Awareness
I found all of the readings from last nights to be both interesting and extremely relevant as they each discussed issues that have proved to be very serious in todays society, such as identity based politics, sexual assault, and silencing of women.
I was very intrigued by the topics of Crenshaw's piece, "Mapping the Margins," however I am also aware that I did not fully understand every aspect of her discussion. In it she analyzed the positives, being the strength in unity, and negatives, being the tendency we have to ignore group differences, of identity based politics/movements. I think that her goal of this piece was to examine the ways that different "dimensions" of identity intersect or influence each other in ways that we often don't see. Where I got a little lost, however, was when she went into the topic of violence, and the battles that come along with it. Obviously I know that domestic violence is a problem, and obviously it is not one that I, or I hope any sane person, would ever be okay with, but I guess my trouble comes in attempting to relate to the subject matter when I, an upper-middle class white young woman, read the truth about it. I guess that it is because I have never had to experience any domestic violence near or anywhere around me, but I wonder if the reason for that is solely because I of my race and socioeconomic status, or if it is simply because I have been fortunate enough to belong to a family that does not associate with it. This is where I find it difficult to see the causation in the correlation. Someone who takes part in domestic violence is a bad person, no matter their race, economic status, gender, ethnicity, etc. and I have seen the statistics and heard all of the stereotypes about violent black men beating their wives in low income areas and, but is that enough to say that those factors alone liken your chances of experiencing it? I'm sure that their are many who would be able to tell me yes and explain why in a second, and that my lack of knowledge comes from the shelter of my own privilege, but I also know that that is a problem within itself. I am definitely not alone in this situation. So many people, like me, contribute to the problem by being unaware. Even we, who are inexperienced and privileged, should take it upon ourselves to learn more.
I think that this idea of being unaware can transfer over to the other readings as well. In the Tenured Radical piece, the professor takes it upon herself to spread knowledge to students about rape and sexual assault on campus. Here at Colgate, we have a code of conduct, and we have things such as Haven, and TINAPAS, and others that are supposed to spread awareness about the reality of this issue, but I think that most faculty probably have the same question, is anyone really listening? And how far does it have to go before people begin to really care? People are silent, and conversations are fragile, but that will not make the problem go away.
I was very intrigued by the topics of Crenshaw's piece, "Mapping the Margins," however I am also aware that I did not fully understand every aspect of her discussion. In it she analyzed the positives, being the strength in unity, and negatives, being the tendency we have to ignore group differences, of identity based politics/movements. I think that her goal of this piece was to examine the ways that different "dimensions" of identity intersect or influence each other in ways that we often don't see. Where I got a little lost, however, was when she went into the topic of violence, and the battles that come along with it. Obviously I know that domestic violence is a problem, and obviously it is not one that I, or I hope any sane person, would ever be okay with, but I guess my trouble comes in attempting to relate to the subject matter when I, an upper-middle class white young woman, read the truth about it. I guess that it is because I have never had to experience any domestic violence near or anywhere around me, but I wonder if the reason for that is solely because I of my race and socioeconomic status, or if it is simply because I have been fortunate enough to belong to a family that does not associate with it. This is where I find it difficult to see the causation in the correlation. Someone who takes part in domestic violence is a bad person, no matter their race, economic status, gender, ethnicity, etc. and I have seen the statistics and heard all of the stereotypes about violent black men beating their wives in low income areas and, but is that enough to say that those factors alone liken your chances of experiencing it? I'm sure that their are many who would be able to tell me yes and explain why in a second, and that my lack of knowledge comes from the shelter of my own privilege, but I also know that that is a problem within itself. I am definitely not alone in this situation. So many people, like me, contribute to the problem by being unaware. Even we, who are inexperienced and privileged, should take it upon ourselves to learn more.
I think that this idea of being unaware can transfer over to the other readings as well. In the Tenured Radical piece, the professor takes it upon herself to spread knowledge to students about rape and sexual assault on campus. Here at Colgate, we have a code of conduct, and we have things such as Haven, and TINAPAS, and others that are supposed to spread awareness about the reality of this issue, but I think that most faculty probably have the same question, is anyone really listening? And how far does it have to go before people begin to really care? People are silent, and conversations are fragile, but that will not make the problem go away.
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