just take a look @ this book
]]>On top of all that the children and finding proper childcare.
]]>Alright, so I'm not sure if this is the way we were supposed to go about this but this is what I did: I went through each section of the power and control wheel and made lists strategies to mitigate the forms of oppression and abuse through positive means. I found that many of the sections overlapped in the ways that they were heavily exacerbated by poverty. Its a bit disorderly and I'm not sure how realistic all of these suggestions are, but they are nonetheless suggestions.
Economic Abuse
Socialism! OR affirmative action, financial reparations, highly progressive taxing, creation of more affordable housing, accessibility to owning property, more flexible terms on welfare, more financial support from welfare, extended period of time allowed for welfare, revolutionizing the way public education is funded, more scholarships available for people of color,
Encouraging employment through empowering their self-image, capabilities, etc. Resume and cover letter writing support, job training, safe sex counseling, free condoms, birth control, STI testing; improving accessibility to social services that support becoming a permanent resident of the US.
White Privilege
Affirmative action, redistribution of wealth, dismantling whiteness through rewriting norms of society, changing media to include people of color, different accents or styles of speech included in mainstream media, making positions of power/authority more accessible through the redistribution of wealth, providing more affordable housing so people of color can have stability and increase wealth.
Physical Abuse
Changing media to end the epitomization of violence among poor men. For example in the new movie, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs", one of the main characters, a black male police officer, plays the role of constantly showing affection and unconditional love for his son. Nearly every scene with this character shows hims telling his son how much he loves him. I think that more media such as this would make a positive turn around in the way black men are pressured to be violent. Accessible and affordable health care and free clinics that provide free emergency care.
Emotional Abuse
Empowering, complimenting, positively affirming, loving, showing compassion - all in interpersonal relationships, encouraged through the education system, parenting classes or counseling, positive affirmation community groups, etc.
Using Children
Having partial decision of the child's future dependant on the child if he/she were experiencing domestic violence, having the child temporarily removed and put with godparents, family members, etc. Safer Neighborhoods: more community centers, community organizers, community events, economic infrastructural support, mentorship programs with positive role models of the same color as the child.
Intimidation
Public art, non-gang related graffiti, positive graffiti, media portrayal of men of color being positive, calm, non-violent, successful, activists, etc. Ending racial profiling policies, starting police training programs that explain systemic forms of racial oppression and compassion, affirmative action within law enforcement.
Sexual Abuse
For this section I will tell 2 stories that I recently learned about that gave me an interesting perspective on this topic. First, a good friend of mine who is in a black fraternity was telling me about this Women's Appreciation Week that their frat hosts at the beginning of each school year. The frat brothers themselves have to come up with the events and think of ways that they appreciate women and want to empower them. I think this is a great idea! Having community based events created by men that empower women can have benefits on both ends. It forces the men to think of the ways in which women positively effect their lives and gives women a chance to feel appreciated. I think that this could be a positive approach within communities that are systematically oppressed and therefore more likely to have higher rates of domestic violence.
The second perspective I gained came from a former professor of mine who is also a former sex counselor at a high school and a middle aged, African American activist. She was expressing to me her fears that her daughter would lose her virginity at a young age and that it would be degrading, painful and possibly jade her future sexual health. She also told me that she wanted to either promote her daughter to either masturbate or explore her sexuality with another woman first before she ever hooks up with a guy. In this way, she learns more about the female body, her own body, and is less likely to feel the need to go out and seek out sexual activity from men when she is still young. At first, I was surprised by her suggestion, but after I got over the initial idea, I agree that it has the potential to be very effective in keeping women from getting into sexually abusive relationships.
Anyways, one aspect I'm really excited to continue to explore through out the semester is intersectionality. It is such an important element to consider, as we need to be conscientious of the multiple "layers" that surround different people (of all genders) to better understand situations and/ or viewpoints. It reminds us that although we may have the best intentions in mind, speaking for, or on behalf of a group we personally are unable to fully represent (due to different cultural, sexual or gender affiliations) may often marginalize people even further, by essentially creating an "other" group, however unintentional it may be. I'm completely on board with the idea intersectionality, because it seemed as if early feminists only focuses on what the upper-class, white, straight women was interested in at the time, and that proved to only further polarize women since only a certain group, or idea was accounted for, and considered the 'norm.'
As someone pursuing a double major in GWSS as well as Sociology of Law, Criminology and Deviance, it's interesting to me to see how the two different majors have put a somewhat different spin on the topic. Although they share major similarities, the concept of intersectionality through Sociology (where it was first presented to me) has been a bit different, so I'm looking forward to learning more on the topic, and the perspective through GWSS courses.
Zenzele mentioned in class that Black and Hispanic men are the most likely to be sentenced to death by our legal system. Adding to this concept of intersectionality, I wanted to also lend support by sharing a fact I learned in my Race, Class & Gender course that pertains to the death penalty. That is 92% of the people currently on death row are below the poverty level. To me, this shows a clear correlation between race and class, and makes it undeniable that the law is colorblind, or dissuaded by funds, as it tries to present itself.
Examining these issues further by peeling back the layers continues to expose and enlighten me to issues regarding not only race, class, gender & sexuality, but also the law, politics and policies that continue to disadvantage certain groups of people. I personally feel outraged at things I've learned through class, as well as things I've learned via my own research. Undoubtedly, this has contributed to my desire to be a lawyer who focuses on human rights and activism issues, and I feel grateful to have a much sounder concept of intersectionality, and at the same time, understand that I have much, much more to learn.
]]>
Hello! I wanted to start of my blog by saying that I am really excited about this class. I think that we have had some really exciting discussion so far! I was very intrigued by the exercise that we did in class on Tues. All of the situations were so hard to sift through and I thought that it really made me think outside the box. There are truly so many difficulties that women face when involved in domestic violence situations that are not thought about on a superficial level. I think that it is really important to have a class totally dedicated to minority women because the reality is that no matter how we say it white is the norm. There are ample statistics, as we have already read, that show a clear line between the treatment of white women and the treatment or brown and black skinned women. Being white does not mean that we don't experience violence it just means that there is one less intersecting layer that is not present that white women have to deal with and that is race. White women can still be poor, or disabled, or gay which gives them other hurdles to deal with but they are not a minority nor do they have a historical history of slavery, genocide, and outright violence which was fully supported by whites.
]]>
The first time I saw this commercial, I didn't really see what was wrong with it - I saw it as vulgar and yes disgusting, but I didn't see how this commercial, as do most of the media we see today, perpetuate systems of inequality and oppression. I remembered this video as I was reading our text from last week and watched it again with a new perspective: I see now how I had internalized the images as just "normal" part of our culture, not something to offend me, another example of how we often internalize our own oppressions and become part of the problem as such.
Type in this URL and watch it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XiZk74GkgM
No, the video is not and SNL skit making fun of
whitecastle or something to that extent. It is an actual commercial.
Here we witness a pig playing the role of what is generally a woman's
job, a stripper, and displaying itself in for (in this case) mans consumption.
Inherent in this analogy is violence: the pig is doused in BBQ, butchered
and then prepared into juicy burgers to be consumed. These images both
commodify and oversexualize women. Women are meat, they are to be
consumed, their image is for pleasure, you can sell, buy it, consume it.
Women are sexual objects.
This video has clear ties to domination - gender violence,
psychological violence and structural violence (hence it being a "normal" scene
within media). As far as
intersectionality, I'm not sure where race or class fit in here in terms of
oppression but they are definitely apart of what's going on.
Disgusting!
]]>