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Mergers and acquisitions on the tata group - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 15 Words: 4432 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Merger and acquisitions have emerged as chief forces in the contemporary financial and economic environment. They have been a source of corporate growth and in India, it has changed radically after the liberalization of Indian economy. Mergers and acquisitions came up as one of the most efficient methods of such corporate restructuring, and became an essential part of the long-term trade strategy of corporates in India. The sole three chief objectives at the back any MA transaction were found to be: Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Mergers and acquisitions on the tata group" essay for you Create order ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Improving Profitability ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Rapid growth in scale and closer time to market ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¢ Acquirement of new technology Many in corporate India would be jealous of the Tata Groups strategy around mergers and acquisition. In the past 8 years, the Tata Group had made 35 overseas acquisitions, including coal and iron ore mines, adding up Rs 78,000 crore, mostly in the past 3 years. Research problem To examine the consequence of going global through mergers and acquisitions and the traders long term and short term earnings respectively. This would aid in studying the impact on companies financials past the merger or acquisition. To also determine the enterprise value of the corporation by comparing it with the peer group and studying the value of the firm Objective of the study To analyze the a thorough detailed case study of 3 companies of Tata Group who merged or acquired in the past years. To evaluate the closing price of 3 companies previous to and post acquisition To weigh up the key financial ratios of 3 companies pre and post acquisition To do valuation of two companies through enterprise value and contrast the value with peer group and examine in detail Review of literature The following are the few existing studies reviewed which were conducted by researchers in the view of analyzing the financial performance during merger activity in different time periods. The study entitled Effect of mergers on corporate performance in India, written by Vardhana Pawaskar (2001), studied the impact of mergers on corporate performance. It compared the pre- and post- merger operating performance of the corporations involved in merger between 1992 and 1995 to identify their financial characteristics. The study identified the profile of the profits. The regression analysis explained that there was no increase in the post- merger profits. The study of a sample of firms, restructured through mergers, showed that the merging firms were at the lower end in terms of growth, tax and liquidity of the industry. The merged firms performed better than industry in terms of profitability. Mansur.A.Mulla (2003) in his case study Forecasting the viability and operational efficiency by use of ratio analysis: A case study, assessed the financial performance of a textile unit by using ratio analysis. The study found that the financial health was never in the healthy zone during the entire study period and ratio analysis highlighted that managerial incompetence accounted for most of the problems. It also suggested toning up efficiency and effectiveness of all facets of management and put the company on a profitable footing. Pramod Mantravadi and Vidyadhar Reddy (2007) in their research study Mergers and operating performance: Indian experience, attempted to study the impact of mergers on the operating performance of acquiring corporate in different periods in India, after the announcement of industrial reforms, by examining some pre- and post-merger financial ratios, with chosen sample firms, and all mergers involving public limited and traded companies of nation between 1991 and 2003. The study results suggested that there are minor variations in terms of impact on operating performance following mergers in different intervals of time in India. It also indicated that for mergers between the same groups of companies in India, there has been deterioration in performance and returns on investment. A book entitled Mergers acquisitions in the banking sector- The Indian scenario, written by Selvam. M (2007) has analyzed the implications of stock price reactions to mergers and acquisitions activities taken place in banking industry with special reference to private and public sector banks. The author has found from the analysis that the share prices are market sensitive. From the financial analysis it was observed that majority of the banks went for branch expansion and this has affected profitability to some extent and it resulted in unhealthy competition among the players. To sum up the review of literature, many contributions have offered different perspectives of merger in different industries worldwide and explained the valuation techniques followed by merging companies, and shareholders wealth effect due to merger. From the review of many excellent research papers analyzing the pre and post merger performance of merged companies, it is inferred that majority of the studies strongly support the concept of enhanced post merger performance due to merger and it is beneficial to the acquirer companies. METHODOLOGY Methodology of the study Sample selection There are several mergers within the TATA Group during the study period from 01.04.2006 to 31.03.2009. For the purpose of corporate analysis, it was decided to select two of the highest deals which merged within under the TATA Group during the study period. Hence, the sample size of this study is confined to 2. Besides, while selecting the sample, following points were taken into account. Acquirer and target companies should belong to the same industry. Availability of merger date and industry information. The details of sample companies, (Acquirer and Target), along with the date of merger and name of the Industry concerned are given in Table 1. Period of the study For the purpose of selecting sample companies, the present study covers a period of one year from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2009. But in order to evaluate the financial performance of sample companies on a comparative basis, 15-20 days before merger and after merger were considered. Sources of data The present study basically depends on secondary data. The required data on financial performance before and after merger were collected and they were obtained from Prowess software, Internet sources, Business Journals (ICFAI JOURNAL ON M A) The data were also collected from books, journals, magazines and newspapers. Tools used In order to study the liquidity performance of acquirer and target companies, ratios Debt-Equity Ratio, ROCE (%),net profit margin, P/E, EPS, OPM(%) and valuation. (1) Analysis of financial performance Empirical tests were carried out on the collected financial data with the help of ratio analysis, t-test and standard deviation. The pre-merger average performance of the acquirer and target companies were compared with the post- merger performance of the combined firm. The present study attempts to measure and analyze the pre and post merger performance of acquirer and target companies by using financial ratios in order to ascertain whether mergers resulted in shareholders wealth or not. Accordingly, the following null hypothesis has been tested: H0: The post merger financial performance of the combined firm is not significantly different from the aggregate performance of the acquirer and target companies prior to the merger. (2) Ratios Debt-Equity Ratio : A measure of a companys financial leverage calculated by dividing  its total liabilities  by  stockholders equity. It indicates what proportion of equity and debt the company is using to finance its assets. ROCE : ROCE compares earnings with capital invested in the company. It is similar to Return on Assets (ROA), but takes into account sources of financing Net profit margin: The profit margin tells you how much profit a company makes for every1 Rupee it generates in revenue or sales. Profit margins vary by industry, but all else being equal, the higher a companys profit margin compared to its competitors, the better. P/E: It is a measure of the price paid for a share relative to the annual net income or profit earned by the firm per share. EPS: The portion of a companys profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock.  Earnings per share  serves as an indicator of  a companys profitability. OPM: Operating margin is a measurement of the proportion of a companys revenue that is left over after variable costs of production such as wages, and raw materials have been paid. A healthy operating margin is required for a company to be able to pay for its fixed costs, such as interest on debt. Also known as operating profit margin and net profit margin. (3) Enterprise Value Enterprise value is a figure that, in theory, represents the entire cost of a company if someone were to acquire it. Enterprise value is a more accurate estimate of takeover cost than market capitalization because it takes includes a number of important factors such as preferred stock, debt, and cash reserves that are excluded from the latter metric. ANALYSIS OF DATA TATA GROUP OF COMPANIES One of the Indias largest business groups in the country. It has about 96 operating companies. Diverse business in 7 sectors. Revenues equivalent to 5.3% of Indias GDP. Group revenue FY 2008: Rs 251,543 Cr. / $ 62.5 b. Group profit FY 2008: Rs 21,578 Cr. / $ 5.4 b .Its 27 publicly listed companies have a combined market capitalization which is the 2nd highest among all business houses in India. Largest employer in private sector over 300,000 employees. A shareholder base of over 2.9 million. Operations in over 80 countries. Products and services exported to 85 countries Tata is a rapidly growing business group based in India with significant international operations. Revenues in 2007-08 are estimated at $62.5 billion (around Rs251, 543 crore), of which 61 per cent is from business outside India. The group employs around 350,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics. The business operations of the Tata group currently encompass seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The groups major companies are beginning to be counted globally. Considering two of the largest mergers of TATA Group -Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the world after it acquired Corus. -Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers. TATA STEEL-CORUS About the acquisition Date: 30th March 2007 Acquirer: Tata Steel Limited Target company: Corus Plc. Stake: 100 % Deal amount: US$ 12201 m Sector: Steel sector MERGER On January 31, 2007, India based Tata Steel Limited (Tata Steel) acquired the Anglo Dutch steel company, Corus Group Plc (Corus) for US$ 12.20 billion. The merged entity, Tata-Corus, employed 84,000 people across 45 countries in the world. It had the capacity to produce 27 million tons of steel per annum, making it the fifth largest steel producer in the world as of early 2007. Before the acquisition, the major market for Tata Steel was India. The Indian market accounted for sixty nine percent of the companys total sales. Almost half of Corus production of steel was sold in Europe (excluding UK). The UK consumed twenty nine percent of its production. After the acquisition, the European market (including UK) would consume 59 percent of the merged entitys total production. DEAL : An auction was initiated on January 31, 2007, and after nine rounds of bidding, TATA Steel could finally clinch the deal with its final bid 608 pence per share, almost 34% higher than the first bid of 455 pence per share of Corus. Synergies There were many likely synergies between Tata Steel, the lowest-cost producer of steel in the world, and Corus, a large player with a significant presence in value-added steel segment and a strong distribution network in Europe. Among the benefits to Tata Steel was the fact that it would be able to supply semi-finished steel to Corus for finishing at its plants, which were located closer to the high-value markets The Pitfalls Though the potential benefits of the Corus deal were widely appreciated, some analysts had doubts about the outcome and effects on Tata Steels performance. They pointed out that Corus EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) at 8 percent was much lower than that of Tata Steel which was at 30 percent in the financial year 2006-07 COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION FINDINGS As we can see from the line chart that the %cumulative abnormal return before acquisition was sharply decreasing since past month with not even a single glimpse of positive return on any single day. But as soon as the acquisition took place, the earnings showed a marginal rise and again got back to the level where it was just before the acquisition. This happened due to very large debt generated due to overpaying by acquiring the Corus at a very high price of 608 pence per share as compared to previously valued 455 pence per share. RATIO ANALYSIS TATA Steel (31st Jan 2007) Pre-acquisition Post-acquisition Change ( %) Debt-Equity Ratio 0.31 0.67 116. ROCE (%) 50.13 23.27 -53.6 net profit margin 20.46 21.36 4.4 P/E 8.72 11.35 30.2 ROE(%) 41.7 25.97 -37.7 EPS 61.51 61.06 -0.7 OPM(%) 39.79 36.11 -9.2 INTERPRETATION Debt equity ratio on post acquisition increase because Corus debt was high it was GBP1.6b to buy Corus and so its debt is almost 116% more than in pre acquisition. ROCE shows that post acquisition is very less as compared to pre acquisition it has negative percentage because company has short term returns after one year it will improve in the long run. Net profit margin has very less change as profit is not much affected. P/E increases in post acquisition by 30.2% which show high future cash flow. ROE is decreasing by 37.7 which show that it has more debt than equity. EPS has a very minor change. Operating profit margin is reduced by 9.1% which shows that it has low profit. TATA COMMUNICATION-NTT DOCOMO About the acquisition Date: 13th November 2008 Acquirer: Ntt-Docomo Target company: Tata Teleservices Ltd. Stake: 26 % Deal amount: US$ 2700 m Sector: Tele-communication MERGER Tata Teleservices has sold a stake of 26% to Japans NTT DoCoMo. The deal value is $2.7 bn. Tata Tele has 30 million CDMA subscribers and is rolling out its GSM services. Some say the deal is over-valued and some say its not easy to put value on the fastest growing mobile market in the world. India is the fastest growing market second only to China. It adds 10mn subscribers every month. The current subscriber base stands at 300+million and is expected to be 700 million in 2012. That is almost double to todays numbers. The Road ahead Great deal it may be, but it has its risks. One reason is that telecom deals have been controversial in recent times. This goes back to late last year when the government sold pan-India licenses for $333 million apiece, amid a welter of controversy. DoCoMo, in accordance with regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, expects to make an open offer to acquire up to 20 per cent of outstanding equity shares of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML), a Tata telecommunication company, through a joint tender offer along with Tata Sons. TTSL and TTML through the Tata Indicom brand, have increased their combined share of the fast-growing Indian mobile market and their combined subscriber base now stands at over 30 million. TTSL expects to leverage DoCoMos expertise in the development and delivery of value-added services, where DoCoMo is a firmly established market leader. RATIO ANALYSIS TATA DOCOMO (13-11-08) Pre- acquisition Post- acquisition Change (%) Debt-Equity Ratio 0.11 0.14 27.27% ROCE (%) 7.33 7.44 1.50% net profit margin 9.55 10.61 11.10% P/E 0 12 0 ROE(%) 11.14 10.97 -1.53% EPS 0.89 1.11 24.72% OPM(%) 16.2 18.7 15.43% FINDINGS Debt equity ratio on post acquisition debt is increasing which shows company debt is increasing after merger. ROCE is constant it has not change much.Net profit margin increases by 11.10 as it income increases in post acquisition as compared to pre acquisition. P/E highly increases in post acquisition from 0 to 12%. ROE is decreasing by 1.53% which shows that it slightly more debt than equity. EPS is increasing drastically by 24.27% which is very profitable for investors. Operating profit margin is increased by 15.43% which shows that company profit margin is very fairly profitable. COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION INTERPRETATION The return of the target company Tata Communication has been very poor since the past 15 to 20 days before the acquisition but it almost got to break-even soon after the acquisition date. This sustained for the next 8 to 10 days but again got back into negative returns zone due to poor customer support to the newly entered Docomo brand in highly competitive communications market in India. TATA MOTOR JLR About the acquisition Date: 27th March 2008 Acquirer: Tata Motors Ltd Target company: Jaguar Land Rover Stake: 100 % Deal amount: US$ 2300m Sector: Automotive Detailed Case Study In June 2008, India-based Tata Motors Ltd. announced that it had completed the acquisition of the two iconic British brands Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) from the US-based Ford Motors for US$ 2.3 billion. Tata Motors stood to gain on several fronts from the deal. One, the acquisition would help the company acquire a global footprint and enter the high-end premier segment of the global automobile market. After the acquisition, Tata Motors would own the worlds cheapest car the US$ 2,500 Nano, and luxury marquees like the Jaguar and Land Rover. Though there was initial skepticism over an Indian company owning the luxury brands, ownership was not considered a major issue at all. According to industry analysts, some of the issues that could trouble Tata Motors were economic slowdown in European and American markets, funding risks, currency risks etc. The Challenges Morgan Stanley reported that JLRs acquisition appeared negative for Tata Motors, as it had increased the earnings volatility, given the difficult economic conditions in the key markets of JLR including the US and Europe. Moreover, Tata Motors had to incur a huge capital expenditure as it planned to invest another US$ 1 billion in JLR. This was in addition to the US$ 2.3 billion it had spent on the acquisition. Tata Motors had also incurred huge capital expenditure on the development and launch of the small car Nano and on a joint venture with Fiat to manufacture some of the companys vehicles in India and Thailand. This, coupled with the downturn in the global automobile industry, was expected to impact the profitability of the company in the near future CURRENT SCENARIO In less than three years after its acquisition, Jaguar Land Rover has metamorphosed from a millstone around Tata Motors neck into its crowning jewel. In the June 2010 quarter, JLR division accounted for nearly 70% of the companys net profit and over 60% of its revenues on the consolidated basis. This was more than what the market has expected and the stock is up by nearly 150% in the past two trading sessions. JLR benefited from an improvement in its pricing power and a favourable exchange rate in the US dollar and the euro. The two worked in tandem and resulted in a sharp 60% jump in JLR revenue per unit to around 38,000 in June 2010 quarter compared to the 23,800 a year ago. With the raw material costs remaining benign, it led to a sharp improvement in the divisions operating margin and its reported net profit of 221 million (`1,613.3 crore) in the first quarter as against a net loss of 64 million (`467 crore) a year ago. RATIO ANALYSIS TATA MOTORS(27- 03 2008) Pre-acquisition Post- acquisition Change (%) Debt-Equity Ratio 0.56 0.97 42.27 ROCE (%) 30.52 6.88 -343.60 net profit margin 6.88 11.47 40.02 P/E 15.45 9.59 -61.11 ROE(%) 30.98 5.34 -480.15 EPS 47.1 18.81 -150.40 OPM(%) 11.16 7.89 -41.44 FINDINGS Debt equity ratio is increasing by 42.27% as Tata took loan of banks to acquire JLR.ROCE increases vey high by 343.60% as compared to pre acquisition as it gauges that company that generate its earnings from the total pool of capital which indicates profitability.Net profit margin increases as it income increases in post acquisition as compared to pre acquisition. P/E highly decreases in post acquisition by 60.1% which in investor point of view they will be profitable to invest to get high earning. ROE is highly increasing by 480.15% which shows that it has more equity than debt. EPS is increasing drastically by 480.15% which is very profitable for investors. Operating profit margin is reduced by 41.44% which shows that company profit margin is very less. COMPANYS RETURN BEFORE AND AFTER ACQUISITION PRE-ACQUISITION POST-ACQUISITION INTERPRETATION As we can see from the line chart that the cumulative return before merger was negative and the entire trend is moving in the negative direction due to poor returns of tata motors. A soon as the acquisition took place, the highly profit generating Jaguar as well as Land Rover added to the profit and earnings of the tata motors. The brand value of JLR added to the highly reputable Tata Group and the companys balance sheet. This can be clearly seen in the line chart above. VALUATION AND INTERPRETATION EV Multiples of Tata Corus Tata Steel and Corus Group deal happened at high multiples compared to its peers. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands half compared to the deal multiples. Sales Multiple: The average sales multiple of its peers is 1.17x compared to the deal of 0.68x of Corus Groups sales. This can be possible due to high sales value, reducing the multiple to 0.68x. The lowest multiple (Steel Authority of India) is at 0.73x. EBITDA Multiple: EBITDA multiple of its peers averages at 4.38x compared to the deal multiple of 7.02x of Corus Groups sales. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 4.38x. This is almost half of the deal multiple. It can be observed that Tata played very aggressively. EBIT Multiple: EBIT multiple of its peers averaged at 5.54x compared to the deal of 10.19x of Corus Groups sales. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 8.39x. PE Multiple: The PE multiple of the deal is very high on the account that the margins of Corus are very low compared to Tata Steel and other peers. The average PE multiples is 7.95x compared to 68.23x at which the deal haapened. EV Multiples of Tata NTT Docomo The deal of Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo happened at very high multiples. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands very low compared to the deal multiples. Sales Multiple: The average sales multiple of its peers is 5.37x compared to the deal of 26.98x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 9.24x. Thus we can conclude that Tata Teleservices got very good price for its stake dilution for NTT Docmo. EBITDA Multiple: Again the average EBITDA multiple of its peers is very less, 16.35x compared to the deal of 99.81x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 26.74x. This is a huge difference. NTT Docomo paid 6 times more what it should have paid to Tata. EBIT Multiple: EBIT multiple of its peers is 25.5x compared to the deal of 952.96x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 41.02x. PE Multiple: The PE multiple for Tata Teleservices is negative as its net income is negative Note: The multiples are high on account that Sales and the profitability of Tata Teleservices is low, inturn giving very high multiples. Its sales stands at Rs. 1,815.5 Cr. compared to the average sales of Rs. 11,490.6 Cr. of its peers. FINDINGS FROM VALUATION OF ENTERPRISE VALUE MULTIPLE Tata Corus Tata Steel and Corus Group deal happened at high multiples compared to its peers. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands half compared to the deal multiples. Even the highest multiple (Jindal Steel Power) is at 4.38x. This is almost half of the deal multiple It can be observed that Tata played very aggressively as it paid high enterprise value as compared to our analysis. A reason for Corus to be sold is chance to Bail out of Debt and Financial stress. TATA Steel Paid 7.02 Times EBITDA of Corus Enterprise Value. The PE multiple of the deal is very high on the account that the margins of Corus are very low compared to Tata Steel and other peers the only company who has high P/E is Jindal steel. Tata NTT Docomo The deal of Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo happened at very high multiples. We can observe that the average multiples of the peer group company stands very low compared to the deal multiples. The average sales multiple of its peers is 5.37x compared to the deal of 26.98x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 9.24x. Thus we can conclude that Tata Teleservices got very good price for its stake dilution for NTT Docomo. The PE multiple for Tata Teleservices is negative as its net income is negative. EBITDA multiple of its peers is very less, 16.35x compared to the deal of 99.81x (as on 31st March, 2008) of Tata Teleservicess sales. Even the highest multiple (Reliance Communication) is at 26.74x. This is a huge difference. NTT Docomo paid 6 times more what it should have paid to Tata. The multiples are high on account that Sales and the profitability of Tata Teleservices is low, in turn giving very high multiples. Its sales stands at Rs. 1,815.5 Cr. compared to the average sales of Rs. 11,490.6 Cr. of its peers. SUMMARY Except Tata Steel- Corus deal, all the other 2 acquisitions was well accepted by not only well accepted by the owners of the company (the shareholders) but even made the entire Tata group come into the eyes of fortune 500 list. In-fact it ranked at 56th position at a global level in 2009 CONCLUSION This study was undertaken to test what is the impact of mergers on the financials of acquiring corporate by examining some pre- merger and post-merger financial, in terms of impact on operating performance. The results from the analysis of pre- and post-merger operating performance ratios for the acquiring firms in the sample showed that there was a differential impact of mergers, for different industry sectors in India. Type of industry does seem to make a difference to the post-merger operating performance of acquiring firms. Expansion through mergers and acquisition is one of the best ways for any domestic company to step outside the shores of India in an international market place and acquit itself as a global player Company can turn into conglomerate in reasonably less time by capitalizing on its strengths of efficiency and effectiveness by acquiring relatively poor performing companies as TATA did in almost all its group of companies Recent examples of companies which adopted similar pattern of expansion are Renuka Sugars, Arcelor Mittal, Reliance, Essar Group, Aditya Birla Group, etc. One can study any of the above mentioned company and conclude that the key underlying decision of these companies expanding quickly and efficiently is their timely decision of merging and acquiring appropriate companies

Women as Commodity Free Essays

WOMEN AS COMMODITY Women As Commodity Since ancient times, There people who are being sold just like a mere things sold in a market to be slaves, pimp, and it’s quiet alarming that even naive child is a victim of this kind of discursive life. Women have been also analyzed to be part of those bundles of things paraded, bidded for, sold, and traded off despite the fact that women are making huge contributions for the development of their countries in different aspects today, still women are being tricked as commodity. In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, not only focused on the love story of Claudio and Hero; the volatile relationship of Beatrice and Benedik but it also goes much deeper in exploring the tensions between the sexes in a society where female chastity is equated with virtue, and that virtues serve as the measurement of a woman’s worth. We will write a custom essay sample on Women as Commodity or any similar topic only for you Order Now In women in the story interprets Shakespeare’s viewpoint about women state before. â€Å"That women were treated as commodities on the early modern marriage exchange has, of course, been well established. Numerous social historians of the early modern period have documented the value attached to daughters as a means by which to advance family name and social position. Although marriage formations differed widely according to social ranking, as B. J. Sokol and Mary Sokol note in Shakespeare, Law, and Marriage, â€Å"the convention among the gentry and aristocracy was for marriages to be arranged by families with a view to securing advantages or alliances, conforming to a patriarchal model. † Numerous early modern conduct manuals and sermons, in fact, warn that a woman’s worth was linked to her chastity, a worth which could be lost or diminished due to real or, in the case of Shakespeare’ Hero, perceived sexual indiscretion. Commercial Surrogacy and the redefinition of Motherhood The childbearing days are no longer a required element in the reproductive period for some. Commercial surrogacy has opened the doors for many who can’t bear children of their own. Surrogate motherhood has increased notoriety as means for obtaining children. A commercial surrogate mother is paid to produce a child for someone else and then has to give up all parental rights and love for the child, she then, has to allow others to raise the child as if their own. This behavior has raised many concerns about the suitable scope of the market in commercial surrogacy. Some totally object to commercial surrogacy because the children and women’s reproductive ability are treated as a commodity like children as buyer durables and women as baby factories. Since the 1970s, there has been rapid and wide ranging development in the field of new reproductive technologies (NRT). With donor insemination (DI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), previously infertile couples have been given new hope and the chance to have children. A more recent addition to these new methods of reproduction has been the combination of DI and IVF with surrogate mother arrangements. This technique has subtly changed the realm of reproduction, for with the addition of a third party (the surrogate) to the reproductive environment, the nature of motherhood, fatherhood, and the allocation of parental rights and duties has come into question. Before the advent of NRTs, there were essentially two forms of motherhood recognized in Western society, the biological and the social mother. Except for adoption, fostering, or step parenting, the biological mother was assumed to also be the social mother. This is not surprising, as motherhood has never been ambiguous; one might not know who one’s father was, but one’s mother’s identity was rarely in question. However, before women were granted legal personhood (1929 in Canada), a child’s legal guardian or parent was the father (based on property rights arguments); historically, illegitimate children were not considered to have a legal parent, either mother or father. Surrogate Mothers Assisted reproduction has contributed to the fragmentation of motherhood. Historically, the social and biological aspects of motherhood resided in one person. Maternity is now divisible into genetic, gestational, and social otherhood, and these roles can be spread among a number of women. This division is most apparent in the case of surrogate mothers, where at least three (and possibly as many as five) women can attempt to claim parental rights over a child. â€Å"If Mrs. A is infertile and Mrs. B agrees to provide ova to be fertilized in vitro with semen from Mr. A, and embryos are transferred to Mrs. C, who agrees to carry the baby to term and hand it over to Mrs. A and her husband after birth, th e situation becomes extremely complex and the basic tenets of family law uncertain. This situation creates the potential for enormous conflict over who should be considered the ‘mother’ and has the concomitant parental rights and responsibilities for the child. For example, in the Baby M case, there was a conflict between two conceptions of ‘motherhood’, the legal (commissioning mother) and the biological (surrogate mother). Surrogacy breaks down and devolves the role of mother, separating the social and nurturing part of motherhood from the genetic contribution and the birthing process. Commercialization and Exploitation While surrogacy in general raises a host of social and ethical problems, I believe that commercial surrogacy in particular can crystallize the difficulties that many people have with surrogacy, and help us get to the core of how surrogacy affects our understanding of motherhood. Commercialization, and its use of market rhetoric, treats surrogacy as a service arrangement between a number of individuals, leading to the creation of a product and the transfer of rights to that product. In the law in the U. S. , this is represented in the form of contracts signed by the commissioning couple and the surrogate mother. In exchange for between $10,000 and $15,000, the surrogate mother (and usually her partner) agree to abstain from intercourse for a number of months, submit to regular and extensive medical exams, and agree to transfer parental rights to the couple once the child is born. Women As Commodity Moral Issues A Korean movie, Surrogate Mothers, told of a young poor girl chosen by the members of the nobility to be the bank for the sperm of the noble son who could not impregnate his barren wife. Her mother was also a surrogate mother before. After delivering the baby, she developed that material attachment to the child. However, she was not allowed to experience cuddling that baby as she had to be banished right away from the palace to keep the deal a secret from the public. She was paid with each and an acre of land for her service. She commits suicide for she can’t accept her situation. In India,many women are being burned by their mothers-in-law and husbands for not being able to pay the dowry completely. The dowry is the amount of money paid to the groom’s parents for allowing him to marry the girl. The costs of marrying off daughters have become so expensive in India today reaching as high as 500,000 rupees. Thus amniocentesis or sex determination of t he child in the womb is being sought by couples to know if it is female or male. Many female fetuses have been killed because of this method as couples whom prefer sons. One Indian said: â€Å"It is better to spend 500 rupees (for amniocentesis) now than to spend 500,000 rupees later for a daughter’s marriage dowry. † Japenese women feminists have decried thir countrymen who leave their wives walking ten feet behind him, thereby also treating them like commodities. Here in the Philippines, we have a history of various types of commodizing women too. Some landlords require their tenants to make their daughters or wives work in their mansions to render domestic services, maybe sometimes sexual services too, in cases when the tenant fathers are sunk in debt to them and cannot pay back. Wilhelmina Orozco learned on a research how some prostitutes in Olongapo suffer double exploitation when they cannot refuse their manager’s demanding sexual favors for them, lest they lose their chances of working in his nightclub. Even some orphanages engage in commodizing women. Their administrators trick the parents of rich pregnant women, ashamed of the stigma attached to unwed mothers, or those poor women into donating their babies to them which they then sell off to rich donors abroad. The term donation instead of payment for the baby becomes a smokescreen to cover up the commerce. Conclusion The concept of surrogate motherhood is becoming very accepted way of infertile couples to have a child of their own. Although it is an act of love, it also involves financial aid. Surrogate mothers are obviously paid for bearing a child inside their wombs. A couple who wants to hire a service of a surrogate mother must also consider the kind of personality of the surrogate mother. We all know that the genes have larger effect on the baby’s personality someday. Women are now expected to function merely as reproductive vehicles, birth mothers with no identity apart from being a suitcase to carry the child, how far can they be pushed into invisibility? How far can we ignore their moral status? It is not the intention of this report to suggest that surrogacy is wrong or unethical. There are serious problems involved, and these are partly moral, legal and partly ethical. Any attempt to legalize surrogacy, commercial or otherwise, must take into account the above implications. A failure to consider the ethical implications of surrogate motherhood, commercial or otherwise, are to show a lack of concern for another being (a surrogate mother). HUMAN TRAFFICKING Human Trafficking Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal activities in the world, a phenomenon that has been said to be driven by the same forces that drive the globalization of markets. The breadth of the problem is immense and the statistics that outline the prevalence of trafficking in the world today give significant cause for concern. The scope of this global problem is exponentially increasing, and this has been recognized to be in part due to the worldwide increase in poverty that has been caused by the global financial crisis. Slowly and painfully a picture is emerging of a global crime that shames us all. Billions of dollars are being made at the expense of millions of victims of human trafficking. Boys and girls who should be at school are coerced into becoming soldiers, doing hard labor or sold for sex. Women and girls are being trafficked for exploitation: forced into domestic labor, prostitution or marriage. Men, trapped by debt, slave away in mines, plantations, or sweatshops. How can such a trade in human beings occur in the 21st century? Because it is a low risk reward crime. In many countries, the necessary laws are not in place, or they are not properly enforced —too often traffickers are let off with a slap on the wrist, and victims are treated as criminals. Unscrupulous traffickers exploit the poverty, hope and innocence of the vulnerable. Victims become dehumanized and enslaved—forced to produce cheap goods or provide services over and over again. They live in fear, many become victims of violence. Their blood, sweat and tears are on the hands of consumers in the developed world. What Is Human Trafficking? Human Trafficking is defined in the Trafficking Protocol as â€Å"the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation. † The definition on trafficking consists of three core elements: ) The  action  of trafficking which means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons 2) The  means  of trafficking which includes threat of or use of force, deception, coercion, abuse of power or position of vulnerability 3) The  purpose  of trafficking which is always exploitation. In the words of the Trafficking Protocol, a rticle 3 â€Å"exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. To ascertain whether a particular circumstance constitutes trafficking in persons, consider the definition of trafficking in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol and the constituent elements of the offense, as defined by relevant domestic legislation. How Is Human Trafficking Different From Migrant Smuggling? †¢ Consent – migrant smuggling, while often undertaken in dangerous or degrading conditions, involves consent. Trafficking victims, on the other hand, have either never consented or if they initially consented, that consent has been rendered meaningless by the coercive, deceptive or abusive action of the traffickers. Exploitation – migrant smuggling ends with the migrants’ arrival at their destination, whereas trafficking involves the ongoing exploitation of the victim. †¢ Transnationality – smuggling is always transnational, whereas trafficking may not be. Trafficking can occur regardless of whether victims are taken to another state or move d within a state’s borders. †¢ Source of profits – in smuggling cases profits are derived from the transportation of facilitation of the illegal entry or stay of a person into another county, while in trafficking cases profits are derived from exploitation. The distinctions between smuggling and trafficking are often very subtle and sometimes they overlap. Identifying whether a case is one of human trafficking or migrant smuggling and related crimes can be very difficult for a number of reasons: Some trafficked persons might start their journey by agreeing to be smuggled into a country illegally, but find themselves deceived, coerced or forced into an exploitative situation later in the process (by e. g. being forced to work for extraordinary low wages to pay for the transportation). Traffickers may present an ‘opportunity’ that sounds more like smuggling to potential victims. They could be asked to pay a fee in common with other people who are smuggled. However, the intention of the trafficker from the outset is the exploitation of the victim. The ‘fee’ was part of the fraud and deception and a way to make a bit more money. Smuggling may be the planned intention at the outset but a ‘too good to miss’ opportunity to traffic people presents itself to the smugglers/traffickers at some point in the process. Criminals may both smuggle and traffic people, employing the same routes and methods of transporting them. The relationship between these two crimes is often oversimplified and misunderstood; both are allowed to prosper and opportunities to combat both are missed. It is important to understand that the work of migrant smugglers often results in benefit for human traffickers. Smuggled migrants may be victimized by traffickers and have no guarantee that those who smuggle them are not in fact traffickers. In short, smuggled migrants are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked – combating trafficking in persons requires that migrant smuggling be addressed as a priority. What Is The Role Of Transnational Organized Crime Groups In Human Trafficking? Trafficking is almost always a form of organized crime and should be dealt with using criminal powers to investigate and prosecute offenders for trafficking and any other criminal activities in which they engage. Trafficked persons should also be seen as victims of crime. Support and protection of victims is a humanitarian objective and an important means of ensuring that victims are willing and able to assist in criminal cases. As with other forms of organized crime, trafficking has globalized. Groups formerly active in specific routes or regions have expanded the geographical scope of their activities to explore new markets. Some have merged or formed cooperative relationships, expanding their geographical reach and range of criminal activities. Trafficking victims have become another commodity in a larger realm of criminal commerce involving other commodities, such as narcotic drugs and firearms or weapons and money laundering that generates illicit revenues or seeks to reduce risks for traffickers. The relatively low risks of trafficking and substantial potential profits have, in some cases, induced criminals to become involved as an alternative to other, riskier criminal pursuits. With the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in November 2000, countries have begun to develop the necessary criminal offences and enforcement powers to investigate, prosecute and punish traffickers and to confiscate their profits, but expertise and resources will be needed to make the new measures fully effective. Risks are further reduced by the extent to which victims are intimidated by traffickers, both in destination countries, where they fear deportation or prosecution for offences such as prostitution or illegal immigration, and in their countries of origin, where they are often vulnerable to retaliation or re-victimization if they cooperate with criminal justice authorities. The support and protection of victims is a critical element in the fight against trafficking to increase their willingness to cooperate with authorities and as a necessary means of rehabilitation. Is There A Legal Instrument To Tackle Human Trafficking? The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 and entered into force on 25 December 2003. The Trafficking Protocol, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, is the only international legal instrument addressing human trafficking as a crime and falls under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 1) The purposes of the Trafficking Protocol are: 2) To prevent and combat trafficking in persons 3) To protect and assist victims of trafficking, and ) To promote cooperation among States Parties in order to meet these objectives. The Trafficking Protocol advances international law by providing, for the first time, a working definition of trafficking in persons and requires ratifying States to criminalize such practices. What Are The Major Challenges Faced In The Battle Against Human Trafficking? A numbe r of points can be made: †¢ It is important that every effort is undertaken to establish the gravity of the problem and tackle the issue from the source to destination. What numbers are available show the problem has not abated and is not likely to. One of the challenges relates to the gathering of accurate information in order that a true picture of the phenomenon can be gauged. In this respect, some progress has been made but more needs to be done. †¢ From UNODC’s work across the criminal justice sector, we are fully aware that human trafficking is often only one activity of extensive and highly sophisticated international crime networks. †¢ We need to ensure that, despite the many conflicting priorities faced by member states that the issue of countering human trafficking is clearly given a high priority and focus by the international community. We need to consider the type of action that can be taken to raise awareness of the problem and take steps to prevent trafficking at source (reference to UNODC public service announcements). †¢ A major challenge is to ensure that action is taken to ratify and effectively implement the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Su ppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. †¢ Improving international cooperation and coordination, particularly in relation to developing information exchange and operational cooperation between law enforcement agencies needs to be strengthened. There is a need to take a more holistic and partnership approach to tackling the problem. In this respect, UNODC fully recognizes the importance of mobilizing the support of NGOs, IGOs, governments and the community at large. Moral Issues 1. A human trafficking victim was rescued after of the tedious and mazy years of being slaved after his mother sold him for money. He was interviewed by the UNODC Country officer of Columbia. â€Å"When you’re a kid, it’s easy to be deceived. Each Sunday when I walked down from the town, where my mum had a business, they would urge me to go with them, telling me that I would have a really good time, that it was better to go with them than to keep on working. On my 12th birthday, they came back for me. My mum was away at work, so I took the chance and escaped with them †¦ Five months later I regretted being there, but there was no chance of leaving. Besides, they told my mum that I was dead, that they had already killed me †¦ just like happened to my cousin who went with the [military], and when she tried to escape, they caught her, sent her to the war council, and executed her. I had been on the 40th front for two months when I got wounded. It was very hard. I was †¦ in the middle of a combat situation, and I had to assemble a bomb to throw at the army, but I grabbed it with the wrong hand. The soldiers were burning me [shooting too close] and I changed the bomb from one hand to another, and it exploded and blew my leg off †¦ In that moment I felt blood coming out of me, very fast, and I screamed when I saw it. I was legless. I screamed again, and then a guy †¦ grabbed me, but I fainted †¦ We surrendered on 20 July. We were very afraid because they warned us that the only thing we couldn’t do was to let ourselves get caught alive, or surrender to the military, because the first thing they would do to women was raping and torturing us, penetrate us with a wooden stick and then kill us †¦ Now my dream is that they help me to get back my leg, so I can walk again. After that I’d like to go to high school and then to the nursery school †¦ I’d like that. † Ximena, trafficking victim 2. Luana and Marcela are trafficking victims rescued by Brazilian NGO from a discursive life , they experienced being trapped by criminals and forced to prostitutions.. Luana: â€Å"A friend of mine told me that a Spanish group was hiring Brazilian girls to work as dancers on the island of Lanzarote. My friend Marcela and I thought it was a good opportunity to earn money. We didn? t want to continue working as maids. For a short while we only danced. But later they told us there had been too many expenses. And we would have to make some extra money. † Marcela: â€Å"We were trapped by criminals and forced into prostitution in order to pay debts for the trip. We had up to 15 clients per night. The use of condoms was the client? s decision, not ours. The criminals kept our passports and had an armed man in front of the ‘disco’ to make sure we never escaped. But a woman helped us. We went to the police and told everything. † Luana and Marcela, trafficking victims, interviewed by the Brazilian NGO Projeto Trama Maria Feranda is a victim of human trafficking in Colombia. â€Å"At that moment, my nightmare began. I was terrified when they showed me what I was expected to do—I felt I just couldn’t do it. I’ve been through many things, but never something like that, so I told them that I wasn’tgoing to and that I was going back home. I was shocked when they told me that wasn’t possible—they said they had invested a lot of money in me, and I hadto work to pay them back, because I now belonged to the network. I thought about escaping, but I was afraid of being physically hurt or killed. I worked hard for six months, but they have no mercy on you †¦ they’re just demeaning. During this time, I was sold many times, and this happened every 10 days—sometimes I just didn’t know where I was. You’re like a commodity to them. † Maria Fernanda, Trafficking victim, interviewed by the UNODC Country Office in Colombia Conclusions Trafficking admits women, children and men basic freedom. Trafficking robs communities of potential productive members of society, and exposes victims to violence, injury, disease and death. Trafficking is a detriment to public health, both economically and in the potential for widespread health issues. The work of cutting off demand for human trafficking is complex and requires a range of partners working together around a shared rejection of products and services obtained by force, fraud, or coercion. While technology and social media is being leveraged in innovative ways to provide consumers with information and a way to connect with companies, for example, there remains a need to explore new methods of raising awareness about the nature and proximity of human trafficking. With greater understanding of the crime, and a clear tool or means to make a difference, consumers and businesses alike will be more likely to take steps to diminish the demand for forced labor. PROSTITUTIONS Prostitutions What is Prostitution? Prostitution  is commonly defined as the custom of having sexual relations in exchange for economic gain. Although the sex is traditionally traded for money, it can also be bartered for jewelry, clothing, vehicles, housing, food—anything that has  market value. It is typically seen as an aberrant way to make a living and is illegal in many countries. The word  prostitution  can also refer to any act that is considered demeaning or shameful. The term prostitute is customarily used to refer to a female person who engages in sex in exchange for money as a profession. Depending on the culture, the attitude toward the job, and the socio-economic region in which the business of  prostitution  is conducted, other terminology is often used. These monikers often include streetwalker, sex worker, hooker, escort, sex trade worker and commercial sex worker. Male prostitutes are generally considered less prevalent in the occupation. They are typically referred to as escorts or gigolos if their clientele is female. If they specialize in providing their services to men, rent boy or hustler are terms frequently used to describe them? Similar to most occupations, a prostitute may have an employer or work as an independent contractor. Men who market and sell  prostitution  services are usually referred to as pimps. Women with the same job description are commonly called madams. Both normally take a percentage of the prostitute’s income as payment for their promotional services. Prostitutes who work independently have the advantage of keeping all of their earnings. The presumed advantage of having representatives such as pimps and madams involved in the process are safety. These agents are generally expected to screen prospective clients to ensure the safety and security of their staff. Pimps, however, are frequently portrayed to be less than forthcoming with the agreed upon pay for prostitutes who work for them. In a significant number of cases, pimps have been known to physically and psychologically abuse their employees. Madams are less known for abuse, but are often accused of mishandling the funds of call girls in their employ. Depending upon the country and the culture,  prostitution  may be considered a legal or illegal profession. In areas where it is lawful, there are commonly rules imposed by governments to ensure local prostitutes practice safe sex in their business activities to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The workers are also generally required to have regular physical exams to ensure they are healthy and pose no threat to their customers’ well-being. In regions where  prostitution  is deemed a crime, the punishment ranges from simple fines or short stints in jail to death. Some jurisdictions recognize the business transaction of prostitution  as legal, but make it difficult to lawfully practice by imposing restrictions on how and where it can be conducted. These controls commonly include the prohibition of pimping, running a brothel and publicly offering  prostitution  services. pic] [pic] â€Å"What does the Bible say about prostitution? Will God forgive a prostitute? † Prostitution is often referred to as the â€Å"oldest profession. † Indeed, it has always been a common way for women to make money, even in Bible times. The Bible tells us that prostitution is immoral. Proverbs 23:27-28says, â€Å"For a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well. Like a bandit she lies in wait, and multiplies the unfaithful among men. † God forbids involvement with prostitutes because He knows such involvement is detrimental to both men and women. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is smoother than oil; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of hell† (Proverbs 5:3-5 NKJV). Prostitution not only destroys marriages, families, and lives, but it destroys the spirit and soul in a way that leads to physical and spiritual death. God’s desire is that we stay pure and use our bodies as tools for His use and glory (Romans 6:13). First Corinthians 6:13says, â€Å"The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Although prostitution is sinful, prostitutes are not beyond God’s scope of forgiveness. The Bible records His use of a prostitute named Rahab to further the fulfillment of His plan. As a result of her obedience, she and her family were rewarded and blessed (Joshua 2:1;6:17-25). In the New Testament, a woman who had been known for being a sexual sinner—before Jesus forgave and cleansed her from sin—found an opportunity to serve Jesus while He was visiting in the home of a Pharisee. The woman, recognizing Christ for who He is, brought a bottle of expensive perfume to Him. In regret and repentance, the woman wept and poured perfume on His feet, wiping it with her hair. When the Pharisees criticized Jesus for accepting this act of love from the â€Å"immoral† woman, He admonished them and accepted the woman’s worship. Because of her faith, Christ had forgiven all her sins, and she was received into His kingdom (Luke 7:36-50). When speaking to those who refused to believe the truth about Himself, Jesus Christ said, â€Å"I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him† (Matthew 21:31-32). Just like anyone else, prostitutes have the opportunity to receive salvation and eternal life from God, to be cleansed of all their unrighteousness and be given a brand new life! All they must do is turn away from their sinful lifestyle and turn to the living God, whose grace and mercy are boundless. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! † (2 Corinthians 5:17). Moral Issues There was a lot of hue and cry about the statement of US Ambassador Harry Thomas at a recent judicial conference on human trafficking that 40 percent of foreign male tourists visit the Philippine for commercial sex. At first the ambassador refused to change his statement when asked by Philippine officials to apologize for it, but o n Oct. 7 he relented and said he should not have used the â€Å"40 percent’’ statistic without the ability to back it up. But his statement has once again focused attention on the problem of sex trafficking and the sex trade in the Philippines. The fact is that the problem exists although right now we may not have accurate, verifiable statistics. Conclusion Prostitution is always going to be a pressing issue, and politicians will always have different opinions about it. Politicians are the ones who decide how their country stands in different questions, and that might cause misunderstandings. The laws and official opinions of a country do not always agree with the population’s point of view. An example of that is Germany. The facts and the survey do not agree, and the facts are based on politicians, while the survey is based on regular people from Germany. That gave me an answer to my question. The question was: Why do Germany and Sweden have such different views on prostitution? And the answer simply is: Germany is not more liberal than Sweden concerning prostitution. They are more liberal concerning strict laws, and that is because of their history that they do not want to experience again. That also affected the politicians and their way of handleing their inhabitants. What is right and what is wrong is something you have to decide with your own moral and opinion. How society should hand’s prostitution is one of the issues I’ve been highly inconsistent on, flip-flopping between having strong opinions either way, to more ambivalent positions in the middle. A super-short summary of my process (chronologically) over the last two decades: 1. It should be illegal because it is wrong to exploit people 2. It should be legal because the prohibition actually hurt the prostitutes 3. It should be illegal to consume, but not provide, since that would give the prostitute more power and enable persecution of the exploiters 4. It should be legal because regulation is more effective in minimizing harm, and at least consumption may be ethically defensible 5. It should be illegal because even though regulation helps some, it also increases the black market and causes more suffering as a whole, and is an expression of a structural oppression of women and homosexual men in our society. SLAVERY OF WHITE PEOPLE SLAVERY OF WHITE PEOPLE In the history of mankind, slavery has been very common. Slavery can trace its history back in the ancient times. In the ancient times, slaves were sold to the highest bidder and they were employed without any compensation. Punishments were so savage for those slaves who went against their master’s demands. Over the centuries, slavery has been very prominent. There was a time in history were Black Africans and Black Americans became domestic slaves at home. However, they were able to achieve their freedom against slavery. Nowadays, slavery is still commonly practiced in some countries. It is not completely abolished but it is less identifiable. It exists in many cultures. So, what is slavery? What is Slavery? Slavery is a condition in which people are forced to work and treated like the lowest form of creature. There are different types of slavery. You have the chattel slavery. This is the most traditional type of slavery in which people are treated like property. Slaves are sold and bought like goods. However, in this modern age, this type of slavery is the least common. Another type of slavery is forced labor. This type of slavery is very common in the past and even up to these days. An individual is left with no choice but to work against his will. This type of slavery used punishments and violence against any slaves. Slavery of white People David Brion Davis writing in the New York Review of Books, Oct. 11, 1990, p. 37 states: â€Å"As late as the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, continuing shipments of white slaves, some of them Christians, flowed from the booming slave markets on the northern Black Sea coast into Italy, Spain, Egypt and the Mediterranean islands†¦ From Barbados to Virginia, colonists.. , showed few scruples about reducing their less fortunate countrymen to a status little different from that of chattel slaves†¦ The prevalence and suffering of white slaves, serfs and indentured servants in the early modern period suggests that there was nothing inevitable about limiting plantation slavery to people of African origin. † L. Ruchames in â€Å"The Sources of Racial Thought in Colonial America,† states that â€Å"the slave trade worked in both directions, with white merchandise as well as black. † (Journal of Negro History, no. 52, pp. 251-273). In 1659 the English parliament debated the practice of selling British Whites into slavery in the New World. In the debate the Whites were referred to not as â€Å"indentured servants† but as â€Å"slaves† whose â€Å"enslavement† threatened the liberties of all Englishmen. (Thomas Burton, Parliamentary Diary: 1656-59, vol. 4, pp. 253-274). Foster R. Dulles in Labor in America quotes an early document describing White children in colonial servitude as â€Å"crying and mourning for redemption from their slavery. † Dr. Hilary McD. Beckles of the University of Hull, England, writes regarding White slave labor, â€Å"†¦ ndenture contracts were alienable†¦ the ownership of which could easily be transferred, like that of any other commodity†¦ as with slaves, ownership changed without their participation in the dialogue concerning transfer. † Beckles refers to â€Å"indentured servitude† as â€Å"White proto-slavery† (The Ameri cas, vol. 41, no. 2, p. 21). In the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series; America and West Indies of 1701, we read of a protest over the â€Å"encouragement to the spiriting away of Englishmen without their consent and selling them for slaves, which hath been a practice very frequent and known by the name of kidnapping. (Emphasis added). In the British West Indies, plantation slavery was instituted as early as 1627. In Barbados by the 1640s there were an estimated 25,000 slaves, of whom 21,700 were White. (â€Å"Some Observations on the Island of Barbados,† Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, p. 528). It is worth noting that while White slaves were worked to death in Barbados, there were Carib-bean Indians brought from Guiana to help propagate native foodstuffs who were well-treated and re-ceived as free persons by the wealthy planters. Of the fact that the wealth of Barbados was founded on the backs of White slave labor there can be no doubt. White slave laborers from Britain and Ireland were the mainstay of the sugar colony. Until the mid-1640s there were few Blacks in Barbados. George Downing wrote to John Winthrop, the co-lonial governor of Massachusetts in 1645, that planters who wanted to make a fortune in the British West Indies must procure White slave labor â€Å"out of England† if they wanted to succeed. (Elizabeth Donnan, Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America, pp. 25-126). â€Å"†¦ white indentured servants were employed and treated, incidentally, exactly like slaves†¦ â€Å"(Morley Ayearst, The British West Indies, p. 19). â€Å"The many gradations of unfreedom among Whites made it difficult to draw fast lines between any idealized free White worker and a pitied or scorned servile Black worker†¦ in labor-short seventeenth and eighteenth-century Ameri ca the work of slaves and that of White servants were virtually inter-changeable in most areas. † (David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class, p. 5). In the Massachusetts Court of Assistants, whose records date to 1633, we find a 1638 description of a White man, one Gyles Player, as having been â€Å"delivered up for a slave. † The Englishman William Eddis, after observing White slaves in America in the 1770s wrote, â€Å"Gener-ally speaking, they groan beneath a worse than Egyptian bondage† (Letters from America, London, 1792). Governor Sharpe of the Maryland colony compared the property interest of the planters in their White slaves, with the estate of an English farmer consisting of a â€Å"Multitude of Cattle. The Quock Walker case in Massachusetts in 1 783 which ruled that slavery was contrary to the state Constitution, was applied equally to Blacks and Whites in Massachusetts. Patrick F. Moran in his Histor ical Sketch of the Persecutions Suffered by the Catholics of Ireland, re-fers to the transportation of the Irish to the colonies as the â€Å"slave-trade† (pp. 343-346). The disciplinary and revenue laws of early Virginia (circa 1631-1645) did not discriminate Negroes in bondage from Whites in bondage. (William Hening [editor], Statutes at Large of Virginia, vol. I, pp. 74, 198, 200, 243, 306. For records of wills in which â€Å"Lands, goods chattels, cattle, moneys, ne-groes, English servants, horses, sheep and household stuff† were all sold together see the Lancaster County Records in Virginia Colonial Abstracts, Beverly Fleet, editor). Lay historian Col. A. B. Ellis, writing in the British newspaper Argosy (May 6, 1893): â€Å"Few, but read-ers of old colonial State papers and records, are aware that between the years 1649-1690 a lively trade was carried on between England and the plantations, as the colonies were then called, in politi-cal prisoners†¦ here t hey were sold by auction to the colonists for various terms of years, sometimes for life as slaves. † Sir George Sandys’ 1618 plan for Virginia referred to bound Whites assigned to the treasurer’s of-fice to â€Å"belong to said office for ever. † The service of Whites bound to Berkeley’s Hundred was deemed â€Å"perpetual. † (Lewis Cecil Gray, History of Agriculture in the Southern United States to 1860, vol. I, pp. 316, 318). Certainly the enslaved Whites themselves recognized their condition with painful clarity. As one White man, named Abram, who was accused of trying to agitate a rebellion stated to his fellows, â€Å"Wherefore should wee stay here and be slaves? † In a statement smuggled out of the New World and published in London, Whites in bondage did not call themselves â€Å"indentured servants. † In their writing they referred to themselves as â€Å"England’s slaves† and England’s â€Å"merchandise. † (Marcellus Rivers and Oxenbridge Foyle, England’s Slavery, 1659). Eyewitnesses like Pere Labat who visited the West Indian slave plantations of the 17th century which were built and manned by White slaves labeled them â€Å"White slaves† and nothing less (Memoirs of Pere Labat, 1693-1705, p. 125). Even Blacks referred to the White forced laborers in the colonies as â€Å"white slaves. † (Colonial Office, Public Records Office, London, 1667, no. 170) Sot-Weed Factor, or, a Voyage to Maryland, a pamphlet circulated in 1708, articulates the plight of tens of thousands of pathetic young White girls kidnapped from England and enslaved in colonial America, lamenting that: In better Times e’er to this Land I was unhappily Trepan’d; Not then a slave†¦ But things are changed†¦ Kidnap’d and Fool’d†¦ † The height of academic and media fraud is revealed in the monopolistic trademark status the official controllers of education and mass communications have successfully established between the defini-tion of the word â€Å"slave† and the negro, while labeling descriptions of the historic experience of Whites in slavery a fallacy. Yet the very word â€Å"slave,† which the establishment’s consensus school of history pretends cannot legitimately be applied to Whites, is derived from the word Slav. According to the Ox-ford English Dictionary, the word slave is another name for the White people of eastern Europe, the Slavs. (Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, p. 2,858). In other words, slave has always been a term for and a definition of a servile condition of White people. Yet we are told by the professorcrats that it is not correct to refer to Whites as slaves but only as servants, even though the very root of the word is derived from the historical fact of White slav-ery. Conclusion Slavery is not something to be proud of but it is a fact that happened to every country, kingdom and empire that has been on this earth. Each of us needs to search our hearts and find the answer to stop racial hatred. One place to begin; realize that the black race was not the only race in the last 400 years that was in bondage. PORNOGRAPHY Pornography What is Pornography? Pornography is the ‘explicit representation of sexual activity in print or on film to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.    The following advice and help refers only to heterosexual pornography – that is men looking at women and, more rarely, women looking at men. Pornography is often distinguished from  erotica, which consists of the portrayal of sexuality with high-art aspirations, focusing also on feelings and emotions, while pornography involves the depiction of acts in a sensational manner, with the entire focus on the physical act, so as to arouse quick intense reac tions. A distinction is also made between  hardcore  and  softcore pornography. Softcore pornography can generally be described as focusing on nude modeling and suggestive, but not explicit, simulations of sexual intercourse, whereas hardcore pornography explicitly showcases penetrative intercourse. Pornography has often been subject to  censorship  and legal restraints to publication on grounds of  obscenity. Such grounds and even the definition of pornography have differed in various historical, cultural, and national contexts. With the emergence of social attitudes more tolerant of sexuality and more specific legal definitions of obscenity, an industry for the  production  and consumption  of pornography arose in the latter half of the 20th century. The introduction of  home video  and the  Internet  saw booms in a worldwide porn industry that generates billions of dollars annually. History Depictions of a sexual nature are older than civilization as depictions such as the  venus figurines  and  rock art  have existed since  prehistoric  times. However the concept of pornography as understood today did not exist until the  Victorian era. For example the French  Impressionism  painting by  Edouard Manet  titled Olympia  was a nude picture of a French courtesan, literally a â€Å"prostitute picture†. It was controversial at the time. Nineteenth-century legislation eventually outlawed the publication, retail, and trafficking of certain writings and images regarded as pornographic and would order the destruction of shop and warehouse stock meant for sale; however, the private possession of and viewing of (some forms of) pornography was not made an offence until recent times. When large-scale excavations of  Pompeii  were undertaken in the 1860s, much of the  erotic art  of theRomans  came to light, shocking the Victorians who saw themselves as the intellectual heirs of the  Roman Empire. They did not know what to do with the frank depictions of  sexuality  and endeavored to hide them away from everyone but upper-class scholars. The moveable objects were locked away in the  Secret Museum  in  Naples  and what could not be removed was covered and cordoned off as to not corrupt the sensibilities of women, children, and the working classes. Fanny Hill  (1748) is considered â€Å"the first original English  prose  pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel. † It is an  eroticnovel  by  John Cleland  first published in  England  as  Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. It is one of the most prosecuted and banned books in history. The authors were charged with â€Å"corrupting the King’s subjects. † The world’s first law criminalizing pornography was the British  Obscene Publications Act 1857  enacted at the urging of the  Society for the Suppression of Vice. The Act, which applied to the  United Kingdom and Ireland, made the sale of obscene material a statutory offence, giving the courts power to seize and destroy offending material. The Act did not apply to  Scotland, where the  common law  continued to apply; however, the Act did not define â€Å"obscene†, leaving this for the courts to determine. Prior to this Act, the publication of obscene material was treated as a  law misdemeanor   and effectively prosecuting authors and publishers was difficult even in cases where the material was clearly intended as pornography. The Victorian attitude that pornography was for a select few can be seen in the wording of the  Hicklin test  stemming from a court case in 1868 where it asks, â€Å"whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences. † Despite the fact of their suppression, depictions of erotic imagery were common throughout history. Pornographic film  production commenced almost immediately after the invention of the motion picture in 1895. Two of the earliest pioneers were  Eugene Pirou  and  Albert Kirchner. Kirchner directed the earliest surviving pornographic film for Pirou under the trade name â€Å"Lear†. The 1896 film,  Le Coucher de la Mariee  showed Louise Willy performing a  striptease. Pirou’s film inspired a genre of risque French films showing women disrobing and other filmmakers realised profits could be made from such films. Sexually explicit films were soon characterised as obscene and rendered illegal. Those that were made were produced underground by amateurs starting in the 1920s, primarily in France and the United States. Processing the film by commercial means was risky as was their distribution. Distribution was strictly private. Denmark  was the first country to legalize pornography in 1969, which led to an explosion of commercially produced pornography. It continued to be banned in other countries, and had to be smuggled in, where it was sold â€Å"under the counter† or (sometimes) shown in â€Å"members only† cinema clubs. A Biblical View of Pornography God created men and women to be together – exclusively and happily. God created sex as a good gift in the security of a loving, committed marriage relationship. He ‘saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Sadly in the fallen world, pornography sends clear messages, generally to men, that faithful sexual attention to one woman is not necessary. There are many other women to look at: why only be satisfied with one? We can go to an art gallery and see a beautiful woman in a picture and admire her beauty. But that is not the message of pornography. Pornography seeks to stimulate sexual attr action to the image of a woman – any woman, saying, ‘This beautiful woman, whom you know nothing about, is there for you to satisfy your sexual desires – whatever they might be – at any time. Pornography uses the strong visual senses of men to promote lust, but promises the unreal, promoting false expectations of relationships and ignoring the realities of daily living for most men and women – the shopping, washing, ironing, and crying children. By ignoring the woman’s character and instead focusing on her body, pornography ‘exploits and dehumanises sex so that human beings are treated as things, and women, in particular as sex objects’ . Of course, pornography is packaged cleverly as glamorous, but in the cold light of day the Bible warns strongly about looking at other women (Proverbs 6:25, Matthew 5:28, Colossians 3:5) and being faithful in marriage (Hebrews 13:4). There are those who would see the Bible’s strong warnings on sexual purity as God being a killjoy. We need to remember that it was God who created the universe: He knows how it works and that what we see and think about is important. The warnings are given for a reason: the destructiveness of pornography on children and on human relationships. CARE regularly receives telephone calls and emails from people who themselves have a problem with pornography or are seeing it in their family. Some would say ‘pornography is harmless fun’. How would they respond to a woman crying on the phone convinced that her husband’s use of pornography had led to the breakdown of their marriage? Or to another woman who said that she felt mentally abused by her husband who used pornography and wanted her to act in the same way as the women in the magazines, DVDs and videos? Pornography can seem far from harmless fun for the men (Christian and non-Christian) who feel trapped in a cycle of addiction. If anyone is a killjoy it is not the God of the Bible, but the publishers of pornography. The Issue of Pornography With more than 300,000 websites pertaining to pornography and new sites uploaded daily, any parent can see that we have a growing problem. The Internet is the cheapest, fastest way to get pornography out into an open market that is why it is considered the electronic playground. Before the Internet pornography was found in magazines behind the store counters, on movie channels, and was found in movies. Take a look at your favorite television show and see how many times a sexual situation comes up. The â€Å"sexual revolution† as some call it has taken off with the Internet. For example, try typing in www. whitehouse. com and see what pops up definitely not the White House. Students working on a history paper in school recently went to this site and found pornography instead of history. What a surprise for the students. This happens to more people than we think. If you accidentally click on a porn site several other pornographic sites also show up. In some cases these pornographic sites contain computer viruses which will attack your hard drive. At times, legislation drafted under the guise of protecting children, includes adults which infringes on freedom of speech. In addition to infringing on a legal adult’s rights, it also impedes the on the economic gains related to the industry. Thus, commercialism and the economy are impacted as well. With the onset of new pornographic websites, most sites are beginning to charge their consumers. Not only does this lead to economic gain within the industry, but it also assists in minimizing the access of children to questionable material. Conclusion Virtually every man will struggle with pornography. Regardless of how hard we may want otherwise we are visual creatures by nature and with easy accessibility to porn it’s a battle that will keep men in the trenches their entire lives. And if we hope to end this cycle of addiction and sexual impurity not only must we heal ourselves it is up to us to raise the next generation of men to view sex, women, and pornography differently that what society says today. And my own son is a foremost constant reminder of that obligation. How to cite Women as Commodity, Papers

Disability and the Media Essay Sample free essay sample

In the media today. people with disablements are perceived as tragic heroes or as medical miracles. They are seldom seen for their intelligence or for their achievements excepting their overcoming disablement adversities. The text edition. Everything’s an Argument. contains an extract from Charles A. Riley II’s book â€Å"Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change. † Riley. a news media professor at New York’s Baruch College. uses entreaty to ethos. Son. and poignancy to carry his audience that their methods of portraying handicapped people are in desperate demand of alteration. Riley studies that disabled famous persons are seen as the object of commiseration. finally striping them of feelings of normalcy. Equally good as indicating out the common cliches of handicapped people in the media. he provides some guidelines that should be taken when portraying people with disablements in the media. Ultimately. with the usage of precise subject. relevant enunciation. and a serious tone. Riley imposingly organizes and structures his composing to demo that there is a demand for alteration in the media and that the alteration is possible. Therefore. he uses his rhetorical schemes efficaciously to carry his audience into altering the manner able-bodied people portray the handicapped. Riley’s text gives a historical background. which is used as an entreaty to ethos. He has won many awards for his work on issues affecting disablements. Along with his historical background. a list of books that he has written is provided. Knowing about his old work. books. and awards provides the readers with a sense of trust in the writer. Therefore. his entreaty to ethos aid in his persuasion of acquiring able-bodied people to perpetrate to alter in the manner they portray the handicapped. Throughout the text. Riley gives many illustrations of famous persons with disablements and how they are inaccurately perceived through media. With these illustrations. Riley entreaties to Sons ; supplying his audience with grounds that some famous persons are non being perceived as normal worlds. but as heroes in get the better ofing their disablements. He writes. â€Å"In much the same manner. Christopher Reeve and Michael J. Fox have been pigeonholed by print and telecasting hagiographists as lab experiments and tragic heroes† ( 643 ) . Riley besides emphasizes how the media ignores who these famous persons are and alternatively portrays them as an object of inspiration. â€Å" Mullins’ â€Å" inspiring’ saga is recycled about direct by unthreatening journalists for audiences who neer seem to acquire plenty of its feel-good message even if they neer really happen out who Mullins is† ( 642 ) . This entreaties to logos because he provides the grounds that these famous persons aren’t being seen as normal worlds. Supplying this grounds persuades his audience because it reveals that there are famous persons being shown in media in a colored mode. This may be something able-bodied people do non recognize and it entices them to alter. Another device Riley uses to efficaciously reason his point is tone. Riley uses a really serious tone when declaring that handicapped people are being portrayed as holding â€Å"ill-fitted† organic structure parts. â€Å"By jamming Mullins and the others into prefabricated stories—the superior. the medical miracle. the object of pity—writers and manufacturers have outfitted them with the narrative equivalent of an ill-fitting set of prostheses† ( 643 ) . This serious tone is effectual because the audience senses that Riley feels strongly about how unsuitably the handicapped are â€Å"used† to arouse understanding for all crippled or handicapped people in the universe. He besides uses a several tone when analysing the tests that disabled people have had to digest. â€Å"An able-bodied individual falls from grace. progresses through the shadows of rehab and depression. and by force of self-control along with spiritual belief pulls through to achieve a quality of life that is less handicapped. more normal. basking in the freshness of acknowledgment for crushing the odds† ( 645 ) . With this tone. he efficaciously displays the adversities that a handicapped individual brushs which helps his statement. Along with tone. Riley uses enunciation as a manner to efficaciously beef up his statement. He uses such enunciation as â€Å"allegorical† and â€Å"hagiographer. † every bit good as supplying the definitions or backgrounds of certain footings along the boundary lines of the text. Using such words and supplying their definitions gives the reader a sense of feeling that what they are reading is of import. This helps do his statement effectual because the reader will admit the writers good sense of vocabulary and that entirely will demo he is even more believable. The writer uses this as an entreaty to ethos because he is deriving credibleness from his usage of enunciation. One of the entreaties that make Riley’s statement really effectual is his entreaty to pathos. He compares his entreaty to how a individual with a disablement is displayed as a â€Å"poster child† in exchange for understanding and contributions. â€Å"bringing her fiscal wagess of sponsorships. motivational speech production gigs. and patterning contracts at the disbursal of being turned into a latter twenty-four hours posting child† ( 642 ) . This efficaciously supports Riley’s claim because the audience will now experience sympathetic for the handicapped portrayed in the media as person necessitating aid or a patron. Another illustration is when he attempts to find how much the media is take downing handicapped people as a group. â€Å"It is impossible to cognize the full grade of harm wreaked by the demeaning and wildly inaccurate portraiture of people with disablements. nor is it wholly clear whether much current advancement is being made† ( 645 ) . This accent causes the reader to experience commiseration for people with disablements and elicits the audience to hold with Riley’s claim. which is that able-bodied are being portrayed inaccurately in the media. Through Riley’s usage of entreaty to ethos. Son. and poignancy. he efficaciously argues his claim that disabled people in the media is being inaccurately portrayed. He presents a job. discusses what should be done. and so gives illustrations on how that solution can be achieved. Overall. Riley uses his rhetorical schemes and enunciation to efficaciously reason that people with disablements are non being portrayed suitably. Plants CitedCharles A. Riley. â€Å"Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change† . 2005. Everythings anArgument. 5th erectile dysfunction. Eds. Lunsford. Andrea. John. J. Rusziewicz. and Keith Walters. Boston. MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2009. 641-650.