Term Paper on "Gender: Judging Mothers Although Women"

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Gender: Judging Mothers

Although women may have 'come a long way' in terms of their incursions into the corridors of power, one trend that has existed for decades continues -- women tend to be judged more harshly for their parenting skills than males. Just as women still assume the bulk of household-related duties, women today remain 'judged' in terms of how their perceived behaviors affect their offspring -- more so than males. While once there were worries that women working outside the home would have a psychologically detrimental impact upon children, today the cultural language of 'mother blame' has expanded to include the health damage women can do to their offspring if they do not behave in the 'correct' fashion. Traditional biases and fears against working mothers remain, despite the sharp increase of women enrolled in elite academic institutions. More mothers are working than ever before yet also more young women are expressing concerns that they will be unable to balance work and family demands.

In 1964, Betty Friedan's landmark The Feminine Mystique condemned the idea that women's sole purpose lay in motherhood, and questioned the popular Freudian notion that bad mothering was the main cause of psychological problems in children. In a recent documentary on PBS, filmmaker J.J. Hanley stated that even today, when she brought her autistic son to the pediatrician, she was initially 'blamed' for his failure to develop normally: "My family's pediatrician told me that my three-year-old son's failure to speak and strange, self-isolating social behaviors were a reaction to what the doctor described as my over-anxious, over-bearing mothering. The doctor advised me to leave m

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y son alone and that he would be just fine. Nine months later, my son was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder/autism" (Hanley 2002). Mothers have been blamed, over the years, for psychological ailments as diverse as schizophrenia and influencing their child's sexuality. The demonstrated role of heredity in determining a child's behavior has quashed some of these theories. Yet it been replaced with an equally vigilant demand that pregnant women monitor their behavior to protect their fetuses and that after the child is born mothers ensure that children get off to a 'right start,' doing everything from breast-feeding to playing Mozart for their children in the cradle.

Social judgment begins of mothers prenatally: while it is certainly beneficial for pregnant women not to smoke and drink, and to eat a healthy diet, the downside is that pregnant women are often judged for not acting in a manner that is considered perfectly healthy for their baby. Even in Italy, a recent graphic anti-drinking campaign for pregnant women was launched, warning them of the dangers of their behavior. The Italian Institute of Health estimated that 65 per cent of women in Italy consume alcohol during their pregnancy: "The new campaign shows the fetus in a curled up position in the bottom of the glass, beneath ice cubes and a slice of orange" (Italy launches, 2011, The Telegraph). However, these graphic campaigns do not always reflect commonly-prescribed medical advice. In the U.S., "many obstetricians around the country counsel their patients that it's OK to have a few glasses of wine per week. And some of their patients take that advice -- more than 12% of pregnant women are social drinkers, according to government studies" yet there has been vociferous criticism of all women who indulge in any drinking in the media, including condemnations of actresses seen drinking publically in their pregnancy (Baram 2006).

Pregnant women may experience judgment even from their physicians. According to one single mother, when her pregnancy test came back positive, her doctor said: "So, have you thought about your options? Do you want to go forward with this pregnancy?'...I couldn't help but wonder if he would ask a married woman that same question. He proceeded to give me a prescription for prenatal vitamins, and I asked if I could have a detailed breakdown of the vitamin's ingredients. He told me he didn't have that information, and implied that I should simply trust that it included what was best for my baby" (Whebbe 2011).

After birth, women who choose not to breast-feed or who are… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Gender: Judging Mothers Although Women" Assignment:

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Tow editor,

This is my final project papers for my anthropology class.

I pasted all the information that you need for writing my essay.

Actually, there are two parts.

The first three pages are for the final project and

The last half page is for extra credit.

Final project guide line

1. This paper requires that you take a position on a specific topic.

2. Don*****'t merely give me a summary of a topic, I want to see that you can take a side and use good credible researched evidence to back up your argument.

3. Wikipedia, un-official websites, newspaper articles, blogs etc... do NOT count as scholarly articles. While you can use them to do some personal research, and any information you take from them should be cited, they will not count towards your grade. The only sources which are considered academic/scholarly, are those which either appear in well cited books written by experts within their field or articles which appear in academic peer-reviewed journals.

4. If you need help coming up with sources or using Nova*****'s library database, please either let me know, or contact the librarians directly. They are willing to help you conduct your research, as well as to explain how to use the library*****'s electronic and on-campus catalog.

5. Papers must be at least 3 pages in length. The paper should NOT exceed 4 pages. Papers which exceed 4 pages will lose points.

6. All papers MUST be written using APA format. All sources MUST be cited using APA style. If you are still unsure of how to properly format a paper in APA please let me know. I can offer you some resources that will guide you in this process.

7. I am available to help you brainstorm or fine-tune your topic.

8. Please do not wait until the last minute to begin your research, contact me for help, or turn in your paper. Computer troubles will not be accepted as a valid reason for not being able to turn in your assignment on time.

9. Good luck!

10. Happy Researching!

One of the key elements of anthropology, besides studying human populations, is that anthropologists have a vested and lifelong interest in their topic of study. Thus, for this project you will pick the topic that you write about. I want to know what interests you as a scholar and as a member of the human populations that are affected by all of the many things we have studied this semester.

You may pick a subject that falls within any of the realms that we have discussed this semester. For example, you may be interested in learning more about modern day hunter/gatherers, about how gender has an impact on work, education, or lifestyles, or what a movement like the church of the flying spaghetti monster says about human culture. In essence you can pick any topic you want to know more about, and which you want to share more about.

Keep in mind that this is not merely a research paper. This is also what is called an argument paper. This means that you will pick a topic and then take a side on the issue. This doesn*****'t mean that you will explain why your opinion is right, but rather, you will present scholarly, credible evidence that supports your argument.

For example, if you pick gender as a topic, you could investigate why it is that males outnumber females in the senate, and then argue why this is not a natural feature of human existence but rather the outcome of patriarchal systems, and gender discrimination etc...

You must use scholarly work as your 3 sources for this paper. A good place to find scholarly articles is scholar.google.com, or in peer-reviewed academic journals (such as Science, American Ethnologist, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy...etc). Articles such as these can be found using the NOVA library, including electronic resources. If you need help finding articles, please get in touch with the library. They can provide you with assistance. I am also available to help.

If you are having difficulty coming up with a topic please email me and I can help you solidify one.

Guidelines:

This paper is to be NO LONGER and NO LESS than 3 pages, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font.

You must include three (3) scholarly sources to back up the argument. While you may use the internet to do research and you must cite these sources, internet pages will NOT count towards your final total of three (3) scholarly sources. You must have a properly formatted references section, citations all need to be done using APA, paper should be formatted in APA style. A great resource for APA can be found at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

You may turn in the paper early, but you will not receive a grade for this paper until the end of the semester.

This paper is due on or by July 3rd, 2011.

For the extra credit assignment

Should anthropologists study terrorism?

For this extra credit assigment please come up with your own essay question topic based upon some aspect of the material we have covered in this course. You will then answer this question. Essay answers should be NO longer than 1/2 page double spaced

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