A topic that is important to me is helping inmates who are just being released get back on their feet. My mother and her friends got together and just opened a half-way house in Tulsa,OK. They take in women who are just getting out of jail and do not have a place to go. Either their families do no want to take them in or they do not have friends or family who are willing to support them. Some of the women just do not want to go back to their origianl homes for fear of going back to their old ways and going back to jail or prison. These women need support groups that many of them do not have. The percentage of women that return back to being locked up is high. Offering them a place to stay and giving them that person who is willing to see nothing but positive things come out of their lives. Not only does certain organizations help get them back on their feet but they give these ladies the encouragement they need to hear in order to succeed in society and not just be looked upon as being a convicted felon.
A New Way of Life Reentry Home, a sober living residence for women with no place to go after they get out of prison. It is ran by Susan Burton, who understands what these women are going through. Susan was incarcerated herself for 12 years during a 20 year journey back and forth to prison 6 times.She has watched 80 women leave and try to get back on their feet. Unlike many halfway houses that reject clients with mental health, drug, and financial problems, Burton does not turn anyone away. As long as a woman is committed to her recovery, Burton will take her in. Since 1980 the number of women entering prisons have increased over 400 percent, doubling the rate of men. This number is outright ridiculous. Federal, state and local governments do little to rehabilitate women in prison, or to assist them in re-entering the community. This is why I feel so strongly behind this subject to be apart of. There are numerous of strong women and men who are incarcerated today that just need that one person or that little bit of help to do great things for their lives. There are a lot of strong women who are capable of doing great thing but just do not have the support group or encouragement that they need. I love the fact how Susan who was once in their shoes decided to give and help someone else turn out great like she did. In the future, I would love to open numerous of rehabilition homes for not only women but men also. I would love to see the rentry rate lowered.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Gender
Rosario Castellanos play made a couple of gender points in her play "The Eternal Feminine". Every act had a clear point to me in which gender could be illustrated. My favorite scene of the whole play was the end of the play in Act 3. Act Three consisted of the scenes where the dress owner gave her numerous of wigs to try on since she decided that her hair was not going to be finished because of the blackout and all the interruptions she had been having at the shop. With each wig that Lupita tried on she would try on, you could say she had a vision or dream about what the wig stood for. She took on different personalities that came to her when she tried the different wigs on. With each wig, Lupita had visions of being a single woman, a prostitute, a reporter, and a secret lover of another man.
The one that stood out to me the most was Lupita playing the role of secret lover when she tried on “The Soiled Flower” wig. With this particular wig, Lupita had a vision of her becoming a prostitute and having to sell her body on the street. She ran into a man Cinturita who seemed to be a pimp. This scene portrays gender to me because it seems as if they are always trying to portray the women as being weak and having to take orders for a man. Just like in numerous of ads we have seen in this class and all around the media, people are always trying to sell the woman body as an object and not a human being. Cinturita at first seemed nice to Lupita, but the way he talked down upon the other prostitute was outright demeaning. For him to call her a “slut” and yell at her the way he did was unacceptable. Men are believed to be the dominant figure in relationships and once again this scene proves it. The assumptions that women are helpless, fearful, and subjective and the men are strong and powerful are shown here in this scene. For a woman to sell there body is degrading, and for a man to encourage it and accept is disturbing. Cinturita called himself “protecting” them, but at the end of the day he was worried about his money then the protection of the ladies. When she placed “The Usurper” wig on she became the secret lover of a married man. She was looked at being naïve from her maid her knew all the things that were going to happen between her and her secret lover. The fact that she accepted being okay for not being important in his life and not being shown in public showed again how men try to take advantage of women. Not only was the husband being unfaithful to her but to his wife. In this case, it’s not just Lupita’s fault for standing up for herself, but the man’s for not taking responsibilities and being faithful. Men may think it is okay to cheat around and think nothing of it, but when a woman does it they are considered to be “hoes” or “sluts” for it. I am not sure what point Castellanos was trying to get across with these different scenes in this act, but maybe to show how some women feel or go through everyday.
The one that stood out to me the most was Lupita playing the role of secret lover when she tried on “The Soiled Flower” wig. With this particular wig, Lupita had a vision of her becoming a prostitute and having to sell her body on the street. She ran into a man Cinturita who seemed to be a pimp. This scene portrays gender to me because it seems as if they are always trying to portray the women as being weak and having to take orders for a man. Just like in numerous of ads we have seen in this class and all around the media, people are always trying to sell the woman body as an object and not a human being. Cinturita at first seemed nice to Lupita, but the way he talked down upon the other prostitute was outright demeaning. For him to call her a “slut” and yell at her the way he did was unacceptable. Men are believed to be the dominant figure in relationships and once again this scene proves it. The assumptions that women are helpless, fearful, and subjective and the men are strong and powerful are shown here in this scene. For a woman to sell there body is degrading, and for a man to encourage it and accept is disturbing. Cinturita called himself “protecting” them, but at the end of the day he was worried about his money then the protection of the ladies. When she placed “The Usurper” wig on she became the secret lover of a married man. She was looked at being naïve from her maid her knew all the things that were going to happen between her and her secret lover. The fact that she accepted being okay for not being important in his life and not being shown in public showed again how men try to take advantage of women. Not only was the husband being unfaithful to her but to his wife. In this case, it’s not just Lupita’s fault for standing up for herself, but the man’s for not taking responsibilities and being faithful. Men may think it is okay to cheat around and think nothing of it, but when a woman does it they are considered to be “hoes” or “sluts” for it. I am not sure what point Castellanos was trying to get across with these different scenes in this act, but maybe to show how some women feel or go through everyday.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Blog 9: Non-governmental organization (NGO)
The non-governmental issue that I chose to talk about is WYSE which stands for Women and Youth Supporting Each Other. This organization is a national mentoring organization and project of Community Partners. WYSE has been dedicated to strengthening the lives and communities of women and girls of color through a curriculum based, group and one-on-one mentorship program that strives to address all the issues that can contribute to their disempowerment. The mission of WYSE is to provide women and girls with a mentorship experience that enables and inspires strengthened lives and strengthened communities by, 1. Providing middle and high school girls with the resources and support necessary to make informed decisions about relationships, sexual health, their futures and to take leadership roles in creating community change; 2. Providing college women with the skills and insights necessary to become lifelong mentors and advocates for expanded opportunities for women and girls; and 3. Providing a national network of support and friendship as women and girls work toward positive changes in all our nation?s communities. This is a great organization that is definitely worth contributing time, effort, and money towards. There are a lot of young girls who do not have the supporting mentors or role models to look up to. This is a great opportunity to input positive goals and determination in these young ladies lives. To start them on the right track now and informing them on how women are powerful will stick with them on their road to woman hood. This is a gender issue because their are many of young ladies who are being left out and are not getting the proper guidance that they need to become a strong, courageous, independent woman.
Response to reading:
Enloe's article was talking about the sneakers production factories that are all over the world and their working conditions. Most of the major sneaker making factories are overseas and not in the United States where most of the sales are targeted. I believe that these companies take their businesses overseas because many of those people just want to work and are not worried about the working conditions that much. Americans know what they should get and deserve working for someone. The working conditions that are in some of these factories are just out right ridiculous and inhumane. Many of the workers are women and the way that these people treat them should not go unrecognized. These women are just trying to earn a living like anyone else would to support their families by working on a wage that can barely by a drink here in the U.S.. Better working conditions need to be given to these workers or consequences need to be given. Kumar and Ryan's article was mainly about Asian feminism. Chapter 8 in FIFE focuses on global feminism an in this movement we need to still focus on global equality. I believe the part where the white liberal women should be the main leaders in feminism is totally insane. If anything is going to move forward or happen in this movement everyone has to work together if there going to achieve the main goal they have set out to complete. There can't be discrimination going on because that is taking away from the main idea. Other than that issue the chapter had great points.
Response to reading:
Enloe's article was talking about the sneakers production factories that are all over the world and their working conditions. Most of the major sneaker making factories are overseas and not in the United States where most of the sales are targeted. I believe that these companies take their businesses overseas because many of those people just want to work and are not worried about the working conditions that much. Americans know what they should get and deserve working for someone. The working conditions that are in some of these factories are just out right ridiculous and inhumane. Many of the workers are women and the way that these people treat them should not go unrecognized. These women are just trying to earn a living like anyone else would to support their families by working on a wage that can barely by a drink here in the U.S.. Better working conditions need to be given to these workers or consequences need to be given. Kumar and Ryan's article was mainly about Asian feminism. Chapter 8 in FIFE focuses on global feminism an in this movement we need to still focus on global equality. I believe the part where the white liberal women should be the main leaders in feminism is totally insane. If anything is going to move forward or happen in this movement everyone has to work together if there going to achieve the main goal they have set out to complete. There can't be discrimination going on because that is taking away from the main idea. Other than that issue the chapter had great points.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)