When people make these accusations they are not looking at the whole picture. There are many things that need to be taken into consideration before making the assumption that women are actually dominated and exploited.

First we should define the terms dominated and exploited. To be dominated mean that someone has control over someone else. To be exploited is to be taken advantage of and has no way to get out of the situation. Some people claim that women who pose for Playboy magazine are being exploited, but those women have a chose not to participate.

In the three books, one movie and the film, I do not believe any of the women were being exploited. In certain situations they were being dominated, but the men were being dominated also. Most of the cultures work on a sexual division of labor, which mean there is women’s work and there is men’s work. Certain jobs are more feasible for women and the same for men. Because in all hunting and gathering societies the people have no access to baby formula, the children rely on breast milk for food. Because of this, women have to have babies and small children with the, so they can feed them

Kiriri, the cricket ceremony has the men singing a song about Kiriri and waking cricket noises. The women are supposed to come out with clean water and throw it on the men, but they use dirty water instead. The men take all of this as fun because they will get the women back in other ceremonies.

Men are dominated in some ways by the women in the society. Love matches are highly discouraged. If someone found out that a man and a woman were in love it would be opposed. No matter how much a man loves his wife, he cannot show it, because women feel it is a sign of weakness. One man in this book really loved his wife. She ran away from him. He kept going after her and tried to bring her back. The women thought this was foolish and made fun of the man. Men also dominate other men. The senior men make decisions and arrange marriages for younger men. Fathers and his brothers have authority over the sons and nephews. Younger men always serve older men and at gatherings rarely talk.

In the first movie we watched called Sense and Sensibility, these women were neither dominated nor exploited. They may have had an unfair advantage to some things, but not dominated or exploited. At the beginning of the movie, Emma Thompson and her two sisters have to move out of their house because the oldest son gets the house and money when the father dies. Some people would probably claim that those women were being exploited at that point, but they weren’t. In 18th century England, that is they way that inheritance worked, and it was even by law that money followed the oldest son, and that is the way they believed back then. Later on in the movie, Emma Thompson’s character meets Hugh Grant. They both fall in love with each other and when Emma Thompson moves, Hugh Grant says he will visit, but never does. She then finds out that he is engaged to be married to someone else. Because men had a lot of honor and they kept their promises, he wouldn’t break it off with the girl he was already engaged to. Also Emma Thompson’s younger sister, who was played by Kate Winslet, fell in love with a man who helped her when she fell. They spent a lot of time together, and he fell in love with her too, but because they didn’t have much money, the man’s mother would let him marry her. Those are two examples of how men were being dominated and held back. Men were also held back from expressing their true emotions.

The Mehinaku have many ceremonies that they perform. Each different ceremony has one sex taking over the other. The Matapu ceremony has the men going around making noises imitating the spirit. The women are supposed to act like they are scared and mystified. This is part of the official culture, but really they know that the men are impersonating the spirit and have seen the bullroarers that make the noise.

This culture is also prevented on telling people directly how they feel. The women write poetry to get out their frustrations. One woman was very unhappy about her husband so she wrote a poem about it and shared it with the author. The author took the poem to one of the men and read it to him. She was not supposed to do this because the men shouldn’t hear them. This is another example of the women being modest and upholding their honor.

In the book Nisa, by Marjorie Shostak, there are many examples how women have a lot of control over what is happening. Shostak is says in the book that women’s status in the community is high and their influence considerable. They are often prominent in major family and band decisions, such as where and when to move and whom their children will marry. Many also share core leadership in a ban and ownership of water holes and foraging areas. She also says that the culture seems to define them as less powerful, but their influence is greater than thy like to admit. This culture encourages strong bonds between families. Husbands and wives sleep and eat toget

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