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Effect of literature on society
Effect of literature on society
Causes of rape in south africa essay
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Recommended: Effect of literature on society
Samantha Sipe
Dr. Kara Kvaran
Intro to Women’s Studies
21 April 2014
Rape Culture Highlighted Through Literature
Post-Apartheid South Africa has some of the highest sexual violence numbers in the world. From just 2011-2012 over 64,514 rapes were reported, according to the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust, while they estimate the true number to be over 500,000. South Africa is considered to be a country with a “culture of violence” that “sees violence as a legitimate means of resolving conflicts – a culture where ‘tough, aggressive, brutal and competitive masculinity is promoted’ and weakness regarded, with contempt, as feminine” (“Rape in South Africa”). This culture of violence and rape is seen in the novel Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. In a time of political unrest and changing power dynamics of Post-Apartheid we see a backlash against women in this novel by both the newly powerful black men and also the white men who are threatened by the change in the status quo. The sexual experiences of the main character David Lurie portray how skewed South African society views women: his sexual experiences run the gamut from a stoic business exchange (his relationship with the prostitute Soraya) to an impassioned and desperate attempt to feel powerful and young (Lurie’s affair with his student Melanie). The implications of sex on a culture’s view of masculinity and femininity appear frequently in Coetzee’s novel. The male characters in Disgrace use and abuse women throughout the novel, David even goes so far as to claim that culture shouldn’t expect creatures to act outside their nature. Sex is a major theme throughout Disgrace; the different purposes behind each sexual experience in the novel shines a light on the resounding power struggl...
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...ng to satisfy desire. This is thrown back in his face when his own daughter is used in a way David usually uses women, and he finally begins to see that the treatment of women in South Africa is horrible and degrading. Why is this still acceptable in the modern world? Why do men feel the need to dominate women to show off their masculinity? These are all issues Disgrace attempts to tackle. Literature is one of the best ways to educate and help move people to a more peaceful and understanding train of thought. Disgrace is definitely a difficult novel to read, but without difficulty there is no growth, no new breakthroughs. Hopefully one day, women will not be afraid to go out alone in South Africa, will not be afraid to raise their voices in disagreement with the controlling patriarchy, and will not be afraid to embrace their femininity and all that it entails.
The story of Alice Sebold’s memoir begins with her as a freshman at Syracuse University and the scene in which she is brutally raped. Sebold writes in vivid detail on how the rape went throughout the beginning of the chapter. She was walking back to her dormitory through a park during nighttime when she was suddenly assaulted and raped by a black man. After the traumatizing experience, she makes her back to her dorm where she told her friends about the rape. One of her roommate’s black friends gives her a hug in order to apologize on behalf of the black men and to make her not judge them as rapists due to the incident. After meeting with her friends, they take her emergency room. A police officer later tells her that she was “lucky” because a female was also raped at the same place but had been murdered and dismembered instead. Sebold soon officially starts her story after arriving back to her home in Pennsylvania with her mother by writing, “My life was over; my life had just begun” (33), implying that her life has been dramatically altered and wouldn’t be the same again.
From the early history, women were inferior to and dominated by men. However, the problem of female sexual degradation of the male society is still existent even in the 21st century’s world which is characterized by the social equality and democracy. In a self-contained Issue, “Callioppe” (The Sandman, #17), Neil Gaiman criticizes the male driven economy which engages in female social and sexual abjection through depiction of rape. Utilizing the narrative and visual techniques, Gaiman draws the reader to the problem of sexual violence toward women.
A careful examination of the sexual violence against african-american women in this piece reveals imbalances in the perceptions about gender, and sexuality shed that ultimately make the shift for equality and independence across race and class lines possible during this time period.
Rape myths are false, biased or cliché convictions about assault, assault casualties and attackers which may have the impact of preventing many examples from claiming constrained sex are really assault. To get a better understanding of rape myths, one should first comprehend the lawful meaning of Rape. The Sexual Offenses Act (2003) has given a definition of Rape, which is:
Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar brings race, politics, religion, and ethnic identity all to the table in his 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning play. In modern day society these are the major social issues we see. What the audience fails to realize is that in Disgraced Akhtar has caused them to involuntarily embrace the double standards involving gender present in America. Women walk a fine line to not be a victim of “slut shaming.” “Despite its moniker, slut-shaming has little to do with actual sexual activity. Rather, it is largely a function of gossip, cliques and social control.(Tarrant)” Both Amir and Emily, the two main protagonist in the play, are victims to the others misconducts at some point in this play. The audience however finds themselves empathizing
Deviant behavior is defined as a behavior or action that is against the social norms of society. Rape is a deviant behavior that is a type of sexual assaults that usually involving sexual intercourse. This happens when one person or more initiates sexual acts against another person without that person's consent. The act can be sometimes carried out by physical force, coercion, or a person not being able to give valid consent. Someone who is unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legal age of consent would fall under that category. The term rape is sometimes used interchangeably with the term sexual assault. According to R.A.I.N (Rape, Abuse and Incet National Network, 2009) 44% of rape victims are under age 18 and 80% are under age 30. It is sad to report that every 2 minutes another American is assaulted which leaves an average of 237,868 victims, age 12 or older of sexual assault each year (R.A.I.N 2009). So who is to blame for this growing problem? It would be surprising to hear that many times people blame the victims. This is a growing concern for us all because it has led to a tremendous amount of unreported incidents which leads to the perpetrator roaming the streets waiting to strike again. Rape can lead to have severe traumatization and victim can suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder along with causing psychological harm and has been shown to cause physical injury, or have additional effects on the victim, such as acquiring of a sexually transmitted infection or becoming pregnant. Sadly following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats thereafter from the rapist.
It is time that we start to look at the changes women have made in the comparison to the events surrounding them. We do not expect the women of today to behave and act submissively as though they were the women of the Medieval Era. Rather than looking at the news or textbooks for the evolution answer, the women of century were depicted in works of literature. The opposition against using media comes from an article from The Journal of Social Psychology Department written by Leslie McArthur and Beth Resko about the selection of men and women for commercials where men were selected more often but women had a better connection with the audience. These sex differences proved highly unfavorable for
One of Canada's foremost contemporary writers, Margaret Atwood is an internationally renowned poet, literary critic, novelist, humanitarian and political activist. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939, she spent most of her childhood in the Canadian wilderness. She has won praise and acclaim for her ability to incorporate humor, biting wit, irony and symbolism into her writing style. Her themes usually depict the very nature of human behavior and issues of power between men and women as it relates to society ("The Writer." New York Times). Her very first novel, The Edible Women, published in 1970, explored issues of oppression, self-identity and power, as it relates to the broader social content of contemporary urban life and the sexual politics involved. She further explores those issues in "Rape Fantasies" first published in Canada in 1979 in her book The Dancing Girls and Other Stories. "Rape Fantasies" has become one of Atwood's best known works as it explores the issues of power between men and women, highlighting women's fears of crime and victimization, where safety depends on the ability to find a medium between trust, suspicion, fear, and isolation ("I Just Don't Understand It." Gale).
Heather Wilhelm’s article titled “The Rape Culture Lie,” is a highly opinionated work that dismisses rape cultures existence, while portraying it as a concept that stems from the historical misconception on the relevance of sex as a deep and intimate part of life. She does not argue that rape is not a big deal, but instead offers an overlooked perspective on rape in society. Wilhelm notes, “But the perpetrator, ironically, isn’t a massive, oppressive ‘rape culture’. It’s the ‘sex means nothing’
Najumi, Mohadesa. “We Live in a Rape Culture.” The Feminist Wire. N.p., 9 June 2013. Web. 5 Feb
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee is a novel that follows the downfall of David Lurie, a South African college professor, after he loses his job for having an affair with one of his students. After being released from his position as a professor, David travels from Cape Town to the Eastern Cape to visit his daughter, Lucy. During his visit, he and Lucy encounter two men and a boy who set David on fire, rape and impregnate Lucy and rob their property. The attack causes David and Lucy’s relationship to suffer mainly due to the way that the attack alters Lucy’s personality and affections toward David. The attack and David’s relationship with his student, Melanie Isaacs, reflect each other as they both portray different scenarios regarding non-consensual relationships. Readers can gather from J.M. Coetzee’s description of Melanie as, “the dark one” (18) that Melanie was of African descent. This equates to the most striking aspect of David and Melanie’s relationship as it parallels the oppression that black women in South Africa endured historically since David Lurie, as a white man, had an inappropriate and invasive relationship with Melanie, a young African woman.
J.M. Coetzee, a white South African writer, was strongly influenced by his personal experiences while he witnessed the social barriers during the apartheid. As the novel begins, Coetzee describes the sexual relationship between the protagonist David Lurie and Soraya, a prostitute that David routinely indulged in every Thursday. “For a man of his age, fifty- two, divorced, he has, to his mind, solved the problem of sex rather well” (Coetzee 1). In his mind, however, he did not put into perspective the thoughts of Soraya. He satisfied his desires at the expense of another’s emotional wellbeing. Despite Soraya’s acceptance of prostitution, her reaction towar...
This paper aims to investigate some aspects of postcolonialism, feminism, as well as symbolism, allegories and metaphors. For this purpose I have chosen the novel Disgrace (1999) by J.M Coetzee. The story takes place in Cape Town, in post-apartheid South Africa. David Lurie is a white man and works as a professor of English at a technical university. He is a ‘communication’ lecturer and he teaches ‘romantic literature’ too. Lurie is divorced two times already and one gets the impression that he is not really satisfied with his job. His "disgrace" comes when he makes attempts to seduce Melanie Isaacs, one of his students, against her will. This affair is then remitted to the school authorities and a special committee is convoked to judge his actions.
On the surface, The Rape of the Lock is a retelling of an episode that caused a feud between two families in the form of an epic. One might believe that in his version, Alexander Pope portrayed the women of the story as shallow, vain little girls, however on a deeper level the women are crucial to the story. Aside from not being as helpless as they appear, each woman possesses a different kind of power that contributes to their character greatly. Rather than being the conceited and shallow figures expected of the time period, the women in The Rape of the Lock posses more power than meets the eye.
A feminist analysis on the other hand shows that Anowa is a woman who is struggling against the 1870’s African feminist identity (the identity of weakness). The drama surrounds the story of a young woman called Anowa who disobeys her parents by marrying Kofi Ako, a man who has a reputation for indolence and migrates with him to a far place. Childless after several years of marriage, Anowa realises that Kofi had sacrificed his manhood for wealth. Upon Anowa’s realisation, Kofi in disgrace shoots himself while Anowa too drowns herself. In a postcolonial analysis of “Anowa”, we can see some evidence of colonialism.