This week we explored the health care through a feminist lens, which analyses race, gender, and power. The first piece by Murphy gave a background on protocol feminism and the history of "feminist self-help clinics" (Murphy). Such clinics were understood as a "mobile set of practices" (Murphy 25) that challenged the politicization of medical practice, their power dynamics, and worked to help women reclaim bodily autonomy. If my reading is correct protocol feminism and feminist protocols were the lessons and guidelines created and dispersed across the country to aid women, of all races, on how to take control of their own health care. Moreover, Murphy emphasizes the connection between feminism and technoscience, but I did not understand what technoscience was in the terms of her article. Finally, due to the way that many of these clinics appeared to be "unraced" because they were White run, racial issues that plague health care were not adequately addressed and once again the white people became the foundation for the understanding of human health. The second piece by Roberts discussed the racial implications of the neoliberal influences on …show more content…
However, I never really considered the racial aspect and rather lumped all women together as a monolithic oppressed group in the society of the novel. Roberts piece illustrates a trend in our reproductive sector that appears to be not far off from the dystopian world Atwood creates. Moreover, I appreciated how the author continued to search for the negative effects of reproductive technology even after the field increased its racial diversity. I also never considered the ways that selective genetic technology could reinforce ideas about the connection between race and social issues. I appreciate how clearly that argument was explained. I have a lot of relearning to
In Samuelson and Antony’s book Power and Resistance, renowned sociologist Professor Pat Armstrong tackles the topic of health care reform from a critical feminist perspective. Her analytic critique of the historic tenets of Health Care policy in Canada, effectively points out a systemic disadvantage for the women of our society. Which, in the spirit of transparency, completely blind sighted me as a first time reader because, well, this is Canada. Canada, the internationally renowned first world nation with a reputation for progressive social reform. The same Canada that Americans make fun of for being ‘too soft’. As far as the world is concerned we’re the shining nation-state example of how to do health care right. Needless to say, Professor
In the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" written by Margaret Atwood, the recurrent appearance of the color red draws an interesting yet perverse parallel between femininity and violence. The dominant color of the novel, red is associated with all things female. However, red is also the color of blood; death and violence therefore are closely associated with women in this male-dominated ultraconservative government.
The book “A Handmaid’s Tale” takes place in the Republic of Gilead which is separated from the rest of the United States. The Republic of Gilead has its own governmental power. The book is narrated by Offred, a handmaid, who used to have a normal life before being forced to be taken from all her women rights. Handmaids are removed from their freedom and are being controlled by their commanders. They do not have access to education or any other resources. The freedom of speech is taken away from the Handmaids and any others without power. There are things that they are not allowed to ever say and also things they are expected to say. The Gilead’s government has control over everyone in this society. In the Gilead’s government,
Imagery is an effective element used by writers. It allows readers to be one with the story and to better comprehend the actions and thoughts conveyed by the author. In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale, actions and images of Offred and other individuals parallel with the theme of appearance versus reality. These images such as food and nature are reoccurring to further stress the theme. The gustatory and olfactory images of food and perfume, as well as the kinesthetic and visual imagery of cutting flowers and sexual intercourse juxtapose the discontentment of Offred's life as a handmaid.
They incorporate intersectionality theory, complexity theory, and the social determinants of health techniques to embody the individual’s encounters and then to reason to the wider social location demonstrated by the means of the individual, which assists to accepting healthcare access and procedures in the region of women’s health inequities. McGibbon and McPherson argue that a center foundation of the perception of feminist intersectionality is the focal point on the debriefing of power in society and the structural precursors of oppression. (McGibbon and McPherson, Pg.61). This pretty much is one of the highest essential capacity contributions of the intersectionality principle to health care is the prevailing of power. The sort of the essential aspect on diversity could have a number of advantages. Initially, it'd counter the impulse to cut the patients to biological entities and as a substitute centralize on the person in a social relational context. It isn't that biology is irrelevant; since one of the disputes associated with the concept of intersectionality is how to incorporate biology. A more state of the art evaluation of power relations afforded by thinking about intersecting social areas may prevent the intricate prioritization of some differences over others, for
Every human being needs certain rights to survive. There are the fundamental ones; food, water, air, shelter, but there are also other ones that are equally important to survive: love, communication, compassion, freedom. In many dystopian societies one of these fundamental needs are missing because the society is afraid that they will break the control that they have over the people. In the novel The Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood the society is no different. Narrated by a woman named Offred who once was happy who had a family and a job, she shows the reader that to keep people quiet the society takes away people 's freedom, their ability to choose, their ability to be with and talk to who they want, even their ability to read and write,
In any society, laws and restrictions are placed upon the individuals living in it. These regulations can not only be a determinant of how one acts, but also how one perceives themselves. One issue that is undoubtedly going to happen to an individual is unfairness concerning one of society’s laws. Even if one is innocent of actions, regulations can cause an individual to feel as if that law is creating injustice. Does an individual have a right to oppose and rebel against perceived unfairness? Or shall one simply accept the unfairness thrust upon them? In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, we meet a woman named Offred, who is a handmaid. She describes how her society is not always a positive influence towards the people living it. In connection to Offred’s opinion, in Plato’s Critio, Socrates argues that an individual needs to accept these regulations placed upon oneself. Both Socrates and Offred gives great reasoning behind their argument, but the connection found between both stories is that an individual needs to accept the terms given to them. To right against unfair regulations creates a huge controversy and can even cause injuries to a group or an individual. Society’s laws are not always positive influence however one needs to adapt life to make it more bearable. Laws are not always going to be fair and even if these laws interfere with individual needs, a person needs to corporate and find different alterations in order to survive.
The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make change.
No citizen shale ever be ignored no matter their race, state of health, or class. In the US “barriers generally stem from forces within the organizational environment of the health care delivery system or within the broader social system itself” (Barr, 2011, p. 273). This is why health policy scholars need to study health disparities so that equal care can ultimately be reached. Currently some disparities that are obvious in society are unequal dispersion and quality of care between racial groups, genders, and those with low middle class income. The health care system needs to be fixed and in order for that to happen health scholars must study better procedures so that the best possible outcome can be reached for the American
In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.
What is a perfect society? Most people would say where everyone is equal. However that is truly impossible even in make believe societies such as Gillan. The handmaid's tale proves how no society is perfect. How there is always a caste system within each and every society.
There once lived a man and his wife, who had long wished for a child, but in vain. Now there was at the back of their house a little window which overlooked a beautiful garden full of the finest vegetables and flowers; but there was a high wall all round it, and no one ventured into it, for it belonged to a witch of great might, and of whom all the world was afraid. One day that the wife was standing at the window, and looking into the garden, she saw a bed filled with the finest rampion; and it looked so fresh and green that she began to wish for some; and at length she longed for it greatly. This went on for days, and as she knew she could not get the rampion, she pined away, and grew pale and miserable. Then the man was uneasy, and asked,
In society today families are falling apart and getting divorced. Not all families of course but the percent rate is higher year after year. Destroy means “to wreck; ruin” (Webster’s 169). This is what most people would say about their family if their parents were no longer together. In Gilead this is what all families are saying. The government has destroyed the families by taking away the women and giving them to other families like a piece of property.
“[W]e are not slaves in name, and cannot be carried to market and sold as somebody else 's legal chattels, we are free only within narrow limits. For all our talk about liberation and personal autonomy, there are few choices that we are free to make” (Berry). In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood the protagonist Offred lives through a changing of society, in which is described by Aunt Lydia in the new society as the difference of freedom to and freedom from. The complexities of freedom are examined through social norms, relationships, and safety in society. As Offred notices the differences between her old life and her life now readers, especially North American readers, see how much freedom they take advantage of as a society.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a compelling tale of a dystopian world where men are the superior sex and women are reduced to their ability to bear children, and when that is gone, they are useless. The story is a very critical analysis of patriarchy and how patriarchal values, when taken to the extreme, affect society as a whole. The result is a very detrimental world, where the expectation is that everyone will be happy and content, but the reality is anything but. The world described in The Handmaid’s tale is one that is completely ruled by patriarchal values, which is not unlike our society today. The proposal that the world described in The Handmaid’s Tale could be a vision of the future may seem far-fetched to some readers.