Posted: August 26th, 2022

Controversies in the 19th and 20th Centuries over Sex

This is a take home exam essay, no need for reference, should based on the pervious lectures and critical reflecting those material. No need for introduction and conclusion.

The ppt is the instruction of this assignment, the pdf includes the questions you can chose. Please tell me which question you want to write, I will provide you more materials (ppt slides and weekly reading) you need. There’s no need for you to reflecting on the other extra materials. You can search online to get more ideas about this part of history, but please focus on the existing materials I gave to you when writing the assignment.

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Controversies in the 19th and 20th Centuries over Sex and Reproduction
The history of Sydney can be understood by reflecting on the controversies of the 19th and 20th Centuries over sex and reproduction. During this period, sex and reproduction were approached in different ways with regard to gender, demography, and feminism. Focusing on the ideologies of Australia as a potential country the female gender was inferior to males. Society treated men with more respect than women. The severity of punishment of crimes also varied on the basis of gender. For instance, children born of single mothers were killed since this was assumed as immorality. Additionally, unmarried women were seen as a threat to the community.
Reflecting on lecture readings, the politics in Australia were gender-based. The male sex was associated with power and authority. The masculinity characteristic of men was described as the ability to lead the community. Therefore, women were perceived as the weaker sex in political issues since they had no leadership qualities and the feminist characteristics dictated that they focus on other duties such as house chores. They were supposed to obey the rules as formulated by the males. This made the political environment comprise of men only and the women who tried to pursue leadership positions were treated as criminals. They were severely punished through flogging or hanging so that the others could learn from them.
Additionally, gender discrimination was rampant in the historic Sydney. Single women and those who fell pregnant out of wedlock were out of choice of whether to keep the pregnancy or not. The dominant morality did not approve of them and the infants therefore; they only had to abort the pregnancies. Some of them obscured them up to birth and then abandon the offspring. This led to a high mortality rate in the country during that period. Other women used to search for someone who could adopt the baby for some time to avoid the repercussions of society. This societal morality illustrated the unfair treatment passed on to women. The mistakes of women were treated more evil than those of men who practically were involved in committing immorality. This proves gender discrimination in the historic Sydney.
Similarly, there was no protection for children. Going back to the lecture reading of Sarah and Makin, the infants who were let under the care of baby farmers were mistreated and left to die. During the trial, evidence showed that Sarah and Makin tortured the children who were left under their care as baby farmers. They did not feed them and they often overdosed them so that they could die. They even murdered the children and buried them in their backyard. This was done regardless of the payment which they had received from the mother of the infants. From a general perspective, this could not have happened if the society had accepted these children even if they were born out of wedlock. Thus, the societal morality on sex led to exploitation and mistreat of young children who at that time were helpless and unwanted by the community.
Moreover, the incident of the Makin’s shows the hypocrisy of religion, government, and the law in the history of Sydney. The trials excluded the murder of 12 infants due to lack of prove even with the evidence of the buried infants in Makin’s garden. In this case, society’s principles about sex were to be blamed for the murder of these children. The couple could have been motivated by the morals of the community that did not approve children born out of marriage. The religious leader did not own up to the task of teaching people what is acceptable and what is wrong in religion. They just tolerated the behaviors and practices of the public. Additionally, the law and the government were also hypocritical in the case of the Makin’s. Withdrawing some charges against the couple was an injustice to the mothers of the killed infants. This showed the corrupt leadership in the country.
Furthermore, the case of baby farming can be related to socioeconomic problems in society. The differences in gender treatment led to the establishment of baby farming. Since women could not bear the consequences of raising a child born out of wedlock, they had to take them to other caregivers. The government allowed these activities to take place so that people could earn some income. The public had to find ways of survival due to harsh economic conditions. The Makin’s focused on the payment which was very high before accepting the infants. This depicts the poverty that they lived in. They represented the marginalized communities in Sydney. For them to earn more and cut on expense hey had to kill the children either by murdering, overdosing or underfeeding them. Also, they murdered the infants of desperate mothers who were also marginalized because of their marital status. This illustrates the socio-economic problems which existed in the history of Sydney.
The controversies about sex assist in understanding the privacy of sexual matters in Sydney. In the past, women and young girls suffered rape and other sexual abuse from men. Chidley, who was a sex reformer, took to the public teachings about how women could transform sex so that they could avoid the pain that was associated with it. He was condemned and often arrested by the police because of the immoral demonstrations which he did in the public and sometimes because of his choice of clothing. This showed the privacy that sex was given in society. It was not to be discussed publicly and this led to continuation of sexual abuse among females. Since they were not supposed to talk about their experiences with other community members, they suffered in silence. This might be one of the forces of gender prejudice.
Correspondingly, women used their sexuality to gain power. Since they had been much oppressed by the community in many ways, women used sex to lure men so that they could achieve what they wanted. This led to an increase in prostitution and abortion due to the societal morality of infants of unmarried women. However, this was the only way women could achieve things since they had few chances of expressing themselves. This represents the extent of subjugation and degradation of women in the history of Sydney. Thus, the unfair treatment and sex-bases discrimination made the women engage in immoral behaviors so that they could fit in the structure of the society. Reflecting on the lecture readings on the controversies of sex and reproduction, it can be observed that the history of Sydney was characterized by gender discrimination against females, conservative societies and a strict government that observed outside perfection rather than transformation of the communities.

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