Exam (elaborations)
On the basis of sex
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This document is a detailed first class essay that would be a useful template for new second years on this module
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“Explore issues related to religion and society today in your selected source material,evaluate the arguments presented and the evidence for them”
Sociology can be used to explore different ideas about different beliefs and practices. Sarah
Delamont claimed that “sociology has been a fertile ground for feminist changes to the
knowledge base” (Delamont, 2003, p.4). Throughout the course of this essay I will be
exploring the issues related to religion and society today using the movie, “On the basis of
sex”. The movie I have chosen to use for this essay illustrates the vast amount of sexism
women faced at the time; which is still very much prevalent in society today, with many
people, (women in particular) still facing gender prejudice in their everyday lives. Gender
and feminist approaches to religion will be the main topics from this module that will be
applied to this essay. I will be using the film to illustrate the inherent sexism that is still rooted
in contemporary societies.
The film is focused on the life of former US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who
served on the court from 1993 until her death in 2020. Set in 1956 Bader Ginsburg is one of
just nine women in her law class at Harvard law school. In spite of the fact that she was an
extremely intelligent woman she still faced a huge amount of prejudice and sexism which is
portrayed all throughout the movie. During her studies her husband Martin was diagnosed
with cancer leading Ruth to take over both of their classes until he recovered. As well as this,
what made it even harder for Ginsburg was the fact that the professors at Harvard law school
were of very little help to her due to her sex. Bader Ginsburg worked as a professor teaching
law before she made it as a proper lawyer. Her path as a woman to becoming a lawyer was
definitely not easy. She was just the second woman to serve on the supreme court when she
took her place on it in 1993. Gender inequality is linked to religion as a lot of religious ideas
and practices stem from historic religious traditions.
In our contemporary society and in this age of modernity it is often just taken as a given that
gender equality is a social norm and that sexism no longer exists; this assumption is
particularly made with regards to the western world (Phillips, 2018). However, this is not
always correct. “Gender is a hotly contested subject” (Juschka,2016, p.137). “Gender plays a
key role in all aspects of human existence be it language, education and knowledge,
production, social organization, or systems of belief and practice (aka religions)”. (Juschka,
2016, p.137), it is omnipresent. There is a strong relationship between gender and religion,
with many believing that the patriarchy is heavily fuelled by religion. Many religious practices
and ideas regarding men and women dating back centuries still lay the foundations for many
different religions today, such as, Catholicism. The movie focus is on the effects of the
patriarchal society. Although the movie was set in the 1950’s, that is still fairly recent when
you compare it to all the previous centuries that women have been oppressed for. One of the
earliest philosophers and someone who was very influential in early Christianity; Plato stated
that “it is only males who are created directly by the gods and are given souls. Those who
live rightly return to the stars, but those who are cowards or lead unrighteous lives may with
reason be supposed to have changed into the nature of women in the second generation”
(Plato, Timaeus, c.360bc). Plato held the belief that men and women were very different and
that women were inferior to men; in Plato’s eyes being born a woman is something that
unfortunately happens to men that got it wrong the first time. With these views dating back to
at least the time of Plato it is no wonder that these types of views have become to deep-
rooted in our society. Aristotle too maintained the same belief as Plato regarding woman;
affirming in his book that women are naturally by nature “more mischievous, less simple,
more impulsive…more jealous” (Aristotle, History of Animals, c. 400bc, 608b,1-14), that
being just a few personality traits which he expressed about women. Bader Ginsburg was
told that she was ‘too emotional’ to be a lawyer. Aristotle came to the conclusion that men
should govern women. The movie is full of superior male figures, showing how these ancient
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