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Thesis Statement: The article emphasizes on the role of female tattooing as a way to shape people’s ideas about femininity and represent different body image of a female that is less bound to stereotypes and limitations to which women are often exposed.

Summary: The article begins with a background and the reason for an overall research. The author researched women in Canada in order to determine their attitudes toward tattoos and their reasons for getting them. He also evaluated the overall treatment of this issue among other Canadians and their ideas about tattoos on female bodies. The author stated that recently, the amount of Canadian women getting tattoos has increased dramatically. The author argues that to them, tattoo is not a mere a body modification, but a way to shape the overall idea concerning body image. Atkinson believes that women try to break the image of tattoos being appropriate only for men. Hence, through tattoos, women show that they are as appropriate for them as for men. Also, they change the overall image of females being limited to many things men can do.

Atkinson links the overall practice of women tattooing themselves to gender practices. Some women get tattoos in order to emphasize on their feminine side while others do it to shape it or contradict it. In both cases, women use tattoos as links to their gender and make it central in tattoos projects. Atkinson focuses on the female body as a central point in the overall tattooing process because through to tattoos, women are able to change the body image. In the study, Atkinson wrote about his observations and analysis of women’s attitudes toward getting tattoos as well as focused on the overall attitude of people toward women in Canada getting tattoos. He combined tattoos with cultural ideas and norms connected to femininity and showed that tattoos allowed women to represent their independent styles and free ideas concerning femininity.

Evaluation: The article is interesting due to its focus on gender and certain practices, which are common today. This article is useful for further research due to its thoughtful analysis of how a particular practice can contribute to people’s understanding of a culture, traditions, and stereotypes. Due to it, one may realize that such a simple thing as tattoo can shape people’s perception toward a certain gender and make a person question certain standards concerning it.

The article is objective because it presents a new and fresh look toward women in Canada getting tattoos. It allows one to understand the gender background behind certain actions which used to be tabooed for women. from this perspective, Atkinson showed how greatly society in Canada has transformed since it has different ideas concerning women and their possibilities which can be seen through tattoos.

Unfortunately, the research is focused on Canada only without providing extra information about the other countries and overall attitude toward women and tattoos in the world. Nevertheless, with this specific focus, it was possible for the author to gain critical and trustworthy information and make important conclusions about Canada. This article may be a source of useful information which helps to understand more about stereotyping, gender roles, and ways to transform them making way for a progress and alternative vision of genders. Also, one may find it an interesting source that allows to see the overall readiness of society to such changes.

Thesis Statement: The article stated that men who were unsatisfied and insecure with their body images were just as exposed as women to risky body change behaviors and often made them in order to change themselves although certain social burdens prevented them from doing so.

Summary: The article describes a study made on young males and their approaches toward risky body change behaviors depending on their treatment and attitudes toward their bodies. The authors spoke about young males completing certain measures in order to evaluate their ideas about their own bodies and images they projected. The research showed that males who were more vulnerable and insecure about their bodies were more likely to engage in risky body change behaviors because they found them to be solutions to their problems and fears concerning body image. They also viewed such behavior to be rather normal compared to the pressure they were experiencing. On the other hand, men satisfied with their body images were less likely to engage in such behavior because of their own attitudes toward their bodies. They were reluctant to even consider possibilities of engaging in risky body change behaviors and found them to be non-masculine. According to them, such behaviors were unnecessary and dangerous as well as contradicting certain stereotypes concerning males. At the end of the work, authors also compared attitudes of women and men toward risky body change behaviors. They found that men open to such behaviors could be analyzed from the same perspective as women with the same attitudes. Hence, the study showed that men and women were not that different when it came to body image perception, insecurities and ways to modify one’s personal appearance since both genders were ready to go to extremes in some cases in order to change one’s body and psychological image afterwards.

Evaluation: The article is an interesting and useful source of information that explains a lot about male psychology and shows that it was not significantly different from a female one, when it comes to vulnerable issues. Due to this article, one can make important conclusions concerning men, body image, and overall image which is present in society nowadays. The article showed the huge burden men faced when it came to body image and the confidence it gave to those who were meeting certain stereotypical requirements concerning the body. Nevertheless, those who were unable to meet the stereotypes felt a huge pressure and insecurities because of inability to connect to the body image projected by society. Hence, due to this article, one may realize that men were as exposed as women to stereotypes and expectations concerning body image, and they could make various decisions such as participating in risky body change behaviors only to meet the “requirements” and avoid dealing with pressure placed with stereotypes.

The article is a good source for researchers studying society, men, body image and overall perception of a person. It provides a lot of interesting and relevant information concerning people’s decisions and brings light toward an issue of male psychology showing the reasons for men’s actions and body image as a motivator for such acts. It explains the fact that many men are exposed to risky body change behaviors as much as women only because of their inability or lack of desire to try to break certain stereotypes. Hence, they would rather engage in such acts than deal with their insecurities in another way; and this conclusion makes the article truly valuable for further understanding of people’s acts and psychology.

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Thesis Statement: The article argues that people’s attitude toward malleability and body transformations depends on their perceptions of their own body image and environment influencing and affecting them; and it is the same for both men and women.

Summary: The article consists of a description of a study conducted on young people concerning their behavior and attitudes toward body changes and transformations. The researchers used a specific methodology in order to get objective results. They analyzed the body-related behaviors of people being questioned. For example, researchers focused on people’s approaches and ideas toward transforming one’s body in order to meet certain stereotypes and requirements. They also focused on body attitudes of the people being questioned. For example, they analyzed their own perception of their bodies. Researchers asked questions concerning people’s evaluation of their own bodies and whether they met certain criteria they found to be important. With this information, researchers also focused on normative beliefs people had toward malleability and reasons for it. For example, they evaluated people’s approval for certain norms and their acceptance of them. Also, researchers focused on people following the stereotypes concerning body image, etc. Body Mass Index was also included in the research along with the previous questions in order to determine people’s actual physical capacities and appearance with their answers. In the article, researchers used BMI in order to compare whether people’s previous answers toward body attitudes were true, and whether BMI had any effect on the truthfulness of the answers. Also, researchers used BMI in order to question people and get results concerning their attitudes and possibilities of changing their bodies. The researchers found that people’s with low self-perception were more likely to accept body malleability and transform their bodies, but BMI had nothing to do with it. People simply did not pay attention to the latter because of their psychological approaches toward the issue. The article also showed that females were more exposed to pressures, but they also depended greatly on the ideas, norms and beliefs which were common among their friends and relatives. That was the reason why females were generally more open toward changing their bodies and transforming themselves since they were exposed to greater pressures. Still, the article also showed that both males and females dealing with pressures concerning their body image were more willing to undergo changes with their bodies, and that determined their body malleability. BMI in this case did not play the role researchers expected it to play because it often contradicted people’s illogical perceptions of themselves.

Evaluation: The article is objective and informative piece which would be very helpful for those studying human behavior and psychology as well as researching certain norms and standards concerning people’s views on their own bodies. One may find it an interesting piece that strengthens one’s previous ideas and adds new information concerning men and women acting and changing depending on their ideas and beliefs about themselves. The article would be truly valuable for psychology students, but it may also interest wide range or researchers even in the field of human resources because it explains a lot about people’s behavior and interactions. One may find a piece concerning family and environment’s influence on a person and his/her perception of body image and self to be the most valuable because it allows one to understand that people were products of their environment and as long as stereotypes existed on such a level, people would always be exposed to dealing with them or accepting themselves the way they were despite the pressures.

Thesis Statement: The article states that online social networks have a negative effect on students’ performance as well as attention span. Also, it emphasizes on the necessity to have an effective time management in order to avoid possible declines in academic performance.

Summary: The article describes a study conducted on business students. They attended a large university where they answered questions on the survey concerning their time spent using online social networks. The researchers explained the reasons for conducting such a survey by speaking about importance of social networks and the effects they have on students. Researchers stated that recently, a huge amount of people began using social networks, but the students in high school and higher institutions were the ones using OSNs the most. That is why it was essential to analyze the possible effects of OSNs on academic performance in order to determine whether it was practical for students to use. The survey showed that the more time students spent on online social networks such as Facebook, the worse their academic performance was. For example, students who spent more time using OSNs became less involved in performing their academic tasks, which led to negative consequences in the education field. It also made students pay less attention to actual education. Also, researchers focused on attention span in connection to social networks. They found a correlation between OSNs usage and attention span. According to the results of researchers, attention span went higher with students spending less time using OSNs and vice versa. Also, the researchers showed that the more time students spent on Facebook and other social networks, the more positive their attitude was toward such sites, while those spending little time there found it to be less helpful and did not feel like using such websites a lot of time. In the conclusion of the article, the authors encourage students to manage their time carefully in order to study well and avoid wasting time of social networks.

Evaluation: The article is extremely important because it discusses valuable social issue which troubles many people nowadays. There are many debates concerning online social networks and their effects on people. Many supporters state that using online social networks is helpful for students to learn while critics speak about the negative influence online social networks carry. Hence, this article is very important for ending this discussion because it explains the effects social networks have on academic performance from students’ perspectives. With this conclusion, one can easily see that the article allows solving a problem concerning social networks and showing its negative influence on students.

This article will be helpful not only for researchers but also for students who often overuse social networks and question the reasons for doing it. Hence, this article is valuable because it provides readers with important information regarding time management and the necessity to plan one’s work and studying carefully. Due to this article, many readers can finally understand that overusing Facebook and other social networks may distract oneself from truly important things and have negative consequences affecting various aspects of the person’s life. Thus, this article is good not only as an academic source but also as a practical advice for managing oneself well.