Where Race and Gender Meet
By: Helen Zia
“That is all other communities of color have a similar prosecution rate for hate crimes against the women in their communities – namely zero.” (Pg. 497)
“…women are mere shadows in the existing civil rights framework.” (Pg. 498)
“There is a serious difficulty with pushing for use of federal and state hate remedies.” (Pg. 498)
“By taking women of color out of the legal shadows, out of invisibility, all women make gains toward full human dignity and human rights.” (Pg. 499)
This article was really intriguing to me because honestly, I have never really thought of the difference in hate crimes, be it male or female induced, and whether the subject is male or female. I have always just assumed that it affected people as a grand whole, but I think it is definitely important to rethink hate crimes in the sense of gender rights and how they are affected. I mean, when I innately think of a hate crime, I think of someone hating on me because of my sexual orientation. I have never thought of a hate crime being committed because of my sexual gender, but isn’t this a huge problem for women? Is not a man beating his wife a form of a hate crime? His blatant ignorance of human rights is directly affecting her due to her gender, hence why he is committing a hate crime. Then why isn’t this considered a hate crime…but rather a form of domestic abuse? Would he still be hitting her if she were a man, or would he think twice about pummeling down another male? It is because women are forced into a subservient social role that men justify their superiority, and even then that superiority complex indeed is a form of hated as well. By feeling superior, or placing yourself among that tier, is a person not exuding a type of hatred for someone of a lower status? Maybe not hatred in the sense of wanting to kill someone, but most definitely hatred in a way that classifies people into ranks and therefore allows those people to justify gender responsibilities. I would even go as far to say that men are even taught to hate women to a certain extent, in order to perpetuate their ego’s in a patriarchal driven society.
Homophobia in Straight Men
By: Terry A. Kupers
“When this man arrived at the prison at 19 he was beat up and raped a number of times, and on several other occasions prison toughs fought with each other for the opportunity to use him sexually…he learned it was safer to become a woman.” (Pg. 500)
“In prison, ‘butt-fucking’ is the symbol of dominance.” (Pg. 500)
“…Men are always building something that they believe will keep them off the bottom of the heap, out of range of those who would ‘shaft’ them.” (Pg. 500)
Hmmm, becoming what we are not in order to survive this thing we called life. How poignant. Like, in this example, the young male “became” a woman in order to survive, and that only reminds me of this issue of masculinity, and how as a gay man I constantly have to consider how I portray myself. It would be so much easier for me to just conform with the “normal” ideals of a man and dress like everyone else and display this idea of hyper masculinity, just so I am not “found out,” but honestly I feel like a phony doing that. But I would also be lying if I said that I have never done that before; pretended to be straight when I clearly knew that I was more drawn to Johnny in Chemistry class rather than Kara in Math.
I like how “butt-fucking” in prison is considered a form of dominance. Honestly, as a gay man I find it to be about the same sort of thing. I am constantly faced with the question, “Are you a top or a bottom?” Do I have to choose? But I know exactly what responsibilities come along with either role and what is expected of me as either the giver or taker. But what happens if I don’t fall into either category; what if I want to be both, then what? I mean, in general though, being a “giver” usually coincides with being the more masculine actor within the relationship, and thus by being the more masculine figure, he/she is expected by society to be dominating toward whomever assumes the feminine role. So in essence, “butt-fucking” is just one tactic used to reinforce gender norms, if not by gay men, then most definitely by the general population. This is why it is used in the prison really…to establish who are the women and who are the men, and depending whether you are fucking, or being fucked, you are thereby being forced into both a sexual and mental caste system.
How Safe is America?
By: Desiree Taylor
“As a mixed race, half Black, half white woman born into poverty, I have never felt safe here.” (Pg. 511)
“Everyday in this country people fie from exploitation that originates right here at home. Some who toil and slave in service to a system of wealth and prestige, who don’t even earn a living for their trouble, slit their wrists out of desperation and pain.” (Pg. 512)
“But it’s impossible for me to suddenly forget that the United States empire was built upon and is still maintained by abuses against the poor and minorities.” (Pg. 512)
“I learned that employers would keep employees just under 40 hours a week, so that officially they were not full-time and therefore not entitled by law to benefits.” (Pg. 513)
“[Terrorist attacks] are attacks on freedom and justice itself. But how is the possible when here at home justice, freedom, and the American Dream are denied to so many?” (Pg. 513)
Am I safe in America? We discussed this a lot in class actually, where I really thought about this idea of safety and whom America’s government really protects. I mean, as a gay man who is open to the world about who I am and how I identify myself, am I safe, at or least protected by, my home country? I would have to be on the fence with this one. I mean, on one hand I am fortunate enough to be a legal citizen of America, and I come from a loving home where I have two wonderful parents who are paying an obsene amount of money for me to be receiving the education I am thankfully getting. However, on the other hand, althought I am “free” under the American Constitution, I still have to consider a lot of things when I am out in public. Things such as what I am wearing, how I am portraying myself, am I with my boyfriend, can I kiss my boyfriend, god forbid I hold my boyfriend’s hand, etc. Heterosexual couples don’t have to consider these things because they are among the norm; their interaction is most commonly seen within the public eye and therefore the general populus has accepted it as the status quo. In essence, if I have to constantly weigh how I have to live my life in order to be “acceptable” among everyone else, am I indeed free? If I am chained to these fears of being “caught” for not living up to the norm, am I free?
Indeed this article went on to discuss how the poor of also not free. Let’s be honest, it is the poor that this country exploits the most, mainly because one, they can, and two, the poor have nowhere to turn. If someone is an illegal citizen of the states, what job opportunities do they have? Slim to none really. Therefore, anything that will pay them enough to survive is there only hope, and thus major retail giants take advantage of these situations and barely pay these poor people to work under horrid conditions. But what choice do they have? Even if these people do become citizens, do they have any better of a chance to rise in the ranks of life? No. Not without an undergraduate college degree they don’t. And even now, a master’s degree is becoming so important that soon even I, an American born man with an undergraduate degree from a private and respected university institution, will not be able to get a job without one.
Basically, without that citizenship or a college degree, this country can be economically cruel to people. And what does someone need in order to get an education? Money. Lots and lots of money. So riddle me this: if someone flees to America in search of finding a better life for themselves and their family, without a working visa how can they find a job? Oh yes, find a company that will hire them illegally and will pay them next to nothing. But this job will never allow them to save any money in order to get an education and therefore they will forever be stuck in the social class entitled, “poor.” And thus, with nowhere to go, and no way of rising up in the social and economic system of America, these poor immigrants are left with barely a hope in “the land of the free.” Thoughts?
Wielding Masculinity Inside Abu Ghraib
By: Cynthia Enloe
“Why did one American woman military guard in particular captured the attention of so many media editors and ordinary viewers and readers…” (Pg. 515)
“Women by conventional contrast, were expected to appear in wartime as mothers and wives of soldiers…” (Pg. 515)
“The bad apple explanation.” (Pg. 516) à nothing needs to be reassessed or reformed
“Was it significant that so many of the abuses perpetrated on the Iraqi prisoners were deliberately sexualized?” (Pg. 518)
“Organizational climate?” (Pg. 518)
This whole article just made me think about how people always freak out whenever a woman assumes masculine roles within life. In fact most of the controversy about the scandal concerning the American soldiers who sexually and physically abused the male prisoners was the fact that a woman partook in the event. The idea that a woman could potentially hold enough power over a man to sexually abuse him is appalling to America, and what I find most sickening about this article is that the media focused more on the idea of a woman committing the act, rather than the inexcusable act itself. And what I find hilarious is this idea of the “organizational climate” to which people have justified her actions as temporary insanity due to her constant contact among male soldiers. That this climate of war and being around a primarily masculine territory had in some way changed her womanly morals and replaced them with violent masculine traits. Basically, according to America, a woman cannot innately be violent, and thus this woman had to have learned to do such an act from the people she was around.
I also really like this question of whether or not it was important that many of the abuses were sexualized. I think that it is very important, mainly because I think sexuality is such a touchy subject for human beings alike, so when sexual boundaries are crossed the offense is taken that much heavier. These soldiers knew exactly what buttons they would be pushing by forcing these prisoners, who come from a background of homophobic politics, to mimic homosexual acts. They threw these men around as if they were nothing, objectifying them just like the men within the prisoner’s culture have objectified women for centuries. Whether or not these acts were intended to a particular commentary on how the prisoner’s cultural beliefs, I believe these soldiers did these specific acts on purpose. What do you think?
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