Pompeii, founded in 600 BC and filled with all kinds of culture and people. My location was Villa de Misteri, a Roman villa in the suburbs of Italy. In this villa, I discovered frescoes and one in particular that was of upmost importance. It was a painting of what is said to have been women being initiated into the cult of possibly, Dionysus. When initiated into the cult, you are freed from oppression that minorities, like women, face in society. As I studied the painting, I thought "well, women have come a long way in history, oppression now a days is nothing like it was back then, so there would be no need for something like a cult to free themselves from oppression." But I began to believe that we haven't come as far as I had wished. Although it is not as bad, it is still present, sexism occurs everywhere in society, in all types of classes. Women are discriminated in the workplace, if she is stern, she is bossy. Women are discriminated in the legal field in some parts of the world, for example, some women do not have the right to divorce. Women are discriminated socially, by their looks or what they where. If the dress is too short, she is a slut. If the dress is too long, she is a prude. The problem I saw with all of this as I was standing and reflecting in front of the painting was that women during the time of Dionysus were attempting to free themselves of this oppression, but now in 2017, women are STILL trying to accomplish the same thing. The degree of oppression is not the same, but it still exists to this day. This allowed me to believe that 2017 is still such a primitive year in life's history. Racism, sexism, colorism, all exist to this day and as I continued to reflect, I actually believe we have gone back in time. During the Roman empire, they did not recognize the difference between black and white and we, in 2017, do! They did not have a concept of race. Race and sexism is a massive social problem in society and it is sad that we are still exerting our energy into an issue that should not have been there in the first place.
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