lifelong regrets afterwards. In defense to that, teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects for the future. They are much more likely to leave school; receive inadequate prenatal care; rely on public ssistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or end up divorced. Teenage births are associated with lower annual income for the mother. According to researcher Stanley, eighty percent of teen mothers must rely on welfare at some point. Teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of school. Only about one-third of teen mothers obtain a high school diploma. Teenage pregnancies are associated with increased rates of alcohol a nd substance abuse, and lower educational level (www. womenshealthchannel. com/teenpregnacy. index). In the modern world, abortions have become a norm of life and should not be looked upon as a negative act but an act of making a positive decision to undo some mistakes in life. Though women have been endowed with the gift of bearing a life form, an abortion gives them the option of whether they want to keep the present or not. However, an abortion should not be misunderstood for a convenience, as it does have its own advantages and disadvantages. The bigger picture that is being stressed is bodily integrity and self-ownership.

Communism and America :: Communism Essays

The word communism has always been a sort of taboo word to say. Even today we call people commies to make fun or tease people. Why did all this start? How did communism become a bad a word? Well communism has always been feared since the birth of our nation. It was the form of government that the majority of Americans did not want. Communism is basically a theory or system based on the ownership of all property and goods by the community as a whole. This system would destroy a lot of the liberties that we as Americans enjoy. There was a certain time period where extremely paranoid about the communist party taking control. Starting at about the 1920’s up until the 1950’s people really feared communism. The Cold War, Ronald Reagan, and the Red Scare were all major contributors in the unreasonable fear of communism during this time period. These three factors helped shaped America’s ideology about communism during this time period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Cold War put us on the brink of war with the Soviet Union. This could have possibly been the one thing that started the fear of communism. Russian spies are everywhere. People suspected each other, even their neighbors. Since the soviet Union was a communist country that was spreading it’s influence in Europe. America had to do something about it. America felt that the people living in the Soviet Union were being oppressed and needed to be free. This so called war was basically seeing how far both the countries, (America & Soviet Union) could go without going into war. Examples of this would be the Truman doctrine, which was Truman’s way of making sure Greece and Turkey would not become a communist country (N.N.787). Another example would be the Marshall Plan, which asked the countries that needed help request it and the US would help. America did not want the Soviets to spread their ideas to other countries by exploiting the dissatisfaction of their country. So we helped because we thought that our country was in trouble from the communists (N.N.787). An even better example of clashes between the US and the Soviet Union would be the Berlin Airlift. Soviets blocked off all land into Berlin and we airlifted supplies into Berlin. Now during this at home, there were many people scared of communism also. Many were accused communists due to the Red Scare.

How Women Are Portrayed in Lynx and Cosmo Essay

‘Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ – John Berger, ‘Ways of seeing’. For my research investigation I intend to explore to what extent specific media products use similar representations of women to appeal to their target audiences. The examples I have chosen to focus on are the iconic, international women’s fashion and lifestyle magazine ‘Cosmopolitan’ and Lynx’s controversial ‘beach campaign’. I will therefore be exploring what similarities and differences they embed due to their oppositional target audiences and content. Throughout my research the main theory I will be linking to my texts is that of Laura Mulvey, her theory explores ideas of sexism and male gaze within the media industry. Hearst the publisher of Cosmopolitan describes the magazine’s target audience as ‘Fun, Fearless Females’, the alliteration of the ‘F’ sound connotes a sense of attitude and fierce behaviour. Alongside the brand proposition ‘celebrates†¦a passion for life and inspires young women to be the best they can be’ consciously supporting women by portraying a sense of empowerment and ambition. In contrast, Unilever, owners of the Lynx brand state their brand prospect is that all their products are ‘designed to give our customers the edge in the mating game’ establishing itself as ‘UK’s leading male grooming brand!’. Cosmopolitan are iconic for telling their audience about two main topics; lifestyle and sex. Just by looking at the magazine covers, it is clear that these two topics dominate. I researched the April 2012 cover of Cosmopolitan, it follows the generic conventions of a typical magazine format for a women’s fashion and lifestyle magazine. In terms of the colour scheme – the pink fonts and neutral clothing convey a sense of femininity and perhaps the everyday domestic lifestyle of women, although the lifestyle aspect of the magazine seems overpowered by the topic of sex. The cover features an attractive women – in this case the iconic Megan Fox, posing some mildly alluring body language, showing a lot of skin, all whilst looking directly at the camera (audience) with a sexy, serious facial expression with the eyebrow promiscuously raised, and suggestive parted lips. Although the model is simply posing the latest fashion, the low cut, tightly fitting dress connotes an over sexualised view of the celebrity who is universally known as a sex symbol in the media world, taking her place in FHM’s sexiest women each year and continuously playing the role of the sexy female in various popular films. It is clear that Cosmopolitan use bold sexual connotations surrounding women, although argue that their intentions are in fact to empower women through their sexuality. Notice the models strong body language , the hand on hip look used alongside taglines such as ‘Naughty or nice? You decide†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢, and sexual puns are even added in regarding none sexual subjects such as career advice ‘You on top’, these are bold sexual connotations implying that woman should dominate to get what they want, mostly regarding the topic of sex. Perhaps fighting the controversial debate of sexism towards women in media by surprisingly embracing La ura Mulvey’s theory of ‘male gaze’. Cosmo put across the idea that if men find women attractive then it should accredit them by making them feel good about themselves, knowing that they look sexy and attractive. The magazine are conscious to do this in a sophisticated manor, opposed to other trashy and over sexualised magazines. Mediaknowall.com state that ‘Women’s magazines have moved on and offer visions of independence and confidence as well as beauty and domestic concerns, yet women are still encouraged to look good’. Body image and size have become a growing issue in society in result of magazine content. The overuse of petite, photo shopped models throughout magazines has resulted in these images becoming the dominant ideology. Over the years images printed in women’s magazines have contributed to this universal feeling to look good and be a certain size. Lynx are known for their voyeuristic product advertisement, this element of the company is what attracts their buyers, yet is also their downfall. Lynx have been publicly criticized for their overuse of objectifying women, using sexualized and provocative imagery and overall blunt sexism. The BBC news state that ‘in 2011 six of Lynx’s advertising campaigns were banned after mass numbers of complains were made’ they added that ‘the 113 complaints said it was sexually suggestive and demeaning to women’. I researched Lynx’s recent TV advertisement and accompanying print advert titled ‘The cleaner you are, the dirtier you get’. Although I believe this is one of Lynx’s milder sexualised adverts even the title itself contains a sexual pun, suggesting the promise of sex if you shower with the product. The girl on the print advertisement is no doubt an attractive young female, fitting the iconic ‘blonde bombshell’ look. The girl’s enticing facial expression creates the impression she is inviting the audience (male) into the shower with her. Although the girl’s expressions look confident, there is a contrast between this and her body language. For example the way she has to cup her bikini top to stop it from falling. This vulnerability of the woman standing half nude for a male audience completely visually depicting her as a female, making her a passive object of male visual pleasure. A comment by Jean Killbourne (a popular media activist) backs up my point by stating that ‘women’s bodies are often dismembered into legs, breasts or thighs, reinforcing the message that women are objects rather than whole human beings’. Killbourne suggests that women have become dehumanised into erotic objects for male pleasure. One element of Lynx’s campaigns which continues throughout is the idea of fake portrayal. In each advert the male role is played by your everyday, not overly-attractive man, contrasted with the female role being a desirable, young beauty. In an everyday world the changes of the male role attracting that type of woman are very slim. Despite this the main message that Lynx put across to their audience throughout their advertisements is that if men wear the product – women will find them irresistible – False portrayal. Of course this element adds humour to the advertisements, although all at the expense of objectifying women in the process and promoting the gender role of the dominant male. Bibliography Websites: www.mediaknowall.com Hearst, http.//www.hearst.co.uk/magazines/Cosmpolitan/5-about.htm Cosmopolitan, http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/exclusive/megan-fox-april-cover-cosmopolitan Exploring the media: representations and responses

How Technology Has Changed Our Lives - 1569 Words

Have you ever used technology – surfing the internet, playing a videogame, or scrolling through social media – as a way to escape reality for a little bit? Have you been guilty of ‘binge watching† a Netflix series, or two...or three in one weekend because you did not want to deal with your parents, family or friends for a while? At what point does technology become an addiction, especially for teenagers of today who will be the first generation who knows nothing different than life with technology? Being seventeen, I am apart of the generation labeled as â€Å"digital natives,† this means me and many other teens have been born into the technological world, and do not know a world without technology. We are allowing this technological world to consume who we are and what we do with our lives. Especially for the generation of teens today, technology will continue to be difficult to live without; but it also will become something very difficult to li ve with if we rely on it too much or feel like we can not live without it. â€Å"Digital detox† expert and author Heidi Haiis claims that technology addiction is the â€Å"addiction of the 21st Century†, and will be a growing problem especially for teens of today. Kimberly Young, author of Internet Addiction: A Handbook and Guide to Evaluation and Treatment, states that â€Å"technology addiction is defined as a habitual compulsion to engage in using technology instead of addressing life’s problems (Kimberly).† Some feel the use of technologyShow MoreRelatedHow Technology Has Changed Our Lives910 Words   |  4 PagesIt is amazing how everyone’s life is changing by using technology. 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