19/08/08
Answer the following questions:
1. Think about the prevalence of violence in our society. List all the forms of violence, both social, and personal which you can think of (eg domestic violence, violence in sport etc.)
2. Consider the notion that certain forms of violence are either approved of or passively accepted by large sections of our society. E.g. Kenny in the play. In recently conducted surveys, an alarmingly high proprtion of trhe AUstralian population considered it acceptable (or at least not criminal for a husband to hit his wife under certain circumstances). The question is, “Is domestic violence socially acceptable in Australian society?” In your books, divide the forms of violence listed earlier (in answer to Question 1) into two headings: Acceptable under some circumstances and Not acceptable under any circumstances. Do these groupings tell you anything about the nature of Australian Society?
3. Write a short discussion on the following” (a) As a sociey, do we still acccept male aggressiveness as a sign of male virility? Is a male’s social standing raised or lowered, iff he performs well in a physical fight? Do you identify more with the ‘tough guy’ or the ‘wimp’ when you watch a movie? (b) Do our attitudes towards female violence (eg girls catfights in the playground) differ fromthe attitudes generally adopted towards similar violence on thepart of males?
Title: The Removalists
The Macquarie Dictionary defines a removalist as ‘a person or firm engaged in the moving of household or office furniture.’ As used in the plural in Williamson’s title, however, the term obviously has ironic connotations (look up the word in the dictionary if you don’t understand). Exactly, who are Williamson’s removalists and what do they remove? How?
2 Comments
1. domestic violence, sport violence, female violence
3. as a society male violence is seen as a kind of cowardly act and the “wimp” who walks away from a fight or does not fight back is more recognised to the society…female violence does not differ to the society because it is still seen as the same kind of violence between the same genders…but males are seen to be the more violent people who like to sort arguments with violence unlike most view of girls who like to solve it verbally
williamsons removalists are the people who do not get involved and sit on the fence.
1. domestic violence, violence in sport, violence against women, violence against teachers, physical child abuse, violence in the workplace, violence against men, youth violence, sexual harrassment, sexual assault in public, senior violence etc.
2. Acceptable:
- Violence against women
- sexual harrassment
- sexual assault
- domestic violence
- Senior violence
- violence in the workplace
Unacceptable:
- violence against men
- youth violence
These results are too general to describe the nature of the Australian society, but it is evident that Australias contemporary society, in comparison to the society during the 70′s has been altered dramatically. Peoples perceptions regarding physical domestic violence and violence against women seemed to change and have fortunately altered.
3. Unfortunately, as a general society, we still seem to accept that male aggressiveness is a sign of masculinity, althought it is not as common, people still seem to accept aggressiveness as a symbol of male masculinity. A males involvement in physical violence may determine his social status depending on the situation. If a male purposely wants to get involved in a brawl or fight for no apparent reason, his social status and the way people think of him, will be detramental towards status.