Weight and Beauty

Link to article

"In the past couple of decades,"

Deborah Carr discusses how important your perceptions/opinions of your physical appearance can affect your life later on. As disturbing as this may be, I can see some truth in this. Concerning the weight of women, Carr puts forth the information that women who have a normal weight in their adolescence will have a higher self esteem than women who were heavier. I see this in my cousins all the time. They are working now and high school is a distant memory for them now. But I have cousins who were popular and very pretty in high school act with confidence than the ones who were not as attractive.

I think it has to do with the fact that the successful people we see are usually attractive. Senators are usually classically, American-ly handsome. Their wives are usually pretty country club women. Celebrities function on their physical appearances and powerful people usually look decent. We don't see ugly people getting rich, getting good jobs, getting happy lives. Sure, it happens but we don't see it. 

Looks in high school can be everything. Scratch that, they are everything. You can be smart, you can be talented, you can be funny but it comes down whether or not if your face is pleasing to look at that decides how people like and treat you. Pretty girls, even if they're dumber than the gum on my shoe, get placed on a pedestal and if they do something wrong people always fondly sigh and say, "at least she's pretty." Boys can be jerks and still have the smartest girls in school swooning because they know how to give a killer grin. If your thin, people compliment your clothes more, remind you how good your figure is. 

That's the way the system goes. It wasn't meant to be like that but looks are something you either got or don't got and in high school it can make or break you. No wonder why the stings of high school linger for so long.

Women of the Bible Pt. 3

Dinah. Tamar. For anyone that might be familiar with the daughters of Jacob and David, the first word that comes to one's mind might be "rape/raped". Sadly, the daughters of these two great men are forever known as the victims of this atrocious crime. The worst part, I believe, is that in many cases their stories are untold and discouraged from being taught. Women are underrepresented in the Bible, that much is a given. Yet it is these stories that never get taught in Sunday/Sabbath schools both in Christian and Jewish tradition until the students are much older. I will be focusing on the story of Dinah.

Dinah's Basic Facts:

• Daughter of Patriarch Jacob
• Only daughter
• Was raped/kidnapped by Canaanite prince
• Brothers killed the prince and majority of the city
• Told in Genesis Chapter 34 

As a nomadic tribe, Jacob often dealt with the rulers of nearby cities as one would rent a hotel room. By a particular city (the name of which is not given), Dinah decided to visit the women in the city. There she met Shechem the prince. Shechem desired Dinah and 'defiled her' or in other words, raped her. Now according to Deuteronomy 22 (link) if a woman is raped, the man must marry her. But this is Jewish law and Shechem was not Jewish. Despite the princes' willingness to pay a bride-price, Jacob couldn't let his daughter who was the great granddaughter of Abraham just marry a heathen and let their blood mix. If they were going to marry the men of the city would have to convert and had to be circumcised.

Since grown men of the city were being circumcised, they would be in pain, probably in a fever due to lack of medication. And Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, decided that they would attack the city while the men were recovering. They killed Shechem, his father, and all the males. They then took all the wealth from the city. 

While there is more to how this story ends, Dinah's part ends there. Jacob is furious at his sons to say the least but they respond, "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?" Now that is what this entire passage has been leading up to. Simeon and Levi were defending their sister's honor. Sure she would've been married but the entire family would know that it was simply to cover up the rape. 

But a different view of this entire incident has taken on a feminist spin. Anita Diamant, author of The Red Tent, doesn't create the story on the premise that Dinah was raped but that the sex was consensual and that Dinah was truly in love with Shechem. It is an interesting point of view and certainly a modern one. And one that I don't agree with. Whether or not Dinah was really raped, I don't understand why we have to reject it. I don't think it gives power to Dinah or that it gives power to women. One can't erase an incident like that. I see Diamant trying to show that Dinah was in love but her love didn't fit in with her family's plans and wishes and wind up taking over, leaving Dinah defenseless in a patriarchal society. 

That might have been the real incident. We don't have any way to prove it. But it isn't the story in the Bible and I find it degrading to Dinah. In Exodus when listing the families of Joseph (Dinah's younger half brother), Dinah and her son is mentioned. No father. I think this shows that despite her rape, despite this horrible and traumatic incident, Dinah was able to move on with her life and raise a child that would claim heritage to one of the greatest nations at the time. 

She may not be taught in schools or included in lessons but Dinah's story is important when learning about women of the Bible. An entire chapter is dedicated to her, rare for a woman in this text. She shows the ugly side of the world, a side that existed back in those times and that she made it through and empowered herself.

Profiling Planes like a Patriot

In regards to how these essays put profiling, national security, and the USA Patriot act into perspective, I have to say that my perspective hasn't shifted at violently as i wanted to. I've been travelling outside the US since I was around one year old so in the few memories I have, I can say I remember how much easier it was to get through security. I even remember the first time I was told I wasn't allowed to bring my water bottle through security and my surprise at how tight security was. Concerning profiling, I hail from New York City where numerous Muslims or anyone who looked suspicious were pulled out of line. It was normal to see stuff like that. And I guess this is where the perspective comes into play. I didn't realize until today that pulling people of Middle Eastern physicality was and is not a normal sight to see at an airport.

While I do not think it is right to practice racial profiling (also since it's illegal), I cannot help to think about how normal, how integrated racial profiling is in our daily lives. Everyone is suspicious of the Middle Eatern looking man on the airplane or the black man walking behind them on a dark street. And when security at an airport pulls a man with a turban from the line (yes I know that those who wear turbans are not Muslims), we might be appalled that it might happen to a man who did nothing suspicious, but we probably all feel a little relieved or justify the actions. It's not right but this is our culture now. Security, national threats, safety, terrorism are apart of our generation just as much as iPhones.

The two essays concerning the USA Patriot act displays how we as a nation have been pulled between two concepts: security or rights. Are we willing to make sure we are the safest nation in the world? We are. But at what price? Our constitutional rights and privacy. It seems that there cannot be one without the other. The general population does not have the time to examine the USA Patriot act and to fully understand what it means. I don't have the time, I don't think really anyone who isn't retired or directly involved has the time. But it is important that we understand where the government stands when it comes to looking at us and our histories.