Religious teaching Essay Example for Free

Religious teaching Essay Religious teachings offer the only sound basis for moral reasoning. Critically examine arguments for and against this opinion. Morality is the knowledge and practice of what is moral, which may, according to your personal view be instinctive, be associated with religion and culture, or be acquired by reasoning. Most, if not all religions have a human moral code, which follows Gods will. Religious people will consult their religious text, whether it is the Bible, Quran or Torah ect, when making a moral decision. Very often these religious texts will lay out a set of rules or guide lines. In Christianity it is the 10 Commandments, in Buddhism it is the 8 Fold Path. Although these rules do provide a good moral base, if taken to their logical conclusion they are objective and absolute, leaving no room for the flexibility needed in todays society. This is taking a Deontological approach; this is when a person has a set of rules that they consider to be absolutely right. They abide by these rules, as they are more important than the effect or outcome. We can use the example of abortion and the 10 Commandments. These religious laws state that Thou shalt not kill. If taken absolutely this means that abortion is wrong no matter what the circumstances are, even if the child will be born severely disabled or will be born into extreme poverty. For many people moral values are relative to a specific society, time and circumstances, and their moral view can change through changed circumstances, needs, beliefs and knowledge. This flexibility is known as relativism and is the opposite of absolute. This is also known as taking a Consequential approach, when a person looks to the outcome, and decides how to act to achieve that result. They have in mind the aim and believe that actions can be deemed moral if they achieve that aim the end justifies the means. Because of this many individuals often experience conflict in making moral decisions because they have no absolute code of what is right or wrong. There are several different methods subjective morality: Utilitarianism is the view that you decide whether an action is right or wrong by looking at the consequences, and you should choose they action that will produce the most happiness/least-suffering to the greatest number of people. If we consider whether abortion is right or wrong using the utilitarianism view we would have to say that it depends on the individual situation, and whether the baby would be born healthily or not, and whether the baby would be loved, and the number of people affected by the pregnancy, amongst other things. Natural Law states that morality should use the natural form of behaviour, and that humans and society should follow this natural law. Therefore anything that is deemed as un-natural is wrong. This means that in the case of abortion it is always wrong, as pregnancy is a natural occurrence and it should not be ended un-naturally. Social contract theory claims that laws and morals are a human invention upon which we agree to make life better for ourselves. When making a moral decision a person would have to consider the impact upon society and peoples freedom, amongst other things. Once again considering the case of abortion, a person using social contract theory, would consider the effect having a baby would have on their lives, the lives of people around them, and how the life of the bay would be once it is born. I conclude by saying that I think that religious teachings do not offer the only sound basis for moral reasoning. I feel that the individual situation also needs to be considered when making a moral decision as every case has different circumstances. I also feel that although the religious laws do give a good, sound basis for morality the objective and absolute rules stated by religion do not leave room for the flexibility needed in todays society.

The Innovation Of Fashion Designers Cultural Studies Essay

The Innovation Of Fashion Designers Cultural Studies Essay Vivienne Westwood has been an innovative and provocative fashion designer. She has been influenced primarily by the Punk movement and that is one of the reasons I chose to research her fashion collections. This essay is going to investigate the importance of the relationship between Vivienne Westwood and the Punk movement to the fashion society. Westwood established the background for the punk movement in the United Kingdom which affected a lot the fashion styles and until today many clothes are designed according to the Punk fashion style, for example the skinny jeans. I believe that this investigation will provide an insight on sociocultural facts and events that are memorable for the world of fashion. What attracted me to it was that Westwood who hadnt done any studies on fashion, met Malcolm McLaren and together with their clothes, they were influenced by the British culture so much and they started working at the time when Punk movement was established. This made me think that when one has a gift and wants to become a successful person, eventually he will achieve his goals. Vivienne Westwood has had a successful career for more than 40 years. The essay will focus on the first eight years of her career from 1970 to 1978. During this period the punk movement appeared all over the world. Punk was actually a music genre that developed during this period in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, which is the homeland of Westwood, Punk appeared as an alternative political movement, which expressed rebellion, but also appeared as a music scene which brought to the spotlight many punk music groups like the Sex Pistols etc. It also appeared as a fashion style. British adolescents have long created stylish subcultures in order to express all manner of rebellions  [1]  . The punk style is the connection between Vivienne Westwood and Punk. Therefore, the research question formed is; How Vivienne Westwoods collections were affected by the punk movement? The essay will start the biography of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren and I will refer to the definition and the characteristics of the punk movement in the United Kingdom. I will followins also write about the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls which are both Punk music groups and wore clothes of Vivienne Westwood. Following I will move into comparing in chronological order collections of Vivienne Westwood with particular punk music groups. The collections I will look into are; Let it Rock 1970, Too fast to live Too young to die, 1972, Sex, 1974 and Seditionaries, 1976. This procedure will lead into the conclusion and my findings on Vivienne Westwoods influences from the Punk movement MAIN BODY Biography The punk movement appeared as a rock music genre which developed in the decade of the 70s in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. They created hard-edged music, characterized by short songs, stripped-down instrumentation and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. In Britain, the Punk movement was politically active and their main concern was the economy of the country. Many people were unemployed because the economy in the United Kingdom in the 1970s was in a recession. Early Punks played a role in politics and protest, and they wanted to express themselves as anticapitalists, antihippies, anarchists and fascists. They portrayed themselves as political radicals by drawing on themes of Marxism, fascism etc. Beyond the fact that punk started out as a music-based subculture, there is a debate about its geographic origins, its ideologies, its membership etc. Most published accounts of punk focus on the origins and flourishing of punk subculture from late 1960s to lat e 1970s.  [2]  Punk may have originated in the United States, but punk as a subculture gelled in mid-1970s Britain.  [3]  . Punk appeared also as a fashion style. The basic male uniform consisted of combat boots, leather jacket, torn jeans, shaved head and most girls tried to adopt this male uniform completely. The ways in which the punk girls combined their punkness and their gender is very unique. They combined female items with punk elements. The influence of the Punk style on music groups is remarkable. The Sex Pistols and New York Dolls are English bands which formed in 1975 in London and their manager was McLaren who was born in 1946 and is a performer and former manager of the two groups. Music, fashion, the Punk Movement was something that attracted him when he was in a Fine Arts college. Malcolm was a friend of Vivienne Westwoods brother and thats how they met. Vivienne Westwood was born in Glossop, Derbyshire on 8 April 1941. She is as much of a symbol of England a s the Queen and the black cab.  [4]  She always liked fashion and a quote of her is that Fashion became her baby, she picked it up and never put it down.  [5]  In 1965 she met Malcolm McLaren and a relationship began. Together they established the foundation of the punk movement by opening shops and creating clothes related to rebellion and punk. Westwoods career in fashion was galvanized by her partner, Malcolm.  [6]  Their working relationship lasted from 1970 until 1983, and as is referred to above launched Punk. In 1971 Vivienne thought they should set up a clothes shop, because Malcolm was certainly fascinated by clothes. Thereby, Malcolm found a place at Kings Road which was named Paradise Garage and the couple made an agreement to own part of the shop. Let It Rock was the name of Viviennes first collection and the name of the shop too. Her first collection included pieces of drape jackets, leather ties with plastic sleeves, drainpipe trousers, ruffled shirt, day-glo socks, bootlace tie etc. Her favorite fabric was leather, she used a lot of zippers and slogans in order to decorate her clothes. They were interested in that era and they wanted to approach the Teddy boys who were into rebellion and could things stir up. Vivienne sourced authentic buttons, cloth and linings and informed by research in Teddy Boy clubs, copied and recoloured the look.  [7]  Vivienne began making trousers and more and more people were coming to the shop to try on their day-glo jackets, the special blue and silver trousers etc. At that period of time Vivienne and Malcolm went to a big music concert and were inspired in order to make their own T-shirt, Viva la Rock n Roll. Malcolm described rock n roll as the jungle beat that threatened white civilization.  [8]  It is a fact that in the collection Let It Rock of Vivienne Westwood we dont see a big influence of the punk movement. This can be explained by the fact that at the period of time that Let It Rock was launched, it only the foundations of the punk movement had been established. Despite this fact we can find characteristics of the pun k style in specific clothes of Let It Rock. Let It Rock Collection Figure 2. Sid Vicious, Let It Rock, 1970-1972 Figure 1. Vivienne Westwood, Let It Rock, 1970-1972Punks and members of music groups wore clothes that were ripped because in this way they were expressing rebellion through their style. In Figure 1 we see a T-shirt of Let It Rock which shows the influence of punk. Punk style was characterized by clothes with zippers, with holes, slogans, pins, pockets etc. The T-shirt in Figure 1 is ripped like all the clothes of Punks and it has many zippers and pockets and slogans that Vivienne used a lot. A characteristic example is Sid Vicious (Figure 2) who is wearing a ripped T-shirt of the Westwood Let It Rock collection and skinny jeans.. Moreover the slogans for her T-shirts were often lyrics of Sex Pistols songs. A characteristic example we see in Figure 3, in which Westwood is wearing her T-shirt with a photo of the Queen and the title of the Sex Pistols song God save the Queen on top. Figure 3. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, Let It Rock 1970-1972 Figure 4. Destroy T-shirt, Let It Rock 1970-1972Another example of a T-shirt with a slogan is shown in Figure 4, in which Vivienne wants to get the message across that Nazis should not exist. She was against all this racism against the Jewish people etc and she wanted to make something in order to express her disappointment about the Nazis and maybe she thought that she could change something. Thats why she thought to make a T-shirt with the swastika and the work Destroy on top. An example for leather gear is Sid Vicious again (figure 5) who is wearing a leather jacket at a Sex Pistol concert in Notre Dame Hall. Also, Vivienne, who is promoting her style and her clothes by wearing a leather outfit herself. Figure 5. Sid Vicious and Vivienne Westwood, Let It Rock 1970-1972 Although the Let It Rock collection and shop were very successful, Vivienne and Malcolm were searching for something new because the trend of the Teddy Boys had started to elapse. The Teddy Boys werent such rebels after all and because the couple wanted to express rebellion they needed something new. They started experimenting with rockers and a bike boys look and a tougher leather look which was accompanied with punk style. So, in the spring of 1973, they renamed the shop into Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die and Vivienne started a new collection. Malcolm started buying fabrics such as velvet and Lurex and he thought that they should sell second-hand jeans, customized leather, pegged trousers, double-breast Zoot suits with padded shoulders etc. Because some striped and plain black T-shirts were left over from Let It Rock collection, Vivienne decided against throwing these clothing items away and chose to alter them by ripping them, knotting, cutting holes, rolling and stitching sl eeves together. Thereby, Westwood made a series of extraordinary clothes and especially T-shirts collaged with feathers, nipple-revealing zippers, studs, chains, potato prints, hand-stencilled garments and odd objects. She also put glitter on clothes and the whole work turned into something more creative and fun for her. Together with the punk style they also wanted to search for motorbike wear because the couple was interested in rubber, leather and fetishism. This collection of Westwood had the characteristic that, it was a point at which elements of sex imagery, cult fashion and politics met. This characteristic was sometimes a disadvantage because they were sometimes prosecuted under the obscenity of law for exposing to public view an independent exhibition . One characteristic example is that one of their T-shirts showed two naked cowboys which was thought to be unethical, unacceptable and inappropriate by society at large. Vivienne explained, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ my job is to confront the Establishment to try to find out where the freedom lies and what you can do: the most obvious way I did that was through the porn T-shirts  [9]  . Actually she always wanted to express sex somehow. Even when she put zippers on her clothes above all there were all sort of other sexy associations with the zippers  [10]  . All these characteristics like for example the zippers, leather, chains etc made her clothes surreal and somehow controversial. Also some of the clothes were characterized as rough and deliberately confrontational. To Fast To Live To Young To Die Collection In comparison with Let It Rock collection, here in the TFTLTYTD collection the influence of punk plays a bigger role and we can find characteristics of the punk movement in many clothes of Westwood. Figure 6. Venus T-shirt, TFTLTYTD 1972-1974In Figure 6 we can see Simon Barker wearing the famous hand-made Venus T-shirt which had armholes edged with sections of bike tyres and trimmed with horse hair. For this T-shirt Vivienne was inspired from motorbike wear and the punk movement. Generally, she used also many clues in order to express sexuality. Regarding to the punk style as I have referred to above, the clothes have chains, slogans, pins, leather etc.. So, here in this T-shirt we have as elements taken from punk such as lots of pins, chains and of course the slogan Venus. Also we see that Simon Barker is wearing leather trousers and army boots that Punks quite often wore. Figure 7. Vivienne Westwood, TFTLTYTD 1972-1974Moreover, as I referred to above, Vivienne wanted to express sex through her clothes, so most of the times she made and wore clothes with which she wanted to show that she was against all taboos. A characteristic example is in Figure 7, in which we see Vivienne wearing a shirt, a jacket and underwear from the TFTLTYTD collection without wearing jeans, or trousers above etc. By appearing in public like this she wanted to get the message across that she hated Puritanism and that people should not had taboos and prejudices regarding sex and the expression of the human body. The above opinion is also supported by Figure 8 in which we see Malcolm wearing the T-shirt Two Naked Cowboys of the TFTLTYTD collection. This is one of the T-shirts that had the couple prosecuted under the obscenity of law for exposing to public view an independent exhibition  [11]  . Vivienne didnt want to be limited in her designs regarding to ethical implications but sometimes she was obligated to be limited because of the authorities. Figure 8. Two naked cowboys, TFTLTYTD 1972-1974 Figure 9. McLaren and Westwood, TFTLTYTD 1972-1974 In addition, Vivienne herself wore the clothes she designed and by doing so she aimed at promoting the clothes and the punk style also. A characteristic example is Figure 9 in which we see Vivienne with Malcolm in a Photo shout. Vivienne is wearing leather jeans and a blouse with a zipper that could be characterized as conservative. In this photo shooting she wanted to wear something conservative but still in leather so we continue to see the effect of punk on her. She wanted to provoke and show that she is different, that she can be conservative through Punk too. As time passed McLaren set the scene for Punk via the next venture into a field that he knew would provoke still more outrage. He said characteristically in an interview of Elle magazine in November of 1985; It started with an interest in any form of youth revolt, so that it involved Teddy Boys and Rockers. Then we brought the sex element into it.  [12]  So, in 1974 they renamed their shop to SEX written with pink letters again. At that time they started selling bondage gear such as rubber body suits, rubber masks, leather mini skirts, leather underwear, shirts with chains, padlocks, fishnets, fetishistic lace-up boots and they also sold stilettos. At that time their slogan was Rubber wear for the office. The couple wanted to prove that they didnt care about taboos and prejudices and thats why in this collection they marketed clothes related to sadomasochism, fascism, pornography etc. Her clothes continued to shock society if we consider that this collection was selling sex more than the previous ones. Vivienne explains, all the clothes that I wore that people would regard as shocking, I wore them because I just thought I looked like a princess from another planet, I just thought I looked incredible in these clothes.  [13]  . The influence of Punk in SEX is more than in the previous collections because SEX clothes were mostly made of leather, chains etc which are basic elements of punk style. Punk was a cross-fertilization of SEX clothes  [14]  . Some people believe that punk was an eruption in the streets. But what it was infact was a fashion e vent from the start, like the creation of a historical painting based on a revolution; because that is what it actually was, a revolution. Sex Collection A characteristic example of this sexual revolution that Vivienne wanted to express through fashion is the T-shirt Tits in figure 10. It is a T-shirt from SEX and it was worn by both men and women but it was preferred by men because they wanted to shock by expressing the idea of homosexuality; Figure 10. Tits T-shirt, SEX 1974-1976 Figure 10. Tits T-shirt, SEX 1974-1976 Moreover as it was referred to above, punk influenced SEX in such a way Vivienne used their elements and their main fabric, leather in making her clothes. In Figure 11 we observe how punk influenced SEX. In this picture we see Jordan, shop girl of 1974, wearing a leather outfit of SEX. In the foreground it is shown a body suit made of leather belts and in the background we can find rubber clothes hanging on racks. Figure 11. Jordan, SEX 1974-1976 We can find another example of Punk influence on SEX in Figure 12, in which we see Johnny Rotten wearing a black leather bondage suit. This piece of clothing shows the combination of punk and sexuality because leather is the fabric of punks and when we talk about bondage suits we relate them to sadomasochism and generally sex. Figure 12. John Rotten, SEX 1974-1976 Furthermore in Figure 13 it can be detected Vivienne wearing a total black outfit made of rubber and leather. It has some pins on top and Vivienne is also holding some leather straps attached to other leather objects. Malcolm and Vivienne had gone all the way by making a public display of the leather and rubber stuff that fetishists succumbed to in private. Figure 13. Vivienne Westwood, SEX 1974-1976 What SEX was and generally what all Westwood collections were was a complex amalgam of various stylish influences, in which Punk had its roots in the streets of London and the music scenes of New York. As time went by the New York Dolls made their own decadent outfits to which Westwood added elements from the torn clothes of the pin-ups in Let it Rock, chains, zips, rubber wear and bondage garments of SEX. Consequently, in 1977 the shop and the collection changed its name yet again into Seditionaries under the slogan Clothes for heroes. The word Seditionaries was Viviennes concoction and was based on the fact that someone needed to seduce people in order to revolt. This moment was the peak of all this punk madness. In this collection the zips and straps of obscure sexual fetishism were transformed into fashion. Malcolm and Vivienne continued selling SEX T-shirts and fetish gear but everything was much smarter, less underground and less provincially British  [15]  . They made some T-shirts with photos, slogans on top and again they borrowed elements from the Punk movement. Savage wrote that Seditionaries brought the modern look in the 1970s but also Seditionaries clothes unleashed a more violent reaction combined with punk elements than SEX clothes. If the first Punks had thrown up every youth style since the war and then stuck it together with safety pins and panache, Seditionaries avoided retro yet caught the confusion: the look both in the original and the imitations spread thoughout the world  [16]  . This collection included again bondage trousers and clothes with straps and zips. Westwood in this collection used wool, mohair and leather for fabric which were elements of Punk movement. Westwood also made trousers based on military wear but even then she added her own elements based on sado-masochistic and fetishist gear. The Punks at that time had their own army uniform. The clothes were accessorized with pins, razor blades and silver phalluses. They tended to throw together sado-masochistic bondage paraphernalia and clothing associated with the hospital or the mental asylums so that they produced a surreal commentary on the anarchic tendencies of the sartorial display. Again with this collection Vivienne wanted to reveal taboos and mess with the normative class coding. One of the most significant factors of Punk at that moment was that it gave license for women to dress assertively. Vivienne said characteristically that Punk was what made her think of herself as a designer. Actually what Punk was both for her and society was a fashionable expression of a revolution. In fact, fashion itself became a revolution. Seditionaries Collection In Figure 14 we can identify that Vivienne made such shirts like in this Figure which has an image of Karl Marx in the top left hand in order to express revolution. Punks wanted to mess with everything and break the rules and norms. Marx symbolized revolution and was against the system as were the Punks. And this is the reason why her clothes appealed to Punks. Figure 14. Punk shirt, Seditionaries 1977 Figure 15. Blue cotton shirt, Seditionaries 1976-1980In Figure 15 we observe a Seditionaries blue cotton parachute shirt with strap harness, printed with situationist slogans such as Only Anarchists are Pretty. Regarding the Seditionaries clothes, they had borrowed elements from the Punk movement and also elements from the SEX collection. All these straps and slogans were characteristic of the Punk style and the whole parachute thing reminds us of the SEX bondage gear. In the 16th and last Figure we detect a few clothes of the Seditionaries worn by a number of Punks. The woolen sweaters that are shown in the figure and all these parachute jackets have been borrowed from the Punk style. In addition the jackets also have elements from SEX bondage and sado-masochistic gear which exists also in Seditionaries collection. Figure 16. Punk clothes, Seditionaries 1977 Conclusion Manifests are always written after an event. In retrospect, the manifest of the Punk movement allowed a person to express himself, to succeed or even fail in extravagant way. The music, fashion and of course the Punk movement were a huge art festival which was born from the life and the experiences that Malcolm McLaren gained in the school of Arts. He inspired Vivienne to create this vast business in the world of fashion based on the Punk movement. This was the new fashion, the new way of thinking. The couple started from a small shop in Kings Road and step by step they created their own rules for life, their own norms, their own identity. In other words they set the foundation for an alternative society. Of course all these things were based on the Punk movement and primarily on their ideology. Vivienne not only used the elements of the Punk movement but also their ideology. Through her fashion, she wanted to make rebellion and go against mainstream society, just like the Punks. Tha ts why she used symbols related to Punks and rebellion in her clothes like for example Karl Marx, or the swastika with the word Destroy on top etc. Combining irony and the ideology of Punks she wanted to break taboos like the issue of homosexuality or nudity etc. Actually McLaren and Westwoods aim was to create something new, totally fashionable while they were using symbolism to convey their ideas. And that was the point where they needed Punk, as inspiration and influence. Vivienne characteristically says about Punk Im proud to have been part of it. It was heroic at the time  [17]  . But as it is known, fashion is like a circle and the trends change every now and then, so the whole issue with the influence of the Punk movement in Viviennes career stopped at the beginning of the 80s. From the 80s there on, she introduced a startling and highly influential new vocabulary about fashion which was characterized as nostalgia for the future. In spite of this she never forgot her orig ins. Vivienne never created something conservative despite the fact that their future collections dont have elements from the Punk movement. Viviennes career was built on punk. Whenever she gives an interview she refers to the influence that Punk had on her work and life, saying characteristically that Punk and McLaren were the two factors that encouraged her to make fashion and to be who she is now. The punk period helped her develop creatively. Having created the Sex Pistols look he gained more self-confidence and realized her vast creative abilities. Fortunately, Punk helped Westwood expand her abilities, and identify her talent. Westwood was determined to leave her mark on international fashion which she certainly did.

The Use of Form and Rhythm in William Carlos Williamss poem, The Dance

The Use of Form and Rhythm in William Carlos Williams’s poem,â€Å"The Dance†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In William Carlos Williams’s poem, â€Å"The Dance†, Williams uses the inspiration of a painting by Peter Breughel to shape his poem. Peter Breughel’s painting called â€Å"The Kermess† depicts a peasant dance of the mid fifteenth century. It shows the form and rhythm of the dance. Williams also captures the form and the rhythm of this dance in his poem. In William Carlos Williams poem, â€Å"The Dance† the open form, suggested images, and rhythm embodies the dance depicted in the painting â€Å"The Kermess† by Peter Breughel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Breughel’s painting, â€Å"The Kermess†, all of the people that are dancing, do so around and around each other. The opening of Williams’s poem establishes the rhythm of the entire poem. In lines two and three, â€Å"the dancers go round, they go round and around†(Kennedy 234), Williams establishes a bouncing and circular motion in the poem. This bouncing and circular motion is also emphasized by the absence of line stops in the entire poem (Diggory 156). Every line continues to the next giving the poem the feeling of a circular motion. The open form of the poem helps to continue the bouncing rhythm throughout Williams’s entire work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Williams continues to establish a rhythm by mentioning musical instruments. The peasants dance to â€Å"the squeal and the blare and the tweedle of bagpipes, a bugle and fiddles†(Kennedy 234). This alludes to the bagpipe player keeping the beat of the dance f...

Eating Disorders Essay -- essays research papers

Eating Disorders An eating disorder is a way of using food to work out emotional problems. These illnesses develop because of emotional and/or psychological problems. Eating disorders are the way some people deal with stress. In today’s society, teenagers are pressured into thinking that bring thin is the same thing as being happy. Chemical balances in the brain that may also result in depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, and bi-polar disorders may also cause some eating disorders. Other causes may be emotional events, illnesses, marital or family problems, manic depression, or ending a relationship. Over eight million Americans suffer from eating disorders. Over 80% of girls under age thirteen admit to dieting, one of the main factors linked to eating disorders. Although eating disorders are mainly found in middle- to upper class, highly educated, Caucasian, female adolescents, no culture or age group is immune to them (EDA HP, n.p.). The three major eating disorders are anorexia nervo sa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating or binge-eating. The most dangerous eating disorder is anorexia nervosa. â€Å"Anorexia nervosa translates to â€Å"nervous loss of hunger†. It is a mental illness involving the irrational fear of gaining weight. Usually, the victim is a perfectionist, although he or she may suffer from a low self-esteem. In general, a member of the opposite sex triggers anorexia. The first disease resembling present-day anorexia is one called â€Å"Anorexia Mirabilis,† or â€Å"Miraculous lack of appetite.† It is described as McCurry 2 a disease of insanity, possibly like cancer, tuberculosis, or diabetes. It was believed to arise from a diseased mental state. Sir William Gull, a physician to England’s royal family, said that these anorexics were suffering from â€Å"a perversion of the will† (Silverson). In 1888, a French psychiatrist, Charles Lasegue viewed anorexia from a social standpoint. He believed it was a way of rebelling. The Children of this time were expected to and forced to clean their plates. They were also accustomed to well-regulated meal times. Another cause of the disease in the Victorian era may have been women’s expectations, such as to remain home after childhood. Their only job was to get married and enhance the family’s social status. No emotional outbursts, such as temper tantrums were permitted. The family life was suffocating, but a y... ...t, as the disorder is often a result in lacking in coping skills. Symptoms of binge eating include: eating more rapidly than usual, eating until uncomfortably full, eating large amounts when not physically hungry, eating alone because of embarrassment of the quantities of food consumed, and not being able to purge after consuming large quantities of food (Dobie 1). Because it is not always recognized as an eating disorder, compulsive over-eating may have the most adverse effects on health. McCurry 6 Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating are extremely serious illnesses that must be recognized before they can be treated. The media is blamed for so many distorted images of the body. People are beginning to refuse the idea, however, that thinner is better. Body shapes are known to go in and out of style. In the 1800s, plumpness was a sign of wealth and class. Thinness became a sign of beauty in the 1970s with the British super-model Twiggy. There are many treatments for eating disorders today. One of the hopes of many psychologists is that humans will begin to feel happy about the way they are, even if it is a little bigger than the media portrays as ideal.

Companies to Watch: The Gap and Nordstroms :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I chose to research two very different apparel retail stores. The GAP, Inc. and Nordstrom, Inc. are very interesting companies to me because they deal with something that is very important to me and a lot of people, clothes. Everyone buys and wears clothes, and these are two companies who have succeeded in this venture. They both started out with the same intentions, to sell apparel through specialty stores, but at this point Nordstrom’s has been more successful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In theory these two companies are very similar because they are trying to accomplish the same thing. They both sell apparel, shoes and accessories for women, men and children through specialty and clearance stores. The clearance stores mentioned are Nordstrom Rack and GAP factory outlet stores. They also stress the use of personalized customer service. The GAP and Nordstrom feel that good customer service is the way to keep customers happy and thus keep them loyal. Because of this, they have many employees to serve their customers and spend a lot of time training these employees.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These companies are also set up in the same way. They each have a chairman, president, and a couple of vice presidents. They both operate on the New York Stock Exchange. Another interesting similarity is that they both are based out of the west coast, The GAP in San Francisco and Nordstrom in Seattle. But this is where the similarities end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The sizes of these two companies are very different. The GAP is a global retailer with about 3,700 stores and 166,000 employees worldwide. Nordstrom on the other hand has about 77 stores nationwide and 43,000 employees. It does operate one international boutique, Faconnable, mainly in Europe. The GAP has three brands including GAP, Banana Republic and Old Navy, all operating in their own stores. Because of this huge difference in size, the GAP has much higher revenue than Nordstrom, but this doesn’t mean that it’s a better company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the news lately, the GAP has been under a lot of scrutiny because its sales have been down so much causing their credit rating to lower as well. Investors feel that this is due to the sharp slowdown in consumer spending, growing competition and series of fashion misses. It has too many stores open to sustain this major hit on sales. They have very little debt, but analysts think that this combination spells a future bankruptcy.

Speech: Adolescence and Higher Risk

The amount of teenages getting pregnant around the age of 15-17 is quite concerning . Although most Teenage Pregnancies are unintentional . It still means there are chances of them becoming pregnant. At the same time,Teenage Pregnancies associate with social issues. Finally they come to a time when they need help and support. Well , My name is Taylah and by now you should know my speech will be about Teenage Pregnancy. Firstly most teenage pregnancies are unintentional.Women of all age may have unintended pregnancies , but some groups , such as teens are at a higher risk. A lot of teenagers who become pregnant sometimes wish they weren't . This happens because they either dont want to be parents or they know it's not the right time. By the time they find out they are pregnant they start stressing out because it was never meant to happen and also because they dont want thier parents to know or to find out. Teenage Pregnancies associate with social issues , such as lower educational le vels and higher rates of Poverty.This happens because when they are pregnant they drop out of shcool and just worry about their baby. Although they are unemployed they go on a benefit which is when money is given by the goverment. Why do the young mums still lead a poor life inspite of money given by the goverment ? Well , they lead poor life because they dont think about the future , instead they spend all their money on their child. They don't save up any money and they keep buying things for themselves and their child. Finally they come to a time when they need help and support with their child.They need support with their child so they live a happy life and they need support from their family so that they dint get stressed out and start abusing their baby,and they also need help with buying the right items such as nappies ,food,clothes e. t. c. In conclusion,Teenage Pregnancy need to decrease as it is making NZ look very bad because the rate of Teenage Pregnancy is the highest i n NZ as compared to other countries in the world. In the end I would like to say that teenagers should stay in school and study so that they have a brighter future and can give a very dignified life to their families.

Forty Studies That Changed Psychology Essay

Something important in psychology is to differentiate between what is considered normal and abnormal. Psychologists need to do this to decide what to diagnose as a mental illness, and the treatment for this mental illness. Unfortunately, for everyone involved, it is not always easy to discern between what is normal behavior, sometimes called effective psychological functioning, and abnormal behavior, which could possibly be the result of a psychological disorder. To help determine between, psychologists use a few decisive factors. This includes the context in which someone observes the behavior. In relation to context, it means that the situation matters because in one situation a behavior may be normal, but not necessarily in all situations. Another factor is the persistence of the behavior or how often, over time, the behavior continues or occurs. How far, from the accepted social norm, the behavior deviates is also an important factor. Whether or not someone is aware of his or her own psychological difficulties is subjective distress. This subjective distress is often a great help to mental health professionals in making a psychological diagnosis. When a person finds it impossible to be satisfied with life due to psychological problems, this is considered a psychological handicap. Effect on functioning could be considered the bottom line in psychological diagnosis: the extent to which the behaviors in question interfere with a person’s ability to live the life that he or she desires and that society will accept. These â€Å"symptoms† and characteristics of mental illness all involve judgments on the part of psychologists, psychiatrists, and others. So these mental health professionals still need to answer to important questions. Are mental health professionals truly able to distinguish between the mentally ill and the mentally healthy? In addition, what are the consequences of mistakes? These are the questions addressed by David Rosenhan in his study. Rosenhan questioned whether the characteristics that lead to psychological diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the in which the people diagnosing find the patients. He reasoned that if the training mental health professionals have received for diagnosing mental illness are adequate, then those professionals should be able to distinguish correctly. Rosenhan proposed that one way to test mental health professionals’ ability to correctly categorize would be to admit normal people to psychiatric facilities to see if they would be categorized as healthy. If these â€Å"pseudo patients† behaved in the hospital as they would on the outside, and if they were not discovered to be healthy/normal, this would be evidence that diagnoses of the mentally ill are tied more to the situation than to the patient. Rosenhan recruited eight subjects to serve as pseudo patients. The subjects’ mission was to try to be admitted to twelve different psychological hospitals. All of the pseudo patients followed the same instructions. They called the hospital and made an appointment. Upon arrival at the hospital, they complained of hearing voices that said specific things. Other than this one thing, all subjects acted completely normal and gave very truthful information to the interviewer other than personal information. All the subjects were admitted to the various hospitals, and all but one was admitted with a diagnosis of â€Å"schizophrenia. Once inside the hospital, the pseudo patients simply behaved normally. The subjects had no idea of when they would be allowed to leave the hospital. It was up to them to gain their release by convincing the hospital staff that they were healthy enough to be discharged. All of the subjects took notes of their experiences. At first, they tried to conceal this activity, but soon it was clear to all that this secrecy was unnecessary, since this was seen as just another symptom of their illness. They all wanted to be released as soon as possible, so they behaved as model patients, cooperating with the staff and accepting all medications (which were not swallowed, but flushed down the toilet). The key finding in this study was that not one of the pseudo patients was detected by anyone on the hospital staff. When they were released, their mental health status was recorded in their files as â€Å"schizophrenia in remission. † There were other interesting findings and observations. While the hospital’s staff of doctors, nurses, and attendants failed to detect the subjects, the other patients could not be so easily fooled. Contacts between the patients and the staff were minimal and often bizarre. One of the tests made by the pseudo patients in the study was to approach various staff members and attempt to make verbal contact by asking common, normal questions. Rosenhan’s study demonstrated that normal people cannot be distinguished from the mentally ill in a hospital setting. According to Rosenhan, this is because of the overwhelming influence of the psychiatric hospital setting on the staff’s judgment of the individual’s behavior. Once patients are admitted to such a facility, there is a strong tendency for them to be viewed in ways that remove all individuality. The attitude created is that if they are there, then they must be crazy. More important is what Rosenhan refers to as the stickiness of the label. That is, when a patient is labeled as schizophrenic, it becomes his or her central characteristic or personality trait. From the moment, the label is given and the staff knows it, they perceive all of the patient’s behavior as stemming from that label. The hospital staff tended to ignore the situational pressures on patients and saw only the behavior relevant to the pathological traits assigned to the patients. Remember that all the subjects gave honest accounts of their pasts and families. The results pointed out two crucial factors. First, it appeared that the sane could not be distinguished from the insane in mental hospital settings. Second, Rosenhan demonstrated the danger of diagnostic labels. Once a person is labeled as, having a certain psychological condition that label overcomes all of his or her other characteristics. The worst part of this sort of treatment is that it can become self-confirming. That is, if a person is treated in a certain way consistently over time, he or she may begin to behave that way. Out of Rosenhan’s work grew greater care in diagnostic procedures and increased awareness of the dangers of applying labels to patients.