In “Crimes Which Startle and Horrify: Gender, Age, and the Racialization of Sexual Violence in White American Newspapers, 1870-1900,” Estelle Fredman situates rape as a series of interconnected power relations, focusing on the intersection between race and gender in particular. Fredman analyzes the historical context of rape, showing how rape is socially constructed in ways that reinforce patriarchal and racist norms. Besides the cogent thesis driving Fredman’s work, the author also relies on a tight methodology, focusing on media accounts in nineteenth century American newspapers geared to primarily white male readers. Fredman claims that the media proliferated the two central archetypes that defined American social and political hierarchies for the coming generations: the black male sexual predator and the innocent, vulnerable child victim. Fredman begins the article with a brief introduction to the historiography of rape. The rise of the popular media during the late nineteenth century was especially critical for disseminating rape narratives that appealed to a predominantly white male readership, according to Fredman. The white male political and social privilege was extended into the realm of sexual politics. Especially given the increasingly vocal support for the enfranchisement of African Americans and for universal suffrage, white males experienced significant threats...
Rape narratives became instrumental in preserving white male supremacy, by labeling black males as sexual predators and women as vulnerable children. Moreover, Fredman discusses how black males began to be prominently depicted—both in text and in illustrations—as “primitive” and lecherous, with white males being considered more sexually “civilized,” (467).
Racist Beauty Ideals and Racial Self-Hatred This paper examines Toni Morrison's novel the Bluest Eye from the perspective of three different interest groups: Those who would interrogate the paper on the basis of issues related to gender, or of the feminist movement; Those whose interests lie in the book's treatment of children's issues or advocacy, and Those engaging in a dialogue centering around issues of race. It should also be understood that these topics
Rape in Conflict There are various situations in life that results in rape in conflict; Patriarchy The feminist perspective on the various forms of violence perpetrated against women does suggest strongly that such acts are a reinforcement of patriarchy. This is portrayed in the unequal bargaining power that exists in the various sexual encounters in the societies that are increasingly patriarchal. The fact that the traditional male privilege has continuously faded away through
The only thing that is missing is the freedom to make that choice, the freedom to do it without pain or sacrifice. But freedom always comes with a price, especially for women. In the process of gaining her choice, Ada loses a finger, loses her piano, and almost loses her life. We have to also look at history in the film. The Piano seems historically correct because women didn't have
The novel opens seven years after Gabo's mother, Ximena, was murdered by coyotes -- or paid traffickers -- during an attempt to cross the border. Her mutilated body was found, her organs gone -- sold most likely. Because of the fear surrounding this border town and the lure of the other side, all of the characters become consumed with finding Rafa. These people are neglected and abused. Like other fiction
In "Piaf," Pam Gems provides a view into the life of the great French singer and arguably the greatest singer of her generation -- Edith Piaf. (Fildier and Primack, 1981), the slices that the playwright provides, more than adequately trace her life. Edith was born a waif on the streets of Paris (literally under a lamp-post). Abandoned by her parents -- a drunken street singer for a mother and a
As Beauvoir said, these plays tend to deal with restoring a sense of value and choice to a world that has been largely stripped of these features by modern critical, literary, and dramatic trends. Character is created with a greater sense of agency in these plays, and identity -- especially feminine identity -- ironically emerges as more of an actively created and self-determined construct through its interactions within and
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