Secret Life of Bees Research Paper

Jackie Yets 3/21/11 Per. 6, English H2/SP Secret Life of Bees Research Paper While one reads the Sue Monk Kidd novel, The Secret Life of Bees, an enigma acquainted with the book is why the Black Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia is used as opposed to a white Virgin Mary. With the story taking place in the racist south of 1964 it would be reasonable to assume that a black Mary wouldn’t be common, or readily accepted; however she still occupies a large area of the women’s lives. For the Boatwright’s, the Daughters of Mary, and quickly for Lily and Rosaleen, the black Virgin Mary is placed in the book as a source of strength, and maternal comfort. The most obvious symbolism of the Black Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia is that it is featured in the novel to give the characters a religious strength. In the story of ‘Our Lady of Chains’ August tells how the statue was such an inspiration to the slaves, and how â€Å"Our Lady filled their hearts with fearlessness†¦ And if it ever grew weak, they would only have to touch her heart again,† (109-110). ‘Our Lady of Chains’, another Divine black figure in the book besides the Madonna of Breznichar, does that same thing for all of the women. Along with ‘Our Lady’ the Bohemian Black Madonna has the same effect on the Daughters of Mary, because it showed them that â€Å"what’s divine can come in dark skin. You see, everybody needs a God who looks like them,† (141). In the real world however, there is no such thing as the Black Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia. The historical region of Bohemia was located in the same area as modern Poland, and Poland is home to a well known Black Madonna, Our Lady of Czestochowa, who shares many similarities with the Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia. These similarities, including features and elements of the pictures, strongly suggest that the Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia is based on Our Lady of Czestochowa. Our Lady of Czestochowa is well known for her ‘miracle working’, mostly involving scaring away foreign invaders and assisting small groups of defenders in defeating powerful armies (Similar to Lily, Rosaleen, the Boatwrights, and the Daughters of Mary gaining the strength to convince an angry T-Ray to leave Lily with them? ). The Black Madonna is also historically known to have been at the foundation of rebellions and revolutions, and leading to freedom; which can again be connected to Lily leaving and becoming free of her father. However the Black Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia also has another role. Another component of the Bohemian Madonna’s role is her place as a ‘mother of thousands’. In a reflection on The Secret Life of Bees by the author, Sue Monk Kidd said that the Black Virgin Mary existed in the novel to be a symbol of comfort. She also planned for Lily to have a coming home to herself, and a discovery of a mother within to take place with the help of a divine female presence, the Black Mary. Along with the strong connections between the Mary and a mother-like role to the characters, in a religious perspective she is of course a symbol of motherhood, and giving life. In general, the Virgin Mary is known for giving birth to Christ. There is also another connection concerning the Black Mary, which is that she is the ancient earth-goddess that was altered for use in Christianity. Many other goddesses were pictured as black, most importantly Ceres the Roman goddess of agricultural fertility. Keeping in mind the theory that the Black Madonna is an ancient earth-goddess, agriculturally the best fertile soil is characterized by a black color. The blacker the soil, the more becoming it is for farming. Good farming leads to more food, which keeps humans alive. Summing it up, the black earth gives life. This is another strong connection to a life giving maternal role. There’s also another spiritual connection to the comfort brought by the presence of Our Lady of Czestochowa. This connection regards the hidden meaning of the colors present in the images of the Mother; first is the blue-green background, which symbolizes hope. Foremost, the brown skin color is more important, subtly indicating the human element as well as the long history seen by the Madonna. With all of these characteristics related to the Black Virgin Mary, it is clear why Kidd would create this divine figure to inspire her cast of characters. The insurgence nurtured in the history of Black Madonna created the perfect symbol to guide Lily in her search for a home and a connection to both her literal mother, as well as the mother within herself. Works Cited Duricy, Michael P. â€Å"Black Madonnas: Our Lady of Czestochowa. † Black Madonnas. The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute. , 26 March 2008. Web. 13 March 2011. Jozwik, Ziemowit. A Treasury of Europe. Europe and Me Magazine. N. p. 4 January 2010. Web. 13 March 2011. < http://www. europeandme. eu/8heart/455-the-black-madonna> Kidd, Sue Monk. Secret Life of Bees- The Black Madonna in the Novel. Sue Monk Kidd. LUX Interactive, LLC. , n. d. Web. 13 March 2011. Duricy, Michael P. Black Madonnas. The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, 6 October 2009. Web. 13 March 2011. Cahoy, Nate. Comparing Madonnas. The Black Madonnas. PB Works. n. d. Web. 13 March 2011. Our Lady of CzestochowaBlack Madonna of Breznichar in Bohemia

English language Essay

Why choose Westminster Kingsway College? Our central London location: courses take place at our Victoria Centre which is a five-minute walk from Victoria mainline and underground stations Our facilities and resources: the centre has a very well-equipped Learning Centre with IT facilities and an extensive range of teaching and learning materials Our online Virtual Learning Environment ‘Moodle’: this allows access to a range of support materials on your home PC Our experience: we have been running teacher training courses for over 25 years and have a well-deserved reputation for extremely high quality, effective teaching Our training team: we have a large team of highly-qualified and experienced teacher trainers. They have all worked in the public and private sectors in the UK and overseas and some are CELTA assessors. You can find out more about them in the â€Å"Trainer Profile† section Our quality assurance systems: in addition to external monitoring by Cambridge, we are part of the public sector and are inspected by OFSTED Our success rates: we have a proven track-record of extremely good pass rates on all our courses The level of individual attention we offer: our trainers are involved at every stage of your course, from initial enquiry to post-course advice and guidance The profile of our teaching practice groups: our students are highly motivated and come from a very wide variety of linguistic, geographic and social backgrounds. Some are asylum seekers and refugees whilst others are living and working in London for a relatively short time. This mix of students means that your teaching practice gives you experience to equip you to teach in a range of contexts in both the private and public sector in the UK or overseas. It also helps you decide which sector you would prefer to work in Extremely high level of trainee satisfaction: see â€Å"What CELTA did for me† for comments from past trainees Advice and guidance on employment opportunities: all our courses include sessions on finding teaching work, and some of our candidates go on to work in Westminster Kingsway and other colleges If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your application, please contact one of our trainers on 020 7802 8940 / 8343 / 8378. The College is closed over Christmas, Easter and during the summer holidays. During these times, you will hear a voice-message giving you further information.3 About Westminster Kingsway College: Teacher Training Westminster Kingsway College’s Teacher Training courses are based at the Victoria Centre, right in the heart of London, about 5 minutes walk from Victoria underground and main line station. In addition to Teacher Training courses, the College offers part-time day and evening courses in English/ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). We are part of the public sector and receive government funding for our courses. This means that our fees compare favourably with other teacher training providers. Our facilities include a large cafeteria, a very well-equipped Learning Centre and computer access for all learners. Our Teacher Trainers All our team are qualified teacher trainers, with extensive experience of teaching EFL and ESOL in a range of contexts, both in the UK and overseas. The majority are also Cambridge-accredited external assessors. They are all directly employed by the College and regularly update their teacher training skills and expertise. Trainer Profiles Katerina Ashiotis: Katerina started her teaching career as an EFL teacher in the private sector in London soon after leaving college. She travelled, then taught in Greece for two years in a private school. She then returned to London and worked as an English teacher teaching adults full-time. She worked in three different private schools as an EFL teacher, Senior Teacher and Director of Studies and started teacher training in 1994. Katerina has a Diploma and an MA in Linguistics and in 2002 completed a PGCE in FE (PCET with ESOL Specialism). Parallel to working and training in the private sector she worked as a visiting EFL lecturer at Westminster Kingsway College for over 12 years. She started working at Westminster Kingsway College full-time as an ELT lecturer and teacher trainer in 2002. In addition to the CELTA course, Katerina is also a teacher trainer for PTLLS and DTLLS courses. Most recently, she has been involved in the design and delivery of a number of training programmes for teachers from South Korea and Albania. Chris Brain: Following a degree in history and a PGCE at the University of London, Chris started teaching EFL in London in 1979. He then worked in Italy from 1980 to 1988 and took the RSA Diploma at International House in Rome in 1986. He returned to London in 1989 and subsequently trained as a CELTA trainer. He continued to work in the private sector, became a CELTA Assessor in 1992 and a DELTA trainer in 1998. Chris joined Westminster Kingsway College in January 2000 as a full-time member of staff and has worked on a variety of courses including EFL, ESOL, CELTA and DELTA. Michael Harmsworth: Michael began teaching in 1982 and became a teacher trainer in 1986. He has been at Westminster Kingsway College since October 1997. Before that he was Director of Teacher Training at two private language schools in London after spending a total of eight years working abroad, in Greece, Italy and Spain. In 1992 he became an Assessor for the CELTA course. Michael has an MA with Distinction in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and the Cambridge/RSA Diploma with Distinction. He has delivered an extensive range of training courses at all levels. His current studies are focused on his obtaining Associate Membership of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA). Gabriel Mulcauley: Gabriel completed a degree in English Literature at the University of Sheffield followed by a PGCE in English and Drama at the University of Leeds. Her first experience of teaching English was in a Summer School in Greece. Having spent several years travelling and teaching in private language schools, Gabriel came to London in 1991 and took the Diploma in TEFL at Waltham Forest College in 1992. She began working in Further Education in 1994 at Hackney Community College before joining Westminster Kingsway College in 1998. Gabriel started training to be a teacher trainer in November 2004 and is enjoying this interesting new challenge. 4 Our English/ESOL courses and students Our English/ESOL courses are suitable for adult learners (19+) who are living in the UK either permanently or as refugees or asylum seekers and for European migrant workers. We offer a variety of courses to meet a wide range of needs. Some courses are more suitable for EU migrant workers and enable students to gain a qualification quickly. Others are more appropriate for students who need to catch up on other skills, such as basic literacy. All courses are part-time, either day-time or evening, and last either for one term or one semester (18 weeks). Students study either every day (Monday – Friday) or two evenings per week (Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday). There are two study options on the daytime courses: ESOL Extra and ESOL Express. On ESOL Extra learners study for 2.5 hours per day and on ESOL Express they study for 2 hours per day. On the evening courses, hours are the same: learners study for 2.5 hours on two evenings per week. Qualifications All the courses lead to an examination: this is usually a Trinity Skills for Life Certificate. We offer these qualifications at 5 levels from Entry 1 (beginner) to Level 2. Students take an examination in Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing. 5 The Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages: CELTA (incorporating the award in Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector: PTLLS) What is CELTA? CELTA is an initial qualification for people with little or no previous teaching experience. It is the best known and most widely taken initial ‘TESOL/TEFL’ qualification of its kind in the world. Who recognises CELTA? It is accepted throughout the world by organisations which employ English Language teachers. It has also been accredited by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) at Level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Who is CELTA for? People starting a career in English Language teaching: The course will give you a firm grounding in the fundamentals of language teaching practice, and the confidence to use these effectively in the classroom. People looking for a career change or career break: An increasing number of candidates are professionals who would like a new career path or want to take a short break in their existing career, which may involve the opportunity to live and work abroad. People already teaching English but with no formal qualifications: You may already be teaching English but have no formal teaching qualifications. CELTA will help you improve your teaching, confirm your ability and may lead to internal promotion or a better teaching job. Who is eligible to apply? We recommend that candidates have a standard of education equivalent to that required for entry into higher education (normally 2 â€Å"A† levels and above). You will also need good numeracy skills. However, we are happy to consider applications from candidates who do not have formal qualifications at this level but who can demonstrate that they have appropriate language competence, skills, and experience. The course is open to both native and non-native speakers of English. If English is not your first language, you must have a command of written and spoken English that enables you to teach across a range of levels and complete the written assignments. In our experience, most successful candidates have English as their first language and are graduates. What does CELTA involve? The course is extremely demanding and requires a high level of commitment. You are required to attend the whole course, and complete homework assignments. You will have to devote a considerable amount of time to course work outside class hours, and we strongly recommend that you do not do any part-time work or other studies during the course. You should also be prepared to accept constructive criticism from your trainers and other trainees and be willing to reconsider your assumptions about teaching and learning. What does the course cover? The course aims to teach the principles of effective teaching and a range of practical skills for teaching English to adult learners. You will have hands-on teaching practice, observe experienced teachers and complete four practically-focussed written assignments. 6 There are five main units of learning: Unit 1: Learners and teachers and the teaching and learning context Unit 2: Language Analysis and awareness Unit 3: Language skills: reading, listening, speaking and writing Unit 4: Planning and resources for different teaching contacts Unit 5: Developing teaching skills and professionalism. How will I be assessed? You will be assessed throughout the course: there is no final examination. An external assessor, appointed by Cambridge ESOL, moderates each course. There are two components of assessment: Teaching Practice: You will teach for a total of six hours, working with classes at two ability levels. Assessment is based on your overall performance at the end of the six hours. Written Assignments: You will complete four written assignments: one on adult learning and learning contexts, one on an aspect of the language system of English, one on an aspect of language skills and one on classroom teaching and the identification of action points. Assessment and Grading Grading of candidates is by continuous assessment. There is no final examination. Successful candidates are awarded the â€Å"Cambridge CELTA† at one of the following grades: â€Å"Pass†, Pass â€Å"B†, and Pass â€Å"A†. On average, about 60% of our trainees achieve a Pass, 30% achieve a Pass â€Å"B† and 5% are awarded a Pass â€Å"A†. About 5% do not succeed. While everything on the course is taken into account, and you must complete the written assignments satisfactorily, the most heavily weighted factor is your teaching performance. You will receive written feedback, including an assessment of your teaching, on all the lessons you teach. You will have at least two individual tutorials to check that your perception of your progress agrees with that of your trainers. If there is a danger that you will fail, your trainers will make this clear and discuss where and how you can improve. We aim to be as clear and open as possible about your development. As part of the Cambridge scheme, every course is moderated by an external assessor, who visits the college for one or two days. In addition to checking that we are complying with course regulations, the assessor is available to listen to any points you or your group would like to make. If you feel that we are giving you unfair assessments, you can discuss this with the assessor. Applying for the course Selection to the course is based on an interview, lasting approximately two hours and a written task. Please complete the application form at the back of this booklet and submit it with your personal statement to the Course Organiser. You will be given the written task at the interview. 7 Frequently Asked Questions Is it a problem that I’ve never taught before? No. The course is an introduction to English language teaching. People who already have experience sometimes find it a drawback as it can be difficult to unlearn old habits and learn new techniques. I have got lots of presence, I know a lot about English and I am used to standing up in front of people and telling them things, so I am bound to be a good teacher, right? Wrong. The abilities to relate well and listen to learners are more important than an over-emphasis on â€Å"telling†. Does it matter if I miss any part of the course? Yes. 100% attendance is expected other than in exceptional circumstances. What happens if I am ill during the course? The Cambridge rules stipulate that if you miss more than 20% of the whole course or any of the 6 hours of assessed teaching practice, you are not eligible for the certificate other than in exceptional circumstances. Will there be much paperwork? You will be responsible for maintaining a portfolio of your work during the course and this constitutes your official assessed record. You will also need to be able to keep records and retrieve papers easily. I have never been able to spell properly: does it matter? Yes. Learners of English expect their teachers to be able to spell reasonably accurately. Also, Cambridge rules require candidates to be able to write in English that is â€Å"essentially free of errors†. Part of our interview process is designed to check this. Will I have to follow any particular methodology? Our aim is to provide you with a range of techniques and approaches which you will be able to select from. I have never learned grammar before: is this a problem? Many native speakers of English know little about the mechanics of their own language and are unconfident about teaching grammar. Part of our selection process is to check that you have the potential to follow the grammar component of the course. When I have completed my CELTA, what further teaching qualifications should I take? It depends on your career plans. If you intend to work in Further Education, the Cambridge ESOL Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector will give you the qualification you need. If you want a qualification which has a more international bias, and if you are interested in developing your EFL career more broadly, the DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults) may be more appropriate. We do not currently offer the DELTA course at WKC. If I am successful in CELTA, can I take the Cambridge ESOL Diploma course immediately afterwards? We recommend that you gain at least 50 hours practical teaching experience before starting the Diploma. You will have to go through a selection process which involves an interview and completion of a task. Also, we can only accept you onto the Diploma course if you already teach, or are planning to teach, in the Further Education sector. 8 Useful Books There is no official reading list, but here are some useful titles: Methodology Learning Teaching, Jim Scrivener (Macmillan Heinemann). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th edition), Jeremy Harmer (Longman). Grammar Practical English Usage, Michael Swan (OUP). Grammar for English Language Teaching, Martin Parrot (CUP). What CELTA has done for me? For many of our trainees, success on their course has led to some very positive changes in their lives. This is what two of them told us: â€Å"I was 51 when I did my CELTA course†¦ a bit old, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it 20 years earlier. My day job had become excruciatingly unbearable and it was when I was doing Spanish evening classes that I got the idea of doing a CELTA when I realised what a pleasant life my Spanish teacher was having. The 4-week course was intensive but that was part of the enjoyment. The three tutors were very supportive throughout and always gave us frank and honest advice. The students were a friendly mix of people and were always patient and good-humoured with their rather clumsy and inexperienced teachers. It was a very rewarding experience and at the end of the course I felt that I had got my brain back. I would advise it to anyone, but especially those who are free to go abroad and teach, as schools in this country tend to want teachers with experience unless you do a Summer School. Nevertheless, a CELTA is a very versatile extra string to anyone’s bow, and with it you should find it way to find a job anywhere in the world.† Mick Hutchinson â€Å"I did a CELTA course when I was 24 years old. I had just finished a contract as an Events Assistant in the city and was looking for something different to do. I had heard a lot about CELTA and TEFL courses and how useful they were if you wanted to go travelling and even to teach English in your home country. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and it was a very satisfying as well as challenging experience. However, be warned that for one month it is hard work, but it’s well worth it! â€Å"When I completed my CELTA I taught English to Italian students for a while but went back to work in the city. However, I always knew I would use the CELTA at some point and I am now about to spend the summer in Ecuador teaching English!† Diana Chapman What motivates students? What can you do to keep motivation high? Teacher Training with Westminster Kingsway College Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions and it provides you with the opportunity to interact with people of all ages and from all walks of life. Westminster Kingsway College offers a number of teaching courses that will help you to progress into teaching as a career and develop your skills for the classroom. Careers at a glance: Teacher Lecturer Headteacher Social Worker Researcher School Administrator Teaching Courses at Westminster Kingsway College: This is a selection of the teaching courses at the College – contact us for further details. CELTA: Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Access to Higher Education Diploma: Education Studies and Teacher Training Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS) Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (DTLLS) Visit www.westking.ac.uk for further details about Westminster Kingsway College

Analysing The God Of Small Things English Literature Essay

Analysing The God Of Small Things English Literature Essay ‘May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid’. This luscious and mysterious description of India sounds unmistakably like a tourist novel yet this example of post colonial exoticism is used to lure in readers to the novel ‘The God of Small Things’. Whilst being better known for its celebrity stakes of the Booker Prize, the author Arundhati Roy is ethnic, a strong activist and her cultural authenticity passively provides an authentic Indian voice through her idealised western way of talking and thinking about the east. Roy plays into a colonial style known for its dominating, restructuring and authoritative power over India using references from politics and history to keep the story real and dangerously intoxicating for her western readers. It serves the dual purpose of being able to write back to the ’empire’ whilst becoming a product of global capitalism, hybridity of the west and the east, using eastern examples of western ideals through examples of critiqued power relations and subverted ideas of the ‘exotic’. The society of Ayamenem strongly follows westerns ideas adopted from its colonial background by living with a caste system in which there are two classes, the inferior ‘touchables’ who are of a higher class than the ‘untouchables’. This idea is borrowed from the class system of the British so the inequality between both is familiar to its readers but is also exotic in the way that it controls society and influences everyday life. The extremity of having the ‘untouchables’ so grateful to the ‘touchable’ class that a man is willing to kill his own son when he discovers that he has broken the most important caste rule, that there is no interclass relations. These rules of society are unknown to that of the reader; it provides them with the mystery and danger of the exotic. Also having no interclass relations means that there is a lot of tension in the relationships between characters in the novel. The ‘untouchables’ have internalized class segregation and are aware of the limits of their place in society. Relationships with these people are strongly discouraged but the members of this family find reason to cross and defy these rules. This is unusual behaviour and the idea of resistance against the adopted colonial system is exciting to its western audience who believe that the underdog can win although Roy’s account provides enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing the consequences of the characters defiance. The novel also exoticises India’s inequality, making it light hearted and approachable for its western audience. The style of writing suggests that Roy has written the story from an outsider’s perspective, looking, observing and commenting on daily life, ‘strange insects appeared like ideas in the evening’, questioning her authenticity thro ugh her strategic use of words and in this example she tells the reader of ‘strange’ insects in the afternoon yet these insects should be familiar to the teller of the story. This westernisation becomes more apparent through Indian society who seem like they are trying to appeal to the wider western audience. While choosing a name for the family pickle company the relevance of the name was an important factor, ‘At first he wanted to call it Zeus Pickles and Preserves, but that idea was vetoed because everybody said that Zeus was too obscure and had no local relevance, whereas Paradise did. (Comrade Pillai’s suggestion -Parashuram Pickles was vetoed for the opposite reason: too much local relevance).’ Instead of marketing to their local community, the name Paradise seemed more suitable which shows how self aware their society has become knowing that the pickling company could be seen on a global scale promoting its exotic feeling to produce global pro duct. Roy promotes this kind of thinking throughout her novel and in a sense she is able to ‘sell’ her culture through her strategic storytelling. She tells of hotels that have truncated traditional kathakali performances from ‘six hour classics – to twenty minutes cameos’ for the small attention spans of the tourists. It shows how Indian society has given into its colonialisation, allowing their cultural values and actions to be altered so that it can be marketed on a global scale. The strategic use of how India will be seen from a tourist point of view appeals greatly to those who have never seen India and in these terms Roy provides the idealistic tourist guide that they have been seeking with bite sized portions of a culturally authentic experience such as her use of traditional Malayalam words throughout the text.

Topic and apa review of literture narctics Essay

Topic and apa review of literture narctics - Essay Example Also, massive corruption and inadequate legislation on drug trafficking have perpetrated drug smuggling in the country. With improving law enactment in regions of operation of the cartels, the immense power, which the cartels had in 1990s, is slowly diminishing. However, Mexico still remains a den for drug barons and most of the drug cartels are still in operation despite incarcerations and killings of their founders. Mexican Drug Cartels Introduction The drug cartels have been in constant pursuit of regional control against forces of the Mexican government. The government focus has been to exterminate the gruel murders that result from powerful drug cartels duels. The Mexican government has for long focused on ending the fight between drug moguls rather than stopping drug trafficking, particularly into the U.S. The Mexican Drug Cartels can be traced back to several decades ago. However, they have been increasingly gaining power since the demise of Colombia’s Cali and Medellin cartels during 1990s (The National, 2011). Currently, the Mexican Drug Cartels dominate illicit drug market and control about 90 percent of illegal drugs smuggled into the U.S. this paper explores The Mexican Drug cartels and the reasons for their existence. Drug Production and Trafficking Marijuana, heroine, cocaine and methamphetamine, are the main drugs that drug barons smuggle across the border between the U.S. and Mexico (Shanty & Mishra, 2008). Marijuana and opium are grown in Mexico in plenty. According to Shanty and Mishra (2008), the quantity of marijuana supplied to the U.S. at one time from Mexico was approximately 95 percent of the overall marijuana consumed in the U.S. Presently, Mexico smuggles less than half the marijuana supplied to the United States. However, almost all cocaine that is smuggled into the United States first goes through Mexico before reaching the U.S. Most of the cocaine transported to the U.S. are airlifted or shipped from Colombia into Mexico befo re being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border (Shanty & Mishra, 2008). â€Å"About one-third of all heroine that enters the United States is developed from opium poppy plants grown in Mexico† (Shanty & Mishra, 2008, p.332). Mexico also established an attractive market for methamphetamine manufactured from precursor chemicals, which the Mexican government does not strictly regulate their importation. The chemicals are imported from countries like India, China and the U.S. The vast number of individuals, who cross the border into the U.S. daily, complicates the extent to which the government can control the flow of illegal drugs into the country (Grillo, 2012). For instance, approximately 295 million people, 88 million automobiles and 4.5 million trucks cross the U.S-Mexico boundary each year. Out of this estimation, just 10 vehicles are stopped and less this number is checked (Shanty & Mishra, 2008). Also, massive corruption among government officials encourage drug traffick ing in the country (Grillo, 2012; Klabin, 2013). In 1980s, drug smuggling was facilitated by drug consortiums that offered services to Colombian cartels for a fee of about $1,000-$2,000 for every kilogram of cocaine (Shanty & Mishra, 2008). Owing to the high level of risks in the trade, the syndicates demanded for a large chunk of profit share. Within a short span, the Mexican drug cartels were getting up to more than half the profits generated from cocaine trade. This lucrative gain enabled the Mexican drug cartels to take over as chief suppliers of cocaine. They also

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CJUS 310 DB5 - Essay Example Community structure and the way it is organized has been assumed to be a recognizable factor when researching on the variation between crime rates and the respective communities from where the juveniles reside. High population density, low degree of attachment to the neighborhood, increased urbanization, and extreme residential mobility may worsen the probability of children to decide to engage in criminal acts. Overcrowded living environs, absence of, or limited natural surveillance, poor housing, and physical deterioration by the immediate population also associate with childhood delinquency minds and conduct disorder. Other related external factors in the community structure like poverty may interrelate with negative community characteristics and as a result produce many financial issues that may make children vulnerable to crime. Weak community bonds may also be a root to the inability to resist the penetration and distribution of drugs among ganged-up children, whose minds may be focused on carrying out criminal offenses to either get finances for the purchase of drugs or are just influenced to engage in acts like robbery and rape (Bursik & Webb,

The Effects of 9-11 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Effects of 9-11 - Essay Example failures that contributed to the 9-11 attacks like lack of in-flight safety actions like bulletproof cockpit doors, lack of protocols for implementing a coordinated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the access control problem in airport. In 1998 and 1999, a test was performed whose main purpose was to know if security could be broken, the special agent were able to get the access to secure areas and board the aircraft 117 times 68% in all tries. It was done at 8 different airports. In May 2000, a report stated that special agent used fake identifications to reach on these security areas at two different airports. They sent security checkpoints and reached to departure gates of airport. These agents might have harmful items like explosive and missiles onto the aircraft (Dillingham 2). Many Improvements were made to change security and intelligence tactics in the weak areas e.g. founding a state security screener labor force under TSA at airfields, requiring explosive detection screening of all checked bags and strengthening the cockpit doors. Through FAA the access to secure areas also has been improved. FAA is also working on â€Å"smart card† that will confirm the identity of workplaces and approval for bypassing passenger screening. (Dillingham 5)Development of many programs for screening and recognizing danger items are in process. Some other security measures were made for avoiding probable terrorist attacks such as checking of passengers’ shoes at the gate. Many security programs have been implemented e.g. The Known Shipper Program and the Federal Air Marshall Program. The FAA has also implemented the Threat Image Projection (TIP) systems. TIP systems aware screeners by showing them the images of dangerous items on screens of X- ray machines and they also measure the screener performance by noticing threat items. A new fingerprinting system is also implemented and used in many international airports. I think, before the September 11 attacks,

Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Law - Essay Example They are also liable for replacement of the faulty blu-ray player purchased by Bob from them although more than 3 days have passed after the purchase. Reckless Department Store is just what their name expounds – it is reckless. One cannot do business in a reckless manner. The removal of the lower guard rails on the stairwell despite many complaints from customers was responsible for Lassie’s death. The fracturing of Bob’s skull due to the barrier’s crash on the car’s roof was also the fault of Reckless Department Store because the car park was handled or mishandled by them. Finally, the malfunction of the blu-ray player must be set right by Reckless Department Store because they cannot count the number of days Bob spent in the hospital for the purpose of the sale contract (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, p1). Actually, Erewhon Police Service must take the initiative in handling all the three cases. This is because of Reckless Department Store’s negligence that the mishaps have occurred. Reckless’ irresponsible behavior resulted in the loss of their dog, and loss of manpower as Bob could not report for duty during his time at the hospital. The three cases must be handed to a legal expert who will be able to interpret the laws to their logical conclusions. Reckless Department Store is misinterpreting laws to its own benefits. First of all, Reckless must have closed operation or relocated elsewhere while renovation work was going on. By not keeping business closed due to renovation, Reckless was exposing customers to myriad risks and dangers. Reckless must be taken to task sufficiently so that it sends the clear message for Department Store and other businesses to close operation or relocate while renovation is in progress in their own premises. Otherwise it will become easy for others to carry on business in similar circumstances and throw up their hands when faced with litigations for accidents and losses

Human Resource Case Study Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Case Study Essay 1. I think his request is reasonable. Nancy should have the time to address Mark’s request to develop an appropriate structure to deal with the growth of both companies. She will be able to present the possible strategies to overcome a shortage of employees. As well, she can discuss reasons why Family Distribution has experienced such a drastic fallout of staff over the past two years. Another topic she should have time to research are the complaints about the hiring practices at Family Manufacturing, whether they have genuine merit, and if so, what can be done to correct the situation. She should also be able to address the concerns of the vice president’s of both companies. . 2. I would not recommend one comprehensive plan for both companies because they are both experiencing different challenges that require separate action plans. Family Medical Distribution is making far less profit than it did at its peak in 1989 and has had to evolve into a specialty distributor of high end supplies just to stay afloat. Family Medical Manufacturing, on the other hand, is continuously exceeding its growth and profit projections yearly. They have the potential to grow the company even further but do not currently have the human resources to do so. . 3. Sam is a person who has been with the company for quite a long time. He has served in various positions and moved his way up the ranks, so he would have a good understanding about how the business is run. I think that Nancy should befriend him to understand his point of view and unique insights on how the company has evolved over time. . I think that Sam understands that a plan needs to be implemented to turn the company around. He has spent time and resources trying to evaluate his marketing department, sales, and operations. He’s even expressed that the staff need to work â€Å"smarter† not â€Å"harder†, but has given no specific direction on what could be done to make this a reality. His skepticism towards the value of HR seems to be based on the results of a department that has been running without a manager for the past 13 months. Even though the HR associate, Claire Jackson, has done a great job trying to keep things afloat, she simply does not have the time or expertise to run the entire department by herself. His judgment of the results is fair in the sense that HR is not particularly useful in its current incarnation, but he doesnt seem to have the insight to understand how much it could accomplish if it were running smoothly with competent leadership. . Nancy should explain to Sam that the best way to make the company more efficient and to work â€Å"smarter† is by appreciating how important a structured, secure working environment is to people. In order to make the company more profitable, she needs to convince him that the most important thing to do right now is to sort out how best to utilize people to achieve quality performance while at the same time promoting a business plan that will encourage growth. . 4. One glaring challenge is that there are four past complaints about hiring practices. Trust among the employees for the hiring process has been diminished, and the damage has already been done. Even though Mark Olsen seems to understand the importance of a strategic HR program, he has made some critical mistakes and shown a lapse in judgment in three ways. . Firstly, he has shown a bias in hiring people from his former employer in all cases of formal complaints made against the company. It is doubtful that the interview and selection process for these positions was done in a fair, unbiased manner. . Secondly, he has ignored the resources he already had at his disposal by hiring employees externally. In all formal complaints the employees had the education and training do the job they were applying for. Most people want a sense of purpose and accomplishment from their careers, and ignoring that basic desire will only create discontent among the workforce. . Finally, he disregarded and disrespected the entire hiring process by promising a position to someone before the opening had even been posted. In my opinion, this type of favoritism is one of the fastest ways to demoralize people. . At the upcoming meeting for Nancy’s presentation of her human resource plans, she needs to address these mistakes and explain to Mark how important it is to follow procedure, respect the hiring process, and moreover to respect his own employees. . 2. When Nancy present’s her plan, she needs to explain the different challenges that both companies are dealing with. There are pressures and opportunities to be found in both cases. Family Medical Distribution is a well respected company but has undergone significant downsizing due to government cutbacks. The opportunity here is to create an efficient supplementary business that will complement its manufacturing counterpart. Family Medical Manufacturing has plenty of room to grow, but not enough qualified personnel to help develop its upcoming products. . Next, she should state what goals of the company are to get clear about where they want to be in a five year time frame and what it will take to get there. Mark has said that his goal is to enter the home nursing market, so the plan needs to account for what needs to be done to achieve this goal from a HR perspective. . I think the most important issue that both companies need help with is in utilizing the talents and skills of their workforce in a way that compliments the needs of both divisions. The best solution is to consider both companies as one working unit from a HR standpoint. The deficiencies in staffing at Manufacturing could feasibly be satisfied by transferring the appropriate staff from Distribution. This would be an elegant way of taking care of the staffing needs of both companies while at the same time improving employee relations with upper management, an important first step in regaining a sense of trust and security. Nancy should also suggest that some of the money and employee benefits invested in Manufacturing’s new facility be put into effect at Distribution’s plant. It’s important to show genuine equality to employees and this would help to impart the understanding that both businesses are important for continued success.

Search for Identity through Body Modification

Search for Identity through Body Modification Judging from Appearances Body modification of one sort or another has always been practiced new technologies have opened up the possibility for radical change. This has meant that we can now change fundamental aspects of our bodies most obviously our biological sex, but also racial characteristics, signs of ageing and apparent physical imperfections. Basically will be looking at what it means to want to radically alter the body to believe indeed that we have the wrong body Case Study: Nip Tuck Throughout the dissertation will be exploring the meanings acquired by the body in modern, western societies. In doing so the dissertation will examine the ways in which bodies are shaped, acted upon, represented and experienced. Therefore explore various ways in which the body has been seen as an object (the body we have), as a subject (the body we are) and as project (the body that we become) and will explore how these processes are intimately linked to regimes of power and knowledge. For example, recent years have seen the increased prominence and significance of various body projects health and fitness, dieting, cosmetic surgery and body modification- alongside a number of contemporary problems associated with the body new reproductive technologies, genetic engineering, cybernetics, etc. As these examples show, the body in contemporary culture has become a malleable object crucial for the articulation of identities of race ,gender, and sub cultural affiliation. This dissertation will critically examine some of these contemporary trends whilst simultaneously focusing on their social and historical contexts in order to give us a broader understanding of their meanings and implications. I. Introduction Body modification has been practiced in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons since ancient times; it has existed on some level for thousands of years. Historical evidence suggests that red dye extracted from hematite was used to paint the body as many as 20,000years ago. Archaeological evidence proves that as many as 10,000 years ago, parts of animal bones, animal teeth, and colourful stones were used to decorate the body. Hair combs date back to nearly 5,000 years ago. Water served ancient peoples as mirrors until 4,500, when the first mirror is believed to have been invented (Ethan, 1999, 49-52). Society has progressed since those early days. One need only turn on the television or leaf through a magazine to be bombarded with all kinds of advertisements for body modification. Chemical treatments can straighten hair and change skin tone and texture. Surgical procedures can decrease or (more often) augment breast size. Penile implants claim to enhance sexual performance. Unwanted fat can be removed in any number ways, ranging from dietary changes to liposuction. Some signs of ageing can be temporarily reversed with injections of Botox; others can be permanently altered, again through surgery. Today in the western world, body modification is widely practiced in all classes of society. Often it is the result of societal pressure to achieve perfection. At times it is a ritual or rite of initiation within a group or social hierarchy. Less often, although this is steadily increasing, the body is modified to change its gender; this is done through surgical procedures supplemented by hormonal and similar supplementary treatments. Women are considered the most frequent targets of this pressure to achieve somatic perfection, and therefore they are the most frequent practitioners of body modification. However, this pressure affects means well. This paper will examine four specific types of body modification: tattooing and scarification; piercing; diet and exercise; and aesthetic surgery. Although these are by no means the only methods of body modification, they are among the most widespread and they cover a wide spectrum. Still, whether it takes the form of a minor dietary modification or an extreme makeover, it is clear that most individuals in the western world practice some sort of body modification. For this reason, it is a practice which merits close study and consideration. How far will some individuals go in this pursuit for perfection? How much of this will society sanction? What are the implications for our future and that of future generations? These are the questions to be explored throughout the course of this research. Tattoos and Scarification The word â€Å"tattoo† is derived from a Tahitian word meaning â€Å"to mark. â€Å"The act of tattooing is believed to be over ten thousand years old, and it has had a variety of uses throughout history. Tattoos have played an important role in various tribal and cultural rituals. For example, ancient Greeks used them as part of a sophisticated espionage system. Romans used tattoos to clearly mark criminals and slaves. In Borneo, women would have symbols of special skills or talents tattooed on their forearms, thus alerting potential marriage partners of their marketability. Although tattooing has flourished consistently in many cultures, its popularity in western civilization has fluctuated widely. After waning for several centuries, it was reintroduced in the late seventeenth century, but it was not until the late eighteenth century that it once again became widespread, Even so, it often had negative associations and tattooed individuals were mostly relegated to the fringes of society, such as freak show oddities and carnival workers. In the 20th century, the art of tattooing waxed and waned as society rapidly changed with the proliferation of new and better technologies. By the late sixties it was still primarily an underground operation, often the provenance of biker groups and criminals. From the late twentieth century until today, however, tattooing has enjoyed renewed popularity as body decoration, and is seen in a much more positive light, often as an art itself. In addition to the more traditional ink tattoos, there are those caused by puncturing and/or burning the skin. In this process, known as scarification, scalpels or cauterizing tools are applied to selected areas of the skin, and the resulting scar tissue is the desired result. Better technology has improved technique and ease of application for all kinds of tattooing; in addition, more sanitary conditions have lessened the risk of diseases such as hepatitis. These two points have no doubt contributed to the revival and renewed respect for the practice of tattooing. However, as it will be discussed, changes in attitudes toward the body have also played a part in its reawakened popularity. Body Piercing Body piercing also has a long and varied history, dating back to ancient times. There are mentions of body piercing in the Bible. In addition, it was a frequent practice of ancient Romans. Roman warrior soften pierced their nipples, considering this to be a sign of strength and masculinity; it was also a practical measure, a way of attaching cloaks to the body. Roman gladiators, who usually held the status of slaves, also underwent body-piercing, though as slaves they had little choice. Often gladiators would be subjected to genital piercing, primarily through the head of the penis. This was partially a protective measure, allowing the ringed penile tip to be tied close to the body during battle, protecting it from injury. But it was also a territorial measure, since they were considered property of their owners. Placement of a larger ring through the penile tip could also prevent sex, making it essentially a male chastity belt, to be removed at the discretion of the gladiator’s owner. Aztec and Mayan Indians were known to have pierced their lips as part of religious ritual, believing this brought them closer to their god. They also pierced the septum, believing this gave them a fierce, intimidating appearance during battle. Aztecs and Mayans were also fond of lip labrets, which were often made of precious metals and served highly decorative purposes. During medieval times the art of body piercing lost favour, regaining popularity during the Renaissance period. It enjoyed unprecedented popularity during the Victorian Era, due to the sexual pleasures it was known to enhance. Until recently, body-piercing, like tattooing, was primarily associated with fringe groups in western society. However, today it no longer exists solely in the realm of punk rock and fetish scenes. Nose-,nipple-, and navel- piercing is now common in contemporary western society, alongside the more traditional pierced ears and the less visible genital piercings. Diet and Exercise Diet and exercise often used together are another form of body modification. The diet industry is huge in western countries. Appetite suppressants, both prescription and over-the-counter types, are extremely popular. Fad diets such as the South Beach Diet or the Atkins Program attract and retain large numbers of followers. Health clubs and gyms are another large part of this industry, selling memberships which promise buyers a new way of life and a fit and thin future. To members of a society who desire this more than anything else, it is not a hard sell. Excessive dieting can lead to life-threatening eating disorders. The primary disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia, and they primarily afflict women, mostly in their teens and twenties. Although â€Å"anorexia â€Å"itself literally means â€Å"loss of appetite,† this disease often has more to do with a denial of appetite rather than loss of desire for food. Its sufferers will go for extended periods of time without eating, or will eat just the barest amounts of food, in an effort to become an/or remain thin. The most tragic aspect of anorexia is that often the sufferer loses a sense of her own body, refusing to acknowledge that she has gone way beyond â€Å"thin† anorexics are often emaciated. Bulimia is a disorder which is characterized by ingestions of large amounts of food binging followed by a period of purging, to rid the body of the unwanted calories. Purging may be achieved by vomiting, either self-induced or through chemicals such as syrup of Ipecac. Excessive laxative use is also associated with this disorder. Often bulimics will have a low-to-normal body weight as compared to anorexics, but sufferers of both disorders face similar health problems due to electrolyte imbalance, nutritional deficiencies, and related complications. Susan Brood sees eating disorders as complex, multi-layered disorders in which the sufferer sees her body as alien, as a threat to control, as an enemy. She also sees it as a gender/power issue and a protest against the confines of femininity. Exercise, on the other hand, can be seen as a way of actively asserting control instead of passively denying oneself. It can be argued that exercise is taken by some for the sake of exercise, but there is no doubt that it is also an activity that is undertaken to combat corporeal excesses and to exert control over the body. Some forms of exercise for example, body-building and weight-lifting, can also be a form of exerting control without the concomitant existence of an eating disorder, and are more commonly undertaken by men, though women are involved in this as well. Surgical Modification Surgical modification can be called many names, among them: plastic surgery; reconstructive surgery; or, as Sander Gilman prefers to refer to it: aesthetic surgery. Indeed, this type of surgery includes a wide variety of procedures, from surgically correcting a birth deform such as a cleft palate, to disfigurements due to accident or injuryor from a subtle removal of â€Å"crows’ lines† or other signs of age, to more dramatic adjustments to a too-large nose or an unacceptably sharp chin. The most extreme result of this type of surgery involves gender modification. Surgical body modification is different from most other forms in that it generally implies a level of secrecy that the others do not. The procedure and the recuperation period that follows both take place behind closed doors, sometimes even in foreign lands. Furthermore, the reappearance of the individual after the procedure is not accompanied by any sort of fanfare; there is an implicit assumption that the individual has always appeared thus, or if the change is dramatic, that it is not to be spoken of. Discussions of surgical body modification in this paper will focus primarily on elective surgery undertaken for purely cosmetic purposes, so that it may be explored and assessed as part of the larger societal trend towards achievement of physical perfection at any cost. II. Literature Review Sander Gilman’s comprehensive body of research is well worth exploring, particularly two of his books: Creating Beauty to Cure the Soul: Raceland Psychology in the Shaping of Aesthetic Surgery, and Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. His works provide abroad and thorough base for any study of body modification, though his primary focus is on surgical enhancements. Yet while Gilman thoroughly addresses the subject of aesthetic surgery, the focus is on the surgery itself, as well as upon the need for it and what that need signifies. Discussion of the body itself is limited in Gilman’s work; it is seen only in terms of its potential for surgical alteration. In addition, other types of body modification such as piercing, tattoos, weight-loss regimens, exercise are only briefly covered in his work. While he speculates on the significance of aesthetic surgery thoughtfully and articulately, his ideas do not go beyond surgical issues (though, to be fair, they do not pretend to; heist very clear about the scope and limitations of his research). For broader looks at the concept of the body and the various modes of modification now prevalent in society, we can turn to other researchers. Much of the current literature seeks to approach the concept of the body from a different angle, focusing on the body itself. Interestingly enough, many of these researchers find significance in the fact that focus on the body seems to be missing in much of the earlier literature, or, if not missing, submerged. Bryan Turner begins his book The Body and Society by immediately introducing the duality of the body, opening with what is at once seemingly simple yet very complex statement: â€Å"There is an obvious and prominent fact about human beings: they have bodies and they are bodies(Turner 1996, 37). He goes on to point out that despite this very obvious fact, there is a seeming lack of information about the body in sociology; he explains that beyond a wealth of historical and mathematical data, there is really no actual investigation of the bodying and of itself or, rather, that this information is there, but deeply encoded: â€Å"in writing about sociology’s neglect of the body, it may be more exact to refer to this negligence as submergence rather than absence, since the body in sociological theory has had a furtive, secret history rather than no history at all (Turner 1996, 63). Joanne Entwisted cites Turner several times in her own work, though her perspective is clearly focused on the significance of clothing and fashion. In â€Å"The Dressed Body,† she addresses, as the title of her essay suggests, the symbolic meaning of clothing. She points out that there is an abundance of straightforward description concerning the particulars of style: colours, hemlines, cut, accessories but this rarely goes beyond details of style. There is very little literature that looks at the very subtle and complex relationship between the body and clothing. Since social norms demand that bodies must (almost)always be dressed, she finds this lack telling: â€Å"dress is fundamental to micro social order and the exposure of naked flesh is, potentially at least, disruptive of social order† (Entwisted 2001, 33-34). In fact, Entwisted, like many of her contemporaries, views the body as an entity in and of itself, asserting that â€Å"we experience our bodies as separate from others and increasingly we identify with our bodies as containers of our identities and places of personal expression.(Entwisted 2000, 138). Chris Shilling echoes both Turner and Entwisted about the seeming lack of focus on the body itself. However, Shilling points out that this is now changing, and that academic interest in the body itself is steadily growing: â€Å"the sociology of the body has emerged as a distinct area of study, and it has even been suggested that the body should serve as an organizing principle for sociology (Shilling 1993, 1). As for what has brought about this new and much-needed shift in perspective, Shilling and others agree that it seems based on conflict. It is perhaps Shilling who best describes the paradox at the core of this change: â€Å"We now have the means to exert an unprecedented degree of control over bodies, yet we are also living in an age which has thrown into radical doubt our knowledge of what bodies are and how we should control them (Shilling 1993, 3). This paradox is a recurring theme in the literature, both in the writings about the body as well as the multitudinous passages about the various procedures to which it is subjected to in today’s world. There is, however, a general consensus that surgery is the most dramatic form of body modification in particular, cosmetic surgery(Gilman consistently refers to it as â€Å"aesthetic surgery,† which seems much softer and much more positive term). Cosmetic surgery for most of these researchers includes any kind of surgical enhancement that is performed solely for aesthetic ends, although the definition of â€Å"aesthetic† can vary widely. Other types of surgeries are considered as well, including those involving gender modification. However, most of the literature studied for this paper has tended to focus on the more mainstream applications of aesthetic surgery. Transsexual operations, and the many issues therein, are acknowledged by virtually all researchers, but they are not explored in any depth in the sources considered for this paper. Considering the many procedural and ethical issues involved in transgender procedures, this is not surprising. It is a rapidly changing surgical sub-specialty, and one with wide-ranging sociological and psychological issues, none of which can be adequately dealt with in footnote to a more general piece of research. The Body as Object Indeed, the body seems to have become a thing separate from the self, continual work-in-progress with a growing number of options and â€Å"enhancements† to choose from. The theme of body-as-object is echoed throughout the current sociological literature and in other disciplines as well. Speaking of the body as art, Lea Verging posits that The body is being used as an art language by an ever greater number of contemporary painters and sculptors.It always involves, for example loss of personal identity, a refusal to allow the sense of reality to invade and control the sphere of the emotions, and a romantic rebellion against dependence upon both people and things (Verging 2000, 1). Entwisted explores the relationship between the body and societal pressures, asserting that there are â€Å"two bodies: the physical body and the social body† (2001, 37). To understand the role of dress, she further notes, â€Å"requires adopting an approach which acknowledges the body as a social entity and dress as the outcome of both social factors and individual actions† (2001, 48). Entwisted explains that in contemporary culture, the body has become the â€Å"site of identity†: â€Å"We experience our bodies as separate from others and increasingly we identify with our bodies as containers of our identities and places of personal expression† (Entwisted 2000,138). However, when we consider that society pressures us to achieve a single, consistent ideal of perfection, it seems a contradiction to accept the concept of body as a vehicle for personal expression. What personal expression is there in sameness? Verging reconciles this seeming contradiction by perceiving the body as a vehicle for art and language: The use of the body as a language has returned to the scene of the world around us in new and different forms, and it speaks through altered declinations.By way of tattoos, piercings, and citations of tribalism. Through manipulations of its organs. The instrument that speaks and communicates without the word, or sounds, or drawings. The body as a vehicle, once again, for declaring opposition to the dominant culture, but also of desperate conformism. (Verging 2001, 289). Shilling explores the concept of the body as machine, particularly in the world of sports: â€Å"The ‘body as machine’ is not merely a medical image, however; one of the areas in which the body is most commonly perceived and treated in this way is in the sphere of sport† (Shilling1993, 37). He explains that the vocabulary used in the field of sports serves to depersonalize the body, to transform it into an object whose sole purpose is optimum performance: â€Å"the body has come to be seen ‘as a means to an enda factor of output and production†¦as a machine with the job of producing the maximum work and energy’ (Shilling 1993, 37). Turner also addresses the concept of body mutilation as an attempt to assert control in a chaotic world, relating it back to Christianity. He describes the body as â€Å"a genuine object of a sociology of knowledge.†(Turner 1996, 64). He explains that the Western world customarily treats the body as â€Å"the seat of unreason, passion and desire,† and goes on to discuss the battle of the flesh with the spirit: â€Å"flesh was the symbol of moral corruption which threatened the order of the world: the flesh had to be subdued by disciplines, especially by the regimen of diet and abstinence† (Turner 1996, 64). Chaos vs. Order The concept of chaos is another recurrent theme in recent discourse nobody modification. Entwisted sees fashion as one way in which individuals attempt to assert control over the ever-increasing chaos of today’s world† â€Å"If nakedness is unruly and disruptive, this would seem to indicate that dress is a fundamental aspect of micro social order â€Å"she asserts (2001, 35). This is echoed by Armando Favas in Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry. â€Å"Chaos is the greatest threat to the stability of the universe,† he writes(1996, 231). He goes on to explain how we need social stability taco-exist, that it gives us the framework for appropriate sexual behaviour, the ability to recognize and negotiate among various social hierarchies, and the tools necessary to successfully make the transition from childhood into mature adulthood. â€Å"The alteration or destruction of body tissue† asserts Favas, â€Å"helps to establish control of things and to preserve the social order† (1996, 231). Favas sees self-mutilation as an attempt on the part of the self-mutilator to control the chaotic world around him or her. He also points out that self-mutilation is often culturally sanctioned. Whether or not a practice falls under the category of â€Å"mutilation,† according to Favas, depends on whether or not there is a change to or eradication of body tissue. Clearly tattooing, scarification, body-piercing and surgery meet this criterion. This focus on the body is particularly significant, as Shilling points out, questioning why, â€Å"at a time when our health is threatened increasingly by global dangers, we are exhorted ever more to take individual responsibility for our bodies by engaging in strict self-care regimes† (Shilling 1993, 5). As he and other researchers point out, our inability to control outer chaos seems to have resulted in our focusing on our bodies as disparate parts of ourselves and of our universe: this is one small way we can assert control, or at least feel as though we are. Surgical modification can be called many names, among them: plastic surgery; reconstructive surgery; or, as Sander Gilman prefers to refer to it: aesthetic surgery. Indeed, this type of surgery includes a wide variety of procedures, from surgically correcting a birth deform such as a cleft palate, to disfigurements due to accident or injuryor from a subtle removal of â€Å"crows’ lines† or other signs of age, to more dramatic adjustments to a too-large nose or an unacceptably sharp chin. The most extreme result of this type of surgery involves gender modification. One point that should be reiterated here is that surgical body modification is unique. It is different from most other forms in that it generally implies a level of secrecy that the others do not. Both the procedure and the recuperation period that follows both take place behind closed doors, sometimes even in foreign lands. Furthermore, the reappearance of the individual after the procedure is not accompanied by any sort of fanfare; there is an implicit assumption that the individual has always appeared thus, or if the change is dramatic, that it is not to be spoken of. III. Body Modification: History, Significance, Implications Sander Gilman offers the most comprehensive history of aesthetic surgery, along with a broad and varied perspective. In his books Creating Beauty to Cure the Soul: Race and Psychology in the Shaping of Aesthetic Surgery, and Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery, he addresses the complex reasons behind the growth of aesthetic surgery, and explores its significance and complexity. In the first volume, he clearly focuses on it primarily as a form of psychotherapy. The second work is rich in historical detail and thoroughly traces the development of aesthetic surgery from its earliest days to modern times. Gilman follows the development of aesthetic surgery over the course of the nineteenth century, and notes that during this time â€Å"the idea that one: could cure the illness of the character or of the psyche through the altering of the body is introduced within specific ideas of what is beautiful or ugly (1998, 7). He also asserts that the lessening of the stigma of mental illness is directly related to the fact that in today’s society, the view of aesthetic surgery as a type of psychotherapy is gradually becoming accepted. According to Gilman, â€Å"psychotherapy and aesthetic surgery are closely intertwined in terms of their explanatory models† (1998, 11). He explains that the lessening of the stigma of mental illness has resulted in healthier attitudes towards psychotherapeutic interventions well as a growing acceptance of aesthetic surgery, and he discusses the issue from a variety of viewpoints: the patient, the physician, society at large. Addressing the concept that â€Å"happiness† is the primary motivation that spurs individuals to pursue this avenue of change, he is careful to study the various definitions people offer for â€Å"happiness† and discusses these within the larger societal context. â€Å"Aesthetic surgeons operate on the body to heal the psyche,† asserts Gilman. â€Å"Being unhappy is identified in Western culture with being sick. In our estimation only the physician can truly ‘cure’ our spirits and our souls’ â€Å"(1998, 25). According to Gilman, it was during the Enlightenment that the concept of happiness ceased to be one of a collective morality. During this period, he writes, â€Å"the hygiene of the body became the hygiene of the spirit and that of the state† (1999, 21). Today, he asserts, the â€Å"pursuit of happiness† is no longer a collective goal but an individual desire† (1998, 27). This equating of unhappiness with pain is a concept that began to be formulated in the second half of the nineteenth century, and is closely tied to social and cultural attitudes toward the body and the blurring of the distinction between â€Å"somatic and mental pain,† as he phrases it. Indeed, it is remarkable how often aesthetic surgeons cite â€Å"happiness â€Å"as the goal of the surgery. â€Å"Happiness† for aesthetic surgeons is utilitarian notion of happiness, like that espoused by John Stuart Mill, who placed the idea of happiness within the definition of individual autonomy Happiness, the central goal of aesthetic surgery, is defined in terms of the autonomy of the individual to transform him- or herself (Gilman 1999, 18). In Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery, he states that â€Å"body imagery follows the lines of political and cultural power,† and he offers a clear, in-depth history of aesthetic surgery in the western world, carefully noting its connection to social, political and technological changes (Gilman 1999, 105). He also carefully traces the history of aesthetic surgery, explaining its strong affiliation with syphilis. Apparently, one of the results of syphilitic infection was damage to the nose, and that attempts to surgically reconstruct the nose were therefore strongly and inextricably tied to venereal disease and the concomitant loose morality. The association made between nose surgery and syphilis was so deeply ingrained that it continued to taint aesthetic nose surgery for many years: â€Å"The rise of aesthetic surgery at the end of the sixteenth century is rooted in the appearance of epidemic syphilis. Syphilis was a highly stigmatizing disease from its initial appearance at the close of the fifteenth century† (Gilman 1999, 10). Gilman also discusses the impact of important historical events on the development of surgery in general and on reconstructive surgery in particular; he describes the effect of the American and French Revolution and the American Civil War on body image and on the role of aesthetic surgery in restructuring it. Significant changes in aesthetic surgery took place following the upheaval that resulted from these political revolutions. In a society thus destabilized after years of repression, radical changes in thinking occurred, including changing concepts of the body: â€Å"It is not that the reconstructed body was invented at the end of the nineteenth century,† explains Gilman, â€Å"but rather that questions about the ability of the individual to be transformed, which had been articulated as social or political in the context of the state, came to be defined as biological and medical†(1999, 19). Later developments, such as globalization, have had a huge impact on aesthetic surgery. For reasons of privacy, availability, and/or cost, many people will travel to foreign surgery sites. Since they often spend considerable amounts of time in these locations, they often end up bolstering the economy as tourists, hence spurring an entirely new and thriving industry of medical tourism. Gilman describes medical tourism as a thriving business due to the widespread and increasing popularity of elective aesthetic surgery. â€Å"Fitting In† â€Å"You can become someone new and better by altering the body,† Gilman tells us as he plunges into a lengthy examination of the role body modification has played in society. He begins by discussing the assimilation of foreigners into society, and the steps to which people will go to achieve the goal of â€Å"fitting in† or â€Å"passing† for something they are not: â€Å"the transformation of the individual, such as the immigrant, into a healthy member of the new polis† (Gilman 1999, 20). According to Gilman, happiness may be sought through aesthetic surgery because it offers individuals the opportunity to redefine themselves. Categories of inclusion and exclusion, whether tacit or broadly delineated, impact strongly on societal hierarchies. â€Å"Happiness in this instance exists in crossing the boundary separating one category from another,† explains Gilman. â€Å"It is rooted in the necessary creation of arbitrary demarcations between the perceived reality of the self and the ideal category into which one desires to move† (Gilman 1999, 22). The categories are defined so that there is no question about which category is most beneficial. Of course, the advantages o Search for Identity through Body Modification Search for Identity through Body Modification Title: â€Å"Judging from Appearances: The Search for Identity through Body Modification† I. Introduction Body modification has been practiced in a number of ways and for a variety of reasons since ancient times; it has existed on some level for thousands of years. Historical evidence suggests that red dye extracted from hematite was used to paint the body as many as 20,000 years ago. Archeological evidence proves that as many as 10,000 years ago, parts of animal bones, animal teeth, and colorful stones were used to decorate the body. Hair combs date back to nearly 5,000 years ago. Water served ancient peoples as mirrors until 4,500, when the first mirror is believed to have been invented (Ehsan, 1999, 49-52). Society has progressed since those early days. One need only turn on the television or leaf through a magazine to be bombarded with all kinds of advertisements for body modification. Chemical treatments can straighten hair and change skin tone and texture. Surgical procedures can decrease or (more often) augment breast size. Penile implants claim to enhance sexual performance. Unwanted fat can be removed in any number ways, ranging from dietary changes to liposuction. Some signs of ageing can be temporarily reversed with injections of Botox; others can be permanently altered, again through surgery. Today in the western world, body modification is widely practiced in all classes of society. Often it is the result of societal pressure to achieve perfection. At times it is a ritual or rite of initiation within a group or social hierarchy. Less often, although this is steadily increasing, the body is modified to change its gender; this is done through surgical procedures supplemented by hormonal and similar supplementary treatments. Women are considered the most frequent targets of this pressure to achieve somatic perfection, and therefore they are the most frequent practitioners of body modification. However, this pressure affects men as well. This paper will examine four specific types of body modification: tattooing and scarification; piercing; diet and exercise; and aesthetic surgery. Although these are by no means the only methods of body modification, they are among the most widespread and they cover a wide spectrum. Still, whether it takes the form of a minor dietary modification or an extreme makeover, it is clear that most individuals in the western world practice some sort of body modification. For this reason, it is a practice which merits close study and consideration. How far will some individuals go in this pursuit for perfection? How much of this will society sanction? What are the implications for our future and that of future generations? These are the questions to be explored throughout the course of this research. Tattoos and Scarification The word â€Å"tattoo† is derived from a Tahitian word meaning â€Å"to mark.† The act of tattooing is believed to be over ten thousand years old, and it has had a variety of uses throughout history. Tattoos have played an important role in various tribal and cultural rituals. For example, ancient Greeks used them as part of a sophisticated espionage system. Romans used tattoos to clearly mark criminals and slaves. In Borneo, women would have symbols of special skills or talents tattooed on their forearms, thus alerting potential marriage partners of their marketability. Although tattooing has flourished consistently in many cultures, its popularity in western civilization has fluctuated widely. After waning for several centuries, it was reintroduced in the late seventeenth century, but it was not until the late eighteenth century that it once again became widespread, Even so, it often had negative associations and tattooed individuals were mostly relegated to the fringes of society, such as freak show oddities and carnival workers. In the 20th century, the art of tattooing waxed and waned as society rapidly changed with the proliferation of new and better technologies. By the late sixties it was still primarily an underground operation, often the provenance of biker groups and criminals. From the late twentieth century until today, however, tattooing has enjoyed renewed popularity as body decoration, and is seen in a much more positive light, often as an art itself. In addition to the more traditional ink tattoos, there are those caused by puncturing and/or burning the skin. In this process, known as scarification, scalpels or cauterizing tools are applied to selected areas of the skin, and the resulting scar tissue is the desired result. Better technology has improved technique and ease of application for all kinds of tattooing; in addition, more sanitary conditions have lessened the risk of diseases such as hepatitis. These two points have no doubt contributed to the revival and renewed respect for the practice of tattooing. However, as it will be discussed, changes in attitudes toward the body have also played a part in its reawakened popularity. Body Piercing Body piercing also has a long and varied history, dating back to ancient times. There are mentions of body piercing in the Bible. In addition, it was a frequent practice of ancient Romans. Roman warriors often pierced their nipples, considering this to be a sign of strength and masculinity; it was also a practical measure, a way of attaching cloaks to the body. Roman gladiators, who usually held the status of slaves, also underwent body-piercing, though as slaves they had little choice. Often gladiators would be subjected to genital piercing, primarily through the head of the penis. This was partially a protective measure, allowing the ringed penile tip to be tied close to the body during battle, protecting it from injury. But it was also a territorial measure, since they were considered property of their owners. Placement of a larger ring through the penile tip could also prevent sex, making it essentially a male chastity belt, to be removed at the discretion of the gladiator’s owner. Aztec and Mayan Indians were known to have pierced their lips as part of religious ritual, believing this brought them closer to their god. They also pierced the septum, believing this gave them a fierce, intimidating appearance during battle. Aztecs and Mayans were also fond of lip labrets, which were often made of precious metals and served highly decorative purposes. During medieval times the art of body piercing lost favor, regaining popularity during the Renaissance period. It enjoyed unprecedented popularity during the Victorian Era, due to the sexual pleasures it was known to enhance. Until recently, body-piercing, like tattooing, was primarily associated with fringe groups in western society. However, today it no longer exists solely in the realm of punk rock and fetish scenes. Nose-, nipple-, and navel- piercing is now common in contemporary western society, alongside the more traditional pierced ears and the less visible genital piercings. Diet and Exercise Diet and exercise—often used together—are another form of body modification. The diet industry is huge in western countries. Appetite suppressants, both prescription and over-the-counter types, are extremely popular. Fad diets such as the South Beach Diet or the Atkins Program attract and retain large numbers of followers. Health clubs and gyms are another large part of this industry, selling memberships which promise buyers a new way of life and a fit—and thin—future. To members of a society who desire this more than anything else, it is not a hard sell. Excessive dieting can lead to life-threatening eating disorders. The primary disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia, and they primarily afflict women, mostly in their teens and twenties. Although â€Å"anorexia† itself literally means â€Å"loss of appetite,† this disease often has more to do with a denial of appetite rather than loss of desire for food. Its sufferers will go for extended periods of time without eating, or will eat just the barest amounts of food, in an effort to become and/or remain thin. The most tragic aspect of anorexia is that often the sufferer loses a sense of her own body, refusing to acknowledge that she has gone way beyond â€Å"thin†Ã¢â‚¬â€anorexics are often emaciated. Bulimia is a disorder which is characterized by ingestions of large amounts of food—binging—followed by a period of purging, to rid the body of the unwanted calories. Purging may be achieved by vomiting, either self-induced or through chemicals such as syrup of Ipecac. Excessive laxative use is also associated with this disorder. Often bulimics will have a low-to-normal body weight as compared to anorexics, but sufferers of both disorders face similar health problems due to electrolyte imbalance, nutritional deficiencies, and related complications. Susan Bordo sees eating disorders as complex, multi-layered disorders in which the sufferer sees her body as alien, as a threat to control, as an enemy. She also sees it as a gender/power issue and a protest against the confines of femininity. Exercise, on the other hand, can be seen as a way of actively asserting control instead of passively denying oneself. It can be argued that exercise is taken by some for the sake of exercise, but there is no doubt that it is also an activity that is undertaken to combat corporeal excesses and to exert control over the body. Some forms of exercise—for example, body-building and weight-lifting, can also be a form of exerting control without the concomitant existence of an eating disorder, and are more commonly undertaken by men, though women are involved in this as well. Surgical Modification Surgical modification can be called many names, among them: plastic surgery; reconstructive surgery; or, as Sander Gilman prefers to refer to it: aesthetic surgery. Indeed, this type of surgery includes a wide variety of procedures, from surgically correcting a birth deform such as a cleft palate, to disfigurements due to accident or injuryor from a subtle removal of â€Å"crows’ lines† or other signs of age, to more dramatic adjustments to a too-large nose or an unacceptably sharp chin. The most extreme result of this type of surgery involves gender modification. Surgical body modification is different from most other forms in that it generally implies a level of secrecy that the others do not. The procedure and the recuperation period that follows both take place behind closed doors, sometimes even in foreign lands. Furthermore, the reappearance of the individual after the procedure is not accompanied by any sort of fanfare; there is an implicit assumption that the individual has always appeared thus, or if the change is dramatic, that it is not to be spoken of. Discussions of surgical body modification in this paper will focus primarily on elective surgery undertaken for purely cosmetic purposes, so that it may be explored and assessed as part of the larger societal trend towards achievement of physical perfection at any cost. II. Literature Review Sander Gilman’s comprehensive body of research is well worth exploring, particularly two of his books: Creating Beauty to Cure the Soul: Race and Psychology in the Shaping of Aesthetic Surgery, and Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery. His works provide a broad and thorough base for any study of body modification, though his primary focus is on surgical enhancements. Yet while Gilman thoroughly addresses the subject of aesthetic surgery, the focus is on the surgery itself, as well as upon the need for it and what that need signifies. Discussion of the body itself is limited in Gilman’s work; it is seen only in terms of its potential for surgical alteration. In addition, other types of body modification—such as piercing, tattoos, weight-loss regimens, exercise—are only briefly covered in his work. While he speculates on the significance of aesthetic surgery thoughtfully and articulately, his ideas do not go beyond surgical issues (though, to be fair, they do not pretend to; he is very clear about the scope and limitations of his research). For broader looks at the concept of the body and the various modes of modification now prevalent in society, we can turn to other researchers. Much of the current literature seeks to approach the concept of the body from a different angle, focusing on the body itself. Interestingly enough, many of these researchers find significance in the fact that focus on the body seems to be missing in much of the earlier literature, or, if not missing, submerged. Bryan Turner begins his book The Body and Society by immediately introducing the duality of the body, opening with what is at once a seemingly simple yet very complex statement: â€Å"There is an obvious and prominent fact about human beings: they have bodies and they are bodies (Turner 1996, 37). He goes on to point out that despite this very obvious fact, there is a seeming lack of information about the body in sociology; he explains that beyond a wealth of historical and mathematical data, there is really no actual investigation of the body in and of itself—or, rather, that this information is there, but deeply encoded: â€Å"in writing about sociology’s neglect of the body, it may be more exact to refer to this negligence as submergence rather than absence, since the body in sociological theory has had a furtive, secret history rather than no history at all (Turner 1996, 63). Joanne Entwistle cites Turner several times in her own work, though her perspective is clearly focused on the significance of clothing and fashion. In â€Å"The Dressed Body,† she addresses, as the title of her essay suggests, the symbolic meaning of clothing. She points out that there is an abundance of straightforward description concerning the particulars of style: colors, hemlines, cut, accessories—but this rarely goes beyond details of style. There is very little literature that looks at the very subtle and complex relationship between the body and clothing. Since social norms demand that bodies must (almost) always be dressed, she finds this lack telling: â€Å"dress is fundamental to micro social order and the exposure of naked flesh is, potentially at least, disruptive of social order† (Entwistle 2001, 33-34). In fact, Entwistle, like many of her contemporaries, views the body as an entity in and of itself, asserting that â€Å"we experience our bodies as separate from others and increasingly we identify with our bodies as containers of our identities and places of personal expression. (Entwistle 2000, 138). Chris Shilling echoes both Turner and Entwistle about the seeming lack of focus on the body itself. However, Shilling points out that this is now changing, and that academic interest in the body itself is steadily growing: â€Å"the sociology of the body has emerged as a distinct area of study, and it has even been suggested that the body should serve as an organizing principle for sociology (Shilling 1993, 1). As for what has brought about this new and much-needed shift in perspective, Shilling and others agree that it seems based on conflict. It is perhaps Shilling who best describes the paradox at the core of this change: â€Å"We now have the means to exert an unprecedented degree of control over bodies, yet we are also living in an age which has thrown into radical doubt our knowledge of what bodies are and how we should control them (Shilling 1993, 3). This paradox is a recurring theme in the literature, both in the writings about the body as well as the multitudinous passages about the various procedures to which it is subjected to in today’s world. There is, however, a general consensus that surgery is the most dramatic form of body modification—in particular, cosmetic surgery (Gilman consistently refers to it as â€Å"aesthetic surgery,† which seems a much softer and much more positive term). Cosmetic surgery for most of these researchers includes any kind of surgical enhancement that is performed solely for aesthetic ends, although the definition of â€Å"aesthetic† can vary widely. Other types of surgeries are considered as well, including those involving gender modification. However, most of the literature studied for this paper has tended to focus on the more mainstream applications of aesthetic surgery. Transsexual operations, and the many issues therein, are acknowledged by virtually all researchers, but they are not explored in any depth in the sources considered for this paper. Considering the many procedural and ethical issues involved in transgender procedures, this is not surprising. It is a rapidly changing surgical sub-specialty, and one with wide-ranging sociological and psychological issues, none of which can be adequately dealt with in a footnote to a more general piece of research. The Body as Object Indeed, the body seems to have become a thing separate from the self, a continual work-in-progress with a growing number of options and â€Å"enhancements† to choose from. The theme of body-as-object is echoed throughout the current sociological literature and in other disciplines as well. Speaking of the body as art, Lea Vergine posits that The body is being used as an art language by an ever greater number of contemporary painters and sculptors.It always involves, for example a loss of personal identity, a refusal to allow the sense of reality to invade and control the sphere of the emotions, and a romantic rebellion against dependence upon both people and things (Vergine 2000, 1). Entwistle explores the relationship between the body and societal pressures, asserting that there are â€Å"two bodies: the physical body and the social body† (2001, 37). To understand the role of dress, she further notes, â€Å"requires adopting an approach which acknowledges the body as a social entity and dress as the outcome of both social factors and individual actions† (2001, 48). Entwistle explains that in contemporary culture, the body has become the â€Å"site of identity†: â€Å"We experience our bodies as separate from others and increasingly we identify with our bodies as containers of our identities and places of personal expression† (Entwistle 2000, 138). However, when we consider that society pressures us to achieve a single, consistent ideal of perfection, it seems a contradiction to accept the concept of body as a vehicle for personal expression. What personal expression is there in sameness? Vergine reconciles this seeming contradiction by perceiving the body as a vehicle for art and language: The use of the body as a language has returned to the scene of the world around us in new and different forms, and it speaks through altered declinations.By way of tattoos, piercings, and citations of tribalism. Through manipulations of its organs. The instrument that speaks and communicates without the word, or sounds, or drawings. The body as a vehicle, once again, for declaring opposition to the dominant culture, but also of desperate conformism. (Vergine 2001, 289). Shilling explores the concept of the body as machine, particularly in the world of sports: â€Å"The ‘body as machine’ is not merely a medical image, however; one of the areas in which the body is most commonly perceived and treated in this way is in the sphere of sport† (Shilling 1993, 37). He explains that the vocabulary used in the field of sports serves to depersonalize the body, to transform it into an object whose sole purpose is optimum performance: â€Å"the body has come to be seen ‘as a means to an enda factor of output and production†¦as a machine with the job of producing the maximum work and energy’ (Shilling 1993, 37). Turner also addresses the concept of body mutilation as an attempt to assert control in a chaotic world, relating it back to Christianity. He describes the body as â€Å"a genuine object of a sociology of knowledge.† (Turner 1996, 64). He explains that the Western world customarily treats the body as â€Å"the seat of unreason, passion and desire,† and goes on to discuss the battle of the flesh with the spirit: â€Å"flesh was the symbol of moral corruption which threatened the order of the world: the flesh had to be subdued by disciplines, especially by the regimen of diet and abstinence† (Turner 1996, 64). Chaos vs. Order The concept of chaos is another recurrent theme in recent discourse on body modification. Entwistle sees fashion as one way in which individuals attempt to assert control over the ever-increasing chaos of today’s world† â€Å"If nakedness is unruly and disruptive, this would seem to indicate that dress is a fundamental aspect of micro social order† she asserts (2001, 35). This is echoed by Armando Favazza in Bodies Under Siege: Self-mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry. â€Å"Chaos is the greatest threat to the stability of the universe,† he writes (1996, 231). He goes on to explain how we need social stability to co-exist, that it gives us the framework for appropriate sexual behavior, the ability to recognize and negotiate among various social hierarchies, and the tools necessary to successfully make the transition from childhood into mature adulthood. â€Å"The alteration or destruction of body tissue† asserts Favazza, â€Å"helps to establish control of things and to preserve the social order† (1996, 231). Favazza sees self-mutilation as an attempt on the part of the self-mutilator to control the chaotic world around him or her. He also points out that self-mutilation is often culturally sanctioned. Whether or not a practice falls under the category of â€Å"mutilation,† according to Favazza, depends on whether or not there is a change to or eradication of body tissue. Clearly tattooing, scarification, body-piercing and surgery meet this criterion. This focus on the body is particularly significant, as Shilling points out, questioning why, â€Å"at a time when our health is threatened increasingly by global dangers, we are exhorted ever more to take individual responsibility for our bodies by engaging in strict self-care regimes† (Shilling 1993, 5). As he and other researchers point out, our inability to control outer chaos seems to have resulted in our focusing on our bodies as disparate parts of our selves and of our universe: this is one small way we can assert control, or at least feel as though we are. Surgical modification can be called many names, among them: plastic surgery; reconstructive surgery; or, as Sander Gilman prefers to refer to it: aesthetic surgery. Indeed, this type of surgery includes a wide variety of procedures, from surgically correcting a birth deform such as a cleft palate, to disfigurements due to accident or injuryor from a subtle removal of â€Å"crows’ lines† or other signs of age, to more dramatic adjustments to a too-large nose or an unacceptably sharp chin. The most extreme result of this type of surgery involves gender modification. One point that should be reiterated here is that surgical body modification is unique. It is different from most other forms in that it generally implies a level of secrecy that the others do not. Both the procedure and the recuperation period that follows both take place behind closed doors, sometimes even in foreign lands. Furthermore, the reappearance of the individual after the procedure is not accompanied by any sort of fanfare; there is an implicit assumption that the individual has always appeared thus, or if the change is dramatic, that it is not to be spoken of. III. Body Modification: History, Significance, Implications Sander Gilman offers the most comprehensive history of aesthetic surgery, along with a broad and varied perspective. In his books Creating Beauty to Cure the Soul: Race and Psychology in the Shaping of Aesthetic Surgery, and Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery, he addresses the complex reasons behind the growth of aesthetic surgery, and explores its significance and complexity. In the first volume, he clearly focuses on it primarily as a form of psychotherapy. The second work is rich in historical detail and thoroughly traces the development of aesthetic surgery from its earliest days to modern times. Gilman follows the development of aesthetic surgery over the course of the nineteenth century, and notes that during this time â€Å"the idea that one: could cure the illness of the character or of the psyche through the altering of the body is introduced within specific ideas of what is beautiful or ugly (1998, 7). He also asserts that the lessening of the stigma of mental illness is directly related to the fact that in today’s society, the view of aesthetic surgery as a type of psychotherapy is gradually becoming accepted. According to Gilman, â€Å"psychotherapy and aesthetic surgery are closely intertwined in terms of their explanatory models† (1998, 11). He explains that the lessening of the stigma of mental illness has resulted in healthier attitudes towards psychotherapeutic intervention as well as a growing acceptance of aesthetic surgery, and he discusses the issue from a variety of viewpoints: the patient, the physician, society at large. Addressing the concept that â€Å"happiness† is the primary motivation that spurs individuals to pursue this avenue of change, he is careful to study the various definitions people offer for â€Å"happiness† and discusses these within the larger societal context. â€Å"Aesthetic surgeons operate on the body to heal the psyche,† asserts Gilman. â€Å"Being unhappy is identified in Western culture with being sick. In our estimation only the physician can truly ‘cure’ our spirits and our souls’ â€Å"(1998, 25). According to Gilman, it was during the Enlightenment that the concept of happiness ceased to be one of a collective morality. During this period, he writes, â€Å"the hygiene of the body became the hygiene of the spirit and that of the state† (1999, 21). Today, he asserts, the â€Å"pursuit of happiness† is no longer a collective goal but an individual desire† (1998, 27). This equating of unhappiness with pain is a concept that began to be formulated in the second half of the nineteenth century, and is closely tied to social and cultural attitudes toward the body and the blurring of the distinction between â€Å"somatic and mental pain,† as he phrases it. Indeed, it is remarkable how often aesthetic surgeons cite â€Å"happiness† as the goal of the surgery. â€Å"Happiness† for aesthetic surgeons is a utilitarian notion of happiness, like that espoused by John Stuart Mill, who placed the idea of happiness within the definition of individual autonomy Happiness, the central goal of aesthetic surgery, is defined in terms of the autonomy of the individual to transform him- or herself (Gilman 1999, 18). In Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery, he states that â€Å"body imagery follows the lines of political and cultural power,† and he offers a clear, in-depth history of aesthetic surgery in the western world, carefully noting its connection to social, political and technological changes (Gilman 1999, 105). He also carefully traces the history of aesthetic surgery, explaining its strong affiliation with syphilis. Apparently, one of the results of a syphilitic infection was damage to the nose, and that attempts to surgically reconstruct the nose were therefore strongly and inextricably tied to venereal disease and the concomitant loose morality. The association made between nose surgery and syphilis was so deeply ingrained that it continued to taint aesthetic nose surgery for many years: â€Å"The rise of aesthetic surgery at the end of the sixteenth century is rooted in the appearance of epidemic syphilis. Syphilis was a highly stigmatizing disease from its initial appearance at the close of the fifteenth century† (Gilman 1999, 10). Gilman also discusses the impact of important historical events on the development of surgery in general and on reconstructive surgery in particular; he describes the effect of the American and French Revolution and the American Civil War on body image and on the role of aesthetic surgery in restructuring it. Significant changes in aesthetic surgery took place following the upheaval that resulted from these political revolutions. In a society thus destabilized after years of repression, radical changes in thinking occurred, including changing concepts of the body: â€Å"It is not that the reconstructed body was invented at the end of the nineteenth century,† explains Gilman, â€Å"but rather that questions about the ability of the individual to be transformed, which had been articulated as social or political in the context of the state, came to be defined as biological and medical† (1999, 19). Later developments, such as globalization, have had a huge impact on aesthetic surgery. For reasons of privacy, availability, and/or cost, many people will travel to foreign surgery sites. Since they often spend considerable amounts of time in these locations, they often end up bolstering the economy as tourists, hence spurring an entirely new and thriving industry of medical tourism. Gilman describes medical tourism as a thriving business due to the widespread and increasing popularity of elective aesthetic surgery. â€Å"Fitting In† â€Å"You can become someone new and better by altering the body,† Gilman tells us as he plunges into a lengthy examination of the role body modification has played in society. He begins by discussing the assimilation of foreigners into society, and the steps to which people will go to achieve the goal of â€Å"fitting in† or â€Å"passing† for something they are not: â€Å"the transformation of the individual, such as the immigrant, into a healthy member of the new polis† (Gilman 1999, 20). According to Gilman, happiness may be sought through aesthetic surgery because it offers individuals the opportunity to redefine themselves. Categories of inclusion and exclusion, whether tacit or broadly delineated, impact strongly on societal hierarchies. â€Å"Happiness in this instance exists in crossing the boundary separating one category from another,† explains Gilman. â€Å"It is rooted in the necessary creation of arbitrary demarcations between the perceived reality of the self and the ideal category into which one desires to move† (Gilman 1999, 22). The categories are defined so that there is no question about which category is most beneficial. Of course, the advantages of each constructed category are subject to change as society changes. The ideal is to be to move from the negative category to the positive category; the â€Å"catch† is that categories are subject to frequent change. Gilman and other researchers refer to â€Å"the discourse of ‘passing.’† This discourse came into existence during the racially charged nineteenth century, and is, according to Gilman, â€Å"the very wellspring of aesthetic surgery.† Citing the research of sociologist Max Weber, Gilman discusses the concept of validity and acceptance, which are only gained when one is recognized and accepted by the prevailing social group: â€Å"validity through group consensus.† In this light, Gilman posits, we can see â€Å"passing† as a type of â€Å"silent validation† (Gilman 1999, 26). Race and Feature In Customizing the Body: The Art and Culture of Tattooing, Clinton Sanders writes that â€Å"in western societies body sculpting to attain beauty or to avoid identification with disvalued groups is a common practice† (Sanders 1989, 7). He then goes on to describe the many ways in which people try to merge into the desired social group. Kinky hair is chemically straightened, while â€Å"ethnic† noses are permanently reshaped through plastic surgery. Less invasive procedures are dietary changes and exercise routines, which will reduce or increase body measurements in