The PAC panels involved discussions related to the various aspects of human nature and their relations. These issues were as diverse as they were centralized. The aspects of religion in relation to morality and government as well as issues related to sexuality, gender and language were
The PAC panels involved discussions related to the various aspects of human nature and their relations. These issues were as diverse as they were centralized. The aspects of religion in relation to morality and government as well as issues related to sexuality, gender and language were the major topics of discussion.
In discussing about religion, the conference focused on how adherents of religion condemn various forms of entertainment like erotic dances common in entertainment clubs. The religious adherents go beyond condemning and take measures to lobby government to pass legislations that restrict the extent to which the entertainment clubs can entertain their clients. They argue that art as the entertainment clubs refer to erotic dancing cannot be equated to art and that the former only contributes to immorality in the society and breakage of family ties. This is considered as replacing democracy entitled to the subjects of a given state with theocracy where the people have to follow religious laws rather than exercise their freedom.
The government which is supposed to protect the individual rights devoid of any biases whether religion or otherwise also support the war against this form of discrimination (Fedorak 47). Rather than pass legislation that protects the individual rights as long as these rights are within the law, they instead suppress these businesses by buying them and creating imbalances in the market. The courts of laws also reject law suits presented by these businesses citing lack of enough evidence.
The issue of prostitution, another controversial issue in many societies was discussed. The manner in which many societies control this issue is discriminatory to one gender. The female gender is always victimized ignoring their male counterparts who are involved as well. Several proposals on how to approach this issue were proposed. The practice should either be decriminalized, prohibited, regulated, or take an abolitionist strategy.
Sexual orientation has always been a never ending argument. Most societies approach this issue by focusing on the individual rather than the whole community as a whole (Havilland, Harald, Walrath, McBride 473). The individual is thus discriminated against based on their sexual orientation and even subjected to medical treatment to have their conditions treated.
Language and race are also a source of discrimination and were also aspects under discussion. Language especially in a place like Brazil has been the source of inequality and discrimination.
The issues discussed are basically concepts of anthropology and can only be best explained and the arising problems solved by anthropology experts. Anthropology involves the scientific research about humanity (Fedorak 3). The term itself is Greek term denoting Man and study, thus the study of humanity. Considering that the conference was all about the issues related directly to humanity, it follows then that the conference is very much related to the course.
According to the lecture notes, the manner in which human being categorize sex and gender, is mostly influenced by how humans perceive their different environment (class lecture: 8/30/12). Refocusing back to the conference, gender is defined much the same manner, and also scientifically by identifying the genotypes of the different sexes. The xx is identified as the female, and xy as the male. A third category and which is xxy is in most cases ignored and discriminated against in the society. Anthropologist help understand that human beings are more than their physical or gene attributes and they should not be discriminated based on the same (class lecture: 8/30/12.
Anthropology experts therefore have a very important role to play in defining how the society lives and ensuring that misconceptions occurring due to the different human interactions with themselves and with environment are straightened out.
Lecturer. Class readings. 8th October 2012.
Fedorak, Shirley. Anthropology Matters!. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. Print.
Havilland, William. A, Prins Harald, Dana Walrath, Bunny McBride. Anthropology: The human
Challenge. New York: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.