White Women Shapeshifters Of America Essay - 1916 Words

White Women: Shapeshifters of America Throughout our history, there have been many incidents that have helped shaped American culture. Many of these incidents have substantially affected women. To counter these phenomena, women work as shapeshifters. That is to say, they shift and morph their ethics and endeavors in order to adapt to their external, social environment. From the glamorization of woman’s confinement in Cotton Mather’s â€Å"The Captivity of Hannah Dustan† to overcoming political and social exclusion in Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s â€Å"Declaration of Sentiments† and, finally, to the emersion of female sexual liberty in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, we can observe how women become different iconic symbols of America through using religion and moral persuasion as methods to fight the tyrannies that oppress them. Cotton Mather’s historical recount, â€Å"The Captivity of Hannah Dustan,† brings to light the pure American fantasy of the white woman’s captivity. Taken captive in 1675 by a group of Indians during King William’s War, Hannah eventually fought her way to freedom by killing her oppressors while they slept. She then fled with their scalps and received great congratulations from her friends and even a â€Å"a very generous token of favor† from the Governor of Maryland himself. In the American genre of captivity, the captive is almost always a conventional, innocent, white woman who, according to Mather, â€Å"stand[s] passively under the strokes of evil,Show MoreRelatedThe Cultural Identity Of The African American Community1653 Words   |  7 Pagesopportunity to have a â€Å"safe space† within her own home. In Bell Hooks analysis of Jennie Livingston s film, Paris is Burning, she exposes the persistent blindness of what she calls white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.† Paris Is Burning is an American documentary film that explores race, class, gender, and sexuality in America, while also depicting people with different gender identities, as well as communities and their different forms of expression. For example, the film chronicles the ball cultureRead More Online Dating Essay2916 Words   |  12 Pages Aardwolf is one of the most popular MUDs on the Internet. Fooballgames.co - a site that is devoted to interactive online football games The Carrion Fields - a mid-evil fantasy game in which people choose from such characters as Warrior, Shapeshifter, Druid and Bard. Theories about Cyber Relationships Certainly, there are many differences between online and offline attraction. For those who are online, there