í Assignments

In the sexual contract by Carole Pateman she explains how some theorist left out some information in the sexual contract. The theorist that written the contract wrote it to only benefit themselves. It benefited people of patriarchy men and fathers. I feel that women were not incorporated into the civil socostly as equal individuals. Men had power over women. Under the sexual contract women were subjects to men. Men could have access to their bodies anytime they please. Also under the contract men had policital rights over women. Women were subordinated to me and did not have any rights within the contract. The marriage contract only allowed women to come together with men to give birth. Both parents could not have rights over the child so they were given to the mother. The child would only obey the mother.

Different theorist had their own views of the social and sexual contract. One believed that women should be excluded from the original contract because it is made from man. Another theorist thought that women should be seen as an individual and men shouldn’t have rights over them. Marriages were seen as businesses and husbands and wives were business partners. The wife had to adapt herself to her husband , but the husband did not have power over her. If the wife obey her husband then in return he will protect her. In the nature state a women status as being seen as an individual was completely cut out.

Other theorist believed that women were not born free or equal individuals but seen as property and subjects to men. The equality between men and women disappeared. Who ever owned property had to protect it and if protected than that individual can do whatever they want to the property. They can sell it, rent it or even trade it to whom ever they want to.

Women were not incorporated in the civil society as equal individuals but incorporated as subjects, property, and subordinates. They were incorporated to make the men feel powerful and have rights over someone who wasn’t strong as them. These theorist wrote these contracts so that it would give themselves power and other men power as well. It wouldn’t look right if men had power over other men because they were seen as equals and they were born free. So it would make sense to have power over someone who wasn’t on the same level as men. This incorporation gave men power over someone who wasn’t born free but born weak.

To my understanding the meaning of civil society is a patriarchy society which is seen through the lens of male superiority. The woman is subordinate to men as stated by Pateman, “Civil freedom is a masculine attribute and depends upon patriarchal right” (2). A women’s only right or should I say incorporation in the civil sphere would be to serve her husband. To fulfill her ‘wifely’ duties, in signing a marriage contract she is binding herself to a man as his property. She has no say as she is subjected by contract to her husband. Women are not seen as individuals and are not “civilly free”. Pateman states, “What it means to be an ’individual’, a maker of contracts and civilly free, is revealed by the subjection of women within the private sphere” (11).

This contradicts the idea of individual (referring to equality), if women are believed to be subordinate to men, why is a contract needed if it is already ‘understood’ that they are not viewed as individuals? In a sphere that is not civil, a woman would indeed need a contract because she would be an equal individual with the same rights as a man. According to The Sexual Contract, “Nor does Locke, for example, explain why the marriage contract is necessary when women are declared to be naturally subject to men, There are other ways in which a union between a man and his natural subordinate could be established, but, instead Locke holds that it is brought into being through contract, which is an agreement between two equals” (54). In a sphere that is not civil a woman would be free, it would have already be known and recognized that she too is equal and entitled to the innate rights that men hold. When I think about how far women have come in fighting inequality I can’t help but feel somber about how hard we fought and still are fighting for equal rights. Woman would have the choice to go into contract with another person or choose not to. There wouldn’t have to be laws and contracts stating that women are equal to men because it would be natural.  I used to think that it is natural for a person to be kind and loving that we are taught to hate but I’m not so sure anymore… Why do we need declarations stating our rights, why do we contacts and laws if we are all equal amongst one another?ual

I’ve just finished reading through your responses to the chapters we read from Lynn Hunt’s work, Inventing Human Rights (2007). Before commenting on the substance of your posts, I want to make a few comments about the more formal aspects of your writing.

Please make sure to proofread before you publish. I don’t deduct points for spelling and grammar so long as a post is legible. However, if there are numerous spelling and / or grammatical errors, you will receive partial credit. Sometimes posts appear in wingdings. This happens when students use a web-based platform (like google docs) to compose their post and accidentally copy html coding when transferring the content to WordPress. To prevent this from happening, I recommend writing and editing in Microsoft Word. Or, you can review your post in WordPress using the text editor (above) and remove any html coding that appears (HTML coding is everything that appears in brackets <> ). Be sure everything is written in your own words, and any paraphrased text includes a citation. Finally, the only category assigned to your post is the assignment for that week. For example, this week you should have tagged your post with the category on the right: “assignment 01.”

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As many of you noted in your responses this week, Lynn Hunt (2007) is interested in examining the political, as well as what she refers to as the social and cultural practices, that accompanied the emergence of discourses on human rights. What is emerging, she argues, is nothing short of a new way of understanding human relations. Returning to works by Jefferson, Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke and others, Hunt notes the precursors to human rights: discourses on “natural rights” and “the rights of man.” But related to these discourses, she underlines an increasing sense of autonomy and empathy that was developing in Western Europe and North America during this period. Pointing to the work of J. B. Schneedwind, she considers how moral autonomy is treated during this time as a capacity developing in the lives of those capable of participating in the new forms of government available in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As we discussed at length in our discussion last night, who was viewed as “capable” and on what terms is a question that, for Hunt, is secondary to the project of considering what prompted this shift towards expressing the universal qualities of mankind.

Greater awareness of the distinctions between individual persons begins to take shape at the same time that there was an emerging sense of the qualities that bind all (property owning / white) men together. In the declarations Hunt examines, there is evidence of mankind’s demonstrable capacity to behave rationally, evidence that authorizes their creation and exercise of a new social contract. Different from how social relations were organized prior to this period, this focus on relations, that are defined in terms of the capacity for rational thought rather than by god the sovereign, becomes the foundation for a new form of governance. Prior to this, people looked to the sovereign power (god’s representative on earth) to explain life. Along with an evolving understanding of the rights of men, there was during this period an emerging sense of “rationality,” a way of living in the world that, whether addressed explicitly or not, was often joined to race, class, gender, and sexuality, as a justification for those who were enfranchised and disenfranchised.

In chapter three, Hunt points to some of the disagreements among liberal political theorists during this period. Different arrangements of “natural rights” allow us to think critically about the way liberal civil society was organized. Writing in 1625, Hugo Grotius, for example, said natural rights were connected to life, the body, freedom and honor (2007:118). But, Hunt stresses, John Locke defined natural rights in terms that stressed a natural right to property, and, therefore, whether intentionally or not, engineered rights in terms that did not challenge slavery. As we move forward, we will think more on how the connection of rights to property underlines how participation in governance is unfolding during this period.

Due Sunday, February 12th, by midnight. Word count: 400 words. Please make sure everything is in your own words. If you paraphrase, make sure to include the proper citation.

In The Sexual Contract, Carole Pateman explains that while women have no part in the original contract with civil society described liberal political theorists, they are not left out of the “state of nature.” In your own words, how would you explain the incorporation of women into a sphere that “is and is not in civil society”?

Hello, My name is Maria Libreros.

This is my third semester at CWE, my major is Liberal with a Childhood Concentration.

I select this Class because it would help me understand better about the Humans Rights, my rights and the right of others as well. It also helps me to advocate for the rights of those who are in need of it.

My understanding of the readings is that Lynn Hunt main point is in 1948 with The United Nations Declaration of Universal Human Rights. This had happened after almost two Centuries of The American Declaration of Independence in 1776 from Great Britain, and The French Declaration of The Rights of Men and the Citizens in 1789. I may understand wrong, but I believe that Thomas Jefferson and Lafayette, both were inspired inspired by the enlightenment of great philosophers such as Rousseau and Voltaire. Even though, both  advocated for liberty and equality, according to history we all know that it did not happened, and I believe that it was the opposite due to slavery and violations of Civil Rights as well. There were Centuries of slavery and segregation in America. People have to fight and form movements that advocate for civil rights not only for the slaves but for the people that form this country, the immigrants such as Jews and so on.

It also presented a political turn over from the nations and governments, especially every regarding on culture, religion and beliefs; one big example was the WWII. Consequently, a big great part of  World was destroyed causing thousands of deaths of men, women and children. Others were tortured until death. This was the main reason why The United  Nations Declaration of Universal human Rights was created, to abolish and protect the rights of all citizens, independently of race, beliefs and religion, and politics. However, we have a long way to go, to see that this is absolute true in real life, we are living in 20 Century, and we still dealing with the violation of the Civil Rights! And it depends on culture, and beliefs, some countries are more liberal than others regarding women rights.

My name is Charmaine Bennett. I have a seven year old son named Dylan, and he’s in the second grade. This is my fourth semester at CWE. My concentration is in Childhood Studies. After I graduate I plan to attend graduate school either for Special Education or Social Work. Maybe both. I know that I want to work in the educational field, just not fully sure in what aspect. I would love to be a Middle a School guidence counselor. I currently work in a middle school in harlem, and I see some of the things these students go through and I wpuld love to help. On the other hand, my principal wants me to become a Special Education Intervention Specialist. Which wouldn’t be bad since i currently work as a ELA Teacher Intern, just undecided I guess. What drew me to this class is my fascination with women’s rights both pass and present. With this pass election i thiught it would be the perfect time to take a class like this. I recently participated in the Womens March in NYC. It was an empowering moment for me to see not just women from all walks of life, but men as well. That experience made me even more excited about starting this class and all of the things I will learn, and taking what I’ve learned and being able to share it with others.

In the introduction of “Inventing Human Rights” by Lynn Hunt (2007), I’m beginning to see where the first conceptions of humans started. The whole concept of human rights seems to be more perception based than anything else.As far back as the Declaration of Independence the wording is where the perception comes to play. The perception of what is self evident? If it is truly self evident that we are all equal than how can it be questioned? The word men is repeated over and over throughout the Declaration of Independence, but not in terms of man kind, to include everyone, but to only include men. Not all men, white men, men with property. Even the word men, excluded men? This is an intersting concept to me. Not only were women excluded, free blacks were also excluded. The fact that one can be considered free, yet not have equal rights to other men is ridiculous. This helps me to conceptualize why we have to fight so hard for equal rights for all.

My name is Lenny Logrono and I’m 20 years old. I work at my brother’s girlfriend hair salon in Jersey City as an assistant. This is my first semester at City College and majoring in Early Childhood Education. I’m really nervous to be here because it’s a new environment, people, and school system for me. My goal for this semester is to increase my vocabulary and public speaking skills. I find it difficult for me to speak in front of people, specially when there is 50% chance of me being the only one with English accept. At side from school, my interest is to save up money to travel. I love going to different places and learning new cultures. Last year, I had the opportunity to go to the Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Canada. This year I went to Colombia with my mom we had an amazing time over there. For me traveling means a lot, every time I go to another country it feels like a dream come true. I like making new friends, working, going to the movies, listening to music and spending time with my family. One of my most valuable possession (material stuff) is my two instax cameras I always take them with me when I’m traveling or doing something new. I rather have a hard copy of my photos than having it on my phone, sometimes I hate technology because it takes a lot from us.

The first chapter of this book was a little bit difficult for me to understand because I was not paying attention to the argument or what she was trying to say. The first time I read the chapter I had no clue of what I was reading, but the second time I understood the argument and everything she wrote. In Inventing Human Rights the author used different points of view and evidences to support her argument. After reading The Paradox of Self-Evidence, I finally understood what she was trying to tell the readers. The argument is that according to Thomas Jefferson equality is self-evident, but the real question is if they are so self-evident why did this allegation had to be made. In other words, if having human rights is self-explanatory why was it necessary to put into writing. In addition, Thomas Jefferson did not explain what he meant when he wrote all his beliefs, which made people question everything he wrote. People still argues and debates the terms he used when writing the Declaration of Independence.

Hello. I am Nicole Palma. This is my first semester at CWE after graduating from The Borough of Manhattan Community College in the summer of 2016. I hope to get my bachelors in two and a half years for the Center of Worker Education. My major is Early Childhood Education with a concentration in Childhood Studies. I was interested in this class because it was one of two hybrid classes that fit my schedule. I wanted to take a hybrid class because I have never taken an online course and I felt with this class being half on campus and half online, it would provide me with the perfect opportunity to try online course but no being fully enrolled in an online course only. Also with the current election of President Trump, I felt I needed to gain more knowledge on Women’s Rights but more importantly Human Rights.

This is a very exciting semester for me because not only am I taking classes that I am truly interested in but I am expecting my first child at the very end of the semester! I look forward to the both the journey of motherhood as well as the journey as a Center of Worker Education student that the year of twenty seventeen has in store for me. In closing to my self-introduction I would just like to congratulate my all time favorite sports team of all time The New England Patriots in winning the Superbowl!
In the beginning of the introduction to Lynn Hunt’s book Inventing Human Rights, she talks about Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of The Declaration of Independence, which was prepared in mid-June of the year 1776 that he made his own revisions that he made to the draft. Towards the middle of her the introduction Lynn Hunt “Human Rights and “The Rights of Man”” she referred to the term “natural rights” which was more commonly known as now as human rights. I found it interesting that all though Thomas Jefferson spoke of and used the term “Rights of Man”, it did not become “commonly used” and/or gain significant meaning until Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the term in his Social Contract along other “rights terms”, such as “Rights of Sovereignty”, “Rights of Humanity” and “Rights of the Citizen”. Jean- Jacques Rousseau Social Contract was a book of theories he created on the best way to make a “Political community” function.  “How Rights Become Self Evident”.

Hi, my name is Edna Archundia this is my first semester at City College. My major is Early Childhood and my concentration is Social Welfare. I have two kids, my daughter is 15 years old and my son 11 years old. When my son went to school and I stay home alone is when I start to work. Sometimes, society make us think that women have to stay home and just take care of the house and kids. I was thinking like that, but as my kids grew older, I notice that I have to do more than just stay home. After ten years with out studying I decided to go back to school, I was scared to go back and not be able to continue my education, specially because my first language is spanish. I complete my associate at La Guardia Community College and after four years I graduated. Now Im ready for new challenges and ready to finish my Bachelors. Im exited to learn more about the humans rights and the history of how the human rights were created and what are those change during this years.

Lynn Hunts describe the story by focusing on the American and French Revolution and the Declaration they inspired, she brings distinctly historical and another pout of view to the subject of the human rights. She also mention how men were living in society,by building slavery, subordination and their weekness by those who were on power.

She also mention why 18th century  Western Europe was the first society in history to develop the concept of “human rights” that was their idea of political and other rights the results were the indignation at such social institution as judicial torture. It is sad how men can change the world and make a difference depending on their thinking and the power they have. This is how society is build were the people who has power can make cruelty and brutality just with their idea of been superior. We are in the Twenty Century where supposedly every individual are equal, but if we search in society there are still a lot of slavery or  women been maltreat or people been inferior because they are poor.

Good evening to all, I would like to introduce myself as Bryant Romano. I am a proud father of two beautiful children. An educator at a public middle school in Harlem whose main duties of the day consist of supporting children with special needs to overcome the challenges that they may encounter, academically, physically, socially and emotionally. This is my second continuous semester from a long break, at which such time off from academia, resulted in the achievement of my wife earning her Bachelor’s degree at City College Center for Workers Education. The main interest in taking this course has to do with fulfilling part of the electives in the academic concentration of History, Politics and Society. It was also a matter of choosing between this course or another. I’ve also taken this course as a fulfillment of knowledge that would cover the different aspects of rights that I’ve learned about. I’ve encountered the many mentioned involvements of female organizations that have supported other organizations in their goals, but never had the chance of analyzing them as a central point.

One of the legal documents of which captivated a groundwork for human rights in the present day, is of an over two-hundred-year old document known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The author Lynn Hunt, mentions in her introductory book of Inventing Human Rights, it’s valued startup debate of generalized expressions of thought. The document sounds that to have a government well founded, it must be enlightened, of having a basic understanding with society, and solemn in respecting the rights of man. (Hunt 16). Not only does it have to be fixated for the benefit of “man” as of its definition of gender, but to the humanistic angle of all types of mankind. As in present day some governments have and are working to include “every society”, from all types of races, genders, religions and socio-economical statuses. Yet, the idea of allowing such rights to be allowed or given, emerged in the past a concern of weather it would bring a more logical understanding to the population or create a disturbance in the traditional ways, moreover creating divisions. Nowadays, such points of views in division have appeared even after composing human rights for groups. Such issues even if they are “self-evident” in the basis of suffering, still need to be emphasized in volume. Such is the case of social media being that tool of which many rely on to gain information. Yet, when there is the lack of understanding the obvious, that of which is processed by the human brain as a fact, that participant lack empathy (Hunt 28). If such pair would not go side by side, which is our humanistic sense of brand of being human, then torture would not be eliminated for those who have endured in the past.