While I'd like to live the fast life of working on political campaigns in my twenties, by the time I'm 31 I think I'll have grown tired of this stressful lifestyle. I would really like to work for a non-profit or PAC like EMILY's List that focuses on getting more women in elected office. This would combine my love of political campaigns with my desire to achieve gender equity in the political sphere. Eventually, I'd like to run for office myself (not sure which office yet!), but I don't know if I'll be ready for this by the time I'm 31. However, running for office is a hefty task that will take a lot of preparation and learning, so I hope to be involved with boards, commissions, and committees that will help me become well-versed in a variety of policy issues.
I think my GWSS undergraduate work will be very helpful in achieving these goals. Not only do I feel pretty confident discussing women's issues and women's low political participation from a policy standpoint, but GWSS has also instilled in me a world view that I think will make me a good leader one day. My courses have taught me to consider many aspects of individuals rather than taking them at face value or making a judgment based upon a single characteristic like socioeconomic background, sexuality, or level of education. I think this social sensitivity I have learned from GWSS will help me connect better with the people I hope to represent. GWSS has also helped me understand how problems at the systemic and societal levels affect individuals (the personal is political!). Focusing on faults of the system and providing social supports to fix them rather than blaming individuals for their hardships is a key tenant of the political party I identify with (I'm sure none of you can guess which one that is... :)), so I'm glad that GWSS has taught me to think in this way.
I know I have a long way to go before I'm ready to run for office or even work for a women's political organization. I definitely need to learn more about running campaigns as well as policy, but I also need more practical, hands-on experience. While I've learned about issues of privilege and oppression in the classroom, seeing them play out in real life is a different kind of educational experience. Even though I have a long way to go, I'm SO glad I majored in GWSS because it has set me on the right path!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Justice
Most of what I've learned about justice in my women's studies classes has been about social justice and reproductive justice. Both of these theories focus on examining an individual's intersectional identity within the broader context of social and historical realities in order to determine what is just or unjust. This has taught me to look beyond the simple facts of a situation in considering what is just. I have learned to consider larger social problems and historical inequalities that contributed to the creation of a particular situation. For instance, in the case of a woman of color who is imprisoned for drug charges, rather than just looking at the crime and if she is guilty under the law, I would consider how her gender may have played role in her choice to get involved in the drug industry (Was she helping her husband or boyfriend? Did she need money to care for her family?). I would also consider her race and the historical racial inequalities in this country that have led certain races to disproportionately live in poverty and the racial inequalities in the legal system that affected this woman's arrest, conviction, and incarceration.
In my mind, justice is the distribution of a fair and equitable outcome to all parties involved in a situation. What is just will vary with the circumstances because it depends on many factors. In addition to the simple facts of the situation, the identities and personal circumstances of the individuals involved and the broader social and historical context must be considered. I struggle to come up with a normative definition of what is just because I'm not sure there is one. What seems just to one party might seem unjust to another. However, from what I have read in Socializing Care I think that restorative justice is a good approach because it seeks to repair all the harm in a situation. I like this approach because it acknowledges that the "victim" of a crime is not the only one harmed when a crime occurs. The person committing the crime may feel remorse, pain, or confusion and is likely dealing with other personal problems on top of that. The families and friends of both the victim and the offender are affected as well. A restorative justice approach seeks to do what is best for all of these parties involved, rather than operating within the confines of a criminal justice formula that stipulates what the punishment should be and expects all to feel better once that outcome is obtained.
In other news, I thought our first visit to the prison was really interesting. I was surprised at how friendly the women were and how eager some of them were to share their stories with us. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of being confined to a place for a matter of years and the mindset and outlook on life this would inflict on me. What surprised me most was how much more freedom the women in GP had than I was expecting. I was shocked that many of the women we saw were walking around, hanging out, and working without guards (visibly) around. I guess I was expecting that it would all be more like the women in the segregated and self-inflicted harm units where they weren't allowed to leave their cells without a guard. That would be such a depressing existence, so I was glad to see that many of the women could walk around with relative freedom. I'm curious to learn more about the kinds of bonds that form among the women at ICIW. I wonder if they divide themselves based on how long they've been there, where in the prison they stay, their personal interests/personalities, or what. I never felt scared or exceptionally uncomfortable while we were there, and I'm looking forward to our next visit.
In my mind, justice is the distribution of a fair and equitable outcome to all parties involved in a situation. What is just will vary with the circumstances because it depends on many factors. In addition to the simple facts of the situation, the identities and personal circumstances of the individuals involved and the broader social and historical context must be considered. I struggle to come up with a normative definition of what is just because I'm not sure there is one. What seems just to one party might seem unjust to another. However, from what I have read in Socializing Care I think that restorative justice is a good approach because it seeks to repair all the harm in a situation. I like this approach because it acknowledges that the "victim" of a crime is not the only one harmed when a crime occurs. The person committing the crime may feel remorse, pain, or confusion and is likely dealing with other personal problems on top of that. The families and friends of both the victim and the offender are affected as well. A restorative justice approach seeks to do what is best for all of these parties involved, rather than operating within the confines of a criminal justice formula that stipulates what the punishment should be and expects all to feel better once that outcome is obtained.
In other news, I thought our first visit to the prison was really interesting. I was surprised at how friendly the women were and how eager some of them were to share their stories with us. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of being confined to a place for a matter of years and the mindset and outlook on life this would inflict on me. What surprised me most was how much more freedom the women in GP had than I was expecting. I was shocked that many of the women we saw were walking around, hanging out, and working without guards (visibly) around. I guess I was expecting that it would all be more like the women in the segregated and self-inflicted harm units where they weren't allowed to leave their cells without a guard. That would be such a depressing existence, so I was glad to see that many of the women could walk around with relative freedom. I'm curious to learn more about the kinds of bonds that form among the women at ICIW. I wonder if they divide themselves based on how long they've been there, where in the prison they stay, their personal interests/personalities, or what. I never felt scared or exceptionally uncomfortable while we were there, and I'm looking forward to our next visit.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Role of Prisons...and more
Growing up, I was always told that prisons exist to keep bad people out of society and to deter them from re-offending or from committing a crime in the first place. It seems that some prisons focus more on rehabilitating individuals, while others only try to keep them locked up. The more I learn about the prison industrial complex and the people in prison from my women's studies classes, the more ridiculous and ineffective these goals seem.
If the purpose of the prison system is to remove those who have committed crimes from society, it does that. But what larger purpose does that serve? The prison system doesn't do much to help those who are locked up and it doesn't address the systemic problems that lead people to commit crimes in the first place. From the stories I have read about incarcerated individuals and how they got there, it seems that many people who end up in prison have had lives filled with a lot of struggle and pain, and I don't think the prison system does a good job of addressing, or even acknowledging, the complicated and difficult lives that those within it have had. For instance, the articles we read about invasive searches point out that many of the women who are subject to these cavity searches are survivors of past physical and sexual abuse. Sure, the prisons are trying to make sure the women and their visitors are safe, but by seeing these women as prisoners rather than as people with unique histories and experiences, they fail to understand why an invasive cavity search might be a particularly traumatizing experience for certain women.
While prisons may succeed at keeping "dangerous" individuals locked up, they don't address the larger societal problems, such as poverty, drugs, deficient mental health care, and a general lack of social supports, that lead many individuals to commit crimes in the first place.
I am looking forward to our first visit to ICIW because it will be a different kind of learning experience than what I have learned about prisons and their effects on women from academia and the media. However, since all of what I know about prisons and prison life comes from these outside sources, I am a little worried about the stereotypes and judgments I hold. I also think that the inherent power dynamic between us as outsiders (non-prisoners, college students, privileged individuals) and the women at ICIW will be a challenge. I don't want them to feel like we are coming in from the outside to "study" them for our own benefit, but I can see how it would be easy for this type of skewed dynamic to develop. I hope that a more reciprocal relationship can form, where we can talk about issues from our different perspectives and learn from each other.
If the purpose of the prison system is to remove those who have committed crimes from society, it does that. But what larger purpose does that serve? The prison system doesn't do much to help those who are locked up and it doesn't address the systemic problems that lead people to commit crimes in the first place. From the stories I have read about incarcerated individuals and how they got there, it seems that many people who end up in prison have had lives filled with a lot of struggle and pain, and I don't think the prison system does a good job of addressing, or even acknowledging, the complicated and difficult lives that those within it have had. For instance, the articles we read about invasive searches point out that many of the women who are subject to these cavity searches are survivors of past physical and sexual abuse. Sure, the prisons are trying to make sure the women and their visitors are safe, but by seeing these women as prisoners rather than as people with unique histories and experiences, they fail to understand why an invasive cavity search might be a particularly traumatizing experience for certain women.
While prisons may succeed at keeping "dangerous" individuals locked up, they don't address the larger societal problems, such as poverty, drugs, deficient mental health care, and a general lack of social supports, that lead many individuals to commit crimes in the first place.
I am looking forward to our first visit to ICIW because it will be a different kind of learning experience than what I have learned about prisons and their effects on women from academia and the media. However, since all of what I know about prisons and prison life comes from these outside sources, I am a little worried about the stereotypes and judgments I hold. I also think that the inherent power dynamic between us as outsiders (non-prisoners, college students, privileged individuals) and the women at ICIW will be a challenge. I don't want them to feel like we are coming in from the outside to "study" them for our own benefit, but I can see how it would be easy for this type of skewed dynamic to develop. I hope that a more reciprocal relationship can form, where we can talk about issues from our different perspectives and learn from each other.
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