I'm Needy, You're Needy, We're All Needy!

Were Jewish individuals “needy” in their request for the right to live, and freely worship? Were the African Americans “needy” for striving for the same privileges, same schooling, and same opportunities as the Caucasian individual in the same society? These are questions one should ask HIMSELF before making an irrational claim that “ALL women are NEEDY”.

            To be needy is to strive for affection, attention, and reassurance, to an excessive degree.  Isn’t it with accordance to the nature of human being’s to strive for these conditions?  It doesn’t matter what race, religion, gender one is to a degree we are all needy, or in other words have specific needs for full satisfaction.  To be affectionate is to love.  Love comes in different shapes and forms.  To be loved signifies recognition of an individual’s soul.  This recognition is important for any being in the sense that someone else not only acknowledges the purpose of one’s existence but also supports it.  This ties into play with the strive for attention and reassurance.  To show affection is to be attentive.  To be attentive is to reassure an individual their entitlement to individuality, free will, and ability to live life in accordance to an individual’s passion.  Passion is identified through individual’s hobbies, occupations, and activities, emotionally and physically speaking.  Personally, I believe that the hobbies and activities one performs should be valued.   They are a form of expressing one’s purpose. Without this form of self-expression how do we fulfill our purpose, our soul? One needs attention to feel loved and reassured, reassured of their purpose.  When none of the three key conditions (affection, attention, reassurance) are met, is an individual’s purpose lost? No, it just has yet to be discovered or unleashed from the shackles of societies expectations. To appear “needy” is another beings cry for help in a sense that most of the time, their conditions have been infringed on; they live in deprivation of the three conditions, conditions in which every being needs in order to feel self-fulfilled. As exemplified, all humans are needy; it is a human condition in which one cannot avoid. 

            To respond to the irrational claim from a former English student, that women are needy, technically yes we are, yet so is the entire human existence.  To what conditions have women been displayed as more needy than the male population?  Well let’s take a look at the history of MANkind.  Since the very beginning of the human race, male figures have been physically dominant.  Have we throughout time thought that physical strength determines power?  Of course we have.  This philosophy is exemplified through war tactics.  One wants the stronger men, the more destructive weapons in order to rightfully claim their power.  Because males in most scenarios are physically stronger than women, has history suggested because of their physical strength they are emotionally stronger too?  Yes, in fact this is still exemplified in today’s society.  Many speculate or believe that women are too emotionally instable and lack the power to lead a country in times of war.  Has this been proven?  It has been instilled since the beginning of the history of mankind that women are to express their emotion; it is okay to cry, whereas men have been raised to be unemotional, yet violent.  Does this mean that because women have been taught to express their emotions freely that we appear to be less powerful? Or have less of an ability to have a job, and make decisions.  Throughout society it has been exemplified and stressed how to be the perfect wife, and how important it is to tend to the men’s emotional and physical needs.  Has it not been the women who have not asked of much in return except for the same human rights as our significant others?  I believe that history has proven the male as being more “needy” if we were really to go as far to evaluate which is the more “needy” gender.  Women have sacrificed themselves for centuries to care for children, and the sexual demands of the male (not saying every male in today’s society is sexually demanding).  Is it not the woman that sacrifices her name to inherit the males in marriage?  Is it not the woman that sacrifices her hobbies, or job in order to tend to the children?  Has it not been the woman who has cleaned the ground that the male stomps upon?  For centuries females have sacrificed their right to express to be “socially pleasing”.  How dare we be accused of being needier than men?  Have you no respect for the women to bear your child for nine months while the male can flaunt around without being frowned upon Males have been exemplified, or displayed as the gender in which independence, and self-fulfillment flourishes. As one of Virginia Wolf’s philosophies, men are intrigued by women but not beyond the point of the extremes of their beauty and intelligence, or in other terms the typical trophy wife all men strived to have.  In America, 86% of plastic surgeries performed were performed on women.  This statistic alone reveals the self-consciousness and desire to have the perfect body to satisfy men’s needs.  This exemplifies a woman’s lack of confidence because her virtues don’t meet the standards of men.  Therefore, have women not been trained throughout the history of mankind that if you cannot satisfy those expectations of males than you have no purpose?  Society has made women’s purpose to be that of a walking reproduction machine, one in which should be physically appealing and willing to satisfy a male’s sexual desires.  Throughout the centuries, the skirts have gotten shorter, the shirts lower, the fitting tighter, the layers less.  We are practically naked, what more can we do before totally striped of our “neediness” status? How long before we are respected as equals emotionally, and are looked at as the ones needed, not “needy”.

X is superior to Y alphabetically, yet Y is superior to X in accordance to "human instincts"

“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge.”

            -Andrea Dworkin

Chromosomes are threadlike DNA structures of nucleic acids and proteins found in the nucleus of living cells.  They carry genetic information and store hereditary information.  A normal human cell contains 46 chromosomes, or 23 pairs.  Out of the 23 pairs, one pair, 2 chromosomes, determines the sex of an individual.  A male’s sex chromosome pair is made up of an X chromosome and a Y chromosome, while a female’s sex chromosome pair consists of two X chromosomes.  The only difference genetically speaking between male and female is one microscopic chromosome.  How does one chromosomal difference determine the superiority of the sexes? How in fact, if male and female consist of 97.8% of the same genetics with 1 chromosomal difference are men much more prized both physically and intellectually throughout the history of mankind? How is it that Andrea Dworkin’s statement, “Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge” so true? But most significantly, why has society through the course of time rounded the edges of the earth for males as females continue to live fearful of falling off the edge?  There are so many questions that have yet to be answered with a more logical explanation besides “it’s human instinct”.

This blog, no doubt is pro women’s rights.  As an 18-year-old girl living in the United States at a time when women have equal rights as men, in most aspects, it is difficult to comprehend the severity of living conditions of women with no rights at all.  It is mind boggling the stereotypes history has given women.  To think that in early times women were considered “fragile” and unable to educated decisions.  To think that women lacked having a sense of self and lived in fear of independence.  To think that a woman had no other decision other than to live in the shadow of her husband. To think that the human race saw a female as nothing more than the weak link, only good enough to basically please the strong sexual desires of males. 

The novels A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and The Awakening exemplify the restraints women faced on a daily basis.  In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila and Mariam are abused by Rasheed, their husband, and suppressed by the Taliban government within Afghanistan in the 1990s to the 2000s.  It still continues to this day.  Women’s educational rights were taken away.  They weren’t permitted to wander the streets without a male figure.  Women would wear drapery where only their eyes were left unconcealed in public.  Women were forced into marriages.  They weren’t entitled to anything.  Females were and still are looked upon as fragile, and unable to make tough decisions.  The typical stereotypical woman in accordance with history is one in which simply is in charge of cooking, cleaning, and nurturing.  If they cannot perform these tasks in accordance to their significant other’s wishes then they are useless. 

Currently, in today’s day and age women have gained rights across the world.  Recently women have surpassed the amount of males who receive a collegiate Bachelor Degree.  This exemplifies that the fragility women have been thought to be throughout history is nothing but ridiculous.  In today’s age, although many women continue to receive more and more jobs aside from their “household obligations”, the average woman worker is paid less than a man.  I think it is time for the world to see, that men aren’t the only “bread makers” and that women need to stop being misconceived as anything less than superior to a man’s mentality.  

ATTENTION MRS. BURNETT!
My blog for february is going to be up by the end of tonight.
I am so sorry, I am in Pittsburgh and I have a tour I am going on.
It will be up by tonight...
very intense

Morality

Different societies have different moral codes or standards.  These different moral codes or standards are what creates different cultures amongst mankind.  Yes, we are all the same species, we may have the same general anatomy and physiology but the human body and the human mind adapts in different ways depending on different locations, this concept is called adaptation.  Adaptation is what allows living species like you and me to live.  With different adaptations comes different ways of living life; different rules, different standards for different methods of pursuing something we call life. 

         In the article The Challenge of Cultural Relativism by James Rachels, Rachels discusses how there is not just one universal code of ethics, and that there is “no objective standard that can be used to judge one societal better than the other”.  One can’t discuss what is morally right or wrong between differences in cultures because in different cultures people value different things because of different surroundings and opinions.  Rachels gives a perfect example depicting this through the use of Eskimos and Americans.  Eskimos see nothing wrong with infanticide, whereas Americans believe infanticide is immoral.  To add on my own opinion with Rachels findings, it isn’t that the Eskimos don’t value their children, it is just that their surroundings don’t necessarily give them the option of keeping infants at certain times.  Eskimos are nomadic, they don’t farm like the American people, therefore their houses are never permanent and they are on the constant search for food.  This isn’t always a stable environment in which you can afford to carry around 10 infants.  In the Eskimo society, males are more dominant then females because in their culture males are relied on for survival as the food bearers.  It isn’t that females aren’t valued but if you had to pick between a girl or a boy infant to carry around most likely you would pick the one in which one could be of more use.  In the American society this can come off as appalling, I know in fact I was shocked, but that is their way of survival.  When you think about it that is what mankind comes down to; that is what cultures come down to survival of the fittest.

         This article definitely relates to the novel Things Fall Apart, when the Christian missionaries arrive in Africa and try to convert the Africans to Christian ways because they believe the African culture is “immoral”.  For example in the novel the African tribe had a more polygamist view of life where husbands bear multiple wives, and status was based upon strength, and wealth in food products.  The Christians had very different moral standards.  But just because their moral standards were different from the Africans didn’t mean that anyone’s cultural ways were wrong.  This can be seen throughout today’s society, and causes miscommunication between a numerous of countries.  The United States is infamously known as the “melting pot of nations” but in all honesty I no longer believe it to be.  Over countless decades, America has had the opportunity to be exposed to different cultures and make use of the differences in cultures.  We have had illegal immigration issues, with Mexico in particular, and we continue to do nothing about the differences in culture.  While we are trying to “Americanize” those who migrate over to America we aren’t learning anything new, we are just being stubborn.  Our country has been introduced to numerous of people that speak different languages, yet most Americans, including myself, can only speak English.  We just expect people to adapt to our standards because we feel it is the American way or no way.  Our location is perfect to be acquainted with being able to speak Spanish with Mexico below us, and French with Canada above us, but within many of our schools these languages aren’t being introduced until a High School level.  The ignorance of different languages is very evident.  There is not only an ignorance of language in the United States, but also an ignorance of other cultures, especially Muslim cultures.

         As an American, I believe that we have isolated ourselves too much from other cultures.  How can we fulfill our “melting pot” title when we still discriminate against different belief ways?  Yes, we are a democracy, a democracy in which every person has equal rights.  Yes, I believe that everyone should be entitled to equal rights, but the question is should they be forced onto other cultures?  As Americans, is it our right to push democracy on North Korea? Iraq? I believe that there is nothing wrong with introducing a culture’s way of life to another’s as a suggestion to make living conditions more doable, but I don’t believe it is right to force a “moral code” on another culture.  If we stop trying to “Americanize” the world, then maybe there won’t be as much violence and discrimination with not only other cultures, but within our own.