Abortion Essay - 1899 Words

Abortion To pro-choicers, human life begins later in gestation or at birth. They view abortion as a civil rights matter-a decision that should be left up to an informed woman and her physician.(www.religioustolerance.org/abortion.htm) On the other hand, the pro-life believe that the life of a baby begins long before he or she is born. A new individual human being begins growing in the mother=s uterus at fertilization, and if the baby=s life is not interrupted, he or she will someday become an adult man or woman.(www.nrcl.org/abortion/wdlb/wdlb.html) Worldwide, millions of unborn babies are killed each year . In the United States over 32 million unborn babies have been killed in the 21 years since abortion was legalized and†¦show more content†¦Ruling that declaratory, though not injunctive, relief was warranted, the court declared the abortion statutes void as vague and over broadly infringing those plaintiffs Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The court ruled the Does complaint not justiciable. Appellants directly appealed to this Court on the injunctive rulings, and appellee cross-appealed from the District Courts grant of declaratory relief to Roe and Hallford.(www.roevwade.org) Two of the justices, White and Rehnquist, dissented. Today, Jane Roe is now an outspoken anti-abortion, pro-life activist. (http://abortiontv.com/Index.htm) Norma McCorvey, who was Jane Roe in the 1973 abortion case, told Ashcrofts Constitution Subcommittee of the personal trauma she suffered at the hands of the pro-abortion lobby. She said the countrys experiment with legal abortion is an utter failure and that it is her sincere prayer that there will be no 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.(roevwade.org) However the morals and beliefs of the people are what create the morals and beliefs of the government, and oftentimes these individual morals are influenced by religion. Religion shouldnt be discounted in any political decision, because by affecting many individuals, religion affects society. Judaism, because of value placed on the family, has condemned abortion for several thousand yearsShow MoreRelatedAbortion : Abortion And Abortion998 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion Abortion is defined in several ways all of which stop a pregnancy. There are different ways of abortion, which are spontaneous abortion, surgical abortion, and medical abortion. Abortion has been arguable topic for decades. One can neither believe abortion to be good nor bad. The idea of individuality and human life is not quite the same. Idea of human life has come from conception; simultaneously on the other hand, fertilizer eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives butRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Abortion Essay921 Words   |  4 PagesPaper: Abortion Laws The topic of abortion is a widely debated and very heated topic in Texas. The Republican party’s platform supports family values and are completely against abortion under any circumstances, including abortifacients. The Democrat party’s platform supports the rights for women to make choices about their own bodies. They support abortifacients and a person’s right to have an abortion. There is also a large percentage of those that are in the middle in that they believe abortion shouldRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion998 Words   |  4 PagesIn the United States there are more than a billion abortions performed each year. Since the court case Roe vs Wade in 1973 more than 56 million babies have been murdered in the United States before they had the chance to take their first breath (Snyder, Michael). These statics along with many more show the huge injustice that is happening in the country I call home. Abortion is defined as the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. It can include any of variousRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Anti Abortion1624 Words   |  7 Pagesa very large controversy between the ideas about abortion and anti-abortion. Different religious views, beliefs, peoples many different customs and even people of different cultures all have their own preferences and ideas on the take of this political issue. Views against abortion can lead to as much of an impact as a violent/non violent riots outside of an abortion clinics, to something as simple article in the newspaper. The belief on abortion that leads to a lot of the controversy is that inRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pages An abortion is when the pregnancy of a women is ended; it is called sometimes Termination of pregnancy. There are two types of abortion. The first type is the spontaneous abortion; it occurs within the first two months. What causes it is frequently unknown yet is probably the results of intra-uterine contamination, or limited attachment in the building unborn child to the interior coating walls in the womb (uterus). Such conditions this unborn child, if the idea advances further, mayRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion953 Words   |  4 Pagesdebates that is constantly talked about is abortion. When it comes to abortion, the laws vary depending on the state you live in. Whether people support or are against abortion, few actually know about the abortion process. Have you ever heard of suction aspiration or prostaglandin chemical abortion? Those are two of the various methods that are performed in the different trimesters of pregnancy. According to writer Steven Ertelt of Li feNews.com, Oklahoma’s abortion laws are restrictive compared to otherRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Abortion1930 Words   |  8 PagesAbortion has been around for quite some time. Laws have been set allowing it and banning it during different periods of time. The procedures that can be done are all very different. There is a medical abortion involving drugs and there are surgical abortion involving a more invasive procedure. There are also different points of view on it. There are those who fully support the termination of a pregnancy and those who are completely against it. There are many factors to consider and very differentRead MoreAbortion And Abortion2038 Words   |  9 PagesMostly seen as a religious issue, abortions are anything but that. Biology and science are the only deciding factors when it comes down to it. Science is the only thing that can prove whether an unborn child is living; no religion can do that. Through modern science and technology, it has been proven and well documented that human life does in fact begin at conception. The scientific evidence also contradicted the court ruling in the Roe v. Wade case, where it was stated that the Court could notRead MoreAbortion : The Fight For Abortion1543 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough abortion was decriminalized in 1973, the fight for abortion rights did not end with Roe v. Wade. Just in the past three years, there have been systematic restrictions on abortion rights sweeping the country sate by state. In 2013, 22 states enacted 70 antiabortion measures, including pre-viability abortion bans, unnecessary doctor and clinic procedures, limits on medicated abortion, and bans on insurance coverage of abortion In 2011, 92 abortion restrictions were enacted, an in 2012, thatRead MoreAbortion : The Issue Of Abortion1212 Words   |  5 PagesThe topic of abortion has been an ongoing debate for many years. According to ProChoice.org, abortion was legal in in the days of the early settlers . At the time that the constitution was adopted abortions were legal. Abortions were openly advertised and performed before the first fetal movement (13-16 weeks from the start of a women’s last period). The concern for abortion started in the late 1800’s when immigrants were coming into the country in large numbers and the fear was that they would produce

Small Business Interview Analysis - 2565 Words

Schumpter (1934) saw the definition of an entrepreneur as not only individuals who bears the risk of buying and selling at uncertain prices , but more of process by which an economy moves forward through the act of creative disruption or innovation. There are many different avenues on what defines a person as an entrepreneur, the definition itself is evolving based on the society we are in today. The entrepreneur in this report when asked what he thinks is an entrepreneur in a small business, his opinion was â€Å"a person who takes control of his or her own destiny to become self employed either by setting up a business or taking over from someone else.† The purpose of this report is to investigate the nature of small business-owner-managers†¦show more content†¦Hardware zone caters to predominantly 80% to businesses and 20% to walk in customers. Personal motivation – Andrew was motivated by his wants and realising that working after graduating in Information Technology would not satisfy his wants in the near term. He was also driven from his desire to be his own boss and have a strong internal local of control. His background did not have any influence being an entrepreneur as his mum was a nurse and father an Engineer. Business founding methodology – Andrew started the business himself during the period of low barriers of entry, but spent a year working in the industry before going into it. He believes his strength in the business venture is through hard work, his technical know-how and his ability to delegate task. His weakness that he fails have let him down is his lack of administration and financial skills as well as taking on more than he can handle. His methodology believes in having strong financial support and starting off small with a plan. Operational Management – Company currently turns over just over one million dollars per annum, been in operation for 15 years and employs 4 full time and one part time administrative staff that he plans to employ full time. His marketing strategy is predominantly successful on word of mouth however allocates 5% of turnover to advertising or promotion material. He bench mark himself against other companies of similarShow MoreRelatedChapter Three : Research Methodology1634 Words   |  7 Pagesinterpretivist research philosophy has been adopted throughout this study, as the challenges of small business remain a subjective matter, which differ from one person to another. Interpretivism draws on the importance of understanding and interpreting the participants’ actions and social world from their point of view (Bryman Bell, 2007). This study emphasis on understanding the challenges in small business in contrast to predicting the challenges which would otherwise require a positivist stance,Read MoreThe Role Of Effective Qualitative Research Methods And Approaches1422 Words   |  6 Pagesof the Business Degree at UWS, the report request comes from the module of business research skills. The first part of this report will focus on the role of effective qualitative research methods and approaches. This will include the features of data, design and analysis, it will also discuss the strengths and limitations of qualitative research. The report will then look at how to apply a qualitative analysis technique in relation to the provided transcript of an interview, the interview is betweenRead MoreHow Relationship Marketing Impacts Consumer Buying Decisions Essay1059 Words   |  5 Pages The paper will consist and analyse methods and data including interviews, observation, journals and marketing material. The paper will then focus on three different aspects in consideration towards the paper title ‘How does relationship marketing impact consumer buying decisions’, drawing on relationship marketing, customer retention and the impact on direct selling. 2. Methods and Data The data collected consisted of interviews with individuals from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy inRead MoreThe Importance Of Market Research. Market Research Is Important1396 Words   |  6 PagesThe Importance of Market Research Market research is important because it is essential for â€Å"business insights, measurement, knowledge, and tools that are used for achieving higher levels of market performance and stakeholder value† (Bont Hamersveld, 2007, p. 102). Business insight means that the data has to be combined into information which is converted into insights. Measurement means that the reports should not be subjective opinion and has to be solely based on measurements. Knowledge isRead MoreAnswers to Questions and Exercises1114 Words   |  5 PagesWhy are small businesses important to the U.S. economy? Small businesses create new jobs, foster entrepreneurship and innovation, and supply goods and services needed by larger businesses. What is the difference between a small-business owner and an entrepreneur? A person may be a small-business owner only, an entrepreneur only, or both. For example, a person who opens a small pizza parlor with no plans to grow and expand is not really an entrepreneur. The basic distinction between small-businessRead MoreA Research Study On Online Interviews1480 Words   |  6 PagesMethodology Online interviews: a list of questions relevant to the research topic shall be prepared by the research team. The questions will revolve around the strategies that small businesses can employ to gain a large customer base. Online interviews can be done through computer systems like Skype, IMO and also through telephone calls (McMunn 23). This method is very efficient because the research team can deal with a big number of people at the convenience of one’s location without the participantsRead MoreSampling And Non Random Sampling1344 Words   |  6 Pagesselected (Marchevsky, 2000). The response rate of the questionnaire was low as expected at 26. 08 %. Of the 46 companies which were sent, only 12 completed questionnaires could be collected. A request for interview was also sent to these companies of which only three gave permission and with whom interviews were conducted. Research Ethics Research ethics specifies the way the researchers’ ought to conduct themselves while conducting scientific research (Shrader-Frechette, 1994). As this research involvedRead MoreMain Disadvantage. Participants’ Opinions And Feelings1640 Words   |  7 PagesMain Disadvantage Participants’ opinions and feelings aren’t considered. The analysis is therefore less in-depth and tends to give only a superficial understanding of the emotions or reasons associated with the answers given, although it can be used to measure the extent or degree of participants’ attitudes. If only a small sample can be obtained, and because each answer is unique, the information won’t necessarily represent the entire population. Results Results tend to be conclusive and come withRead MoreIndividual: Service Request Sr-Rm-022, Part 11192 Words   |  5 Pagesintegrate and change the HR applications with a new state-of-the-art information system. The company wants to have the HR department to have the ability to assesses resources and tools all in one application. Who are stakeholders? In the IT and business field, the stakeholders can be many different people. Talks of tech have a great definition of stakeholders stating that: Any person who has interests in an existing or proposed information system. Stakeholders may include both technical and non-technicalRead MoreRecommending a Marketing Mix for a Product or Service1604 Words   |  7 Pagesthis report, the purpose was compared and contrasted which 4Ps is better to the Pepsi and wanted more people to buy it. The thesis was compare and contrasts the Pepsi with the competitor - Coca Cola. So the report needed find some information and interview some people. The key finding was that SWOT and 4Ps is very important to the product. And the key conclusion and recommendation was the first 4Ps is better than the second one. 1.0 Introduction 2.1 State the objectives of the research

Gender Roles and Stereotypes free essay sample

The use of the word gender highlights the insight that these differences are not innate or predetermined, and are not the same as the biological differences between men and women. Sex roles: refer to biological functions that are limited to one particular sex. For example, pregnancy is a female sex role because only women can bear children. Gender roles: are roles classified by sex, in which the classification is social and not biological. Child-rearing may be classified as a female role, but it is a female gender role rather than a female sex role, as child-rearing can be done by men or women. Productive activities: refer to the productions of goods and services for consumption or trade; for example, farming or fishing. When people are asked what they do, the response is usually related to productive work, especially work which generates income. Both women and men can be involved in productive activities but, for the most part, their functions and responsibilities will differ according to gender divisions of labor. Women‘s productive work is often less visible and less valued than that of the men‘s. Reproductive work: refers to the care and maintenance of the household and its members—including bearing and caring for children, preparing food, collecting water and fuel, shopping, housekeeping and family healthcare. Although reproductive work is crucial to human survival, it is seldom considered ? real work‘. In poor communities, reproductive work is usually labor intensive and time consuming. It is almost always the responsibility of women and girls. Gender stereotypes: occur when men and women are regarded as different according to rigid thinking about the social and cultural expectations of their gender—rather than a more reliable consideration of their individual capacities and potentials. Practical gender needs: refer to resources or facilities that people need to perform their present roles more easily, effectively or efficiently. Such needs can usually be identified by the people themselves—for example, the obtaining of water or fuel. Measures to address these needs may preserve or reinforce traditional gender relations. Strategic gender needs: are designed to challenge women‘s subordinate positions in society, and to transform their existing roles and relations. Examples of strategic needs include reproductive rights, a greater political voice, and action on violence against women. In reflecting on the analysis of gender information, an important distinction needs to be made between ? practical‘ and ? strategic‘ gender needs. To address a practical gender need is to improve a person‘s situation by widening her or his access to resources. For example, a woman‘s situation will be made easier if she doesn‘t have to walk long distances to fetch water or do not travel longer to take her children to the health center. However, such improvements will not directly affect their roles and relationships, or their control. They are purely practical. Those changes that really empower people are called ? strategic‘ ones. If a woman learns more about her rights with regard to divorce or inheritance, for example, this is addressing her strategic needs. Her relationships and her positions will thus be improved. In general, practical gender needs are likely to be related to survival through the provision of food, shelter, clothing, or health care. Small scale women‘s projects fit into this category in as much as they directly impact on family‘s welfare, without relieving the women of her domestic chores or drastically changing her life. Sometimes, in fact, addressing practical needs reinforces established roles. Addressing strategic gender needs, on the other hand, can empower women by challenging and changing their domestication, subordination and marginalization. Gender issues arise when there is inequality, inequity or differential treatment of an individual or group purely on the basis of the social expectations and attributes of their sex. This is done normally as a result of old attitudes persisting in situations where they are no longer valid. Gender issues are characterized by gender discrimination, whereby one sex is disadvantaged while the other is favored, or gender oppression, whereby one gender dominates the other unjustly or even cruelly through the use of power and domination. Such practices create gender gaps, through customary practices, religious biases, social consumptions, myths or taboos resulting in one gender discriminated against to such an extent that it is prevented from getting its fair share of resources or services. Gender mainstreaming entails identifying and addressing gender issues in all development projects and programs irrespective of the sector or type of project, and at all stages of development from planning and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. Gender Integration is a process of taking gender relations into account in all areas of activity in an organization, a community or at national level, and consciously acknowledging unequal power relations between women and men in society. It also leads to consciously working towards the promotion of gender equality and the advancement of women. Women in Development (WID) is a development approach that focuses on the specific needs of women and seeks to address them separately. Gender and Development (GAD) is an approach that takes into account the different needs of women and men and aims to create gender equity and equality between them. Both WID and GAD seek to improve the disadvantaged position of women. Genderequityconnotesensuringthatdevelopmentpoliciesand programs leave women no worse off, either economically or in terms of their social responsibility. Equity is measured through the human cost of various activities, such as a fair share of benefits and responsibilities, equity aims to give women equal treatment under the law, equal access to education, and equal remuneration for work. PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO GENDER AND SEXUALITY Specific Models Here we will provide two examples of research building specific theoretical models to deal with specific questions. Stereotypes and power. Susan Fiske (1993) has proposed a model of the ways in which power and stereotypes influence each other. Two processes are involved: (a) Stereotyping exerts control or power over people, pressuring them to conform; therefore, stereotyping maintains the status quo. (b) Powerful people tend to stereotype less powerful people far more than the reverse. Given that gender is an important status or power variable, you can read men for powerful people and women for less powerful people. The theory is even broader than that, though, and extends to other categories such as ethnic groups. Lets consider the first process, in which gender stereotyping exerts control of males and females. Stereotypes can be prescriptive that is, they say how people of a certain group should behave. Adolescent boys should excel at athletics. Girls should not be aggressive. If one fails to meet the demands of such stereotypes, the penalties can be severe, such as social rejection by the peer group. Stereotypes, therefore, exert control over people. Turning to the second process, the powerful group (men) tends to stereotype the less powerful group (women) more than the reverse. Less powerful people generally are motivated to pay attention to the idiosyncrasies of powerful people because those powerful people control outcomes for the less powerful. Servants know a great many details about their employers and their preferences, for example, but the reverse is unlikely. Powerful people pay less attention to others and consequently rely on simple stereotypes. Powerful people pay less attention to the less powerful in part because the less powerful have little control over them. Men who sexually aggress against women. Some theorists argue that too much rape research has focused on women who have been raped, when the real emphasis should be on the aggressors. Only by gaining a scientific understanding of them will we be able to reduce the occurrence of rape. Neil Malamuth and colleagues (1991) developed a model of the factors that predispose a man to engage in sexual coercion with women and then tested it against data obtained from a large, national sample of male college students. According to their model and the data supported it four factors predispose a man to engage in sexual coercion: (a) Hostile home environment Violence between parents or battering or sexually abusing the child increase the chances that the boy will engage in sexual coercion. (b) Delinquency Being involved in delinquency leads a boy to associate with delinquent peers who, for example, encourage hostile attitudes and rationalizations for committing crimes and reward a tough, aggressive image. c) Sexual promiscuity Often in the context of the delinquent group, the young man comes to believe that sexual conquests bring him status within the peer group, and coercion may seem to be a reasonable way to achieve his goals. (d) A hostile masculine personality This personality constellation involves deep hostility toward women together with negatively defined, exaggerated masculinitymasculinity characterized as rejecting anything feminine, such as nurturance, and emphasizing power, control, and macho characteristics. Gender Schema Theory Bems (1981) gender schema theory reflects the cognitive revolution in psychology over the last several decades and applies this approach to understanding the development of gender stereotyping. In cognitive psychology, schema generally refers to a cognitive structure, developed from prior learning, that is used when filtering and interpreting new information. For Bem, a gender schema is a persons general knowledge framework about gender, with which information is processed and organized based on gender-linked associations. Children gradually form a gender schema as they learn their cultures network of associations with gender. Moreover, the gender schema becomes linked to self-concept so that children, as part of their motivation to become good girls or boys, engage in the gender-appropriate behavior specified by the gender schema. Many studies support gender schema theory. In testing the theory, Bem categorized participants into gender-schematic persons (masculine males and feminine females, as determined by Bems test of androgyny [1974]) and gender-aschematic people (androgynous males and androgynous females). She argued that gender-schematic people are more likely to engage in gender-schematic processing of information, whereas gender-aschematic people engage in it less. In a free-recall test of a list of words, gender-schematic people were more likely to cluster the words by gender (e. g. , gorilla, bull, trousers), than gender-aschematic people were. Reaction-time data indicated that gender-schematic people, when responding me or not me, processed schema-consistent attributes faster than they processed schema-inconsistent attributes. Martin and Halverson (1983) found that, if five- and six-year-old children were shown pictures of children engaging in stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent activities, a week later the children made errors in recall of the stereotype-inconsistent pictures, recalling them as stereotype-consistent. That is, if they had seen a picture of two girls boxing, they remembered that they had seen two boys boxing. Gender schema theory is compelling for a number of reasons, one being that it explains why gender stereotypes are so resistant to change our gender schema simply filters out stereotype-inconsistent information. The main limitation of the theory is that it is exclusively cognitive. Emotion is reemerging as a prominent construct within psychology in general, and in the 21st century we look toward theories of gender that integrate cognition (thought) and affect (emotion). For example, the expanding literature on self-concepts and self-strategiesis just waiting to be incorporated into research on gender. Gender schema theory provides a cognitive explanation for why gender stereotypes are so difficult to change. However, another plausible, and very exciting explanation might suggest that some people are motivated to maintain their gender stereotypes. For instance, there may be times when people accentuate or draw attention to their own gender-stereotyped traits, if doing so makes them feel good about themselves. People may feel more positively about themselves and their own gender when they degrade the other gender. On the other hand, some people do indeed work on reducing their stereotyped attitudes about gender, but what motivates them to work so hard at this? Maybe there are situations in which gender stereotypes become so personally limiting and/or defeating that people want to reject them? How do they do this? Integrating self-concept research into research about gender presents the opportunity to determine motivational factors underlying why gender is such a salient interpersonal characteristic for both women and men, and why its importance is so immutable. Evolutionary psychology The key element to evolutionary psychology is the idea that natural selection operates on expressed behaviours. In this way it can impact on underlying psychological mechanisms, favoring those that promote successful reproduction and militating against those associated with non-reproduction. Of course, because we cannot inherit acquired characteristics, any such process must have a grounding at a genetic level. The psychological mechanisms and their expression (for example, altruism) need to have a level of predisposition in the genes. Proponents of evolutionary psychology argue that their theory helps to make sense of empirical findings from xperimental social psychology. For example, some research suggests that people are more likely to help (be altruistic towards) strangers who look, act and think like themselves. Such strangers, they claim, are more likely to have a genetic resemblance. In other words, propinquitous altruism indirectly favours the genetic profile of the helper through supporting the person helped. Men across a range of cultures have been shown to favour youthful-looking wo men. They also find women more attractive if their waists are about a third narrower than their hips. If such preferences are the result of a partially inherited mechanism, as evolutionary psychologists would suggest, then men would seem to be ‘wired up’ to choose reproductive partners whose youthful fertility offers the best chance of genetic profiles being reproduced. It is worth noting that a problem with this kind of theorization is that a plausible story can be told to explain almost any ‘facts’. Were the result otherwise – for example, if men showed a preference for rather more mature women who have already given birth – it could be argued that their choices were for experienced, ‘better’ mothers. The theory, moreover, is completely untestable. Similar problems apply to research into women’s notions of male attractiveness. Buss (1994) has argued from an evolutionary psychology perspective that this is mediated by selection for protection and support (that is, men who seem mature and dominant). However, more recent research using image ‘morphing’ suggests that women prefer men’s faces that are not over-masculine (in the sense of strong jaws and heavy brows). However, he did also confirm a male preference for more ‘feminine’ women’s faces. Again, Perrett’s finding about men’s faces can be explained in evolutionary psychology language. ‘High testosterone’ faces just might signal violent, unstable partners, and to avoid them might bring a man with better parenting potential. GENDER ROLES AND STEREOTYPES Gender roles are cultural expectations about the behaviors appropriate to each gender. Gender role and Stereotype Transmission Society is generous in providing information about gender. Few institutions or socializing agents can be ignored when we try to determine just how children learn about gender roles and its associated stereotypes. Recognizing the multiplicity of these influences is important; parceling out the relative contribution of the various agents is more challenging, given the co-occurrence of these influences in everyday life. In fact, from a multilevel systems approach, we accept the reality of both macrolevel and microlevel processes that mutually support a system of cultural norms. Here we limit our focus, however, considering three of the more proximal sources of socialization: family, schools and peer groups, and media. Each has been shown to be fertile ground for the promotion of gender roles and stereotypes. Family The family is a concept more easily used than precisely defined. Although researchers tend to restrict their consideration of family influences to the mother and father (and far more often to the mother), family dynamics are typically much broader in their operation, including not only siblings but often extended networks of grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and even biologically unrelated caretakers. Often the messages coming from these various sources are inconsistent, and thus the researcher is faced with yet another challenge when trying to assess the impact of socialization sources on the acquisition of gender stereotypes. Recognizing these difficulties, we must nonetheless rely on the available literature, which does show clear evidence of parental influence on gender role and stereotype acquisition. Parents can use both direct and indirect means to teach gender stereotypes to their children: they can be explicit in saying that girls and boys have different traits, or they can implicitly convey the same message in their choice of presents or activities. Even the parents’ choice of colors and room decorations in a child’s early years can encourage the development of sex-differentiated concepts. Numerous studies show that parents themselves have stereotypic beliefs about boys and girls, for example, with regard to their possession of motor skills. Further research has shown that parents who more strongly endorse gender stereotypes convey their beliefs with specific expectations about their children’s performance in relevant domains (e. g. , English versus math). More significantly, these expectations are realized in the actual performance of their children and in their children’s self-perceptions of competence. Parents, of course, vary in the degree and type of stereotypic information they convey. Mothers who are employed, for example, are less likely to have stereotyped beliefs than are mothers who work only in the home, but even this relationship appears to be moderated by other factors, including socioeconomic status and father’s involvement in childrearing. Schools and Peer Groups Parents are often the major influence on a child’s socialization in the preschool years. As children get older, however, peer influence comes to play a larger role, as do teachers and other agents in the school system. Indeed, it is a recognition of this influence that has led many parents to opt for home-schooling, eliminating the potential influence of both of these socializing sources. ) Within the schools, particularly in the early school years, segregation of boys and girls is common, even on tasks for which gender is irrelevant, and research suggests that when this segregation is more obvio us, children are more likely to stereotype on the basis of gender. Specific gender-related knowledge is also learned from teachers, from classmates, and from the instructional materials used. Children themselves show a strong preference for gender segregation in most cultures, the preference for interacting with one’s own sex has been observed as early as ages 2–3 years and increases steadily as children get older. By middle childhood, only 15 percent of children report having other-sex friends. It seems likely that this gender homogeneity reinforces the notion of separate categories and increases the likelihood that distinctive stereotypic traits will be associated with each category. Significantly, this is also the age by which preschoolers exhibit clear evidence of gender-based prejudice. Media The media have long been recognized as important sources of gender-related information. Early studies focused primarily on the potential influence of television and films; more recently, investigators have broadened their analyses to include music, video games, and the Internet. The vast majority of these studies show extensive stereotyping of both gender and ethnicity, with only slight evidence of changes over time. Examples are abundant. In advertisements, for example, men are more often portrayed as the voice of authority and shown in professional roles, while women are still frequently seen engaged in home-centered behaviors such as laundry and cooking. Television programs directed at children are substantially more stereotypic than is adult programming. Video games often portray women as sex objects. And in the many children’s films, gender stereotypes are also in high profile. The vast majority of female characters are shown only in the home or in traditional female jobs, such as nurses or waitresses, whereas men are typically depicted in high-prestige and exciting occupations. Although evidence for the presence of gender stereotyping in the media is ubiquitous, it is more difficult to show the causal link between exposure and endorsement of gender stereotypes. Simply viewing television, for example, does not assure that attention is being paid and the representations incorporated. It is also possible that children who spend more time watching television or surfing the Internet are initially more prone to accept gender stereotypes. One-time experimental studies are often questioned for their generalizability, and longer-term correlational studies can not definitively establish causation. Nonetheless, evidence seems to be increasingly supportive of the position that frequent television viewing is associated with stronger beliefs in gender stereotypes. In analyzing the impact of any of these socialization agents, we realize that the messages are multifaceted and the impact uneven. Further, it is important to recognize the role of both the individual and the specific context. Development of Stereotypes Children as young as 3 years old start to show signs of gender stereotyping. This development is not uniform or simple, and 6- year-old children showed a pattern of selective stereotyping in which they made gender stereotypical judgments about children whose toy interests were similar to their own but failed to make stereotypical judgments for children whose interests were different from their own. This behavior probably reflected a more complete development of knowledge about self and others like self, which extended to gender. Children do even more gender stereotyping as they get older, and 8- to 10-year-olds made stereotypical judgments for both genders. This pattern of stereotype development appears in three stages. Children in the first stage have learned characteristics and behaviors associated directly with each gender, such as the toy preferences of each. In this stage, they have ot learned the many indirect associations with gender, associations that are essential for stereotypes to form. In the second stage, children have begun to develop the indirect associations for behaviors associated with their own gender, but not yet for the other gender. In the third stage, children have learned these indirect associations for the other gender as well as their own, giving them the capability of making stereotypical judgments of both women and men. A specific cognitive process a llows children (and adults) to maintain stereotypes once they have formed. This process is called illusory correlation: â€Å"the erroneous perception of covariation between two events when no correlation exists, or the perception of a correlation as stronger than it actually is† . i. e. people perceive that relationships exist between gender and various behaviors when no relationship exists, or when the relationship is not as strong as their perception indicates. Studies have demonstrated that illusory correlation operates in 2nd- and 4th-grade children in a way that is consistent with developing gender stereotypes. Furthermore, these studies indicated that children’s tendency to gender stereotype creates distortions in their memory for gender-related information. The perception of correlations can be an important factor in maintaining stereotypes for both children and adults; when people believe that activities are related to one or the other gender, then they feel comfortable in thinking in terms of these categorizations. This perceptual bias acts to maintain stereotypes. However, one study (Susskind, 2003) indicated that children do not ignore counterstereotypical information, and the presentation of such information may be a way to diminish gender stereotyping. Thus, when children see fathers cooking and mothers performing home repairs, these observations may act to decrease stereotyping by breaking down illusory correlations. Gender stereotyping follows age-related trends similar to the development of other gender knowledge. That is, younger children show less gender stereotyping than older children , men are subject to harsher stereotyping than women, and girls stereotype less strongly than boys. Studying gender stereotyping in individuals ranging from kindergarten children to college students showed that the flexible application of gender stereotypes increases with age . Younger children relied more on gender information than on information about individuals when making judgments about people, whereas older individuals took into account information about deviations from gender stereotypes. This pattern of development indicates that the acquisition of full information concerning gender stereotypes is accompanied by greater flexibility in the use stereotypes. The tendency to rely on the stereotype is always present, and both children and adults showed a tendency to attribute gender-stereotypical traits to women, men, and children, including a reluctance to attribute feminine characteristics to males and a tendency to associate femininity with being childlike Although stereotype flexibility increases with age, the knowledge that underlies this development also has negative implications. Between the ages of 6 and 10 years old, children become aware of the stereotyping that others do. In addition, children from stigmatized groups become aware of others’ stereotyping before children from more privileged groups did so. This knowledge builds the basis for stereotype threat, and children with knowledge of the stereotyping process from stigmatized groups were more likely to exhibit the negative performance effects of stereotype threat than were other children. Hence, this negative effect of stereotyping occurs along with increased knowledge. Therefore, the development of gender stereotypes begins early, with 3-year-olds knowing about gender-related differences in behavior. As children acquire information about gender, they become capable of forming and maintaining elaborate stereotypes for men and women, but they also become more willing to make exceptions to the gender rules they have learned. Nevertheless, gender stereotypes provide a system for classifying people that operates throughout people’s lives; these influence their expectations for self and others, as well as the judgments they form about people based on their gender-related characteristics and behaviors. The Process and Implications of Stereotyping The term stereotyping has negative connotations, but some theorists do not emphasize the negative aspects of the process. Some have concentrated on the convenience of this type of categorical cognitive processing, and others have contended that stereotypes have positive as well as negative effects. Yet other theorists have argued that stereotyping produces such a magnitude of distortions and incorrect generalizations that its disadvantages are overwhelming. The negative effects of stereotyping are apparent in stereotype threat. Those who study stereotyping as a cognitive process emphasize people’s need to streamline the way they interact with a complex world; forming simplified categories is a way to do so. The limits on children’s cognitive abilities make this need even more pressing during childhood. Taking this view, gender stereotyping is a normal cognitive process that allows children to form categories based on gender and to understand this important attribute, if in a simplified and distorted way. The simplification and distortion inherent in stereotyping can have negative effects, but the positive benefits to children of forming gender stereotypes outweigh the negative effects of making some mistakes and thinking too narrowly about gender-related behaviors. Therefore, the function of gender stereotyping can be understood in developmental terms as a useful way to approach the complexities of gender. A knowledge of gender stereotyping in children does not necessarily lead to an understanding of the factors that maintain stereotypical behavior in adults. The advantages of gender stereotyping during childhood do not necessitate that adults maintain gender stereotypes. Research has indicated that older children, adolescents, and adults become more flexible in their application of stereotypes; they are willing to make exceptions to the dictates of their gender stereotypes, both for themselves and for others. However, gender stereotypes persist throughout life. Stereotypes provide not only descriptions of how people think about women and men but also prescriptions about what women and men should be, which means that gender stereotyping places limits on what traits and behaviors are allowed. Thus, theorists and researchers have explored the formation, function, and effects of holding gender stereotypes. One issue relevant to stereotyping is its accuracy. The â€Å"kernel of truth† position holds that stereotypes have some valid as well as some inaccurate points. Gender roles, the set of behaviors performed more often by men or women, form the basis for gender stereotypes. That is, the social roles that women and men fulfill allow people to perceive differences between men and women and to extend these differences to areas where none exists. The issue of accuracy has provoked a great deal of controversy but no resolution. A meta-analysis of studies on the accuracy of gender stereotyping confirmed that overestimation and underestimation occur. Perceptions of gender differences may be accurate when measuring average group judgments, but individuals differ a great deal, and some individuals exhibit substantial inaccuracies. Such inaccuracies should create problems, and prejudice and discrimination are among the effects that arise from stereotyping. Prejudice is a negative evaluation of an entire group, which allows prejudiced people to react to members of the group without any personal contact or without knowing anything about people in the group as individuals. Discrimination is behavior that holds people or groups apart from others and results in different treatments for those people. Thus, prejudice is an attitude but discrimination is behavior. People may be prejudiced yet not actively discriminate, but the two often go together. Psychology’s traditional view of prejudice holds that people within a group (the ingroup) form negative feelings about those in another group (the out-group). The identification of the out-group may include stereotyping that sharpens the difference between the two groups and erases the individual differences of those people in the outgroup. The results of prejudice include an increased feeling of worth for people in the ingroup and a devaluation of those in the out-group. Does gender fit into this model? Are men and women in-groups and out-groups to each other? Listening to the conversations of groups of women or men saying terrible things about the other may seem to confirm this view, but research results are not consistent with such a conceptualization. Although women are the targets of various types of discrimination in terms of economic, political, educational, and professional achievement, attitudes about women are not uniformly negative. Indeed, one line of research showed that women as a category receive more favorable evaluations than men. Results from a meta-analysis indicated that women received slightly more favorable ratings than men. Thus, people in general have positive feelings about the characteristics stereotypically associated with women; people believe that these characteristics provide fine examples of human qualities. These findings are not consistent with an overall prejudice against women. Peter Glick, Susan Fiske, and their colleagues (2000) have researched this puzzle in gender stereotyping and formulated interesting answers. The focus of their research is their conceptualization of sexism, that is, prejudice based on sex or gender. Their view separates positive from negative aspects of sexism. They call the negative aspects hostile sexism, and this concept includes negative attitudes toward women. They also consider benevolent sexism, which they conceptualize as positive attitudes that nonetheless serve to belittle women and keep them subservient. Benevolent sexism is reflected in the attitudes that women deserve special treatment, deserve to be set on a pedestal, and should be revered. Despite the positive nature of these beliefs, people who hold such attitudes tend to see women as weaker, more in need of protection, and less competent than men. Ironically, it may be the favorable traits stereotypically associated with women that serve to perpetuate their lower status. When people see women as warm and caring but less competent than men, they may give women positive evaluations but still feel that women need men to protect and take care of them. Thus, women’s subservience is justified. Men are not exempt from this type of ambivalent sexism; the stereotypic characteristics of men can also be analyzed into hostile and benevolent components that are analogous to those that apply to women, but women’s hostile attitudes toward men do not erase men’s dominance. This type of benevolent prejudice may rationalize racism as well as sexism, casting the dominant group as benevolent protectors rather than oppressors. Research on the contents of stereotypes has shown that combinations of two dimensions—competence and warmth—capture many beliefs about stereotyped groups. The mixed values of low competence–high warmth and high competence–low warmth have been of most interest to researchers, but the two other combinations of high warmth–high competence and low warmth–low competence also occur. Research on this stereotype content model confirmed that people evaluated a number of lower-status groups (women, ethnic minority groups, older people, disabled people) as less competent but warm and thus rated them positively. People from some high-status groups were not so well-liked; they were respected and judged as competent but not warm. Therefore, this view promotes a complex analysis of the components of stereotypes as well as a broad view of the effects of such stereotyping as it applies to gender and other stereotyped categories. Thus, several lines of research highlight the negative aspects of stereotyping and point out that stereotyping has wider implications than ease of cognitive processing. For children, such simplification may be a necessary part of dealing with a complex world, but adolescents and adults are able to deal with individual information, yet tend not to do so. Rather, adults stereotype on a variety of dimensions, including gender. Stereotypes form the basis for prejudice and discrimination, and both men and women are subject to these negative processes. Perceptions of Women and Men The stereotype of women as warm and caring but incompetent and men as competent but not warm is consistent with the Victorian notion of the Cult of True Womanhood and with the Male Gender Role Identity. Are women and men still measured by these standards, or have the changes in women’s and men’s behaviors produced changes in the stereotypes and broadened the boundaries of acceptable behaviors for men and women? The content of gender stereotypes may be analyzed into four separate components that people use to differentiate male from female—traits, behaviors, physical characteristics, and occupations. All these components are relatively independent, but people associate one set of features from each of these with women and another set with men. On the basis of knowledge of one dimension, people extend judgments to the other three. Given a gender label for a target person, people will make inferences concerning the person’s appearance, traits, gender role behaviors, and occupation. Information about one component can affect inferences made about the others, and people will attempt to maintain consistency among the components. Physical features seem to be central; people viewed men and women as differing more in physical features than in psychological characteristics. When people have information about behaviors, they make inferences about traits, and information about occupations can affect judgments about behaviors. However, physical appearance affected judgments about the other components more strongly than information about traits, behaviors, or occupations influenced judgments about appearance. In addition, specific personal information can outweigh gender as a factor in subsequent judgments about a person. For example, men who were described as managing the house or taking care of children were also judged as likely to be emotional and gentle. Such counterstereotypical information about men also increased the likelihood that such men would be judged to be nontypical in other ways, such as likely to be homosexual. Therefore, people use several dimensions to categorize men and women, drawing inferences on one dimension based on information from another. What traits are stereotypically associated with these categories? Studies in the 1960s and 1970s often found evidence for beliefs that matched elements of the Male Gender Role Identity or the Cult of True Womanhood, and recent studies have also found remnants of these beliefs. However, some recent research has reflected changes in attitudes. GENDER DIFFERENCES Spatial Skills If women are stronger in verbal skills, men seem to have some advantage in certain spatial. Some studies investigating the spatial abilities of men and women have found no significant differences, though metastudies show a male advantage in mental rotation and assessing horizontality and verticality, and a female advantage in spatial memory. A proposed hypothesis is that men and women evolved different mental abilities to adapt to their different roles in society. This explanation suggests that men may have evolved greater spatial abilities as a result of certain behaviors, such as navigating during a hunt. Similarly, this hypothesis suggests that women may have evolved to devote more mental resources to remembering locations of food sources in relation to objects and other features in order to gather food. Results from studies conducted in the physical environment are not conclusive about sex differences, with various studies on the same task showing no differences. For example, there are studies that show no difference in wayfinding. One study found men more likely to report having a good sense of direction and are more confident about finding their way in a new environment, but evidence does not support men having better map reading skills. Women have been found to use landmarks more often when giving directions and when describing routes. Additionally, a study concludes that women are better at recalling where objects are located in a physical environment. Women show greater proficiency and reliance on distinctive landmarks for navigation while males rely on an overall mental map. Mental rotation, the ability to see dimensional objects in your mind and to be able to match the original object with a picture of a rotated view of the same object, is the primary spatial skill at which  males are frequently better than  females. Perceptual speed is a visual task where girls have the edge. This task involves matching objects, pictures, and the like. One area in school where this skill is important is in proofreading. Girls are better at finding errors than are boys. Performance in mental rotation and similar spatial tasks is affected by gender expectations. For example, studies show that being told before the test that men typically perform better, or that the task is linked with jobs like aviation engineering typically associated with men versus jobs like fashion design typically associated with women, will negatively affect female performance on spatial rotation and positively influence it when subjects are told the opposite. Experiences such as playing video games also increase a persons mental rotation ability. A study from the University of Toronto showed that differences in ability get reduced after playing video games requiring complex mental rotation. The experiment showed that playing such games creates larger gains in spatial cognition in females than males. The possibility of testosterone and other androgens as a cause of sex differences in psychology has been a subject of study. Adult women who were exposed to unusually high levels of androgens in the womb due to congenital adrenal hyperplasia score significantly higher on tests of spatial ability. Many studies find positive correlations between testosterone levels in normal males and measures of spatial ability. However, the relationship is complex. Aggression Although research on sex differences in aggression show that males are generally more likely to display aggression than females, how much of this is due to social factors and gender expectations is unclear. Aggression is closely linked with cultural definitions of masculine and feminine. In some situations women show equal or more aggression than men; for example, women are more likely to use direct aggression in private, where other people cannot see them, and are more likely to use indirect aggression in public. Eagly and Steffen suggested in their meta-analysis of data on sex and aggression that beliefs about the negative consequences of violating gender expectations affect how both genders behave regarding aggression. Men are more likely to be the targets of displays of aggression and provocation than females. Studies by Bettencourt and Miller show that when provocation is controlled for, sex differences in aggression are greatly reduced. They argue that this shows that gender-role norms play a large part in the differences in aggressive behavior between men and women. Psychologist Anne Campbell argues that females are more likely to use indirect aggression, and that cultural interpretations have enhanced evolutionarily based sex differences by a process of imposition which stigmatises the expression of aggression by females and causes women to offer exculpatory (rather than justificatory) accounts of their own aggression. The relationship between testosterone and aggression is unclear, and a causal link has not been conclusively shown. Some studies indicate that testosterone levels may be affected by environmental and social influences. The relationship is difficult to study since the only reliable measure of brain testosterone is from a lumbar puncture which is not done for research purposes and many studies have instead used less reliable measures such as blood testosterone. In humans, males engage in crime and especially violent crime more than females. The involvement in crime usually rises in the early teens to mid teens which happen at the same time as testosterone levels rise. Most studies support a link between adult criminality and testosterone although the relationship is modest if examined separately for each sex. However, nearly all studies of juvenile delinquency and testosterone are not significant. Most studies have also found testosterone to be associated with behaviors or personality traits linked with criminality such as antisocial behavior and alcoholism. Personality tests Cross-cultural research has shown gender differences on the Big Five personality traits. For example, women consistently report higher Neuroticism and Agreeableness, and men often report higher Extroversion and Conscientiousness. Gender differences in personality traits are largest in prosperous, healthy, and egalitarian cultures in which women have more opportunities that are equal to those of men. Both men and women tend to grow more extraverted and conscientious and less neurotic and agreeable as cultures grow more prosperous and egalitarian, but the effect is stronger for men. Verbal Skills The average 20-month old little girl has twice the vocabulary of the average 20-month old boy. Because toddler girls begin to talk sooner and more clearly than boys  they have more practice. That earlier speech probably is the source of the stereotype that girls have better verbal skills. However, it is important to remember that boys will catch up later although if nothing is done to help boys improve, they may always seem like they are less verbal than girls. It is very important for boys to be included in conversations with parents and other family members. Girls are likely to have something to say, but boys may need to be encouraged. Some verbal skills such as analogies appear to have a male advantage. One belief is that some female’s ruminative cognitive style leads them to consider every choice in an analogy and be more likely to change their answers. Males were more likely to find the answer and move on. Remember, this will be true for many children but not for all. However, if there are problems in verbal ability, males are much more likely to be diagnosed with stuttering and problems with handwriting. There are some indications that boys have trouble with reading although more recent information indicates that the problem is more obvious when a child is reading orally; on reading tests, boys and girls performed the same as long at the test did not require writing, an area  in which boys had more trouble . Some reading problems in boys may simply need time and reading to your  son every night will help him more than anything else you can do. There is no difference in  Males and  females have similar verbal intelligence in spite of the fact that  males are less likely to read for pleasure than  females are. The problem is that by the time males have caught up to  females in verbal skills, they may have never acquired the habit of reading and continue to believe that their verbal skills are not at the same level as those of females. Masters and Johnson’s four stages of sexual response Excitement. The first biological indicator of sexual excitement in women is vaginal lubrication, which typically appears within 30 seconds of stimulation. This, Masters and Johnson discovered, is exuded from the semi-permeable vaginal walls in response to an increase in blood supply. In men, erection can be even faster – but also much slower. Erection also results (mechanically speaking) from an increase in blood supply. Both sexes show genital engorgement and both also experience patterns of muscle contraction. Women also show erectile responses both in the clitoris and of the nipples. Changes also occur in the two sets of genital lips (the major and minor labia) yielding a blooming effect, and the vaginal barrel begins to oscillate with distensions exceeding constrictions: its inner two thirds can increase in diameter by 300 per cent. In men the scrotum is raised and the spermatic cords shorten. Both sexes (women much more often than men) can show a ‘sex flush’ or rash (which begins on the abdomen). The plateau phase covers some further changes that follow excitement (for example, raised pulse rate) which can be regarded as precursors to any subsequent orgasm. This phase is more marked in women than in men. The most remarkable is the ‘orgasmic platform’ – the swelling of the lower vagina, reducing its diameter and increasing its penile ‘grip’. In parallel the clitoris retracts and is lifted away from the vaginal entrance. In men the testes enlarge and are pulled further into the scrotum. When they are fully elevated the man is on the verge of orgasm. surprising that, at a physiological level, sexual response should tap into pre-programmed patterns, given how crucial it is to evolutionary survival. However, as the recent massive sales of the erection-inducing drug Viagra have shown, even here instinct is by no means the whole story. The enormous interest in the drug shows that many men feel that they have problems in getting a satisfactory erection. Although this can be a consequence of medical disorders and the side-effects of some forms of medical treatment, erection is notoriously sensitive to social and situational factors. Some men, for example, cannot be aroused except in particular ways – for example, by viewing certain erotic stimuli, such as bondage. Equally, for women, although the machinery for sexual response may be in working order, biologically speaking, being turned on (and hence able to respond) has much more to do with non-biological factors. And although it is often assumed that women’s arousal is much more dependent on emotional stimuli than it is for men, the evidence for this is largely anecdotal. Certainly, women as well as men can become fixated (that is, dependent for sexual arousal) on particular stimuli – as evidenced by the material available on the internet. One website, for example, is devoted to a woman who gains sexual satisfaction from having fish hooks inserted into her breasts. The orgasm. If they climax, women experience marked, fast, rhythmic contractions of the lower vagina, gradually reducing in intensity and increasing in interval. The uterus and sometimes the anal sphincter also join in these contractions. In men, the sperm which have moved into the seminal vesicles and ampullae are expelled by contractions into the urethra. Simultaneously, the prostate gland spasms, releasing prostatic fluid. This mixture is held in the urethral bulb. Ejaculation results from contractions of the penis and urethral bulb. Pulse rate and blood pressure peak during orgasm and breathing becomes panting. Some quite extreme muscle spasms and facial grimacing are commonplace. Subjectively, sensations of orgasm tend to slightly precede contractions in women and ejaculation in men. The resolution phase. Within a few seconds of the end of orgasm, the body begins to return to ‘normal’, although some signs (for example, partial penile erection) take longer to subside. Men show a ‘refractory period’ of between a few minutes and hours before rearousal is possible. Many women do not have a ‘refractory period’ and can re-orgasm rapidly.

The Escape by Maugham Essay Example

The Escape by Maugham Essay William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the 20th century. He was not only a novelist, but also a one of the most successful dramatist and short-story writers. Maugham wants the readers to draw their own conclusion about the characters and events described in his novels. His reputation as a novelist is based on the following prominent books: â€Å"Of Human Bondage†; â€Å"The Moon and Sixpence†; and â€Å"The Razors Edge†. Though Maugham doesn’t denounce the contemporary social order, he is critical of the morals and the narrow-mindedness. Realistic portrayal of life, keen character observation, and interesting plots coupled with beautiful, expressive language, a simple, clear, unadored style, place Somerset Maugham on a level with the greatest English writers of the 20th century. In general, Maughams novels and short stories could be characterized by great narrative facility, an ironic point of view, cosmopolitan settings, and an astonishing understanding of human nature. His short stories gained the greatest popularity. And it’s right time to speculate upon one of the stories â€Å"The Escape†- which impressed me deeply and made me think about its subject. It is about a man (Roger) and a woman (Ruth), their complicated relations and scheming in order to achieve different aims. So they are the main characters. The author hides behind the narrator who is the secondary character. The essence of â€Å"The Escape†, to my mind, is that Roger and Ruth have diverse approaches towards the relations. Of course, the men and the women like the first step: flowers, attentiveness, passion. But then their paths diverge. The romance disappears, the man looks for the way out, he craves for new emotions, but the woman deems that the relations should develop into the marriage. We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape by Maugham specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape by Maugham specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Escape by Maugham specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer And â€Å"The Escape† is the example of such a mismatch. From the very beginning the narrator convinces us that if a woman once made her mind to marry a man nothing but instant flight could save him. One of his friends seeing the unavoidable hazard before him, took ship and spent a year traveling round the world. He hoped the woman who was considered to be his bride would forget him being fickle, but he was mistaken; when he got back thinking himself safe, the woman, from whom he had fled, was waiting for him on the dockside. This funny thing supports the idea that the inevitable loom of the marriage frightens some men and they try to evade it. This portion of the text is some kind of preamble, it prepares the reader for the following plot-development and presents a piece of narration. Its syntax is complicated, there are compound sentences with many subjects and verbs of action not to loose the thought. The epithets â€Å"instant flight†, â€Å"the inevitable loom†, â€Å"menacingly† show us fear and trembling of such men. They don’t know and don’t respect women, the epithet â€Å"fickle† confirms it, that why they are afraid of difficulties of the marriage. And through these stylistic devices we feel the author’s tone, it is humorous, but this humor is with bitter flavor, so it’s natural to begin to reflect once more on the essential principles of the relations between the man and woman, but the story continues, let’s turn to the text again. Further on the narrator says that he knows only one man who escaped successfully. Once upon a time his friend, Roger Charing told him he was going to marry. Roger was tall and handsome, rich, experienced middle-aged man. Of course, many women wanted to marry him. But he was happy to live the life of an unmarried man: the epithets â€Å"sufficient experience†, â€Å"careful† give the direct description of his lifestyle. But then he met Ruth Barlow. He fell in love with her. He immediately wanted to look after her and make her happy. Ruth was twice a widow, she was younger than Roger. She was quite good-looking and she had big, beautiful, dark eyes and she had the gift of pathos. When a man saw those big, sad eyes, he wanted to help Ruth. The epithet â€Å"defenseless† expose the power of her look. It was Ruth’s mode to get what she wanted because she had no other means (I mean money). This â€Å"gift† helped Ruth to reach her goals. The metaphor â€Å"the gift of pathos†, the epithets â€Å"splendid dark eyes†, â€Å"the most moving eyes†, â€Å"big and lovely eyes† and the repetition of the word â€Å"eyes† make us pay our attention to this peculiarity. And Ruth made her mind to marry Roger: he was rich, considerate, tactful and was glad to take care of her, so he was the best variant for her. He didn’t let down and made a proposal of marriage to her. They were going to marry as soon as possible. While reading we came across a lot of pure literary words (gift, splendid, wonderful, hazards, sadness, lovely) and some clich? s (â€Å"the world was too much for her†, â€Å"stand between the hazards of life and this helpless little thing†, â€Å"how wonderful it would be to take the sadness out of those big and lovely eyes†) which are peculiar to the description of ordinary situations concerning love affairs, so we see what kind of story â€Å"The Escape† is. The narrator provoke us to perceive it ironically. Through Roger’s vision, Ruth was very unlucky. Indeed, she seemed to be very miserable, everything was wrong with her. If she married a husband he beat her; if she employed a broker he cheated her; if she engaged a cook she drank. She never had a little lamb but it was sure to die. The epithets â€Å"helpless little thing†, â€Å"rotten time†, â€Å"unfortunate†, â€Å"poor dear†, the metaphor â€Å"a little lamb†, parallel constructions â€Å"if she married†¦ â€Å" and pure literary words such as â€Å"sufferings†, â€Å"hazards†, â€Å"sadness† display hopelessness of Ruth’s life. Roger took an interest in her destiny and was ready to relieve it: the repetition of the pronouns â€Å"she† and â€Å"her† in Roger’s speech, the epithet â€Å"dreadfully sorry† prove my assumption. The epithets â€Å"very happy† and â€Å"pleased† make us believe that it wasn’t a nuisance for him. But according to the narrator’s opinion, Ruth was two-faced woman of few ideas: he called her stupid and scheming. The epithets â€Å"stupid†, â€Å"scheming†, the similie â€Å"as hard as nails† add some points to her description, so the method of character-drawing here is direct. We see two people, Roger and Ruth, as the future family, so this is the idea of this portion of the text. The author describes the first part of their relations which were rather standard. As thousands of men and women, they met, fell in love and decided to be together. But then, on a sudden, Roger fell out of love. This was the second part of their relations. There was no evident reason. Perhaps, his heart-strings were no longer touched by Ruth’s pathetic look. Roger became acutely conscious that Ruth had a mind to marry him. He gave a solemn oath that nothing would induce him to marry Ruth. But he was in a quandary. He was aware that Ruth would assess her feelings at an immoderately high figure if he asked her to release him. Besides, he didn’t want people to say that he jilted a woman. The epithets â€Å"acutely conscious†, â€Å"a solemn oath† and â€Å"an immoderately high figure† stress the importance, significance of his decision; as to the epithet â€Å"pathetic look† and the metaphor â€Å"heart-strings† (at the same time it is a clich? ), they produce the humorous effect. Falling out of love is the most terrible thing I can imagine. Recently it was an acute pleasure for Roger to do everything for Ruth. He was charmed, but, as I suppose, it wasn’t a serious and profound feeling – Roger lost it too easily. It is obvious Ruth was narrow-minded woman and she didn’t really love Roger. But there are some arguments to be said in her defense, she lonely and wanted to be protected. Probably she would be a good wife. The repetition of the expression â€Å"to have a mind to† reveals the conflict of Roger’s and Ruth’s interests. Ruth desired to have relations of long duration she cried for the moon. On the contrary, Roger wanted to escape with no loss. And again we are the witnesses of the usual continuation of the love story. It’s rather banal. Roger kept his own counsel, he remained attentive to all her wishes. It was decided that they would be married as soon as they found a suitable house. Roger applied to the agents and visited with Ruth house after house. It was very hard to find a satisfactory one. Sometimes houses were too large, sometimes they were too small, sometimes they were too expensive and sometimes they were too stuffy, sometimes they were too airy. The idea is that only such dishonest, shabby act as the flat-chase tactics seemed to be appropriate for Roger. I think, it was like a committing a crime. Roger’s behavior wasn’t fair, it was even disgraceful, but unfortunately such conduct is not uncommon, the men trick the women very often, because their attitude towards the relations differ. Parallel constructions â€Å"sometimes they were too large, sometimes they were too small, sometimes they were too expensive and sometimes they were too stuffy†, the metaphor â€Å"house-hunting†, the epithet â€Å"innumerable kitchens† describe Roger’s scheme. Firstly I took Roger’s side, because I consider that each person should have a right for free choice, but then I was sorry for Ruth, Roger tired her out, she didn’t understand what was happening. The epithet â€Å"exhausted† demonstrates her state brightly. At last Ruth revolted. She asked Roger if he wanted to marry her. There was an unaccustomed hardness in her voice, but it didn’t effect the gentleness of his reply. Roger persuaded her that they would be married the very moment they found a suitable house. Ruth took to her bed. She didn’t want to see Roger, but he was as ever assiduous and gallant. Every day he sent her flowers, wrote that he had some more houses to look at. The epithets â€Å"assiduous†, â€Å"gallant† display his dissimulation. A week passed and he received the letter: Ruth let him know that she was going to get married and claimed that Roger didn’t love her. He answered that her news shattered him, but her happiness had to be his first consideration. He sent Ruth seven orders to view. He was quite sure she would find among them a house that would exactly suit her. This is the end of the story. At that moment there was no love, there was no even the sympathy between them. They became the enemies. It was Roger’s victory. He achieved measurable gains at this story. In this portion of the text the tone changes, it is still ironical, but there appears some serious element. This story carried me with its eternal intrigue – the war between male and female, playing games between the sexes. We may be in earnest about it or may try to ignore it, but it really takes place and this problem will exist until the end of human history.

Perils of Hope - Analysis

Perils of Hope - Analysis Analysis of "Peril of Hope" The poem "Peril of Hope," by Robert Frost is about having hope. The poem speaks about no matter how things are one minute they can always change. Hope, however, is constantly there and will always be there to help get through the tough times until things get better.Imagery is used throughout this poem to help describe the extent of the boundaries of hope. Hope has endless boundaries in this poem it goes from one extreme to the next. In the first stanza (lines1-4), the poet describes a late fall scene just before winter when all the leaves have already fallen off of the trees. But in the same stanza, he also depicts a beautiful spring day just after all the leaves have come out before all the blossoms appear on the orchard trees. Frost does this to show the extremes in which hope can be found.Hope

Survival of the Fittest vs. Natural Selection

Survival of the Fittest vs. Natural Selection When Charles Darwin was coming up with the Theory of Evolution, he had to find a mechanism that drove evolution. Many other scientists, such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, had already described the change in species over time, but they didnt offer explanations as to how it occurred. Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace independently came up with the idea of natural selection to fill that void. Natural Selection vs. Survival of the Fittest Natural selection is the idea that species that acquire adaptations favorable for their environment will pass those adaptations to their offspring. Eventually, only individuals with those favorable adaptations will survive, which is how the species changes over time or evolves through speciation. In the 1800s, after Darwin first published his book On the Origin of Species, British economist Herbert Spencer used the term survival of the fittest in relation to Darwins idea of natural selection as he compared Darwins theory to an economic principle in one of his books. This interpretation of natural selection caught on, and Darwin used the phrase in a later edition of On the Origin of Species. Darwin used the term as it was meant regarding natural selection. Nowadays, however, the term is often misunderstood when used in place of natural selection. Public Misconception of Fittest Members of the public might be able to describe natural selection as survival of the fittest. Pressed for further explanation of the term, however, most answer incorrectly. Someone not familiar with what natural selection really is might take fittest to mean the best physical specimen of the species and that only those in the best shape and best health will survive in nature. That isnt always the case. Individuals that survive arent always the strongest, fastest, or smartest. By that definition, then, survival of the fittest might not be the best way to describe natural selection as it applies to evolution. Darwin didnt mean it in those terms when he used it in his republished book. He intended fittest to mean the members of the species best suited for the immediate environment, the basis of the idea of natural selection. Favorable and Unfavorable Traits   Since an individual needs the most favorable traits to survive in the environment, it follows that individuals with favorable adaptations will live long enough to pass their genes to their offspring. Those lacking the favorable traits- the unfit- most likely wont live long enough to pass down their unfavorable traits, and eventually, those traits will be bred out of the population. The unfavorable traits might take many generations to decline in numbers and longer to disappear from the gene pool. This is evident in humans with the genes of fatal diseases; their genes are still in the gene pool even though conditions are unfavorable for their survival. Remedying the Misunderstanding Now that this idea is stuck in our lexicon, there isnt much that can be done to help others understand the actual meaning of the phrase beyond explaining the intended definition of the word fittest and the context in which it was said. An alternative could be to avoid using the phrase altogether when discussing the Theory of Evolution or natural selection. Its acceptable for a person to use the term survival of the fittest if he or she understands the scientific definition. However, casual use of the phrase by someone without knowledge of natural selection can be misleading. Students who are first learning about evolution and natural selection should avoid using the term until they have a deeper knowledge of the subject.

Quality and Environmental Management Report Essay

Quality and Environmental Management Report - Essay Example The philosophy regards the processes to be problematic in general and not the employees. Customer satisfaction being the top aim in a quality management system, good leadership and power delegation at different employee levels for increased participation and teamwork. To achieve total quality management, processes and tools must be integrated with each other and the system itself to be recursively controlled by quality assurance check. Inspite of developing quality control methodologies, many European and American companies have not been able to attain much benefit from them. This is mostly because of lack of insight in implementation and mismatches between processes and problems. This means quality management should be treated as a due process with careful choosing of tools. There is a number of quality assurance tools that can be deployed to support a good quality management system for the house manufacturing company. Since the company is producing prefinished products to support t he on site construction, it is essential that the prefinished components are of good quality as evident by the problem occurring for the company. The basic tools to be deployed for the prefinished products range from production floor to advanced technologies and methods including ISO 9001, total quality management and Six sigma method. Seeing that the company already has a production floor as shown in the brief, it can be improved by adapting to Lean manufacturing in addition to these can help the company reduce the costs as well as increase the quality of their products by eliminating any processes and methods that are not useful for the finished product and customer demand. This will be a sure way to save space in the allocated workshops, clean up the processes and have only the customer oriented processes running. With the continuous improvement from total quality management and statistical controls of the Six sigma method, the defects in the prefabrications should be eliminated. As far as the actual causes of the defects occurring in the products are well handled and eliminated, the finished houses will be of good quality. 2. Plan and describe an appropriate ISO 9001 compliant Quality Management System (QMS), which the organization could employ to improve their quality problems. By meeting unique customer requirements and avoiding non-conformities ISO 9001 can help the company achieve full customer satisfaction (Cianfrani & West 2009). To comply with the industrial standards ISO quality standard improves internal operations and also covers the design research and development. Since the company’s construction is tied to the production of the prefinished products, a holistic approach is the best way to proceed. An appropriate quality management system to comply with a comprehensive set of standards to ensure quality for the customers would be to set up an appropriate organization structure for the company (Case Management Advisor 2004). An appropriate organization structure is a basic set of compliant quality management system that ISO 9001 gives. The organization should start from the top of the organization structure to improve the processes by fixing the processes management structure. The top management should be given clear policies to fully communicate the required products and customer requirem

Qualitative Interface Evaluation of Website Essay

Qualitative Interface Evaluation of Website - Essay Example User interface of a given product is evaluated using various techniques. The main aim of assessing the interactivity of an interface is to see the design of that interface ensures that the user is able to accomplish their tasks. The main objective of interface evaluation is to help the designers and developers of the product to minimize the malfunctions in the system, Gould and Lewis (1985) also asserts that feedback to the developers is very critical to ensure that there is an interactive process of product development. An interface is said to be good one if the users of all levels from novice to experts are able to accomplish their tasks. User interface experts have for over years been designing the best way to evaluate the interface. The evaluation therefore defines two groups; the experts and novice evaluators where each one has their level of evaluating the product within the development cycle of the program. Interactive user interface is a part of the software or the hardware t hat enables the user to interact with that product or the computer. For instance, computer users interact with the computer via software interfaces. According to Melody & Marti (2002), a web site that was poorly designed reduces the revenue and the performance of an organization. The main question is which is the best design principles for a quality website. Many evaluation techniques looks at the human daily activities and habits where the website should imitate these behavior. For a website the following are some of the criteria to be used in evaluating a website. Text elements of a website are important features that evaluators check, text should be visible with high quality but very simple to understand by the users. There should be minimal text with the web page. This is called clarity and concise. The number of links are very important too they tell us how easy is it to navigate from one page to another. There should be many ways in which the user can accomplish their tasks. T oo much external links make a bad website however. The colors which indicate that the link has been visited or not yet should be distinct and outstanding. The images in the site is also important the size and color adjustments should make it attractive. There should be interactive graphics which make users participate actively in the sites operations. Software guidelines and heuristic evaluation techniques will be used in the analysis of the site. Techniques of evaluating interface According to Afonso et al., (2011), evaluation of user interface entails measuring of how easy the interface is to learn by a new user and adopt to the environment. Learning outcomes are measured y how someone can be able to navigate from one level to another, the use of shortcuts and minimal errors. The user satisfaction is another factor in a good interface, if users yarn to use the interface once ore then it is a good one. Interface evaluation is a process that aims at establishing problems of the inte rface which is a process that requires several activities done. The techniques below are used by stakeholders of the hardware or software product at different levels such as experts and end users. Experts in UI evaluate the interface during formative evaluation while end users test the system by cognitive and pluralistic walkthrough (www.cs.umd.edu).There are several techniques used in interface evaluation such as; Heuristic evaluation

Creative Photography Essay Example for Free

Creative Photography Essay This paper would seek to provide a comparative analysis between some of the most talented and creative photographers ever introduced to this genre of arts by examining their individual creative sense and sensibilities. Annie Leibovitz, Diane Arbus and lastly Richard Avedon. All three had three equally different styles and were truly exceptional in their own styles. Annie Leibovitz established herself as a photographer who was truly experimental as was indicated by her images and hence, was widely recognized as someone who was not afraid to portray what she truly believed in. In fact her sudden rise to fame and popularity at the tender age of 20 resulted in her being one of the most revered photographers of the modern times. One of her most famous photos was that of John Lennon as it highlighted Lennon as he was; an unpretentious image who was unfazed by all the popularity and success and hence, this image showcased Leibovitz’s ability to capture the â€Å"inner† sense of people-to go beyond the mere public image. Her bold and modern images such as that of John Lennon and his wife were an indicator of Leibovitz’s ability to capture the essence of emotions and relationships; a highly intriguing concept for this photographer. This image represented the strong connected between the pair and was a landmark in the sense that it allowed the viewer to connect with John Lennon and his wife’s emotions. Throughout her career, Leibovitz has always been considering something of a controversy as a result of her ability to capture images under a theme of subtle nudity. This very ability allow this artist to portray an image of honesty and over time, this same creative talent has been inconsistent as she moved across different forums and themes but there has always been a need to capture the inner honestly and emotion. In comparison to this, Richard Avedon was a photographer who was more interested in the way images could be used to highlight the soul and the personality of the person in question. His main source for taking cameras was his 8 by 10 camera which became sinuous with his name and he was widely recognized for his ability to take large images of famous faces. He focused more on people who made up the list of commoners and hence, his work titled the American West was criticized for showing a negative imagery of American cultural system. Audrey Hepburn was his muse and this signifies the extent to which Avedon’s talent was appreciated by his peers and other people alike and he himself however, felt that he could not translate Hepburn’s personality on camera due to its immense height. The last photographer who would be analyzed and compared would be Diane Arbus, who represented a totally different creative sense from the other two; one who believed in capturing the emotions while the other wanted to capture the inner soul. The mediums used by both were quite different as were their focuses as while Annie focused more on the capturing the famous faces, Richard showed an extensive interest in the commoners. Diane Arbus however, showed an entirely different creative sense as she focused more on capturing the relationships between specific people and a bond was highlighted which was not considered to be in tune with the normal bonds. She has been perceived as one of the most influential members of the photography genre as a result of her unfailing ability to capture a side of her subjects which seemed to want a sense of understanding on the behalf of the viewer. John Szarkowski ‘s exhibition of her works made Diane Arbus one of the most recognizable faces of photograph and her eventual suicide portrayed the tragedy of a woman who seemed incline to capture the more tragic aspect of her characters unlike the aforementioned artists who were in touch with other aspects of their subjects. Works Cited Farley, Christopher John. â€Å"Shooting to Thrill. † Retrieved from Dow Jones Company. 27 Apr 2009. http://s. wsj. net/article/SB122670139623729593. html. Leibovitz, Annie. â€Å"John Lennon. † Retrieved from RealNetworks, Inc. 27 Apr 2009. http://www. rollingstone. com/news/coverstory/10247676/1/John_Lennon. Bosworth, Patricia. 2005. Diane Arbus: A Biography. W. W. Norton, 2005. Diane Arbus: Revelations. Random House, 2003. PBS American Masters, Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light, Directed by Helen Whitney, 1995

State Vs. Shoemaker :: essays research papers

State of Kansas, Appelle, vs. Joe Shoemaker, Appellant The 1980 Kansas State Supreme Court case of State of Kansas, Appelle, v. Joe Shoemake, Appellant, the defendant, Joe Shoemake, was charged with three counts of aggravated robbery of three persons and two counts of felony theft involving two automobiles. In New York State that would be considered as follows: 160.10, Robbery in the second degree, would be classified as; A person is guilty of robbery in the second degree when he forcibly steals property and when: 1. He is aided by another person actually present; or 2. In the course of the commission of the crime or of immediate flight therefrom, he or another participant in the crime: (a) Causes physical injury to any person who is not a participant in the crime; or (b) Displays what appears to be a pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or other firearm; or 3. The property consists of a motor vehicle, as defined in section one hundred twenty-five of the vehicle and traffic law. Robbery in the second degree is a class C felony. 165.08  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Unauthorized use of a vehicle in the first degree. A person is guilty of unauthorized use of a vehicle in the first degree when knowing that he does not have the consent of the owner, he takes, operates, exercises control over, rides in or otherwise uses a vehicle with the intent to use the same in the course of or the commission of a class A, class B, class C or class D felony or in the immediate flight therefrom. A person who engages in any such conduct without the consent of the owner is presumed to know that he does not have such consent. On the night of August 21, 1979, in Kansas City, Missouri, a 1972 Ford Torino, color yellow, was stolen from a residence. Four nights later, August 25, 1979, a second car, a green, 1972 Ford Torino was stolen from a parking lot in Wyandotte County, Missouri. At around 7:00p.m., on the night of August 25, 1979, John Lucas was seen by an employee working at Nigro’s Supermarket, driving a yellow Ford Torino through the parking lot of the store. Shortly after that, Lucas was seen in the green Torino, sitting in front of the supermarket. Moments later, Lucas proceeded to enter the supermarket, approach the manager, brandish a pistol, and demand money from him.

Bottled Water Essay

A couple of decades ago, people turn to the tap for drinking water. Now, most people, both young and old, drink water from bottles. In fact, the demand for bottled water is so great that it has become a multimillion-peso business in the country today. Why is there a substantial growth in the demand for bottled water? The main reason is the increasing health consciousness of the people. Many people prefer bottled water because they question the cleanliness of tap water. The quality of tap water has been decreasing. To be safe, people choose bottled water to avoid drinking water that may be contaminated with harmful microorganisms. Contaminated water can cause diarrhea and other stomach disorders that kill, like dysentery, gastroenteritis, amoebiasis, cholera, and hepatitis. Mostly, the bottled water that you buy is either mineral water or purified water. Water plants use surface water or ground water as the main raw material. These plants are located in places far from cities and industrial centers to avoid contamination. MINERAL WATER Mineral water comes from mineral springs. It normally contains a high content of mineral salts or gases, and which consequently may have an action on the human body different from that of ordinary water. Mineral waters are usually classified as alkaline, saline, chalybeate (iron-containing), sulfurous, acidulous, and arsenical. Mineral springs are generated deep underground, where, under intense heat and pressure, calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, and other minerals are leached from the surrounding rocks. Mineral water is also called aerated water. (The term â€Å"aerated† means charged with gas.) The most common gases that are in mineral water are carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. GUIDELINES FOR BOTTLED MINERAL WATERS There are strict rules for water to be labeled as mineral water. Genuine mineral water should contain the right percentage of such minerals as manganese, chromium, selenium, zinc, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, and other minerals. In California, United States, to be labeled â€Å"mineral water,† the water must contain 550 parts per million (ppm) of total dissolved solids (TDS). In Europe, mineral water must meet several criteria. One is that the water must flow freely from its source, meaning it may not be pumped or forced from the ground, and the water must be bottled directly at its source. Furthermore, the water’s properties, such as its temperature, mineral balance, and pressure have not varied in ten years. Some better known brands of mineral water in Europe include Evian and Ferrier of France, Ferarrele of Italy, and Apollinaris of Germany. All these conatin 330, 560, 1,400, and 2,250 ppm of TDS, respectively. MEDICINAL EFFECTS OF MINERAL WATER It has long been believed that mineral springs possess great curative powers. In fact, people have used mineral water since ancient times to cure such ailments as rheumatism, skin infections, and poor digestion. Also, many effervescing waters (impregnated with carbon dioxide gas) are used as table beverages and to dilute spirits or wines. Because of the springs’ medicinal effects, medicinal spas have been built around mineral springs. These spas are frequented by people who are hoping that the spring’s waters will relieve them of their ailments, such as gout, liver trouble, indigestion, and rheumatism. DISTILLED WATER Water that is treated by the process of distillation forms distilled water. This substance is purer than the original water because salt and other impurities do not evaporate with the water. Distillation is the principal method for purifying water. In this process, the water is vaporized into steam, the steam is condensed back into liquid water, and the water is collected in a separate container, leaving behind the impurities. Other methods of water purification include chlorine treatment, ozone treatment, ultraviolet decontamination, and oxidation-reduction media. Also, one method of water purification is with the use of iodinated resin. Iodinated resin can destroy even the smallest viruses through electrostatic attraction. Negatively charged contaminants are drawn to the positively charged resin. This ensures contact, no matter how small the microorganisms that might otherwise escape if filters are used. Upon contact, the resin releases sufficient iodine to penetrate and kill the microorganisms. PRODUCING SAFE, PURE WATER One of the most effective methods of producing safe, pure water consists of a three-step process. The first step is the use of sediment filters to remove large particles. The sediment filter acts to screen out suspended matter and can also remove many harmful bacteria and protozoa that may be present in the water. The second step is to purify the water through the use of iodinated resin. This devitalizes even the smallest harmful microorganisms within the water. Biological contaminants could also be removed by exposure to ultraviolet light, killing the microorganisms that may still be in the water. The third step is the use of carbon filters to remove taste- and odor-causing contaminants. The filter’s activated carbon and its ion exchange resin remove unwanted ions and molecules from water, leaving those that make water  pleasant to drink. The activated carbon also initiates a chemical reaction that converts free chlorine, which water utilities put in water to kill germs, into chloride and hydrogen ions, which are safe and taste all right. Other systems in bottling water consist of several steps that utilize both purification and filtration processes. In some systems, water is passed through as many as 16 stages in the whole process. Water is an all-important substance that sustains life here on earth. However, safe, pure water is becoming a rare commodity everywhere. Bottled water, whether mineral or distilled, offers safe drinking water for all of us.