Coping, Stressor Anticipation and Endurance Assignment

Coping, Stressor Anticipation and Endurance - Assignment Example ctions can include anger, guilt, anxiety, sadness, or despair; physical reactions like sleeping problems, change in appetite, health issues can occur. Disturbances in social aspects may be in the form of taking over other family responsibilities, interacting with family and friends, ability to return to work etc. In such situations, grief counselling and grief therapy can be very effective. It helps the person to accept the loss, to live without the loved one and to make decisions, emotional separation from the person, and makes the mourner stronger mentally, emotionally and physically. Allowing the mourners to experience the entire grief process helps in relieving them from grief and depression, and in bringing their lives back to normality (Cancer, 2003). Kissane et al.’s (2006) research identified that a family-focussed grief therapy is most effective in coping the grief from loss of loved one. This specifically brings about reduction in complications of bereavement, helps the family members function normally, and helps in cohesion and communication among family members. In conclusion, coping with loss and grief due to illness is specific to every individual and should be approached considering all the impacting factors and their

Nternational Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nternational Business Environment - Essay Example Many economists directed their concern towards creating measures that would normalise the situation. This paper is analyses the response of UK government to the economic recession. 1. United Kingdom hosts some of the largest financial institutions in the world. Their role in the world economy is very crucial because many investors across the world have invested their treasures in these banks. The recent economic recession shook the foundation of UK economy with many institutions retrogressing because of the effects of the financial spill. North England and Scotland felt the effects of the recession that was evident through closure of businesses, loss of jobs, increase in commodity prices, government inability to offer crucial services to the nation, and social life became very hard (Boffey, 2012:1). The government could not control the inflation levels because of the debts that it registered through the economic meltdown. The economic meltdown has created tension in the political sph ere because many politicians do not know how to contain citizens who have shown their displeasure with the current trends they observe in the market. Political platform becomes greasy when politicians fail to address issues that affect the common person. Many economic critics believe that the UK government has powers, which can institute normalcy in the market (Gibb, and Leishman, 2011:23). David Cameroon lamented the action taken by the western nations in responding to the biting effects of the financial collapse. Many critics directed their concern to the anticipated events that would yield from the status of events. In deed, the crisis is a real mess to life of a common person. The increase in cases of unemployment is a bigger threat that the government of Scotland feel that it should unemployment index. Sharp decline registered in the financial market indicates that the economy is unable to create new opportunity in the job market. The labour market largely depends on the level of economic growth in creating new opportunities for job seekers (Smit, 2010:12). Many people have lamented that they have to work for long hours in order to meet the needs that they were able to meet with normal working hours before the recession. The concern is genuine because pound has lost value. A person has to cough more coins for a product that was affordable before the inflation. Another notable thing in Scotland is that the nation has registered a decline in investor interests. 2. Economists fear that reverberation of the economic crisis can trigger more problems to United Kingdom when it fails to handle it effectively. Speech delivered by Cameroon pointed acquisition to lack of commitment among the western countries in dealing with the crisis. However, some critics believe that UK government should demonstrate that it could exercise authority by restoring the financial spill (Wan, 2004:146). Ideally, it is wise for United King to handle the situation using the optimum deve lopment of national economies theory put forward by Michael Porter and Adam Smith. Theory argues that a country can promote economic growth if it specialises in creating products that it commands total cost advantage over other competing nations and engage in importation of products that it is unable to produces (Larti, 2010:6). The notion propagated by the theory is that a country should be able to identify areas where it can perform best and use them to its advantage instead of engaging in

Womens Rights Are Human Rights Speech Analysis Philosophy Essay

Womens Rights Are Human Rights Speech Analysis Philosophy Essay On 5 September 1995, Hillary Clinton, former first Lady of the United States, was invited by the Women Health Security Colloquium, which was sponsored by the World Health Organization, to attend the Fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. As the Honorary Chairperson of the United States delegation to the conference, she gave the speech, Womens Rights Are Human Rights in the first few days during a special Plenary Session. In the speech, she utilized several persuasive techniques, also known as propaganda, grasping peoples attention in order to achieve support for the claim of the womens rights she was devoted to. Propaganda is usually a speech device that people intently use to induce or intensify others actions and attitudes with some deluded languages. Since propaganda is deliberate, it is often looked down as an evil and offensive tool. However, sometimes it can just be used for an act of persuasion or a personal perspective. According to Cross, propaganda is an important tool and seen in everywhere surrounding our lives. It needs to be correctly analyzed and respected and it can actually work toward good causes as well as bad (p.526). -For example, by intentionally incorporating propaganda into her speech, such as appealing to peoples emotions, distracting peoples attention, and somewhat misleading people, Hillary Clinton strengthened her persuasive power for womens rights and successfully beamed her message all over the world. Some propaganda techniques employ pathos, the act of appealing to peoples emotions. For example, plain-folks appeal, a device where a speaker tries to win our confidence and support by appearing to be a person like ourselves, is a type of propaganda. Clintons speech displays this technique when she says, We come together in fields and in factories. In village markets and supermarkets. In living rooms and board rooms. Her words suggest that she is one of those everyday people in fields, factories, markets, living rooms, and board rooms. Clinton further expands this idea by saying, We share a common future. This statement suggests that because we share the same future, we are on the same level. She is telling her audience that we should listen to her points because she is one of us, and thus has similar goals and interests to us. We are effectively led to believe that we should trust her so that we can overcome our shared struggles to achieve those shared goals and that shared future. Through plain-folks appeal, she turns her audience into trusting comrades-in-arms. She then employs the bandwagon technique in a similar manner. When she says, That is why every woman, every man, every child, every family, and every nation on our planet has a stake in the discussion that takes place here, she is again promoting that idea of oneness, which is the sharing of both struggles and goals. In the bandwagon technique, however, the goal is to pressure people to believe what everyone else believes and to conform, thus being faithful to the conference. There is a call to action. Clinton is telling the audience to jump on the bandwagon, because if one of them does not, that is the equivalent of turning away from your fellows. In the speech, she further strengthens the credibility of her argument by appealing to other emotions, such as pity and fear. Appealing to pity is achieved by attempting to win the audiences sympathy by giving examples of rightfully pitiable situations, in order to convince us of the conclusion or solution she will propose. One sees this technique in the statement: As an American, I want to speak up for women in my own country women who are raising children on the minimum wage, women who cant afford health care or child care, women whose lives are threatened by violence, including violence in their own homes. In that sentence, she in effect not only manages to tug on the audiences heartstrings, but also to subtly declare herself as the honorary representative of these poor souls; then she becomes the voice of the voiceless and oppressed. At the same time, it is also hard not to notice how Clinton makes the use of appeal to fear, a persuasion technique that implicitly threatens the audience and like the previous examples of pathos-based argument, uses emotions rather than reasons to persuade. Clinton displays this technique in her speech by saying, As long as discrimination and inequities remain so commonplace around the world as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled and subjected to violence in and out of their homes the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized. Here, she is basically saying that people feel pity for those disenfranchised individuals she gives as an example, but if we continue to do nothing, their situations will deteriorate further and worst of all, such situations may affect them as well, in their own family and in their own home. Of course, the point of stirring her audience to such extents is to pursue a specific ideal, sometimes even a certain agenda. In the speech, however, she does not specify what exact action she wants her audience to take, and yet the call to action is almost palpable. Clinton achieves this by distracting her audiences attention. In particular, she uses transfer-glory by association in this case-a propaganda technique wherein the speaker attempts to transfer our good feelings about one thing, towards their viewpoints. She makes her audience aware that her goal is the improvement of womens lives, What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. However, as we can see, she is careful not to exclude anyone from appreciating her viewpoints. In fact, she sugges ts that by joining her cause, people would actually be helping themselves. Clinton even broadens the scope of these purported benefits when she says, And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish. Thus, by helping women, we are actually helping the entire world. It is an altruistic enough message in all respects. To cement such a message, however, we will notice that the speech is also littered with attempts to mislead the audience as well. For example, when she states, Women are the primary caretakers for most of the worlds children and elderly, she is making a hasty generalization in fact. As Cooper shown, A hasty generalization is a conclusion based on a sample that is too small or in some other way unrepresentative of the larger population. (p.152) Such a statement supports her overall argument and it might also be true in certain cases; however, she misleads her audience by stating it as a fact without stating a basis that men can also be the primary caretakers for children and seniors. Clintons use of another technique in her speech, stroking (Argumentum ad populum), gains my admiration. First, she presents an opposing view to her points when she states, There are some who wonder whether the lives of women and girls matter to economic and political progress around the globe. By suggesting that some people think it is not necessary to care about womens rights simply just because they think women are less useful in the field of economy and politics, she raises indignation. However, it is misleading in that it creates an opponent, an unspecified they, that may or may not exist. Thus, the argument becomes whether what they said is true or not, and not the possibility that no one truly said those instigating statements. Clinton then assures the indignant audience that there are many women who are just as successful as men in professions with high emolument in fact, stating: Let them look at the women gathered here and at Huairou the homemakers, nurses, teachers, lawyer s, policymakers, and women who run their own businesses. She manages to present both argument and counterargument without specifying who the enemy is supposed to be and uses stroking that makes us feel we as women are very important to the society. Another technique that Clinton uses to mislead her audience to cement her message is card-stacking. Card-stacking is the technique which tells us the fact that is true but still not the entirely true in order to prevent us from being aware of some other important facts. For example, Clinton employs this technique when she states, If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are womens rights and womens rights are human rights, once and for all. While it is true that womens rights are a part of human rights, human rights are not specific to just all women, they encompass the rights of both genders. Here, Clinton uses the card-stacking to mislead us, in order to perk up the importance of womens rights. Near the end, she uses card-stacking again when she says, Families rely on mothers and wives for emotional support and care; families rely on women for labor in the home; and increasingly, families rely on women for income needed to raise h ealthy children and care for other relatives. Considering the very diverse memberships, values, and situations of any set of real families, this generalization is not necessarily true; thus, she subtly misleads her audience again. Throughout the history, propaganda is often used by government or politics or advertiser to affect peoples attitude and consequently alter peoples decisions to become the follower of the point of the political party or become the consumer of the company involuntarily. However, the intention of Clintons speech is completely different. It does not have to damage an oppositions credit as in some candidates speech, and neither induces people to purchase something actually unnecessary in their lives as in some ads. It is about delivering a great message for her audience regarding the significance of public women welfare. Propaganda can be used in good manners as well as bad manners. By promoting the propaganda in the positive way, Clinton successfully increased my perception of the importance of womens rights and made me want to follow her idea as long as she dedicates for this claim.

How the Lack of Education During the Great Depression Affected Southern Society :: essays research papers fc

During the Great Depression receiving an education was becoming more and more difficult for southerners. From not being able to afford the required supplies needed, to not being able to pay the tutions, many people found it nearly impossible to attend school. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird written by Harper Lee shows how the lack of education in society during the Great Depression affected Southerners lives, not allowing them to change their futures for the better.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The public school system changed drastically during the Great Depression. Society started to notice the changes during the years of 1930 and 1931, when conditions were at their worst. Many students did not have the right clothing, supplies, and textbooks because parents could not afford the costs. The price of school supplies ran from $1.00 for a pen to $3.85 for a pair of shoes (Editors of Time-Life 29). In To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout’s teacher, Miss Caroline, asked one of her students where his lunch was. He then explained that he did not have a lunch because his parents could not afford it. â€Å"He didn’t forget his lunch, he didn’t have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day. He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life† (Lee 20).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In addition, student’s schoolwork and progress began to decline due to undernourishment. Many children were not able to stay in school because there was not enough money to keep the schools open. A third of a million children were out of school during the Great Depression (Farrell 14). Also, children of poor families dropped out of school because they felt obligated to help support their family financially. In To Kill A Mockingbird Scout describes the Ewell family, who only attends school the first day of every year because their family is poor: They come the first day every year and then leave. The truant lady gets’em here ‘cause she threatens ‘em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin’ to hold ‘em. She reckons she’s carried out the law just getting’ their names on the roll and runnin’ ‘em here the first day. You’re supposed to mark ‘em absent the rest of the year (Lee 27). In cases like these, the purpose for leaving school was to help out the family with chores like tending to the farm and crops.

Major differences between the two theories Essay

The obviously notable difference between Bandura’s social cognitive theory and Beck’s cognitive theory is the bias that each has towards behavior. For instance, Bandura’s model is more behavioral, whereas Beck’s model is inclined towards psychotherapy or seems to provide psychological solutions to problems. The social cognitive theory (by Bandura) is presented in an agentic perspective. It explains why people exhibit differences in self-organization, being proactive, participation in self-reflection, and in self-regulation (Bandura, 1986). In essence, the theory does not just show that human beings have different capabilities, it also shows that other factors such as the environment play a major role in shaping behaviorism (Bandura, 1986). The theory further describes human beings as producers as well as products of what they make (the proverb manners maketh man should be true). Bandura’s theory also gives the socio cognitive aspects of human beings, for example, why they act in particular manners and what elicits such behavior. Additionally, the theory also gives reasons why the human nature is vast in terms of capabilities and how humanity is fashioned by direct and observational experience that is integrated in a variety of forms. In contradistinction, Beck’s theory gives a picture of the phenomena underlying dysfunctional beliefs (Beck, 1976). This theory does not just describe personality, but provides solutions to psychological problems. This is achieved by the model’s blow-by-blow analysis of the casual agents of depression and how depression can be remedied (Beck, 1976). Beck’s theory seems to give mediation approach in solving psychological problems by encouraging patients to be participants of the problem solving process rather than passive and helpless respondents. Another difference between the two theories is the triad used in each of the theories, which forms the basis of the entire illustrations and discussions. Bandura’s model is a triad with behavior, environmental factors and personal determinants as the main elements. On the other hand, Beck’s cognitive model consists of behavior, antecedent events and consequences (Beck, 1976; Beck, 1998). The triads may seem to portray a similarity between the two models but in real sense they exhibit differences since the explanation of how the elements in the triads affect each other or act on their own is slightly different. For instance, in Bandura’s theory, the description of how the factors in the triad affect each other revolves around cause and effect. One of the factors, such as the environment is implied to be a cause (or a factor that determines) of behavior. Thus, there is emphasis on reciprocal determinism. On the other hand, Beck’s triadic illustration of the factors that shape personality and character is influenced by the person (self), the world and the future. In this context, it is evident that personality is affected not just by behavior but also by other events that occur in life. In fact, Beck (1976) describes the person (self) as the main source of ideas to solve depression problems with reference to the world and anticipation of a better future. Conclusion Bandura’s Cognitive Theory and Beck’s Cognitive Theory seem to have more similarities in that they describe personality and the factors shape it. Many elements described in each theory’s triad show convergence in meaning. Major differences between the two models lie in the description of the models. While Bandura’s model is inclined towards behaviorism, Beck’s model provides an explanation of psychological dysfunctions and possible remedies. References Bandura A. (2006). Psychological modeling: Conflicting theories. Chicago: Aldine Transaction. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman Company Bandura, A. (1986).Social foundations of thoughts and action: A social cognitive theory. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Professional Technical. Bandura, A. (1976) Social learning theory. New York: Prentice Hall Bandura, A. (1971). Psychological modeling: Conflicting theories. Chicago: Aldine- Atherton. Beck, A. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press Beck, A. (1976). Cognitive therapy & emotional disorders. NY: International Universities Press. Beck, A. (1998). The Integrative Power of Cognitive Therapy. New York: Guilford Press.

The use of online digital resources and educational digital libraries

This survey aimed to understand the usage of educational digital libraries by module members and teachers With respect to the usage, motives and barriers. Furthermore this survey investigates the find and usage of educational digital beginning sing the turning desire on the portion of module members and teachers to utilize them, and an increasing trouble in their ability to happen, entree and utilize them. It besides examines connote the hypotheses of the usage of the changeable type of on-line educational beginning would change based on figure of demographic variables, Most specifically, sort of establishment, sort of assignment or learning experience degree. The hypotheses is really specific due to the inquiries good be asked to faculty members and teachers such asThe importance of this survey is summarizedThis survey is really of import in term of bettering the digital educational beginning, therefore it is finishing the other attempts which were adapted by such as National Science Foundation ( NSF ) in US which has spent over 150 1000000s to this betterment [ 29 ] . Issues about the digital libraries ‘ users and about how do they utilize them hold became the highest cost in order to better and keep the educational digital libraries [ 23,37 ] . The justification of this investing, the existent usage and impact of educational digital libraries ‘ contents have become really important to stakeholders. Due to all of that some inquiries have risen: What do faculty members and teachers perform with the digital beginnings which they get from the educational digital libraries? Do module members tread these beginnings as a worthwhile beginning? How do the usage them in poke bettering their instruction? What are the obstructions which are confronting the module members when they use them?Methodology:In this paper, the writers report based on the Outcome of a national study of American module members and the teachers regard to the usage and non-use of on-line digital beginning. This survey looked profoundly into the obstructions of the usage for illustration the restrictions of clip and resource, the issues of accessing to high quality stuffs, deficiency of flexibleness of the stuffs themselves, and academic belongings [ 17,23 ] . Two groups were conducted at one research university, one at a community college, three were conducted at chiefly learning universities, one group each at two historically black colleges, one group at a broad humanistic disciplines college and two groups at theMERLOT International Conference2 whose participants represented awide assortment of institutions.We sought input from this scope of module members and teachers because we assumed that several factors would be critical to understanding their demand for on-line digital resources and their hunt and usage behaviours, such as, type of establishment, learning experience, learning burden, type of classs taught, etc. Analysis of the focal point group transcripts provided some grounds of the importance of these factors and the study was designed to further prove the value of these factors in foretelling user behaviour. Our focal point groups confirmed Harley et Al. ‘s [ 23 ] findings that faculty members did non cognize what educational digital libraries were. Furthermore, these module members and teachers did non separate between a curated aggregation, such as the BEN scientific discipline web ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.bioscienet.org ) where merely those points that have been peer reviewed aremade available and that of a simple of list of URLs that might be found at a co-worker ‘s web site. These findings, in add-on to Harley ‘s, highlight how of import it is to utilize the linguistic communication that possible respondents understand when planing study instruments. So similar Harley, we avoided utilizing linguistic communication in the study questions3 associated with digital libraries, e.g. , aggregation, metadata, etc. Alternatively, in order to better the face cogency of the instruments, we carefully described the contents of aggregations, e.g. , scholarly articles , ocular images, historical paperss, etc. and asked respondents how they searched for and used these stuffs. The study instrument consisted of 105 points that included demographic information, inquiries about motives for usage of stuffs, barriers to utilize and descriptions of usage. To minimise study weariness, the study design employed skip logic so that respondents were asked inside informations about their usage of stuffs merely after bespeaking they used them. Questions covered how an single module member or teacher used peculiar sorts of on-line stuffs, e.g. , lifes, simulations, scholarly resources, images, etc. ( see Table 3 for a definition of thesematerials ) , if they modified thesematerials in any manner and their motives for the usage of these stuffs. Survey participants were asked to rank their likeliness of usage of a digital aggregation as compared to other hunt engines such as Google or Yahoo.com. Respondents were besides asked a series of demographic inquiries sing their instruction experience, type of establishment in which they work and so forth. External cogency was determined by pre-testing the study with about 20 module members from the different types of establishments represented in the sample.3.1 The study sampleTo make the survey Ã¢â‚¬Ë œs population, we approached establishments to help us in reaching their module members and teachers. Using the Carnegie Foundation 2000 list ofUS establishments of higher instruction, a wide invitation to take part was issued to the bulk of higher instruction establishments in the United States. A likely contact was identified at each establishment by sing the establishment ‘s web site. Contacts were by and large head bibliothecs, caputs of module development, or academic deans. Of the about 3,500 establishments contacted,4 more than 250 responded, and in the terminal, 119 establishments agreed to take part. Table 1 shows howthis study ‘s sample of establishments comparisons to the existent distribution of types of establishments in the Carnegie list. For the intents of the disposal of the study, the sample was non stratified with respects to institutional type because we felt that trying to make so would negatively impact institutional buy-in and execution of the study . United States at the full spectrum of establishments. However, because issues of usage are non alone to STEM subjects, we felt that restricting the study to merely those faculty members and teachers would do it excessively hard for establishments to take part in the research. Consequently, we encouraged establishments to include their full module in their invitation to take part in the study. The bulk of take parting establishments sent the study to their full module organic structure, though some sent it to a random sample of their module. By the terminal of the study period ( September 2006-January 2007 ) 4,678 persons from the 119 take parting establishments responded. Of those respondents, 4,439 instructed pupils ; the majority of the analysis was conducted on this group of teachers. The demographics of the study respondents can be found in Table 2. About a 3rd ( 30 % ) came from Masters allowing establishments, a 4th from biennial or associate grade allowing schools ( 26 % ) , followed by four-year Baccalaureate or Liberal Arts College or Universities ( 22 % ) and, Doctoral Granting Institutions ( 21 % ) . The respondents were besides chiefly tenured module ( 41 % ) with somewhat over 10 per centum describing that they held accessory position ( 13 % ) , or were chiefly teachers, lectors or held other non-tenure path places ( 12 % ) . The bulk by far, held full-time places ( 81 % ) and 40 % had term of office. It is likely that these module members were over-represented in the sample given that 46 % of all US module members hold parttime places [ 1 ] . Most of the participating establishments chose to administrate the study to their full module instead than insulating STEM merely module. When asked to bespeak in which subjects they taught, more than one tierce of the responses ( 38 % ) represented a traditional STEM field ( biological scientific disciplines, chemical science, computing machine scientific discipline, technology, geoscience, wellness scientific disciplines, mathematics, or natural philosophies ) . Approximately 45 % represented the humanistic disciplines, humanistic disciplines or the societal scientific disciplines while approximately 20 % represented the professional schools, e.g. , instruction, concern, etc. This dislocation may non reflect the teachers ‘ disciplinary preparation and respondents were allowed to choose multiple subjects. The sample was besides made up of module who were extremely experient teachers, with merely one 4th holding less than 7 old ages of learning experience. This approximates the age distribution of higher instruction teachers with about 65 % being older than 45 old ages old [ 25 ] . Slightly over half of the sample ( 54 % ) reported utilizing class direction systems or had a class web site. Almost all ( 95 % ) of the respondents reported learning face to face classs, though about a fifth ( 21 % ) reported learning distance instruction or online classs. Merely 12 % reported learning intercrossed classs, that is, classs that both fitting face to face and are conducted online. If a respondent noted he or she did non instruct pupils, they were skipped to the terminal of the study replying a inquiry on the services offered by aggregations of digital resources, and concluding demographics4.1 What sorts of on-line digital resources do module usage?To analyze the relationship between the value of digital resources and their usage more closely, we went back to our focal point group informations. For although these participants tended to value digital resources extremely, they besides failed to separate between the different types of online digital resources, e.g. , educational digital libraries, web pages, on-line diaries, and were non witting of utilizing a digital library specifically [ 38 ] . Focus group participants defined educational digital libraries and digital resources loosely doing few differentiations between for illustration, a loose aggregation of PowerPoint slides ( available from a well known or trusted co-worker ‘s web site ) and a aggregation of stuffs such as MERLOT. Rather than coerce a definition of digital library for the study onto a group of respondents who most likely non equate educational digital libraries or aggregations as beginnings for these extremely valued on-line digital resources, we alternatively used merely linguistic communication depicting the digital resources. We so sub-divided the resources into five classs as described in Table 3. To analyze how faculty members reported utilizing these stuffs on the study, we looked at the â€Å" top box † mark, i.e. , the resource which module indicated they â€Å" really often used † . Survey consequences indicated that themost popular types of stuffs used by module members and teachers included on-line scholarly resources ( 51 % ) and digital images/visual stuffs ( 43 % ) . About a one-fourth of the respondents ( 29 % ) reported frequent usage of instruction and acquisition activities or on-line datasets ( 23 % ) . On-line simulations and lifes were used the least with merely 11 % of the respondents describing frequent usage.

Rape Culture - Definition and Examples

Rape Culture s Rape culture is present in a society when rape and other forms of sexual violence are common and pervasive, when they are normalized and viewed as inevitable, and when they are trivialized by authority figures, the media and cultural products, and by the majority of members of the society. In a rape culture, the commonality and pervasive nature of sexual violence and rape is fueled by commonly held beliefs, values, and popular myths that encourage and excuse sexual violence committed by men and boys against women and girls. In this context, women and girls consistently experience intimidation and threats of sexual violence and actual sexual violence itself. Also, within a rape culture, the rape culture itself is largely unchallenged and not viewed as a problem by the majority. Sociologists recognize that rape culture is composed primarily of four things: 1. behaviors and practices, 2. the way we think about sex and rape, 3. the way we talk about sex and rape, and 4. cultural representations of sex and sexual assault. Just as whole societies can be described as rape cultures, so too can certain organizations and institutions, and types of institutions, like colleges and universities, prisons, and the military. History of the Term The term, rape culture, was popularized by feminist writers and activists in the U.S. during the 1970s. It first appeared in print in the book Rape: The First Sourcebook for Women, published in 1974, which was one of the first books to discuss rape from the standpoint of womens experiences. A film bearing the title Rape Culture premiered in 1975, and drew attention to how media and popular culture spread mainstream and erroneous beliefs about rape. Women, at the time, used this term to draw attention to the fact that rape and sexual violence were common crimes across the country- not rare or exceptional crimes committed by crazed or damaged individuals, as many believed. Elements of a Rape Culture Sociologists define culture as the values, beliefs, knowledge, behaviors, practices, and material goods that people share in common which help to unify them as a collective. Culture includes common sense beliefs, commonly held expectations and assumptions, rules, social roles, and norms. It also includes our language and how we communicate, and cultural products like music, art, film, television, and music videos, among other things. So, when sociologists consider what rape culture is, and when they study it, they look critically at all of these elements of culture and examine how they may contribute to the existence of a rape culture. Sociologists identify the following behaviors and practices, ideas, discourses, and cultural representations as part of rape culture. Others also exist. Behaviors and Practices Of course, the most consequential behaviors and practices that create a rape culture are acts of sexual assault, but there are others that also play significant roles in creating such a context. These include: Sexualized online harassment and bullyingHarassment and intimidation of, and threats made toward, women and girls, even those which are framed by the aggressor(s) as playful or a jokeDenying that rape is a widespread problemDiminishing or trivializing the trauma and violence of rape and sexual assaultVictim-blamingAccusing victims of lyingSexual objectification of women and girlsMen and boys talking/bragging about sexual assaultEquating masculinity with sexual dominanceRevenge porn, both independent of physical assault and post-assaultIgnoring the sexually violent crimes of celebritiesNeglect of untested rape kits and general non-prioritization of sexual assault among police forcesSupport for accused men and boys over concern for the welfare of victims Beliefs, Assumptions, Myths, and World Views Cultural expectation that men have to coerce women into having sex, and that women and girls want to be coercedBelief that men and boys are entitled to the bodies of women and girlsSocialization of girls that they have a duty to serve the demands of male sexualitySocialization of girls to expect sexual violence and aggressionBelief that discussion of sexual activity and affirmative consent are not sexyBelief that rape and sexual violence are the inevitable expressions of masculinityBelief that rape is an everyday occurrence that cannot be changedFear among victims and their families that they will be stigmatized and further traumatized by reporting the rapeBelief that rape is just rough sexWomen and girls provoke sexual assault with their behavior and dressIt is the responsibility of women to defend themselves and prevent rapeOnly bad men rape and only bad women are rapedThere is no such thing as intimate partner rapeWomen feel slut shame or regret after sex and cry rape Language and Discourse Language that minimizes rape and by calling it sexual intercourse, non-consensual sex, inappropriate behavior, or sexual misconductUsing terms like acquaintance rape or date rape and real rape to make false distinctions about the crime of rapeReferring to trafficked child rape victims as child prostitutes Representations of Rape in Cultural Products Rape jokes and memes that mock rapeThe use of rape as a plot point and for economic gain in film and televisionVideo games with rape scenariosSongs and music videos that glamorize sexual coercion, like Baby, Its Cold Outside and Robin Thickes Blurred Lines Notable Examples of Rape Culture One of the most notable and tragic recent examples of rape culture is the case of Brock Turner, who was convicted of three counts of sexual assault by  the State of California, after assaulting an unconscious woman on the Stanford University campus. Though the seriousness of the crimes for which Turner was convicted carried a possible sentence of up to 14 years in prison, prosecutors request six. The judge, however, sentenced Turner to just six months in county jail, of which he served just three. Media reporting on the case and popular discourse surrounding it were rife with evidence of rape culture. Turner was repeatedly depicted with a photo that showed him seated for a portrait, smiling while wearing a suit and tie, and was frequently described as a Stanford athlete. His father trivialized the brutal sexual assault his son committed in a letter to the court, referring to it as 20 minutes of action, and many, including the judge, suggested that a sentence appropriate to the crime would unjustly derail Turners athletic and academic promise. Meanwhile, the victim, never identified in court, was criticized for being intoxicated, and virtually no concern for her welfare, nor a desire for justice for the crimes perpetrated against her, were expressed in the mainstream press, by Turner, his defense team, or the sitting judge who decided the case. Other notable examples unfortunately abound, like the case of Kesha, who has been held legally obligated by a U.S. court to fulfill a record contract with her accused rapist/record producer, Dr. Luke, and the problem of heightened rates of sexual assault on college and university campuses across the U.S., as documented in the film The Hunting Ground. The election of President Donald Trump, a man repeatedly accused of sexual assault, and who has spoken frankly about sexually assaulting women- the now-infamous grab them by the p*ssy tape- is an example of how entrenched and normalized rape culture is in U.S. society. In 2017, a string of sexual assault accusations against powerful men in media, politics, and other industries has led to more and more conversations, on social media and elsewhere, about the pervasiveness of rape culture in our society.