Analysis Of Dirk Van Der Elst s Book Culture - 1213 Words

Dirk van der Elst’s book Culture as Given, Culture as Choice greatly compares the difference between human animals and wild animals. I found it interesting that the author focused on the difference between sex and childbirth in humans and animals. Elst thinks that teenagers are programed to believe that they need improvements, he also believes that women are handicapped by having children, and that teenage mothers raise children to break the law. I think that Dirk means well, but feel the book does not have enough facts to prove his points. Most of his accusations are very sexist towards women, however, I do admire his honest opinions. In chapter 5 Working the Reproductive Drives Dirk writes, â€Å"American teenage girls- a category of human beings that probably least needs to gild the lily- have been culturally programmed (by advertisers) to believe they are inadequate â€Å"as is.†Ã¢â‚¬  When I read this I was unsure what â€Å"gild the lily† meant and when I looked it up I found that it means to try and improve what is already beautiful. I think this is the only truly positive thing that Dirk says towards women in the whole book. However I do agree with the fact that from a young age girls are made to feel that they are not good enough. Girls do get this perspective from magazines and other advertisements where women are made to look sexy. The Author says that humans are the only animals where it is the female’s job to dress or present themselves to get the opposite genders attention. In