Notes from Class 10-15 on Domestic Violence and Intersectionality

Dynamics of Domestic Violence

Mainstream: 

• Man is the abusive partner, woman in survivor.
• Heterosexual couple
• Abuse= physical violence
• Abusive partners are mean people with anger management issues.

Crenshaw:

• Race, class and gender impact the political organizing to stop domestic violence (anti-DV movement reflect the mainstream narrative of DV).
• Violence is not the only issue, many women of color also need help getting housing, and jobs.
• Abusive tactics can reflect situational position: abusive partners witholding visas and immigration documents from survivors, abusive partners threatening to 'out' their partners to friends and family that don't know about their sexuality, etc.

Kibria:

• Domestic Violence seen as culturally acceptable; uses cultural ideologies to explain abusive behavior.
• Idea of what constitutes DV is culturally defined, and may differ from mainstream definitions.

Serwer:

• Survivor believes, or is told, that they must stay in marriage to gain citizenship.
• LGBTQ survivors believe that there are no services for them, so they don't reach out for help.
• Undocumented survivors fear that they may get deported or lose custody of their children if they seek services.

Access to Services:

Traditional:

• Survivor can (and is expected to) use legal services, the police, (to get a restraining order, get a divorce), and get into and use shelter. 
• All services are provided in English
• Survivor has the financial means to find her own housing and job after she leaves shelter.

Crenshaw:

• Race, class and gender determine the type of services that you get; "Bad Victim"/ "Good Victim" Dichotomy- the more you align to the 'traditional' trajectory, the easier it is to find services and have them work for you.
• Language Barriers- if you can't prove that you are fluent in English, many services are not accessible to you.

Kibria:

• The Vietnamese women in her study used informal networks to get childcare and jobs; no need to engage with social services.
• Didn't want to leave their husbands because they are not financially stable to do so.
• Didn't want to expose their children to undesirable American cultural traits.

Serwer:

• Indigenous women cannot prosecute non-native men.
• Reservations have very little money to provide DV services; in rural areas services can be very far away and are therefore difficult to access if you don't have money.
• People don't know about the U-Visa, Republicans fear that people will commit fraud in order to get them.
• LGBTQ populations fear that services are not available for them; don't try.

Ending DV Situations
Mainstream:

• Leave the abusive partner
• Utitlize the police and try to put your abusive partner in jail
• Move somewhere else to leave your abusive partner.

Crenshaw:

• It can be hard for women to leave their abusive partners because they are dependent on them for money or immigration status.
• Political Organizing against DV reflects the situation of white, middle-class women.

Kibria:

• Organized community shaming gets abusive partners to stop their behavior. 
• Vietnamese immigrants are hesitant to utilize social services; seek to find solutions to problems within their own communities.

Serwer:

• Publicize and utilize the U-Visa program.
• Allow tribal governments to prosecute non-native offenders for DV and Sexual Assault.
• Make non-discrimination against LGBTQ folks a mandatory part of VAWA to increase the services they can receive. 

Pre-Reading Questions for Week Seven

****Trigger Warning: I want this class to be space where people feel safe participating and learning. I understand that some of you may have experienced domestic violence in your own lives, or are close to people who have experienced such violence. It is important that you are not re-traumatized by doing this weeks lesson. If you need to excuse yourself from any of the readings or class- please feel free to do so without penalty*****


Here is the abridged version of the Kimberele Crenshaw Article- please read this instead of the longer piece in your reader. Please print out and bring this article to class on Monday. Note: the Kibria and Serwer readings are the same.

Please read the following resources to familiarize yourself with the concept of domestic violence:
What is Domestic Violence?
Common Myths and Responses about Domestic Violence

For this class, we will be using the following definition of Domestic Violence:
Domestic violence is a pattern of intentional behavior used by one person to maintain power and control over another using any or all of the following forms of abuse: physical, emotional, verbal, sexual or financial abuse.

Why might we be studying intersectionality and domestic violence? How might the experience of domestic violence be different based on race, class, language or nationality?

What is the conventional solution for people in domestic violence relationships? Is this possible for all survivors? Why or why not? What are some alternatives?

Please research the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)- what is it? what are its objectives? 

Why might it be important to look at the phenomenon of domestic violence using an intersectional analysis?

Post Reading Questions for Week Six

There is a change in the readings for next week: please read the abridged version of the Kimberlee Crenshaw "Mapping the Margins". 

In your own words, what is intersectional theory? How is it different than other approaches to understanding racial, gender or class oppression?

What is Audre Lorde saying in the following quote?
 "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)
       
What steps need to be taken, according to Lorde, in order for all women to achieve social justice and equality?

"In this country, lesbianism is a poverty-as is being brown, as is being a woman, as is being just plain poor. The danger lies in ranking the oppressions. The danger lies in failing to acknowledge the specificity of the oppression"- Moraga, (24). 
What is your response to Moraga's statement? Do you think she is right? Are all of these different oppressions 'poverty'? Why or why not?

Review some of the following critiques of the "Occupy Movement" of last year. What are some of the critiques? How do they incorporate an intersectional analysis? What is the agenda of the Occupy Movement? What populations does that agenda reflect? 

Daily Kos: Occupy the Hood
Ms. Magazine: We Are the 99%: Creating a Feminist Space Within Occupy Wall Street
The Pitfalls of Privilege: OWS, Social Justice, and Intersectionality

A lot of the discussion about intersectionality centers around women of color, however it is not limited to that. Can you think of ways that an intersectional analysis can help us understand the lives of men? 

We are going to be spending the next two weeks discussing specific examples of intersectionality, so before moving forward what questions do you still have about intersectionality? Any reservations or objections?

Power Point on Intersectionality and Sojourner Truth Video

Hello Students,
Here is the presentation on intersectionality. Feel free to review to enhance or supplement your understanding.

Intersectional theory from estrasser8313

Alice Walker reading Sojourner Truth's speech: "And Ain't I a Woman?"

Pre-Reading Questions: Week Six

As I stated in class, there is a change in the readings for next week: The Lionel Cantu reading is not in your reader; please read The Combahee River Collective Statement (click link to get PDF). 

In his blog posting, John Scalzi argues that straight white men play the game of life on the lowest difficulty setting. What about straight white women? Queer white men? Straight black men? When you change one of the characteristics? How do their structural positions change?

Please google and do short biographies about the authors for this week:

Audre Lorde

Cherrie Moraga

Combahee River Women's Collective

Thinking about political organizing, do white women have the same needs as black women? Queer Asian men and straight Asian men? Why or why not?

Are people only granted advantages or disadvantages because of their race? What if someone has racial privilege but not ability privilege? 

From the titles of these readings, please come up with two questions you have about this texts:
"Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference"
"La Güera"
"The Combahee River Collective Statement"

Post-Reading Questions: Week Five

As I stated in class, there is a change in the readings for next week: The Lionel Cantu reading is not in your reader; please read The Combahee River Collective Statement (click link to get PDF). 

Why does Eduardo Bonilla-Silva refer to CBR as 'racism lite' ?(Bonilla-Silva, 3)

Is this video racist? Why or why not? What are the points she is trying to prove in this film?

Who stands to gain by using Colorblind racism, why?

Brainstorm some of the common rebuttals that explanations of CBR might receive? How would you counter those? 

Here is a link to some of scenarios we discussed in class- to you, which ones are "obviously" indicative of CBR? Which ones do you feel somewhat ambiguous about? Why?

Bell and Hartmann argue: "Racial inequalities, not to mention racism itself, are big structural elephants. This creates a real, albeit seemingly comfortable, tension in the diversity discourse: people have the ability to explicitly talk about race without ever acknowledging the unequal realities and experience of racial differences in American society- a phenomenon Andersen (1999) calls 'diversity without oppression'" (Bell and Hartmann, 905).
What major aspect of American race relations is 'left out' when people talk about diversity? Is this a problem?

Why do we study CBR in Ethnic Studies? Does it matter in our pursuit of social justice?

Do you think that CBR is a useful tool in understanding race in the United States today? Why? 

How do you feel about all of this? Do you find it reassuring? Challenging? Ridiculous?

Colorblind Racism Slideshow from Class on 10/1

Colorblind racism from estrasser8313