Week 8: Pre-Reading Questions

-From a personal experience, race, education and disability all intersect. For example, in school, those with a learning disability had to take certain classes, or had special classes to cater to their ‘disabilities.’ All in all, their educational experience was different from mine because of their disability.  Also, race can play into one’s educational experience as well.  For instance, there was the stereotype at my school that Asians are good at math. Although most of the students in the harder math courses were primarily Asian, this stereotype affected the educational experience of the Asians at my school—most felt like they had to succeed in math because of this stereotype. 

- The three categories, learning disabled, mentally retarded, and emotionally disturbed are all disorders that affect the way people learn and function in the world. In terms of special education, each category may affect an individual in different ways. For example, if a student had a learning disability, they may not necessarily need to take a special class because their difficulty in a specific academic area may not be significant enough to require special help. If a student suffered from mental retardation, their educational experience would be more difficult than a regular child. Because learning may take longer, they may have trouble adapting and blending in with other students.  Emotionally disturbed students not only suffer from a learning disability, but also a behavioral disorder that may case them to further be alienated by the regular educational system. The students would have to participate in special education classes and have special teachers aid and guide them in their education.

-Race, gender, and class all intersect with disability which impacts how people experience their lives. For example, take a poor African American woman. Because she is of a lower class, is African American, and a woman, living life with a disability would be very difficult.  It would be hard for her to have access to the care she needs because it would cost more than what she makes—if she even could get a job. Although it seems inhumane, there are some people would just completely dismiss her and not even consider the fact that she has a disability simply because she is African American. This experience would be vastly different from a white affluent male with a disability. Because he is a white male from a higher class, he may be able to afford the care he needs while being treated better, as a result from being from a ‘superior’ race.

Word Count: 420

Week 7: Post-Reading Responses

-           By using multiple categories, we can begin to understand the different types of domestic violence and how one would respond to such a situation. Generally, when someone thinks of domestic violence, we assume that the parties involved are a male and female couple, where the male is the abuser while the female is the survivor; however, this is not always the case. Sometimes roles are switched and the male is the survivor while the woman is the abuser. When taking intersectionality into account, we can see patterns of domestic violence in more than just heterosexual couples. For example, domestic violence can exist in a couple where both people involved are female. Because they are both female, it may be hard to identify who is the abuser and who is the survivor. This is because a case like this isn’t what most would think to be a ‘normal’ domestic violence case.  When the two involved are women, there are times when people think that violence can’t really happen because of their gender and that it was simply a small cat fight.  

            Also, other factors such as nationality play into domestic violence. For example, there may be a case of domestic violence where a male, who is a US citizen is married to a poor immigrant who came to America hoping that she will live a better life; however, the relationship turns into an abusive one that the immigrant is afraid to get out of. She fears that she would lose her life, and the social status that she gained in marrying the US citizen. As an immigrant, without her husband she would simply be a poor lower-class immigrant with no stable income. She wouldn’t be able to live without him. In this case, the identities of being a poor woman who recently immigrated affect her decisions concerning her case of domestic violence. Even though she is being abused, she doesn’t want to lose the things she gained. Also, even if she decided to report the abuse, she might not get the services she needs. Because she is an immigrant, the police may not be able to translate her native tongue or broken English into a complete police report which won’t help her case in the long run. If we were to take into account the different identities people assume and cater to those differences, the woman may have received the services she needed.

-           One of the biggest barriers to receiving help for Paola’s clients were the language barrier and the evidence barrier.  As exemplified in the previous paragraph, not being able to speak English or not having multilingual translators at important service places can be a huge problem for some clients. If communication cannot happen between the client and the service providers, no useful help can be given. Also, for some types of domestic violences, it is hard to provide evidence for a police report. For example, in the case of Emotional abuse, there is no physical evidence of bruises or scars to show that a survivor is being abused. This could pose as a problem for clients when they are immigrants trying to apply for visas that require a police report.

-           Understanding how instersectionality plays into domestic violence won’t necessarily end it, however it may provide a way for better services to be offered so that more survivors can be given the help they need.

Word Count: 568

Week 6: Post-Reading Responses

-          Intersectionality is the theory that multiple factors, such as race, gender, sexual preference, etc., determine social inequality. Contrary to the common belief that one identity affects a person’s social standing alone, each identity is weighted in according to each situation where one identity might matter more than another. For example, take the case of black women during the feminist movement of the 1960s; most of the needs in the feminist movement catered to the needs of middle class white women because they assumed that a ‘woman’ was a white middle class lady who worked in the kitchen. The main stream feminist organizations only paid attention to the assumed ‘normal’ woman, neglecting the fact that women of another race may have different needs. Even though the movement had good intentions, because the organizations only focused on the area of gender, not everyone was able to receive equality. However, if they were to take an approach with keeping in mind intersectionality, the organizations might have been able to address the issues that all women face, instead of only the white middle class woman.

 "It is not our differences which separate women, but our reluctance to recognize those differences and to deal effectively with the distortions which have resulted from the ignoring and maintaining of those differences" (58)

-          I believe Lorde is saying what I said in my previous point. Many people refuse to acknowledge that in order to achieve social justice, you must acknowledge all factors of identity. Because the feminist organizations didn’t acknowledge the differences within their own community of women, they neglected women with different needs—namely women of color. For example, main stream feminists wanted the right to work, while women of color were forced to work and had a different need.  Women who wanted to be part of the movement were not separated because of the differences of black of white, but because they didn’t acknowledge that the difference of their race entails different needs. In order to reach social justice, we have to acknowledge all the differences and try to address all the needs at hand.

-          Even though the past examples made in this post were about women of color, in reality, intersectionality also affects the lives of men. When applying the theory of intersectionality, men also have advantages and disadvantages. Although they have the advantage of being a man, other identities, such as race and sexual preference may serve as either an advantage or disadvantage in certain situations. For example, in the workforce even though being a male may be an advantage, being of a different race, such as being black, may cause your pay to be lower than a male who was white.

Word Count: 451