The notion of sexual harassment or assault is nothing new to any person on this earth. Sexual assault, as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “Illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent…” (Merriam-Webster). Although it seems rather obvious, some individuals may not be aware that their actions could be considered sexual assault and could hold severe criminal consequences. This leads to the question, then, what about religious customs and/or community beliefs in regards to sexual assault? As human beings, we are told “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). Does this imply that we should respect all other cultural
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While reading through Candide, we encounter several themes. Some of the themes that are present are: optimism, hypocrisy of religion, and the corrupting power of money. One major theme is the negative treatment of women and the ever-present rape culture. The views of characters in Candide may have varied, but it stayed relatively consistent that “raping” someone would automatically result in your peers thinking more highly of you. The Old Woman spoken about in Chapter 11 states, “No sooner were we landed than a party of blacks…came to rob him of his booty. Next to the money and jewels, we were the most valuable things he had.” (p. 26). The Old Woman then goes on to say, “They fought with the fury of the lions, tigers, and serpents of their country, to decide who should have us.” (p. 27). In these quotations, the Old Woman is describing how the women were treated by the Black men. Her use of the words “valuable” and “fought with the fury…” help to allow the reader to understand the worth that sexual acts with women had for these men. The concept of fighting to be able to have sex with some woman says two things: the men were most likely deprived and attaining a woman showed the group who is the most powerful …show more content…
After reading Voltaire’s Candide, however, all of the readers can see that sexual assault existed long before the word was even invented. Especially considering there was not even a term to explain what the members of the civilized nations in Candide were doing, one can very much argue that was not their intentions. Even with this being the case, nevertheless their actions were damaging to other members of society. Over 200 years later and the same type of rape culture continues to exist. Young members of fraternities and gangs are struggling to prove their value and importance to the organization. In order to do so, then, they are reaching out to innocent human beings and exerting their power on them. If they are not showing respect to others, then they should not be respected in return. All human bodies are a gift from whichever god one believes in, and respect for that body is of utmost importance. When an individual goes out of their way to misuse and harm another’s body, then there is no possible justification for their acts and they are not worthy of
While reading through Candide, we encounter several themes. Some of the themes that are present are: optimism, hypocrisy of religion, and the corrupting power of money. One major theme is the negative treatment of women and the ever-present rape culture. The views of characters in Candide may have varied, but it stayed relatively consistent that “raping” someone would automatically result in your peers thinking more highly of you. The Old Woman spoken about in Chapter 11 states, “No sooner were we landed than a party of blacks…came to rob him of his booty. Next to the money and jewels, we were the most valuable things he had.” (p. 26). The Old Woman then goes on to say, “They fought with the fury of the lions, tigers, and serpents of their country, to decide who should have us.” (p. 27). In these quotations, the Old Woman is describing how the women were treated by the Black men. Her use of the words “valuable” and “fought with the fury…” help to allow the reader to understand the worth that sexual acts with women had for these men. The concept of fighting to be able to have sex with some woman says two things: the men were most likely deprived and attaining a woman showed the group who is the most powerful …show more content…
After reading Voltaire’s Candide, however, all of the readers can see that sexual assault existed long before the word was even invented. Especially considering there was not even a term to explain what the members of the civilized nations in Candide were doing, one can very much argue that was not their intentions. Even with this being the case, nevertheless their actions were damaging to other members of society. Over 200 years later and the same type of rape culture continues to exist. Young members of fraternities and gangs are struggling to prove their value and importance to the organization. In order to do so, then, they are reaching out to innocent human beings and exerting their power on them. If they are not showing respect to others, then they should not be respected in return. All human bodies are a gift from whichever god one believes in, and respect for that body is of utmost importance. When an individual goes out of their way to misuse and harm another’s body, then there is no possible justification for their acts and they are not worthy of