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Literature & Language
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Topic:

Gender and Race Aspects of the Body in Philosophy

Essay Instructions:

LENGTH: 7-8 pages

PROMPT: The body is a site where pain and violence are experienced, and also a site of human freedom. Drawing on the readings covered in class as well as outside research, use the framework of phenomenology to give an account, using examples, of how the body’s susceptibility to violence, and its capacities for motion, are embedded in social realities such as race and gender.

This paper will require some external research. You are expected to spend time in the library locating and using external resources. In addition to delving further into the works already on our syllabus, here are some brief bibliographical pointers:

Bartky, Sandra Lee, Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology of Oppression (1990,  Routledge)

Lee, Emily Living Alterities: Phenomenology, Embodiment, and Race (SUNY Press, 2014)  

Moran, Dermot, Introduction to Phenomenology (Routledge, 2000)

Ngo, Helen, Habits of Racism: A phenomenology of racism and racialized embodiment (Lexington Books, 2017)

Sokolowski, Robert, Introduction to Phenomenology (Cambridge University Press, 1999)

Weiss, Gail, Ann Murphy, and Gayle Salamon, 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology (Northwestern University Press, 2019)

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Body in Philosophy
Gender-based violence entails any form of physical or psychological abuse that targets people based on their gender. Notably, men tend to be more aggressive and violent than women based on variation in the socialization process and biological makeup of the two genders. Equally, the members of minority races, such as African Americans, suffer from extensive segregation and violence from the majority races. Therefore, viciousness has emerged as one of the prevailing health concerns across the United States and other parts of the world. Researchers have conducted numerous studies on the high rates of violence against women and blacks. One of the characteristic findings is that men are more muscular and energetic as opposed to women. Besides, the high testosterone levels in men make them more aggressive, thus causing increased rates of violence against women. Although many factors cause increased rates of violence in society, biological makeup is one of the primary factors that cause disproportionate violent behaviors based on race and gender.
Gender Aspect
Western feminists regarded embodiment with suspicion in the research of rational powers of the human mind. Notably, early feminists endorsed a dualism between body and mind through bodily features being contingent characteristics of self. According to Burch, the human body is vulnerable to illness and other forms of violence that might affect physical and psychological wellbeing (420). In most cases, women are susceptible to abuse more than men based on social practices in society and biological makeup. Research findings indicate that men and women have distinctive experiential capacities and embodiment. For that reason, radical feminists highlight the prevalence sexual violence against women, which is rooted in aggressive nature of men and socialization process.
Female sexuality and the biological capability of giving birth are the main grounds of affirming the power and value of the human body. Arguably, society expects women to be submissive, especially in male-dominated communities. Equally, the parental bodies of women are a source of positive values in setting against male norms and stressing subjectivity as opposed to duty and freedom. However, the caring and reproduction roles of women set them against the widespread violence from men. Women encounter joy and extensive suffering based on their childbearing capability. On the contrary, some women take part in military professions and can be violent in both private and public places.
Feminist writers explore ways that society prescribes norms based on subjects that regulate human bodies. The historical gender relations make a significant contribution to shaping bodies. Predominantly, women sculpt their bodies into shapes that reflect societal norms through exercise, dieting, cosmetic surgery, and makeups (Davies p. 501). The core objective of the efforts is to adhere to societal attitudes that women should be beautiful to attract men. The practices attach to gendered bodies and other aspects of body identity that define men and women. In most instances, women make significant efforts to be attractive.
Men are committed to exercise a...
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