Essays on Black Women

Body Mass Index

Body Mass Index (BMI) Introduction Historically, the use of the Body Mass Index (BMI) has been the standard method of measuring obesity among the adults. The standards of BMI were created using population samples, which were calculated from the measurement of the weight and height of Caucasians. Recent research has proved that BMI alone cannot be an appropriate way of measuring obesity. The main reason for this is the differences in ethnicity and the genetic make-up of individuals. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has evaluated the trend of the BMI and the result is that the African ...

Q1 (a) Adichie’s essay presented two basic examples based on the concept of feminism that exists in the minds of men. At first, she illustrated that how she preferred to wear clothes that were less feminine while going to her graduation school. The example gives an impression to the audience that men in the society think that girls are a weaker entity. It also provides an idea that girls have insecurity. Therefore, they tend to look manly to prove themselves as stronger while making a public appearance Q1 (b) Another example that Adichie’s essay has provided is ...

Introduction

The wage gap has been a centre of discussion for past few decades and it seems it will remain a highly debatable topic; as the gap between males and females, and white men and females from other races is still persistent. Since 1996, the wage gap has narrowed, but women in the United States are still making only 79 cents for a dollar made by men (Kitroeff, 2016). The gap has narrowed in the last two decades as women have progressed in terms of workplace participation and education (AAUW, n.d.). In terms of races, the wage gap is greater ...

The Social Determinants of HIV/AIDS among African-American Women in the Southern States

Introduction HIV/AIDS is a serious condition that has led to numerous cases of deaths among the people of the United States. The epidemic has a higher prevalence among the African-American population thus presenting a risk factor for the children growing up. HIV condition holds a huge stigma among many people and as a result, it is not easy to discover that people are suffering from this condition. Consequently, many people end up becoming victims due to the fact that, the HIV positive population is unable to speak up and ensure that the condition is not spread among other people ...

Introduction: Historically, female Black slaves endured the worse treatment, but have received the least amount of attention than their male counterparts in North American Slavery (Hine, 2007). There are longstanding myths that surround the experiences of female Black slaves, and struggles they face daily trying to survive. Deborah Gray White provides an intimate look into female slavery that until 1985 was long overdue. In her book she stated “Slave women were the only women in America who were sexually exploited with impunity, stripped and whipped with a lash, and worked like oxen” (White, 1999, p. 162). In the nineteenth ...

Specifically, health disparities refer to health variances of different groups of people. In most cases, health disparities occur based on race, age, sexual orientation, religions, and gender, among others. For example, research suggests that black women have a relatively higher number of deaths from breast cancer than women from other racial groups (Breast Cancer Action, 2013). Generally, about 40,000 women succumb to breast cancer and related complications annually. Over 40% of black women that are diagnosed with the disease condition are more likely to die of the condition than white women. On the other hand, nearly 1800 fewer ...

These authors primarily talk about gender, race, and class discrimination in the United States of America. For instance, Margret& Patricia titled their work, "why Race, Class, and Gender still matter." The discussion is based on how different people in the United States are affected by different types of discrimination based on where they live, their color and gender. Although America seems like one of the less discriminative countries in the world, there are still central areas and situations where it is practiced. Through electing, the first black president, Barrack Obama, the war on discrimination of color seems to be ...

In Los Angeles County, California, the Probation Department is one of the largest bureaucratic organizations in the Unites States. Within this Department, there are adult and juvenile sectors. The juvenile sector is comprised of 3 juvenile hall facilities, and roughly about 23 residential treatment facilities, also referred to as camps, and lock down placements for juveniles with a vast array of social, and psychological issues. The facility that I attended was Central Juvenile Hall, which is located in East Los Angeles, California. Central Juvenile hall was established in 1912, and is the largest of the three probation juvenile halls ( ...

Introduction

The condition of the black race in the United States is one of the intensely debated issues since the American Civil War. Through slavery, the black structure has continued to suffer and experience various social and political issues that affect their moral wellbeing. Notably, the capture and taking Africans from their homes separated them from their families and consequently torn from the extensive previously established kinship networks. Enslaved in the free states of North America, the Africans ability to re-create their nuclear families and the familial support greatly depended on various factors that ranged from the needs and the ...

Discussion Board Posts

Published in 1984, Audre Lorde’s article argues in favor of a unified feminist movement, which does not ignore the differences among the experiences of women belonging to different groups, but rather, it uses those differences to examine the different ways in which women are oppressed, and the ways in which those differences contribute to enriched creativity. The author explains that, right now, the feminist movement is divided by the same forces that create human differences in general, which oppose dominant groups to minority groups, thus creating simplistic patterns of difference, where the characteristics of the dominant groups are ...

Article: Trolls Flood “Ghostbusters” IMDb Ratings, But Female Film Critics Fight Back

Response Thesis: The ratings in Ghostbusters are just a sign of the misogynist problem in the modern American Society The ratings on the film, ‘Ghostbusters’, an all female cast film, are not based on the true feelings of these men on the quality of the movie, but rather by the misogynistic inclinations of the average men in America. Giving a rating of one out of ten even before the official release of the movie is not only disrespectful, but also highly irresponsible, as it is a testament that the male critics do not dislike the movie, but rather, they ...

Introduction and summary

Equal access to healthcare is essential to the sustainability of any nation. In fact, lack thereof compromises the survival rates of any population as it heightens the mortality rates. In the article, of disparities and diversity: Where are we? Gloria Sarto seeks to provide a rationale for the high levels of differences in the medical sector. She compares the minority population’s accessibility to healthcare facilities as opposed to the largely white community in the United States. Through this comparison, she establishes a credible argument on the need to eliminate health disparities among people around the globe. For instance, ...

The feminist movement has been a vibrant one for the past couple of decades, not only in the United States but all across the world. There have been politically powerful and culturally influential campaigns and movements regarding women’s liberation and consciousness. The feminist movement involved several projects in the government bureaucracies, different institutions, and professions. These movements have brought about major changes in the lives of many women and their professions. Despite the acceptance of women’s equality and prominent accomplishments, the feminist movement has yet to achieve its absolute goals of gender equality (Epstein 2001). The focus ...

The Post War society was going through a transition period. The milestone document of the United Nations in the history of mankind is The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). With this document, the United Nations have protected human rights regardless of gender, race, religion ethnicity etc. The United Nations agreed that every person is free by born and he/she should be respected. He/she must be considered as human being and thus her rights of freedom must be protected. The two incidents were very important in the world history; first is the Civil Rights Movement and the feminist movement. ...

There can be no denial about the fact that poetry has immense power to inculcate the masses with the revolutionary thoughts that have the potential to bring out the immoralities or shortcomings of the society. The literary artists grip over the form of art to appeal to the readers of their poetry and incite their minds with the revolutionary thoughts that have the capacity to bring change in the society or the system. As such, one can look into specific texts that embody this passion of subversive attitude. The paper aims to explore the potential of the form of ...

When it comes to matters of beauty, the focus is on the female gender. Naturally, it does not matter whether a lady is white, black or Asian simple because, as they say – beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It means that all women are beautiful and deserve to be treated equally with respect regardless of the background. However, for long now, history suggests that the call for equal treatment has never got the appropriate answer. Evidently, the treatment of black women versus that of their white counterparts in the USA remains a huge concern. According to Thompson ( ...

The article fly girls, hoes and bitches by Jon Morgan is a study into how African American men display their feminist ideologies through hip hop music. Besides the numerous challenges that the black woman faces simply because of her race, black women are further subjected to feminism by their fellow black men. Women are alienating themselves from the abusive nature of men as the number of marriages between blacks reduce from 70 percent to 38 percent within the last 30 years. Sexism is on the rise with black men targeting their fellow black women. As women become more involved ...

The representation of Black race in music video “U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah The music video “U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah from 1993, which I have chosen for the demonstration of Black identity, illustrates how Black women describe their position in relationships with Black men and the whole society. The song lyrics is provocative with using the filthy language, which perfectly reflects the common attitude of Black race; it demonstrates that people are free from the society frameworks. Queen Latifah represents herself as a strong independent woman. She raps about losing respect for women within Black community; that point is significant ...

in Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” in Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” Black Boy is an autobiography written by Richard Wright, a black man born in 1908’s Mississippi. It portrays his life as a boy and as a grownup man, struggling through racial-based atrocities, and his experience as a member of the Communist Party. Richard, Wright’s protagonist, is very much aware of the racism surrounding him, and he does a pretty good job addressing the problem, as he himself is a victim of cruelty and segregation. It wouldn’t be surprising, if a man that struggles from ...

Introduction

Receiving education is a costly choice. There are costs to education in terms of direct monetary payments and an opportunity costs. The choice to go to school means forgoing waged employment. Therefore, there is an opportunity costs of the wages that would have been earned. Therefore, there is a need to compare the returns versus the cost of education to make optimal decisions. Estimating the returns to education for any population segment is useful in making decisions on the optimal schooling level at both a personal as well as societal level. From a policy standpoint, estimating returns to education ...

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For the millennial female workers of today, some employees already have a solution to free them of their worries regarding their biological clock – making egg freezing part of their health care package. Egg freezing is defined as a “method used to preserve reproductive potential in women,” which is also called mature oocyte cryopreservation (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2016). Through this technology, women who intend to delay pregnancy for whatever personal reason can do so. In 2014, Apple and Facebook were two of the companies who announced that they would include egg freezing in their surrogacy benefits. It was ...

Motherhood is a sacred act for each woman. It is the most powerful and spiritual component of a woman’s life. Published in 1987, “Beloved” by Toni Morrison depicts heart-wrenching lives of African slaves and explores the mother-child relationship and the experience of black women in an unjust and prejudiced society. “Beloved” was based on the real story of a slave woman called Margaret Garner who killed her own child. This masterpiece emphasizes the barbaric and cruel effects of slavery and oppression of black women in the circumstances of racial inequality and abusive behaviors. They were not allowed to ...

The introduction of the reality show genre, it was meant to present the real people during dating, survival skills, and succeeding in the music business. However, in the modern day, the genre has presented some falsity and extravagance that is far from the relatable realism of the program. Feminism is one of the key aspects portrayed in reality shows such as Real Housewives of Atlanta, Bad Girls Club, among many others. These reality shows portray the African American women using certain characteristics that would be considered as stereotypes. The collection of evidence from reality shows. The project that deals ...

Article Summary

First, Perry explores what is noted as "the visual image of black women in hip-hop [over the last 20 years and] how this has rapidly deteriorated" (p.296). It seems as though at the turn of the 20th century, hip-hop started down a path that it has not been able to proverbially recover from. This is due in part to the fact that misogynist perspectives have been on the rise for a number of years, and the genre has only served to highlight the disturbing dynamics associated with this conception. Perry notes that "this use of black women in the ...

Breast cancer is identified as the most common cancer among women in the world (Chlebowski, Chen, Anderson, Rohan, Aragaki, Paskett, and Prentice, 2013). The prevalence rates have increased in the recent past, a trend associated with lifestyle attributes such as improper diets and lack of exercise. In as much as genetics play a contributory role in the development of breast cancer, a significant part is associated with these changes. An interesting aspect is that the ailment affects women differently in relation to differences in racial and ethnic considerations. In this regard, Asian women are the least affected group in ...

“Poor single mother on welfare tell me how you did it?” rings the famous lyric of the late Rapper-Activist Tupac Amaru Shakur. The son of a former Black Panther, this ode to his mother provides a glimpse into the conundrum of surviving in the wake of being poor and black on public assistance. What Shakur unknowingly reveals is the image of welfare in a more empathetic and realistic way that illuminates instead of ignoring the lived realities of its recipients. While Shakur’s lyric is compassionate in it’s depiction, conservative lawmakers are less considerate in their elucidation of ...

Intersectionality

In this article, the author addresses the multi-faceted discrimination that faces black women in the workplace and how this practice has evolved into the modern age. Although everybody agrees that all humans are equal, regardless of their color, gender or race, the author argues that the sad reality sees many people discriminated. As if this is not enough, the various legal systems have been bent in such a way that they cannot offer any remedy to the victims of this vice. In expounding this problem, the author gives an example on how Emma DeGraffenreid and other black women faced ...

Article Critique: Postpartum depression in mothers

FULL REFERENCE: Kozhimannil, K. B., Trinacty, C. M., Busch, A. B., Huskamp, H. A., & Adams, A. S. (2011). Racial and ethnic disparities in postpartum depression care among low-income women. Psychiatric Services.

RESEARCH QUESTION:

Are there are racial or ethnic differences and disparities in the prevalence of postpartum depression among African American, Hispanic, Native American, and White women?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS:

In the context that there exist significant knowledge and evidence gaps on other ethnic and racial groups in regard to the prevalence of post-partum depression, there is a high correlation between postpartum depression in low income African American women as compared to their White ...

“One Hundred Years of Solitude” (Cien Añosde Soledad) is a magical realist novel created by Gabriel García Márquez in 1967. This novel is referred to as the Don Quixote of Latin America because of its overwhelming popularity (Jay Corwin, 4). The novel does not have any clear and obvious philosophy that is why the perception of this novel is very individualistic. The tragic and mystique ending pushes to the idea that multiple aspects of life that are described in the novel are heavily criticized by García Márquez (Jay Corwin, 4). And one of these ...

What are the differing concerns of white women vs the women of color in the women’s movement? Why do you think these differences evolved? In the early 1920s, women of color had different concerns and issues and directed to racial issues then the concerns of the white women. White women always stood for equality in cultural differences leading to gender discrimination, whereas the women of color had more specific and deeper approach towards racial differences and usually being affected by socio-economic status (Smith, p. 264). White women had concerns regarding the mentality of that era where women were ...

Summary

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison is a novel that talks about the discord among the whites and the blacks, and the learned biases and prejudices that the characters accord each other. The story highlights these biases based on three different levels: race, gender, and class. The Street household was an interesting setting wherein a mixture of the black and the white, of the slaves and the masters, and those in between live under on roof. The story starts with Valerian and Margaret talking about the menu for the coming Christmas Eve. Valerian had invited some people and his, Michael, ...

Introduction

Over the time, society, and the United States citizens have blamed the media as portraying black women in a negative light. However, the roles that the black American women play are a result of their willingness, and as such, they are indeed the cause of the negative portrayal that they receive. Apparently, several black American women in the United States are willing to take up any role and undertake in with the intention of earning some dollars and improving their living standards. Readiness to take up roles, which encompass violence, mismanagement of money, poor etiquette, and rowdy behavior, are ...

Source #1:

Web address where the site can be located where you are lurking: N/A A Summary of The Stated Purpose of the Site or Mission Statement: promoting fashion for people who are overweight Observational Notes: This site is a good source for black plus-size women since it promotes fashion suitable for them. The members of the group are active as evidenced by the fact that at the time of writing this paper, a photo posted seven hours before had recorded 1,690 likes. I would recommend this site since it encourages women who are overweight to develop a positive attitude ...

Sexism in sports

Over the years, it has been observed that there is inequality in sports. This fact has prompted many people to research on the matter. The research shows that gender inequality began from the history of the universe. Gender inequality in sports has been depicted in several books and TV programs. An example is sexing the body written by Anne Fausto-Sterling. In the first chapter, the book discusses how people's notion of sexuality and gender is based on social construct (Fausto-Sterling). This fact can be observed from the way women are treated in the society. There are some cultures, which ...

In the mid-1800s, females have been subject to much pressure. While white women were seeking freedom from white male domination, black women had been struggling to gain the most basic social rights. It was the era when education began and first universities were built (Frierson and Tate 151). At that time black women existed “at the intersection of race and gender”, and this issue had been greatly challenged (Frierson and Tate 151). From the beginning of the 17th century slavery had spread all over the country (Brezina 9). While the northern part of the state gradually became slaver-free, in ...

The HIV/AIDS global epidemic has ravaged millions of lives across the world. In the past, prior to the discovery of effective control measures through medication such as antiRetroViral medication, the disease had infected millions of lives. At the present time, although the discovery of a vaccine has not yet been made, scientific research has made some leeway with regards to this issue. One would expect very low prevalence rate of the disease in the most powerful country in the world owing to the high level of medical technology and innovation systems available. However, this situation is further from the ...

During the civil rights movement of the 1970s, disparate groups of people came together to fight and protest against the discrimination of people based on color, gender and creed. Even though these movements protested white male patriarchy and the disenfranchisement of people of color, their goals were not in sync with one other group that suffered more under the hands of patriarchy and racial domination. This group encompassed black woman, who suffered patriarchy as well as racial discrimination. The larger women’s rights movement ignored race as an important construct in the fight for freedom and equality. The universalization ...

Epistolary novel The Color Purple, composed by American author Alice Walker, illuminates life of African American women in the South parts of the US during 1930-s. This novel is considered to be one of the most controversial and censored literary work of Walker due to its explicit scenes of violence. Thus, in her letters to God main heroine, Celie, reveals true horrors of her life. Being, uneducated and poor fourteen-year-old African American Southerner, Celie faces constant physical and emotional abuse first from her father, Alphonso, who beats and rapes her and later from her husband, known as Mister. (Walker) ...

First analysis features music video “Formation” presented by Beyonce. Firstly, it should be stated that as the art is the subtle tool for demonstrating some of the key problems, it is not always necessary that the ideas are expressed very straight forward. Nor it should be expected from such videos to state the position openly and clearly. However, the mix of the images and statements made by Beyonce in the above mentioned video seems to be very unequivocal. The video starts off with Beyonce laying on the police car which is drowning in the water, implying that the whole ...

1. What is Angela Davis’s overall objective (purpose) in writing this book? What is her overall THESIS (argument—her position on prisons)? Since the 1970s, the growth of prisons has been exponential, and Angela Y. Davis worries why the community allows such a thing to happen. The growth is associated with the larger economic and social situations of the country. Davis argues that the growth of prisons is rarely seen, but it creates a cycle of incarceration and joblessness. She argues that prisons permit individuals to disassociate from the issues in their community (such as social, economic ...

Abstract

The paper explores what hardships black American women are facing in their pursuit of happiness. Though the time of slavery has passed, people still suffer enslavement. In modern world it is some sort of “spiritual enslavement”. Women try to survive in spite of all the obstacles they meet in their life path. It is hard to live in the hostile surroundings where people still judge you for the colour of skin. More difficult is to stay in constant fear of being abused or raped by your own husband. The story that may seem invented or exaggerated is actually the ...

Hortense Spillers “Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book” was written when the author was looking for her generation of black women in the late 1970s and the mid-1980s. The history of black people has never been given the kind of recognition it is entitled to. The beginning of the essay provides several reflections on naming and the author opens a series of thoughts on the use of overdetermined nominative properties to describe black women. She describes how the everyday terminology is deeply historically embedded and it will need going back in time to undo what is done. ...

Canadian society is understood to widely represent things like equality, freedom, and acceptance, but this is not the case for pay equality. Canadian law prohibits the discrimination in employment of persons based on their race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Although employers are unable to discriminate against women in the hiring process there is still a large wage gap between women and their male counterparts. Gender pay inequality has been widely discussed in various news outlets as a large problem in Canada, which has yet be properly addressed. It has been found that women earn less than men due to ...

In all times women were paying much attention to their appearance regardless of their ethnicity. However, each ethnicity has its own image of a beautiful body determined by its cultural and social values. Nowadays, there are many studies on how women of different ethnicities perceive an ideal body and how they assess themselves in relation to this ideal image. In our modern society the latter is imposed also by the media which portrays skinny models as being perfect and ideal. The main issue investigated by most of psychologists in burgeoning literature devoted to this subject is the attitude of ...