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the-feminist-philosopher · 2 years ago

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One of the main talking points of anti-trans arguments is crime. They like to use crime statistics to try and "prove" that trans people are a threat to "natal" women. And then they use this threat to then argue that all trans women must thus be excluded from "womyns-only" spaces.

It is first important to note that crime statistics do not account for 1.) over policing of marginalized communities, 2.) the effects poverty has on crime, 3.) the fact that theft makes up the largest offense-type which prisoners are serving time for, 4.) the role that socioeconomic instability and disruptions to community life has on increasing crime rates, or 5.) the over criminalization of marginalized groups.

The first statistic we need to understand is that trans people are at a higher- and disproportionate- risk for justice system involvement. There are currently 4,890 transgender prisoners living in state prisons across the U.S. In only 15 cases are trans prisoners housed according to their lived gender. Just 13 transgender women are housed with women and two transgender men are housed with men. This has had dire outcomes as "thirty-five percent of transgender people who had spent time in prison in the previous year reported being sexually assaulted by staff or fellow prisoners." Many current and former transgender prisoners have said that guards dismissed their reports or retaliated against them for reporting.

"[T]he National Institute of Corrections reported that incarcerated transgender people are 13 times more likely than their cisgender peers to experience sexual assault, making up 59 percent of sexual assault cases in prisons and having the highest reports of multiple trauma."

"Transgender youth are more likely to leave school due to harassment, physical assault, and sexual violence; experience homelessness; and suffer verbal and physical abuse in a range of public spaces, including crisis centers and shelters. These transphobic experiences often lead to transgender people being excluded from formal economies. As a result, they are more likely to commit crimes of survival like prostitution [or get] involve[d] in the drug trade..."

Surveys have found that most of the trans people in prison were people of color, lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB), and relatively young. These surveyed trans people have also reported experiencing a variety of adverse experiences before turning 18, such as homelessness, foster care placements, arrest, and incarceration in juvenile facilities.

And we know that "of those [trans people] who interacted with law enforcement officers who thought or knew they were transgender, one-third (33%) of Black transgender women and 30% of multiracial women said that an officer assumed they were sex workers."

Plus, "one in five (20%) [trans people report] hav[ing] participated in the underground economy for income at some point in their lives— including 12% who have done sex work in exchange for income—and 9% did so in the past year, with higher rates among women of color."

Now, all of this remains true while in remains true that trans people- especially trans women- do not pose a threat to "natal" women.

Studies have revealed that the bathroom predator rhetoric is a red herring. There is no correlation between the passage of trans non-discrimination laws and safety or privacy in public restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms. In fact, trans people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime. This, despite the fact they are less likely to commit violent crimes, including violent sex crimes.

The violence that trans people- especially trans youth- face include threat or injury with a weapon, forced sexual intercourse, dating violence, and bullying. Studies indicate that gender minority youth experience significant discrimination and stigma, which contribute to disparities in substance use, incomplete education, mental health concerns, and suicide.

Many of these studies have also found that transition positively impacts mental health, but that a significant determinant of adverse mental health outcomes is K-12 harassment of trans kids.

I've long argued that if trans women were treated *exactly* the same and socialized *exactly* the same as cis men, then they would never be murdered and sexually assaulted at rates higher than cis men and cis women. If they're virtually indistinguishable from cis men, then why do they face disproportionate rates of victimization, homelessness, and poverty?

By supporting these myths and repeating them despite evidence to the contrary, the "Gender-crit" is contributing to a system which victimizes trans people on the basis of their trans status. Saying trans people are predators, for example, contributes to their stigmatization and contributes to a system that justifies violence against trans people on the basis of them being "predators."

This also contributes to a system that writes off the adversities that trans people face. Trans women, for example, experience high rates of gender-based violence, and writing them off as "predator males" writes off the systemic societal violence they have faced and how this is connected to the violence cis women face. It can also lead to their unequal treatment when they go to get help. In fact, their invisibility as women contributes to the violence and lack of help they receive.

Statistically, women have more to fear from their own brother, uncle, father, boyfriend, husband, or son that any trans women and even any strange man on the street. (The majority of murders and assaults are committed by people close to you, not strangers and not trans people.) Fear of trans women is not based on statistics, but plain fear.

Trans women do not pose a physical danger to the lives and bodies of cis women. The only thing they pose a "threat" to is cisnormativity and having to confront that in women's-spaces is going to make cis women uncomfortable. It'd be more socially comfortable for cis people if trans people simply "didn't exist" or were made invisible. Janice Raymond herself wanted to legislate trans people out of existence, and "gender crit" ideologies take a lot of inspiration from her works.

#txt #feminism

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hellomynameisbisexual · 2 years ago

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Do Better Bi Us is a campaign to call out biphobia and bi-erasure and provide clarity on how the gay and straight communities can better support the bisexual community.

It was started by activists Lois Shearing at the start of 2018. Currently, it has existed as a hashtag on twitter, appeared in articles, and even been one of the rallying cries used in the First Bi Float project, which organised the first bi pride float to ever appear in London Pride.

Why a manifesto?

The Do Better Bi Us manifesto aims to clearly lay out ways in which anyone can help to combat biphobia and bi-erasure. It offers practical steps that anyone can and should take in their daily life to make the world a better place for bisexual people.

The bisexual community is facing many critical threats to our health, well-being and safety, including; higher rates of sexual violence, higher rates of mental illness, high rates of poverty, and lower coming out rates. The manifesto outlines how and why we need allies to help us combat these issues.

The manifesto

The bisexual community is currently facing many serious issues and threats to our existence, including; worse mental health statistics than gay or staight (monosexual) comunities, an increased likelihood of living in poverty or going hungry, and bisexual women (cis and trans) are more at risk of sexual violence than monosexual women.

Double discrimination (discrimination from both heteronormative society and from within the rainbow community) and marginalisation are both at least partial causes of all these issues.

To counter the discrimination and isolation the bisexual community experiences, we as representatives of the bisexual community, are putting forward these demands.

We demand funding for bi-specific resources. Including:

Specific funding for the 61% - 75% of bisexual women who are survivors of rape and intimate partner violence

Funding for training resources and materials specific to bisexual issues, especially in mental health, rape crisis, and survivor support services

Funding for bisexual refugees, who are disproportionately affected by the government’s current LGBT+ refugee policy

Employing and fairly compensating bisexual people (especially trans bisexuals and bisexuals of colour) to create resources/articles/art/etc on themes of bisexuality by those in positions to do so

We demand acknowledgement of bisexuality as its own distinct community, with unique needs. Including:

Separating bisexuals from heterosexuals/homosexuals in research whenever possible

Specifically including biphobia alongside homophobia/transphobia in codes of conduct/resources/discussion and all other relevant instances

Acknowledging bisexual-specific issues, including double discrimination, in articles, publications, and resources on LGBT+ issues

Acknowledging in all relevant discussions/articles/resources/books that bisexual people and bisexuality have always existed and been a part of LGBT+ culture, history, and struggles even before the popularisation of the term

We demand the use of bi-inclusive language, especially from LGBT+ organisations and others claiming to represent the community. Including:

Avoiding erasing bisexuality in your language by using phrases like ‘different-gender relationship/marriage/union’ and ‘same/similar-gender relationship/marriage/union’ in place of ‘straight/heterosexual’ relationship/marriage/union’ or ‘gay/lesbian relationship/marriage/union’.

Avoiding using binary language like ‘gay or/and straight’ when you are referring to ‘heterosexual or/and non-heterosexual’

Avoiding using ‘gay’ as an term to describe the whole LGBT+ community

Never using terms like “gold-star lesbian/gay”, “at least bisexual, if not gay”, “has had gay/lesbian relations in the past but is not married to a [different gender partner]” - as these all infer bisexuality is less queer/valid than homosexuality

We demand acknowledgement that bisexuality has always existed across communities of all genders, classes, races, and backgrounds. Including:

Always using definitions of bisexuality put forward by reputable bisexual organisations/individuals such as;

Attracted to two or more genders

Attracted to similar and different genders

Attraction beyond gender

Acknowledging that bisexuality isn’t now and never has excluded people of non-binary genders

Acknowledging that many trans and non-binary people identify as bisexual

Acknowledging that many bisexual-identified people are also asexual

Acknowledging that bisexual people in different-gender relationships/marriages are still part of the LGBT+ community and should be welcome at all LGBT+ events/spaces

We demand real, actionable solidarity. Including:

Calling out biphobia and bi-erasure when you come across them

Reaching out to, and working with bisexual organisations/individuals to make your space/event/company/etc actually accessible, safe, and welcoming for bisexual people, especially, spaces/events/companies that represent the LGBT+ community

Making sure to include bisexual people/bisexuality in all media about the LGBT+ community

Making sure bisexual people/bisexuality are fairly and positively represented at all Pride events

Acknowledging bisexuality in all relevant discussions, but particularly in regards to bisexual celebrities/activists

Calling out when bisexual people are held a higher standard of queerness, by being asked/demanded to prove our credentials/dating history

Overall, we demand respect for our identity, history, culture and solidarity in empowering and uplifting our community. We demand an end to biphobia, bi-erasure, and monosexism.

Biphobia kills. You can help combat it.

Acknowledgements

The Do Better Bi Us Manifesto was written and created by Lois Shearing, Founder of the Do Better Bi Us campaign, with contributions from:

Pip Williams, bisexual activist

Libby Baxter-Williams, Director of Biscuit

Sally-Anne Williams, Doctoral researcher in sexual violence against bisexual women

Stephanie Farnsworth, editor in chief of Stand Up mag

The Bisexual Survivors Network

Further reading

Articles

Bisexual women are more likely to face abuse – and no one is asking why

Why Bisexuals are Way Less Likely To Come out of The Closet than Gays

Young bisexual men are the least likely to have come out, triple j survey finds

Legally Bi: Bi Erasure in LGBT-Rights Litigation

Legally Bi: A Brief History of Bi Erasure in LGBT Political Discourse

Bisexual people have higher risk of developing mental health issues, says report

Bisexuals more likely to live in poverty or have poor health

STUDY: Bisexuals Have Worse Health Than Gay, Lesbian, or Straight People

Bisexuals Lack Support — and It’s Literally Killing Us

Are Bisexuals Shut Out of the LGBT Club?

It may not 'get better' for bisexual teens

Reports

Report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey

Women most at risk of experiencing partner abuse in England and Wales: years ending March 2015 to 2017

Invisible Majority: The Disparities Facing Bisexual People and How to Remedy Them

The Bissexuality report

Kaleidoscope Trust: "Specific experiences of lesbian and bisexual women rendered invisible"

Bisexuals need not apply: a comparative appraisal of refugee law and policy in Canada, the United States, and Australia

Bisexual asylum seeker facing imminent deportation from UK to Jamaica

INVESTIGATING THE BRITISH ASYLUM SYSTEM FOR LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL ASYLUM - SEEKERS: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FAIRNESS

A New Piece of the Puzzle: Sexual Orientation, Gender, and Physical Health Status

Webpages

Bisexual Health Awareness Month: Mental Health in the Bisexual Community

HEALTH DISPARITIES AMONG BISEXUAL PEOPLE

Supporting and Caring for our Bisexual Youth

What is Biphobia?

Books

Covering

Purple Prose

The Bible

Notes for a bisexual revolution

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coochiequeens · 3 years ago

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International Women’s Day is upon us, and along with it the endless gabfests about women’s equality, mostly led and attended by women in suits.

Increasingly we’re seeing women’s safety feature in the discussion and cursory mentions of issues facing Blak, disabled and queer women.

But in 2022 the conversation about women’s equality and safety is still lacking the voices of people in the worst circumstances and those at highest risk of harm.

In the lead-up to IWD, a slick new campaign with the tagline #SafetyRespectEquity has been launched to near universal praise.

There’s no denying privileged women experience violent relationships. But, just as I feared, there was a glaring gap, a major threat to women’s safety that didn’t even rate a cursory mention in the campaign: poverty.

The welfare system is deeply imbued with misogyny. In my work as an anti-poverty activist I hear far too many examples of how it traps women in unsafe situations, whether in the workplace, the family home or a relationship. It disproportionately harms Blak, trans and disabled people. I agree with other advocates who say it’s harmful by design.

We see the results in the stomach-churning statistics. Chronic underinvestment in public housing and social security payments as low as half the poverty line means in a year 7,700 women return to their abuser due to risk of homelessness and 9,000 survivors who leave for good end up homeless.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Ninety per cent of women with intellectual disability have experienced sexual abuse. I am told stories by women who weren’t able to escape this abuse because the “safety net” failed them. According to Anti-Poverty Week* women aged 21-28 years in financial hardship were more than three times as likely to report severe partner abuse in a year. In 2019 more than 60,000 women aged 15-24 years who experienced violence also experienced moderate to very high levels of financial hardship.

There are myriad reasons women are excluded from accessing support altogether.

As my colleague Jay Coonan wrote recently, the partner income test is rooted in sexism and is a paternalistic hangover from a period when women were viewed only through the prism of their relationship to men.

The rule reduces or cuts people off if Centrelink deems someone to be in a relationship, regardless of whether finances are shared. It’s been retained only to save the government money, at great cost to women who are forced into financial dependence – itself a contributor to the strain that can lead to relationship breakdown.

Women living in Australia on the wrong visa type have no entitlement to an income support payment at all. And once you become a citizen, you are still excluded from payments such as the disability support pension – good luck to anyone who needs it within 10 years of moving here.

When people who are forced to comply with punitive “mutual” obligations face sexual harassment and assault because of these activities, they are trapped. Leaving means losing your poverty payment.

Women incur social security debts as a direct result of the actions of their abuser. They have payments wrongly cut off at an extraordinary rate, punishing both women and their children.

And then there’s the most abusive and insidious policy: cashless welfare programs like the cashless debit card that control women’s income and restrict their ability to survive in poverty.

It’s a racist program with its origins in the Howard government’s Northern Territory intervention and ever since it has targeted and punished First Nations women. Dr Elise Klein found that the CDC has not only failed to reduce violence, as the government says it’s designed to do, but there has been an increase in violence after its introduction.

Of course, it goes without saying setting every income support payment at a poverty level causes direct harm. The most common payment, jobseeker, is just half the Henderson poverty line.

The government’s national action plan to reduce violence against women and their children is completely silent on financial abuse. They refuse to even mention “social security” in the strategy to address family and domestic violence, while the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children says the welfare system is replicating the hallmarks of family and domestic violence.

If this isn’t violence against women, what is?

Advocates for women in poverty have put forward many proposals to address these harrowing statistics. We don’t need a special payment or special rules for people fleeing violent relationships. Targeted programs in effect act as a means test for people who are able to “prove” their circumstances to Centrelink – itself a traumatising process.

Any such program will inevitably exclude many people experiencing or at risk of violence, particularly trans and disabled people trapped in unsafe environments because they don’t have the money to escape.

The answer to ameliorating the disproportionate harm caused to women by the welfare system is a universal response that protects all women and trans folks by equipping us with access to enough resources to keep ourselves safe.

We need more money but that’s not all.

Raising all payments to above the Henderson poverty line while we do the work of developing a more sophisticated measure of poverty is a first step only and will not go far enough. It must be easier and faster to access welfare payments.

Everyone living in Australia must be able to access them, regardless of visa status. People cannot be forced from one abusive situation to another – removing dangerous and punitive measure like ‘mutual’ obligations requirements and cashless welfare must be a priority.

My friend Elly Baxter puts it simply: “The fact that mainstream feminism routinely ignores marginalised women is the reason we have been so stunted in our progress.”

As an anti-poverty activist it’s clear to me that the design of the welfare system – its inadequacy, who it excludes and how it operates – is undeniably the top reason women are unsafe. It hurts us whether we’re desperately trying to avoid it, desperately trying to escape it, or see no way out of it.

There is no pathway to safety, respect and equity for all women without a robust social safety net to protect those who are most disadvantaged.

It’s time corporate feminism grappled with it and realised that the movement for women’s safety must not just include but be led by Blak, disabled, trans and people who rely on the welfare system to live.

Kristin O’Connell is an activist and disability support pensioner working in social policy at the Antipoverty Centre. She held the voluntary position of National Secretary for the Greens in 2018. She is on Twitter at @kristin8x.

* Anti-Poverty Week is not affiliated with the Antipoverty Centre.

#Australia #abusive men prey on vulnerable women #Poverty and the risk of abuse

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lifewithchronicpain-original · 5 years ago

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I have something I want to say but want to forewarn that this is a political post and will be discussing HIV/AIDS. Also I won’t be adding to this, so feel free to comment but if you’re looking for a debate, I have promised my followers to limit purely political talk especially about the upcoming US election. This will probably be the only post I make where I mention who I’m voting for and why I hope others will do so too.

I think there’s no question that Trump’s response to this virus has been nothing less than horrifying and rage inducing. Not only that, we are dealing with a virus that has features we’re not used to dealing with. The amount of asymptomatic patients might be really high for this particular virus and is why the policy on face masks changed direction. We as a species are not used to the concept that you can be healthy and still infect and kill someone else. So it forces a societal responsibility some portion of the population will always have difficulty understanding and instinctually rebel at. Barring the outright fascist I know a lot of people have been confused by Trump and many may think that’s their own fault but I think it’s a lot to expect people who aren’t generally taught in public schools how to think instead of what to think. Of course that’s a whole nother debate so i’ll leave that thought there. But still many people are espousing beliefs of which the ultimate implication is that elderly and disabled people, which I can’t believe I have to remind people of this: Includes Young People and Children, are disposable and be sacrificed at the altar of the economy.

What I’m getting at not the first time a virus changed the rules, like the 1918 flu and the bubonic plague. But I’m thinking more recently, HIV/AIDS. The virus was novel, difficult to detect. In fact when I was young HIV tests took time and you always had to take to two. Drugs were effective in extending life beyond the initial horrifying death rate. It wasn’t until the new century did we start to make HIV the chronic livable condition that it can be for many, though still not all.

When HIV/AIDS first came about it was already an outbreak in Africa, no a gay man didn’t have sex with a monkey. Very specific underserved, and impoverished places in Africa were colonists forced natives into poverty, forced them to rely on chimpanzee meat. This is the accepted origin of AIDS which potentially first entered the human population in the early 19th century, had outbreaks in the 50s,60, and 70s before it finally left Africa in an increasingly globally connecte world in the 80’s. Someone simply migrated from Africa or traveled to Africa and came to LA where the first cases in the US were noted and that unknown person happened to be gay. AIDS has been around for some time and evolved into what it is now. When AIDS hit the Californian gay community, it also hit hatians, hemopholiacs, and hypodermics (drug users) and was called the 4H disease along with being the Gay Cancer. AIDS looked like it discriminated, but it never did. Like most disease it hits vulnerable populations first, gets a foothold and then starts ravaging an entire population.

Reagan didn’t give a shit. Despite numerous cases among heterosexuals (no, one lone bi man didn’t spread it to the straights ruining sex for everyone) that existed, it was still predominantly considered the gay cancer so no one would fault him for doing nothing. At least no one that matters to those people. When the dead started to pile up, when the lgbt community cried out in pain at the funerals that were happening every day, at the gay and bi men and trans women left to die by their families, the community activists lost, and lesbians leaving separatist communities to care for the dying because the straights wouldn’t. We staged die-ins to get attention, Act Up started in response to the government’s lack of doing anything at all about AIDS. Towards the end of Reagan’s presidency he finally did something and is pretty much praised by historians for doing so. For me, Reagan’s legacy is one of taking money from hard working people like my parents trying to eke our a living, and for leaving a trail of dead at-risk groups he didn’t give one fuck about.

Not unlike trump doing something, his useless travel bans, and trying to act like all that absolves his inaction that has directly lead to the deaths of thousands of people. His willful lack of testing because he doesn’t want the numbers to go up. Regardless of the fact that people have the virus whether we test it or not, and when we don’t more die. He goes on TV not because he’s leading a country through crisis, it’s because he wants to spin his narratives and he likes the ratings. He’s trying to turn this pandemic and the deaths of thousands into the Trump Show.

We’ve been here before. Not a thousand years ago, not a hundred years ago, but 35-40 years ago. It’s an example of an outbreak with modern medicine where precious time was lost because politicians and the person at the very top dragged their feet, because who cares about the gays and the drug addicts and the disabled who need transfusions and black people? Now today it’s who really cares about elderly, the disabled, and the disproportionately hit black and poor people?

Certainly not our president.

For those who live in the US and have considered not voting for Biden because it’s not Bernie or someone else, plus you have legitimate issues Biden or want to go 3rd party, consider this: For all Biden’s faults (and there are many) he’s not going to do nothing about this pandemic that has every possibility of hitting us really hard again this fall as it coincides with the seasonal flu. I never wanted to vote for Biden, I voted for Warren, but in a matter of life and death you have to vote your head not your heart, because in this particular case I feel like doing nothing against trump, not even using the only political power many disabled people have, you might as well be endorsing Trump.

Please support Biden in this upcoming election not because he’a traditionally a good fit for moderate politics, but because he has experience in a federal pandemic response and he won’t drag his feet. This will save lives and for me, that’s The Only issue coming this November. I am voting for Biden not because he’s my man, I’m voting for him because I don’t want to die and I believe he will immediately back an evidence based response for the pandemic from the ground running.

Thanks for hearing me out.

#coronavirus #hiv/aids #us presidential campaign #disability #politics

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justonecynicsopinion-blog · 4 years ago

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Let's Help Make 'Black Lives Matter' MATTER: 10 Things America Needs To Do

"Walking between the pools of light cast by the street lights I saw the group of them from a block away, joking and jostling each other. In a dark patch I crossed the street. One of them noticed and they all stopped and stared, their heads rising like wolves testing the breeze for the scent of potential prey. The tallest one said something and two of them broke from the pack and meandered across to my side of the road, one putting a hand to the small of his back, the other digging one deep into a pocket."

Who is black in that anecdote? Who is white, yellow, brown, gay or trans? Does colour change anything in the story for the teller? Is the narrator 'blue,' a cop? Off duty? On duty? Does that change anything, substantially, in the story?

Black Police Are the Original BLM Leaders

They Volunteered For The Job of Protecting Blacks From Violence

The cold reality in America today is that guns are as easy to get as smartphones. That cold reality is what the police face every moment of every day.

Another cold reality is that, from the moment that humans got smart enough to band together instead of erring on the side of caution and scattering in the face of a mortal threat, the most dangerous risk any human faced was a more numerous group of humans. What empowered our species to come to dominate the planet was 'tribalism' (otherwise known as 'racism' and the root of 'nationalism'). It is permanently and indelibly hardwired into each and every human brain.

Familiarization with those 'not of our tribe' reduces the power of our instinctive tribalism over our reactions, but it never goes away. And tribalism is not exclusive to whites -- it is true of every human tribe out there.

What's the Most Crucial First Step BLM Has to Make to Succeed?

Black lives automatically matter less if you don't first acknowledge that blue-black lives matter just a bit more than all lives matter.

I'm not being 'cute': if the black community does not first and foremost stand up for the safety of black cops ("blue-black lives”) who are the ‘front line workers’ in their communities -- the first on scene when there’s trouble -- the claim that black Americans are faced with racism that systematically disadvantages them (places their lives in disproportionate jeopardy to that of others) is at best counter-productive, at worst not in their own best interests. Communities are successful only when we police our own people where we live, protecting each other from injury, trespass and property theft. If black cops tell you that they are more nervous about concealed weapons being drawn on them in their own community than in many others, then we can all begin to understand the knee-jerk, 'self-defence through offence' reactions of any cop in a similar situation where they are scared that a suspect may be going into his vehicle or his pocket, against the cops' specific instructions, to get a firearm.

The police have an EXTREMELY dangerous job in a country with more freely available weapons than there are citizens, and they're on high alert any time there's a confrontation, whether that's entirely justified or not. Add to this the fact that 911 calls come in SEVEN TIMES MORE in predominantly black areas and you have seven times the likelihood of high risk altercations taking place, regardless of what colour the police are.

Perception is not always reality and we don't like it when our most emotionally charged perceptions are proven false. The reality is that statistics prove that black men are NOT shot at a higher rate by white police than white men are, despite the impression that we're left with from media exposure. Racism on the part of white cops towards black civilians, outside of some 'bad actors,' is not the principal cause for needles deaths of black Americans: poverty, public education funding through property taxes and 'The War on Drugs' are.

Living in poor neighbourhoods is the highest risk factor for getting into dangerous altercations for people of any colour. In depressed areas crime may seem to be a good way to solve one's poverty, especially when the quality of public education is low. Young residents have far fewer opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty, regardless of individual ability and their interest in doing so. Living conditions can be so miserable and funding for social services like mental health treatment is so inadequate that taking drugs becomes a viable 'medication' for mental health issues. If the system that sets up the causes for unequal outcomes is not addressed, then the poverty, and subsequent risk of death from criminals and police altercations, will never be reduced.

"Defund the Police!" Really Means "Increase Social Support"

The 'systemic racism' in America lies in the fact that black communities continue to face profound inequality, not in the fact that more crime takes place in their neighbourhoods, per se. To fix the inequality problem we don't need less police, we need more health care, better social welfare support (a universal basic income, NOT more welfare for single mothers) and a vastly improved public school system across all American communities.

Using the overly provocative phrase "DEFUND THE POLICE!" detracts from the real message: "INCREASE SOCIAL SUPPORT“. Decreasing the amount of blue-blacks (and blues in general) in their own communities will only lead to the kind of mayhem and instability that holds the citizens of these areas further back in the competition we call life.

If we begin to place the 'right to zero-harm' for every citizen (including the criminals that exist throughout humanity, whether they are white collar criminals, grey collar criminals, blue collar criminals, or criminals whose full-time job is criminality), above that of the blues (the police), then civilization erodes very quickly into pandemonium. Civilization can only exist based upon mutually agreed-to regulations and laws that are enforced by a publicly funded and trusted police force and a judicial system that is fair across the board.

It is this lack of overall fairness, the current inequality of treatment evidenced by the incarceration rate of poor and black people in the US (especially poor black males from fatherless homes), as well as the lack of gainful employment that drives poor people into miserable lives that lead to drug use and crime, that is currently under debate. However, it is the underlying system, NOT the enforcers of the system, that needs reform. People of every stripe who seek simple answers to complex issues look at the most obvious, superficial symptom and claim that THAT is what needs changing, without understanding where the issues that cause the overall problem really lie.

Black Lives Matter: What's the Real Goal of the Movement?

Momentous 'movements' only change history when their aim is clear and the goal is simple. Either that, or, if the goal is complex and the steps numerous, the movement needs a powerful, central voice to coordinate and direct the movement's direction, step by step to achieve its ultimate goal.

Black Lives Matter simply doesn't matter if it has no clear goal that 'the movement' is aiming to achieve, and actionable steps to get there.

"End systemic racism" SOUNDS like just what America needs to improve the lives of many of its underclass, but a problem cannot be addressed if the meaning of its goal is unclear, or is far too complex to ever be achieved by simply shouting the goal over and over again. In the same vein, demanding worthwhile, straightforward social changes that unfortunately fail to address the roots of the underlying problems are just 'half measures.’ A current example is the recent demand to shift funding away from policing toward more social support like addressing inadequate mental health programs. While this is a necessary and wholly appropriate demand, especially given the growing militarization of the police, the enforcers (police) are largely a symptom, it is the laws -- from 'The War on Drugs’ to financing public education through local property taxes -- that are the cause of the problem.

"Systemic racism" means various things to the many and diverse participants in this growing movement. Definitions range from 'fixing the clearly unjust justice system,' to 'giving the underclass a leg up through improved education,' to 'equal outcomes for all, regardless of effort, ability, experience, or merit'. Other notions include 'ending police use of lethal violence against people of colour,’ to 'hand out large sums of cash to the descendants of former slaves,’ and even 'erase racism (tribalism) from humankind's hardwiring' (which would involve re-writing our genetic code).

"Systemic Racism" is Not Racism, It’s Policies, Programs & Laws

Policies, programs and laws expressly designed to keep the wealth-hoarders in charge, making ever more money, while increasing the inequality that prevents the poor from escaping The Poverty Trap. That trap is equally tough to escape no matter what colour you are and it is gettingmore and more difficult to break free from.

“Systemic Racism,” More Accurately, is “Systemic Inequality”

Systemic Inequality can only be addressed by changing programs, policies and laws in a meaningful, effective manner.

What is the Practical, Core Goal of the BLM Movement?

Once slavery was abolished in America, but not until electricity was available in most homes (outside of those households wealthy enough to employ servants), women were the de facto 'household work force,' they were the largely invisible 'engine under the hood’ of the economy. The Suffragette Movement that brought about the right to vote for white women (voting rights for black citizens in America didn't come to pass until much later) could not have come about until women began to be freed from household chores by electrical appliances. The success of the effort to win voting rights for women only came about once the cause of the problem of women being stuck at home 24/7 (i.e. washing clothes in a tub, hauling water, churning butter, hand-sewing clothing, etc.), was addressed. This continues to be the single biggest barrier to female emancipation in developing world countries (if women are out of sight -- even more so if they are all encased in black bags -- they are out of mind).

To solve any problem we cannot focus on the symptoms. The causes of the problem must first be addressed.

The underlying root cause for women not having the right to vote was not simply brutish male egos, it was a fundamental lack of power. Without the freedom to interact in the wider world outside of the home in sufficient numbers to be seen as a force to be reckoned with, without earning salaries to contribute to the household income, without sufficient education to qualify them to rise up into positions of power, women were powerless and could be ignored. Black and brown voices today face a similar challenge. Until the system that underlies their lack of power is changed and they are empowered to ENTER the world outside of their neighbourhoods by being released from ‘The Poverty Trap,’ until they can be given a leg-up to get the education required to fill white collar positions, they will be ignored by the same lawmakers that ignore the poor white voices demanding, for example, universal healthcare.

The ultimate goal of the BLM Movement MUST be to change the policies, programs and laws that undergird the system at its roots, NOT focussing on eliminating racism, whether in law enforcement or in the larger world. Black and brown lives only begin to matter to the wealth- hoarders at the top when their power is threatened, as happened with the Suffragette Movement. Those women were not demanding equal outcomes, they were demanding equal opportunity. That's a key benchmark for BLM to keep in mind if the movement is going to have any real long-term impact:

The fight is only winnable if it is for equal opportunity, NOT equal outcome.

What Goals Proved Achievable for Past Movements?

The Women's Suffrage Movement had a single goal: allow women to vote. Achieving that simple first goal opened up the Women's Rights Movement that followed, much to the betterment of the lives of 51% of the human population in developed countries over the ensuing decades.

The Abolitionist Anti-Slavery Movement had a clear and actionable simple goal: free the slaves.

A civil war had to be fought over it, but America, ‘land of the free,’ became better for achieving that simple goal.

The Black Lives Matter Movement’s single goal should be: end systemic inequality. Yes, the steps to get there are complex and numerous, but with a shared vision, it can be done.

Ending Systemic Inequality Requires a Fire, Not Just A Spark

Keeping a fire going requires the continual addition of fuel. The BLM protests that were sparked by the murder of George Floyd and many others have ignited a much needed conflagration, but like the Occupy Movement and Tea Party Movement that proceeded it, that fire is likely to die out without a unified, clear goal and shared understanding of all the policies, programs and laws that will need changing to result in the goal of ending Systemic Inequality. The fuel that will keep the fire burning will NOT be protests, it will be VOTING and ongoing organization and activism to demand changes to specific policies, programs and laws.

Why is the BLM ‘Fire’ Likely to Die Out?

A Lack of Consensus

The Occupy Movement was able to be crushed by the government for one reason: the occupiers lacked any clearly stated goal. Yes, they all wanted the corporations and the Wall Street gamblers who’d created the 2008 crisis to be held accountable, but they had no single voice to communicate that goal, no coherent steps they wanted to see followed, and no political (voting) power to push their progressive agenda forward.

The Tea Party lacked a clear, singular goal (the usual Conservative laundry list: less taxes, smaller government, immigration control, no black President, etc.), but had major political sway in red states. Yet, despite early success in garnering attention from Republican politicians, by 2016 Politico had declared the movement dead (and indeed the demographic who had initiated it, partly in response to being incensed by the young, diverse, urban, Progressive Occupiers, were older, white, rural and Conservative and have been literally dying off — Trump is their ‘last hurrah’).

To Succeed, Any Progressive Movement Needs:

1. Consensus on a simple, singular goal (a voice),

2. Clear steps to achieve that goal (a strategic plan),

3. The political power to make the steps happen (voter influence).

Without a clear understanding, among the majority, of exactly what the issues are that are causing inequality in American and around the world, we cannot solve complex problems like systemic inequality. A HUGE barrier to doing so is that the vast majority of our human population are not endowed with the ability to assimilate all of the information necessary to address the challenges, much less the ability to understand the roots and inter-connectivity of complex issues and then generate creative, effective solutions.

The majority can raise their voices in protest, but cannot offer up meaningful and effective solutions to the underlying causes of inequality without the leadership of some much more clever-than-average leaders. The solution the mass of protestors are currently offering up, as best I can parse it, is "White people are racist! They have more money than blacks and browns do and they should give a bunch of it to us!" Certainly the rich are currently enjoying ever-less taxation and staggering wealth-hoarding, and that hoarded cash will eventually go a long way to funding the steps necessary to fix the underlying problems (simply starting with making all public schools across America of equally high quality), but cash hand outs that get frittered away will not solve anything long-term. The only way to redistribute wealth that has ever proven effective is the system that the Nordic countries have had in place for many decades: Democratic Social Capitalism.

Taking action against injustice, against the unfairness of inequality, is not only essential to improving the human condition, it is the 'right thing' to do for the majority of us who feel morality in a tangible way, who 'sense' the weight of it in our lives. I was reminded of this in re-listening to Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins discussing the scientific basis of human morality on YouTube. Morality is not simply a concept to be embraced or debated, it is a product of our unique human consciousness and a foundational building block for human civilization. Without our hardwired morality (religion is a just a software manipulation of that hardwiring) there would be no cooperation, no civility, no society for us to live productively and peacefully within.

Of Course Conservatives Resist Change, But Progressives Are Our Future

We hate change, especially in the short-term. Some of us much more than others (they’re called Conservatives). Like our innate tribalism, Conservatism is is an integral part of the human condition. It cautions us to NOT 'fix what isn't broken' and thus helps us to survive to live another day. (I'm always speaking from the point of view of most of our species' existence: the 7,000,000 years we survived since our split from our common ancestor with the chimps, not the 0.1% that we have lived in cities -- what I call our 7,000 year-old 'New Normal.' The circumstances we live in today are most certainly NOT what our species evolved to thrive in most naturally.)

An illustration of the early roots of human Conservatism: if it had always proven wise to have one tribe member stay up all night to maintain a fire burning at the cave entrance to dissuade sabre-toothed tigers and cave bears from coming in to snack on us, experimenting instead with hanging a bunch of dry sticks on a length of cat gut to rattle together to wake us up if an intruder entered the cave probably wasn't a wise innovation. Those individuals who were 'hardwired for Conservatism' back in the day either won out and the fire-tending tradition was maintained instead of the 'trip-wire' innovation, or there were no survivors of that tribe.

In the LONG-TERM, the Progressive innovation of the 'trip wire' helped ensure the survival of the tribe willing to allow the inventor to install it at the back of the cave, where a larger group from a competing tribe could sneak in through the cave system and kill the males and make off with the women and children. While Conservatives fight change (and dream of a return to the bygone fantasy of a better life in the past) in the short-term, they benefit in the long-term from progress. Grandma did NOT want to use her new iPad, at least not until she realized she could watch her grand-kids growing up from afar.

One thing is true of our 'New Normal' and that is that civilization has only flourished over time due to progress. Time and again civilizations of humankind grew and prospered only on the back of Progressivism: innovation that improved the lot of the majority through mutual cooperation. It is only through Progressivism that our cities can grow ever larger, that our ability to feed a human population that is on course to destroy the planet by its ever-increasing volume, is possible. Only by making constant progress can we figure out how to live in peace, rather than tearing each others' throats out due to our hardwiring for irrational tribalism.

In other words, it is only through Progressivism, NOT Conservatism, that humanity can survive in our 'New Normal.'

Let’s Help Make Black Lives Matter MATTER!

10 Things America Needs to Do

We all, deep down, know what the situation is. Despite the abolition of slavery, the door was left open for those who opposed the movement to come up with innumerable subtle and manipulative ways to continue to benefit from the nearly free labour of black Americans, especially the men, by incarcerating them for a myriad of trivial, double-standard reasons and making the length of those imprisonments arbitrarily long. This was taken up another notch by making the prison system for-profit, incentivizing those at the top to increase the volume of imprisonment by increasing the number of crimes related to being poor in the first place (the War on Drugs').

Another intangible barrier to upward mobility was cemented into place by funding public schools from property taxes, thus ensuring that anyone living in poor areas would grow up within a very effective 'Poverty Trap' that would keep poor kids from getting a sufficiently high quality of education that they would graduate 'at parity' with kids from wealthier areas. The ceiling to attaining wealth was raised further by well-meaning, but disastrous 'social welfare for single mothers' programs which have seen young black males who don't have fathers at home being manipulated by criminals in their neighbourhoods to join in and ultimately become incarcerated in their tens of thousands across America. Felony conviction laws then make it nearly impossible for those who emerge from prison to land meaningful work, pushing them back into crime and prison (and working inside, essentially, as slaves for profit-making corporations owned by the rich).

So are there multi-layered issues for us to work through to solve the problem of inequality in America and around the world? Certainly, but it is time to stop blaming 'those not of our tribe' for our tribes' problems (whether your tribe is political, cultural, or colour-based) and get busy doing the effective things that will lead to real change:

1. Stop protesting in the streets! (It really doesn't make much PRACTICAL change happen other than satisfying our inherent love of chanting and marching together in large crowd while patting ourselves on the back and reveling in self-righteous moral outrage.) Put that same energy and investment of time into non-stop emailing, phoning and letter- writing to your Congressional and Senate representatives. They fear losing their seats and they'll listen to well-reasoned arguments and straightforward solutions that will have real impact if the messages come in large quantities.

2. Organize well-reasoned, fact-based (leave the tribal emotions outside) meetings in your living rooms and town halls to come up with REAL, actionable, effective solutions to chip away at the underlying causes, like providing financial incentives like a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to fathers/stepfathers who stick around to parent kids in poor neighbourhoods.

3. DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Educate yourself about the real causes of Systemic Racism and what can be done to change things, or at least allow those leaders among you who can explain the REAL causes (not simply manipulate your emotions to gain power for themselves) to lead (think: The Squad, Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie).

4. Get back to acknowledging and respecting high 'Fluid IQ,' merit-based advancement (equal opportunity, NOT equal outcome), higher education and respect for science and data, as demonstrated by John McCain, deGrasse Tyson, Sowell, AOC, the Obamas, Pelosi and many more on both sides of the debate, but don't accept any 'notions' or 'opinions' about policies that have no historical proof of having worked effectively (Democratic Social Capitalism has been WINNING in the Nordic countries for decades).

5. Fund the Police! Ensure that more funding is going to individual police salaries, rather than hiring more police officers so that really smart people begin taking on the jobs, rather than the 'bad apples' who can't find higher paying jobs and end up hired by desperate municipalities.

6. Increase social support! If there's funding to be found by cutting money ear-marked for the police to buy more military equipment, great, but America has a bottomless pit of funding for anything its citizens really need, its called The Federal Reserve. They just push buttons to create zero interest money to bail out billionaires, corporations and the profit-making of the Military-Industrial Complex. They can do the same for infrastructure and out-of-work Americans if the Houses approve it. Just say no to "PAYGO" — after all, it never applies to bail-outs!

7. Push for an end to property tax funding of public education. All schooling in America needs to be federally funded at the same level everywhere and all teachers need to get paid the same, substantial wage to encourage the really smart people to take on the jobs. In areas where it's clear that kids are chronically under-performing, change the system: bring in tutorial programs that target the most challenged kids, do more field trips and outdoor teaching the way they do in Finland, end the ancient standardized testing and customize programs for each type of kid.

8. End "The War on Drugs"! Addiction is a deep and insidious problem for human brains. It is a disease, not a 'lifestyle choice,' whether the addiction is to food, gambling, sun-tanning, or drugs. Marijuana is legal in Europe and Canada because it is just like alcohol -- a tax-collecting BONANZA! (And then pardon every single criminal conviction based upon the old laws.)

9. Get out and vote! and work tirelessly to convince your family, friends, neighbours and every young person you come into contact with to vote too! Trump won simply because less people voted, and suppressing the vote is the GOP's go-to strategy moving forward.

10. Lastly, end "Citizens United." That single corruption by the Supreme Court effectively ended the "American Democratic Experiment" by using common human greed to corrupt every single politician on both sides of America's single-party/two-colours, Neo-liberal system. No founder of America ever would have bastardized the Constitution by claiming that a profit-making corporation should be treated as a human citizen of the United States of America. Most politicians are now trapped by their common greed within the corporate lobbying cash hand-out system to both fund their campaigns and line their pockets.

***

I have been blogging and vlogging about insights into why we humans do the so-often counter- productive things we do, and how we can turn things around to live our lives to the fullest (the real meaning of life!) for over a decade. Check out more thoughts and insights at:

• JustOneCynicsOpinion.Blogspot.com

• YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfi00q5yaQ0nK8wXkEbvk3Q/

• Support my efforts: https://www.patreon.com/JustOneCynicsOpinion?fan_landing=true

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joygad99-blog · 5 years ago

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Racial Disparities and Maternal Health

Author: Joy Gad

About me: As a current nursing student at the University of San Francisco and a Middle Eastern/North African woman, I am extremely passionate about advocating for those experiencing racial disparity occurring in healthcare. I would like to deliver care in the maternal health setting as a registered nurse in the future: my research focuses on the racial disparities that Black women face in regards to their sexual and reproductive health.

Racial Privileges Related to Socioeconomic Status

Study performed by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System:

Conducted phone interviews with their patient population

Population consisted of White, Black and Native Americans who had pursued healthcare over the prior year

Study outcomes:

Racial privileges were heavily prominent among White respondents in comparison to the Black and Native American respondents

White respondents experienced less discrimination due to having a higher level of education and higher income in comparison to their Black counterparts who had similar levels of education and income, but received a higher level of discrimination

Health insurance among the White population led to higher perceptions of privilege and lower perceptions of racial discrimination

Racial Bias In Pain Assessment

Research study:

Study conducted to gain an understanding as to whether racism in healthcare regarding Black people having higher pain tolerance is due to underlying false beliefs related to biological differences between Blacks and Whites

This notion that Black people have lower pain because their “skin is thicker” is consistently leading to them being under treated when experiencing pain in comparison to their White counterparts

Study Outcomes:

Out of a group of White medical students and residents, it was found that half of them rated a White person’s pain level to be higher than their Black counterparts’ and made treatment interventions that were inaccurate

Safe to assume that people with even a little medical background may hold the same beliefs regarding racial bias in relation to pain level among black and white people and carry out treatment plans according to those beliefs

White patients were being prescribed more pain meds than Black patients in the healthcare setting because they were essentially taken much more seriously for their pain level

Proposed solutions:

Solutions must begin in the education system

False beliefs that lead to racial bias must be addressed to students in all types of medical programs since it affects how they’ll deliver patient care and carry out treatment plans

Negative Effects of Racial Disparity on Maternal Health

Anti-black racism, trans-generational trauma, and intersectional violence have a direct negative effect on maternal health today because these components lead to harm, death, illness and distress for Black pregnant women

Many are living with fear and anxiety due to personal experiences of violence and/or neglect or those of others regarding injustices related to reproductive health

Black pregnant women who had a lower socioeconomic status in comparison to the White pregnant women experienced much more incidences of institutionalized racism

negative outcomes of pregnancy among black women are closely tied to behaviors regarding health, institutionalized racism, lower access to healthcare, social and personal stressors

Risk factors that led to low birth weight in babies: actual and/or perceived racial discrimination/ institutionalized racism, the effects that racism has on the individual’s social environment and income level can have an effect on maternal health thus leading to poor pregnancy outcome

Proposed solutions:

We must “decolonize our medical systems” so that Black women can receive the care that they deserve throughout their pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum (Timothy, 2019)

Putting a stop to the various personal, social, economic stressors through the modification of the social and economic environment may have to occur over the course of multiple generations for improvement

Systemic/ legislative level interventions are needed in order to decrease the adverse pregnancy outcomes that Black women face

Maternal Health: Intolerable health disparities in maternal health among Black women

Data collected by: The American College of Nurse Midwives, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and The American Academy of Nursing researched:

Correlation between health disparities found among black families in perinatal and neonatal care and their effects on pregnancy outcomes due to pregestational diabetes, chronic hypertension, gestational diabetes and premature birth throughout pregnancy and postpartum

How the effects of disparities and inequities in healthcare among black families who are expecting play a role in negative childhood results

Research findings:

There’s an increasing correlation between racism and mistreatment experienced by Black women and its effects on health outcomes

There’s a link between discrimination, economic susceptibility and distress and mortality related to pregnancy now classified as “racism-related risk factors (Scott, Et al., 2019).”

Black pregnant women who had a lower socioeconomic status in comparison to White pregnant women experienced much more incidences of institutionalized racism

What issues are addressed?

“Mother- Blame narratives”: holding a pregnant mother accountable for the poor health of her children and how this notion has led to the unsuccessful treatment of pregnancy-related conditions and chronic illnesses

Possible solutions:

Providers and public health professionals who deliver care in the neonatal and perinatal setting need to be aware of the inequities taking place

Nurses who deliver perinatal and neonatal care need to advocate for Black families to receive the care they deserve

Nurses play a vital role in addressing the disproportionate numbers of adverse outcomes during pregnancy experienced by Black childbearing women in comparison to their white childbearing counterparts

Healthcare setting needs to adopt a new care model which would be centered around fitting moral principles for nurses when caring for Black childbearing families

One step towards improvement is assessing our perceived notions on the ideal image of a “good” mother (white, middle-class, financially stable, encouraged throughout her pregnancy, encouraged to have children and is typically classified as a heterosexual) “bad” mother (does not receive support throughout her pregnancy, identified as Black/African, may not be encouraged to have children, classified as poor and is racialized)

Historical Events

Research:

How past incidents of discrimination towards African American women from the times of slavery as well as after the Civil Rights time period still influence the racism they experience today

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained that, “African American women experience a high burden of maternal mortality, infant mortality, and sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV (Prather, Et al., 2018)

Racism plays a major role as a determinant of overall health because it influences socioeconomic status which leads to accessible healthcare and personal healthcare choices

Current injustices they face today can be traced back to periods in history that incorporated indigenous genocide, African Enslavement, and scientific racism which included rape and medical experimentation and sterilization which took place without consent

Various acts of sexual violence, nonconsenual medical experimentation and lack of adequate access to healthcare could have potentially led to the transfer of sexual and reproductive diseases over many generations

“Transgenerational poverty” (Prather, Et al., 2018) was prevalent among African Americans during slavery and is still disproportionate among them today

Effects of poverty:

More likely to reside in an area where certain diseases are more prominent such as STI’s, increasing their risk for obtaining them

Low income may lead to making decisions regarding sexual health that are dangerous, “...in efforts to acquire basic needs, such as food and shelter” (Prather, Et al., 2018)

Proposed Solutions:

It is important for us to consider historical influences on today’s healthcare system

Resources

Clay, S. L., Griffin, M., & Averhart, W. (2018, February 28). Black/White Disparities in Pregnant Women in the United States: An Examination of Risk Factors Associated With Black/White Racial Identity. Retrieved March 30, 2020, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29488271/?from_term=black+women+racism+in+healthcare&from_filter=ds1.y_5&from_pos=4

Timothy, R. K. (2019, May 12). 9 ways racism impacts maternal health. Retrieved March 26, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/9-ways-racism-impacts-maternal-health

Prather, C., Fuller, T. R., Jeffries, W. L., Marshall, K. J., Howell, A. V., Belyue-Umole, A., & King, W. (2018, September 24). Racism, African American Women, and Their Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Review of Historical and Contemporary Evidence and Implications for Health Equity. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6167003/

Scott, K. A., Britton, L., & McLemore, M. R. (2019). The Ethics of Perinatal Care for Black Women: Dismantling the Structural Racism in "Mother Blame" Narratives. Retrieved March 26, 2020, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31021935/?from_term=african+american+women+racism+in+healthcare&from_filter=ds1.y_5&from_pos=3

Hoffman, K. M., Trawalter, S., Axt, J. R., & Oliver, M. N. (2016, April 19). Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.pnas.org/content/113/16/4296

Stepanikova, I., & Oates, G. R. (n.d.). Perceived Discrimination and Privilege in Health Care: The Role of Socioeconomic Status and Race. Retrieved March 20, 2020, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27989297/?from_term=african+american+racism+in+healthcare&from_filter=simsearch3.fft&from_page=2&from_pos=2

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marinashutup · 7 years ago

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Honestly being bisexual and in a heterosexual relationship, stop clickbaiting that you're "gay" and stop acting like you're so oppressed. It's extremely frustrating for me as a trans lesbian, someone who actually ís oppressed. At the end of the day, you close your laptop and walk around LA with your boyfriend with all your privilege. We get beat up and killed over here. Ugh.

*sighs for ten thousand years* But I’ll bite.

Let’s unpack the idea that bisexual people aren’t as “oppressed” as their gay and lesbian counterparts.

Here is the material reality of bi oppression:

Poverty: Bisexuals face higher rates of poverty than gay, lesbian, and straight folks – 25% of bi men and 30% of bi women. (Note: Unfortunately, most studies don’t include non-binary bisexual folks in their data.)

Violence: Bisexuals as a whole experience violence at a higher rate than gay, lesbian, and straight people. But bi women specifically are victimized by rape and sexual assault at significantly higher rates than lesbian and straight women (46% versus 13% and 17% respectively.)

Police brutality: When reporting these crimes, however, bisexuals are 3x more likely to experience police violence than people who are not bisexual.

Mental Health: Bisexual women have disproportionately high rates of PTSD (26.6%) and bisexuals as a whole are twice as likely as their gay and lesbian peers and 4x more likely than straight people to attempt suicide.

Workplace discrimination: 60% of bisexuals report hearing anti-bisexual jokes at work. Nearly half of bi people (49%) are not out to their coworkers versus 24% of gay and lesbian folks. 20% of bisexuals report hiring discrimination because of their sexuality.

Visibility: Bisexuals makes up the largest population of the LGBTQ+ community (52%) but are frequently made invisible and erased within the community. Bi people are often excluded from both LGBTQ communities and heterosexual dominated society as a whole. We are also less likely to be represented in media (positively or at all) than gays and lesbians.

Note: This doesn’t even account for the multiple marginalization of bisexuals who are PoC, trans, physically disabled, etc. These rates would likely be much higher for them. (Source)

As a cis person, I agree I absolutely am privileged compared to trans folks. I’ve never denied that, and will fight as an ally for trans rights and safety whenever I can. But please for the love of god don’t pit bisexuals against gay and lesbian folks. This is incredibly shitty, ignorant, and perpetuates a divide in the community that already actively hurts us.Happy bi week?

#biphobia #lgbtq #rape cw #violence #poverty #bisexuality #mental health #police brutality #bi erasure #Anonymous #bi week

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nancydhooper · 4 years ago

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To Protect Black Trans Lives, Decriminalize Sex Work

Like pretty much everything in 2020, Trans Day of Remembrance is going to be different this year. It’s going virtual. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that transgender people are still being murdered for being who we are. The list of names keeps growing. This year is the deadliest ever, and it isn’t even over yet. Thirty-four trans people have been killed since January. The real number is probably even higher. Trans people are often misgendered by law enforcement or don’t report attacks, so we don’t even know about most of the violence that happens to our sisters. Most of the deaths this year were of Black trans women. Many were sex workers. I am not surprised. As a trans woman of color and a former sex worker myself, I know what it’s like to be targeted for who you are, and to not have anyone to call for help because your job is illegal.

I’m lucky that I was never assaulted in my 12 years of doing sex work. I’m in the minority. But I have been robbed while working. My experience showed me the difficult situation that sex workers face when it comes to reporting: I wanted to seek justice, but I was too afraid of being arrested to go to the police station. Laws that criminalize sex work push the industry underground, which makes it more dangerous. Sex workers face high rates of violence because clients assume they can assault or rob sex workers and get away with it. They take advantage of the fact that so many of us are afraid of reporting for fear of what will happen to us. If we call the police, we could be arrested for selling sex. We could also be abused by law enforcement. Being a sex worker is dangerous whether you’re trans, cis, LGBTQ, or straight. But it’s especially dangerous if you are a trans woman of color.

Kaniya Walker

Credit: Wilfredo Martinez

Both police and civilians profile trans women of color as sex workers even when we are not engaging in sex work. We’re seen as easy targets, especially if we are from a low-income community. In Washington, D.C., where I live, 4 out of every 5 trans women report being verbally, physically, or sexually assaulted. This violence exists across the country. Nine in 10 trans sex workers or those suspected of being a sex worker reported being harassed, attacked, or assaulted by the police. Trans women who are not sex workers also face violence. I remember a case in New Orleans when a man drove around shooting trans women on the street. They were simply walking — existing — while trans. Anti-sex work laws like SESTA/FOSTA make sex workers, especially trans women of color, even more vulnerable to violence. The law banned online platforms and screening tools that sex workers use to screen clients and share information to stay safe, making it harder for sex workers to protect themselves. Banning online sex work platforms pushes sex workers out onto the street, which is more dangerous. Client interactions are quick because we don’t want to be caught. I know some girls who feel the need to get a gun license to protect themselves. Others will carry knives or mace. You never know when you will need it. It’s two strangers meeting each other — there’s always a chance that something bad might happen.

You might be wondering why anybody would want to be a sex worker. A lot of us choose to get into sex work because the money is good and it is an environment where we can surround ourselves with other trans people. But some of us just don’t have any other options because of discrimination in the legal job market. Trans people are more likely to be unemployed compared to cisgender people. Thirty-four percent of Black trans people live in poverty. Trans people without a college degree and trans people who have experienced homelessness are even more likely to engage in sex work. These are some of the reasons why sex workers are disproportionately Black or Latinx trans women. It’s what we call survival sex. Because trans women are more likely to engage in sex work, we’re also more likely to be incarcerated than the general population. I’ve been to jail because I was arrested for being a sex worker. I know it’s not something I or any other sex worker should have to experience, especially if they are trans. Jails and prisons often misgender us and put us in men’s facilities, where we are at higher risk of being assaulted. I’ve heard of trans women being taunted by staff and cellmates, such as asking whether their hair is detachable and making them take it off just to embarrass them. The punishment doesn’t end there. Once you get out of jail or prison, a past conviction can prevent you from getting a job, housing, health care, or other services.

I’m not a sex worker anymore. I’ve moved on to a different career working with Heart to Hand and other trans and sex work advocacy organizations. Now, I use my voice to advocate for the sex workers and trans women of color who feel they don’t have a voice living in a criminalized world. Decriminalizing sex work would help sex workers to go out and make money safely, take care of themselves, and have the option to change careers — if they choose to do that one day. When we think about a future where we are not grieving so many of our siblings on Trans Day of Remembrance, ending the criminalization of sex work will be a critical part. We cannot survive and thrive if our lives are policed and criminalized.

For more information about the impact of sex work criminalization and evidence-based approaches to decriminalize, visit aclu.org/sexwork and download the ACLU research brief.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247012 https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbt-rights/to-protect-black-trans-lives-decriminalize-sex-work via http://www.rssmix.com/

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magdalenagay · 4 years ago

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“The big spectacle of Pride—the parade, the parties, and the other affiliated events—is always inspiring, because the right to public pleasure is so hard-fought for queer people. But in recent years, maybe since the nationwide legalization of gay marriage, in 2015, triumphalism has outshone much sense of political urgency. Alternative events, eschewing the support of corporations and law enforcement, have sprung up, emphasizing the movement’s unfinished work—work that largely involves protecting queer people who aren’t white and wealthy. In some cases activists have openly clashed with mainstream Pride, such as when protesters blocked the path of Washington, D.C.’s 2017 parade and forced it to be rerouted. In other cases, they’ve simply thrown their own anti-assimilationist march.

This year, the establishment festivities went digital because of the coronavirus pandemic. So the Queer Liberation March was the only major real-life outpouring for Stonewall’s anniversary in New York City, and it built explicitly off the Black Lives Matter protests of the past month. The march, in fact, began a block away from the park across from City Hall, where those activists have set up a camp. On Sunday, that camp—decked in colorful umbrellas, signs, and graffiti—felt like a replacement for typical Pride street fairs. Makeshift booths offered hot food, radical literature, and sunblock, all for free. On the fences were posted information about the accessibility of nearby bathrooms, phone numbers to lobby lawmakers regarding the death of Breonna Taylor, and a picture of RuPaul next to the words Police Brutality, Sashay Away.

At the march itself, many chants and slogans were familiar from other demonstrations after George Floyd’s killing. But visually it read as a gay fashion party at which each person’s duty was to stand out. Protesters flaunted bright-pink handbags, billowing floral blouses, black leather-ish hoods, kilts, and stilts. There were bare bodies, too—hard and soft, cis and trans. Flesh has always been a key component of the Pride experience; in 1970, at the first Pride in Los Angeles, the Reverend Troy Perry described “a mass of muscle calculated to turn everyone on.” The spectrum of bodies on display Sunday offered a reminder of the purpose of turning people on: to grab attention for one’s message, to preach sex positivity and body acceptance, and, yes, to show pride.

What did the marchers want? “Defund the cops”rhetoric abounded, as did verbal and visual tributes to black trans people failed by the American justice system. A large effigy memorialized Marsha P. Johnson, the influential veteran of the Stonewall uprising whose 1992 death, activists alleged, was insufficiently investigated by the NYPD. Signs mourned Layleen Polanco, the New York ballroom-scene fixture whose 2019 death at Rikers Island led to the disciplining of 17 correctional officers for misconduct. The focus on black trans people, especially transgender black women, points to a coherent and morally urgent way forward for the queer movement as a whole. Trans people of color experience disproportionate rates of violence, incarceration, and poverty. Defending their lives involves attacking the various structural bigotries—political, cultural, economic—that also bear down on the rest of the LGBTQ population: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia.

The question of how to support black trans people also demonstrates the risks of getting too cozy with corporate America. Pride sponsors such as Verizon, FedEx, and AT&T fly rainbow flags while also donating to conservative politicians who demonize anti-racist activists and work to roll back trans protections. It’s true that Pride’s business-world backers do contribute materially to the queer movement, including by helping throw spectacular parades and parties around the world every year. But on Sunday nothing felt lost in the lack of ticky-tacky souvenirs with bank logos on them, or block parties where participants pay a cover charge while also being subjected to wall-to-wall vodka ads. Instead, the joy of gathering en masse was bolstered by the energy of having clear purpose. Pride isn’t cancelled, read one sign. It’s refocused.

Such refocusing, of course, is not without peril. For some participants, the Queer Liberation March ended with being pepper-sprayed or arrested by NYPD officers, who can be seen on video running into crowds that had been milling about. Crackdowns like these, so characteristic of the past month of protests, evoke what happened in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn: a riot against police harassment. The defiance, danger, and burning need behind that historical event has been only a hazy memory at recent Prides, but maybe now that will change. Standing along the protest route, on the edge of the Occupy City Hall camp, I glanced down at one point and saw the anarchy symbol stenciled on the pavement. Next to it someone had graffitied this: I think there is hope for us in that an ‘us’ even exists.”

- Pride Can’t Go Back to What It Was Before - Spencer Kornhaber (The Atlantic)

#lgbt #racism #blm

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the-feminist-philosopher · 2 years ago

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This person- who refers to "lesbian" in the third person- is spreading a scare tactic because? They really care about lesbians? No. Is it a politically convenient way to scare lesbians into supporting heterosexual ideas about sex binaries? Yes.

This whole rant is a really great way to make people think, "actually, it sounds like the thought of someone wearing clothing prescribed to the opposite sex makes you very uncomfortable."

My main question, though?

What rights do women have? What special sex-based rights and privileges do women have? Because you cannot argue that women are oppressed and lack human rights in one breath and then in the next claim that, actually, they do and trans people are attacking them and taking them away.

Which rights are they? (And You better not say something about being incarcerated when you answer that question. Like, "The right to be incarcerated with only females." Incarceration is a deprivation of liberty, not an extension of it.)

Because women do not have sex-based rights. They have sexism-based compensation draped in the cape of paternalism and wearing the crown of chivalry.

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If you want to know more about the disproportionate rate of violence trans people experience, you'll find resources about the actual violence and crime statistics affecting trans people below the cut:

Now, all of this remains true while in remains true that trans people- especially trans women- do not pose a threat to "natal" women.

Many of these studies have also found that transition positively impacts mental health, but that a significant determinant of adverse mental health outcomes is K-12 harassment of trans kids.

By supporting these myths and repeating them despite evidence to the contrary, the anti-trans activist is contributing to a system which victimizes trans people on the basis of their trans status. Saying trans people are predators, for example, contributes to their stigmatization and contributes to a system that justifies violence against trans people on the basis of them being "predators."

Trans women do not pose a physical danger to the lives and bodies of cis women. The only thing they pose a "threat" to is cisnormativity and having to confront that in women's-spaces is going to make cis women uncomfortable. It'd be more socially comfortable for cis people if trans people simply "didn't exist" or were made invisible. Janice Raymond herself wanted to legislate trans people out of existence, and anti-trans ideologies take a lot of inspiration from her works.

#txt #feminism

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clairebacon37-blog · 7 years ago

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Gender & Sexuality Portfolio Post Two: Connection to Course Concepts

Introduction

In class we have had the opportunity to explore concepts such as the social construction of gender, agency, privilege, oppression, and intersectionality. These are important concepts to think about in an academic setting, but they are also applicable to our everyday lives since they are constantly at play in our social worlds. These topics were useful to analyze my special topic of women's incarceration with as well, and allowed me to look at different areas such as partner violence and state violence, strategies women create for their release, sexual assault, exploitative work programs, and experiences of trans women. Looking at my topic through the lens of these concepts really made me think about who society places value on, as well as whose voices does mainstream feminism prioritize.

1). Social Construction of Gender

Gender is socially constructed. The social construction of gender refers to ways in which society assigns meaning to gender, and the ways in which a binary system of man or woman, masculine or feminine, has been created. In Gender Stories, Sonja Foss, Mary Domenico, and Karen Foss describe how our interpretations of gender are influenced by cultural norms that change throughout time and place. Gender Stories also describes this socially constructed binary system as acting as a matrix, functioning to make it seem as though these gender distinctions are natural, when in reality they only exist because society has created them. The social construction of gender has perpetuated gendered stereotypes, strict binary ideals, and certain standards to which people are expected to adhere to.

The social construction of gender is very relevant to think about when examining issues of incarceration, and on a more specific level, women's incarceration. Prisons and jails are gender segregated spaces and they separate inmates up according to their current genitalia, creating a space that puts a focus on biological sex as a means for categorizing gender and ignoring gender's socially constructed nature. There are also many other relevant connections between women's incarceration and this specific concept. In Threshold Concepts, the authors discuss how violent masculinity has become normalized, and how this functions as a form of social control over women. An article I read by Corinne Mason and Shoshana Magnet also looked into violence against women, and makes connections to how surveillance technology both enables violence against women and also leads to the criminalization of women of color as well. The authors highlight parallels between violence against women perpetrated by men and violence against women perpetrated by the state. One striking example which this article used, discussed how in some cases women will call law enforcement on their abusers, only to be arrested themselves for some minor crime. The social construction of masculinity functions to control women through abusive relationships as well as violence committed by the state.

It is also interesting to look at the social construction of gender by exploring ways in which incarcerated women's humanities are perceived. In Threshold Concepts the authors reference how there are many implicit and explicit messages present in society which portray what is thought of as a "proper" role for a woman to inhabit (Launius & Hassel, 2015). Women are viewed as being delicate, gentle, nurturing, etc. While this is the public picture painted of women, common discourse surrounding incarcerated women is that they are bad mothers, violent, dangerous, etc. Incarcerated women are publicly portrayed as being the opposite of what a "woman" should be, and this is used as an excuse to not feel guilty about disregarding their humanity. Incarceration is already an incredibly dehumanizing experience, and on top of this women have to deal with being stripped of their womanhood as well.

2. Agency

Agency is the ability that an individual has to be able to make their own choices and assert their own free will. Agency can be an incredibly powerful thing, and can motivate groups to organize and make change at a broader level. Individuals may also create change in their personal lives through asserting their own agency. It is important to note though that while everyone has agency, there may be different barriers existing in the paths of marginalized communities that may hinder their abilities to activate their agency in certain situations. Gender Stories further describes agency as believing that you can create change within your life, and this idea that people have some type of control over their own lives. Gender Stories also describes different strategies for enacting agency such as reframing, influencing others, and doing things yourself.

Incarcerated women find many ways in which to assert their agency, despite many obstacles in their way. An article that I found by Claire Snell-Rood, Michelle Staton-Tindall, and Grant Victor looks at a few ways incarcerated women practice agency through strategies involving their relationships and re-entry. The authors looked at a sample of women from rural Appalachian Kentucky, which has high rates of prescription drug abuse and poverty. Many of the women within their sample battled substance abuse, and this study looked at ways in which they strategized how to stay clean, and the role that certain relationships they have on the outside may affect this either negatively or positively. The women asserted agency by analyzing their relationships, as well as their own knowledge of their own personal drug habits, and creating plans for how to stay clean once they get out of prison. Some themes the study found were the women's focus on preparing themselves for potentially unsupportive relationships on the outside, the importance of critically analyzing how certain relationships have played a role in their past drug usage, and using positive relationships to motivate them to stay clean. While staying clean is by no means easy, these women in the sample asserted their own agency to create a plan to take on the challenges that face them upon re-entry. There are also many other ways in which incarcerated women practice agency, which I would like to potentially look into in the future for this project.

3. Privilege:

Privilege can be defined as various advantages and benefits that are given to dominant groups simply for being the default. There are different types of privilege, so it is possible for one aspect of a person's identity to benefit from privilege while another aspect faces oppression. Privilege is upheld by institutions, practices, and policies, as well as societal ideologies and individual actions. As Threshold Concepts points out, privilege and oppression go hand and hand. Conversations of justice often tend to focus solely on oppression, but is important to also look at the ways in which a system of privilege has afforded some people certain advantages all throughout their lives, and how this affects the ways in which they perceive the world. Threshold Concepts also references this idea of the "mythical norm", and this mythical norm is a white, straight, thin, young, Christian, financially stable, male; in other words, this mythical norm is the ultimate model of a privileged individual (Launius & Hassel, 2015). Acknowledging one's privilege can at times make people feel uncomfortable, but it is important to recognize our position within systems of power so that we can actively work towards equity for all.

Privilege is an interesting topic to think about in terms of the experiences of women who are incarcerated, and thinking about this topic from this particular viewpoint can uncover some interesting issues beneath the surface. One article that made me think about privilege in particular in connection to women's incarceration, was an article by Rachel Leah. Leah covers a wide variety of topics within her article: she looks at experiences of mothers who are incarcerated, the disproportionate ways in which incarceration affects women of color, health disparities, the extremely problematic cash bail system, crimes of poverty, and a few other issues. But what really stuck with me from this article, was a statistic that Leah started off her article with. The article starts off by stating that 86% of women who have been in jail have experienced sexual assault sometime in their life. 86 percent. This vast majority of a number knocked me off my feet. Most women who are coming in contact with the prison industrial complex are survivors of sexual trauma, and yet they are criminalized and subjected to even more trauma through what we refer to as the "justice" system. This statistic from Leah's article made me really think about privilege, and mainstream feminist discourse. Thinking about this article through this lens brought up a lot of questions for me. Why are the voices of these women left out of many feminist conversations? Why don't we talk about this more? What women are we more likely to believe, uplift, and listen too? Who do we as a society value, and who do we view as disposable? The Me Too movement has brought much attention to the issue of sexual assault and harassment, and conversations about this issue have been happening in much more public spaces. Yet when looking at this movement, it is also important to analyze the role of privilege in whose voices are more likely to be heard when it comes to experiences of sexual assault. Incarcerated women have experienced assault at much higher levels than the rest of the population as a whole, yet it took upper class white women speaking out for this movement to really catch ground. And even now that this movement has received more public attention, it seems as though the stories of incarcerated women are still not being heard in many spaces. When thinking about the experiences of incarcerated women, it is important to remember that not everybody has the privilege of being heard, and this needs to change.

4. Oppression:

Oppression is the ways in which structures and cultural ideals function to create a system of domination in which certain groups of people are valued less than others. Due to this devaluation, oppressed communities may be subject to inequities on a broader structural level, as well as discrimination on an individual level. I think that oppression is a hard term to describe, because it is so broad reaching, and can apply to so many different areas and disguise itself in many different forms. It is important to note that there are many different types of oppression, and that these various types are many times interactive with each other. Institutional racism, institutional sexism, homophobia, and classism are some main areas of oppression that come to mind, but there are many more that exist as well. Threshold concepts looks at how oppression places barriers in the paths of groups who are oppressed, and functions as a way to limit the mobility of a group. Threshold concepts also looks into the ways in which oppression functions through ideologies, and how oppressive ideologies "other" marginalized groups who don't fit into the mythical norm (Launius & Hassel, 2015).

The concept of oppression relates back to my topic of women's incarceration, because the prison industrial complex serves as a form of social control, and the women within the criminal justice system are subject to its oppressive and dehumanizing practices. In connection to multiple modes of oppression, Robynn Cox wrote an article on the effects of mass incarceration in the lives of black women. Cox explains how women of color are disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system, and backs this statement up with the data of how black women are about 3 times as likely as white women to be incarcerated. This article also explores how incarcerated women are more likely to be the primary caretakers of their children, and due to the fact that women's prisons tend to be more geographically isolated this can lead to emotional isolation from limited visiting time with their family. Cox examines what she calls the "triple burden" of being black, a woman, and a criminal; and the ways in which this affects these women's lives once they are released from prison in terms of struggles getting hired and negative societal perceptions. Looking at the experiences of black women who have been incarcerated displays various ways in which an oppressive prison system, an oppressive white supremacist society, and an oppressive patriarchal society all are at work in othering this group of individuals.

Another article which I read that illustrates oppression within the context of women's incarceration, was an article by Jaime Lowe about incarcerated women who are fighting wildfires in California. This article broke my heart about 17 times before I finished reading it, it was incredibly powerful and emotional. Lowe focused in on the narrative of Shawna Jones, a woman who was serving a three-year sentence, and died at age 22 with less than 2 months to go on her sentence fighting wildfires in California as part of a prison work program. The article then widened its scope a little bit more and looked at this specific work program and its implications. Inmates are paid up to a dollar an hour while fighting fires, which is more than other job programs within the prison. While inmates have the choice to pick this job, this is still a form of exploitation due to the fact that they are having to make this choice either to risk their lives in order to receive better treatment than what they are subject to in prison, as well as wanting to feel a little bit of freedom. Lowe also explores how overcrowding has become an issue within California prisons, yet the California attorney general did not want to shrink the inmate population because he wanted to continue using cheap labor to fight California's harsh wildfires. As if this was not unjust enough, once these workers are released from prison, if they want to become firefighters and use their skills that they have learned, they can't because the Los Angeles County Fire Department does not hire felons. Shawna's story matters, as do the stories of the rest of these women putting their lives on the line to save others, and for next to no money. Incarceration takes lives. These work programs are examples of systematic exploitation and oppression of inmates, and then when accounting for the fact that incarceration disproportionately affects women of color the web of oppression gets deeper and deeper.

5. Intersectionality:

Intersectionality looks at the ways in which layered identities face overlapping oppressions. For example, a straight white woman will not experience the world in the same ways in which a queer black woman does, even though they are both women. And going along with this, a queer black woman does not experience her queerness, blackness, or woman-ness in separate dimensions, but rather experiences all parts of her identity as a whole. Another key element to examine when thinking about intersectionality, is the ways in which institutions function as a means for oppressing certain layered identities. In Threshold Concepts, Launius and Hassel refer to this as interlocking systems of privilege and oppression, and draw attention to experiences people have on a micro level as well as a more macro/structural level. Threshold concepts also pushes back against a hegemonic feminism that is white washed, and stresses the importance of using an intersectional lens when engaging in feminist work.

When looking at the topic of women's incarceration, it is absolutely essential to use an intersectional form of analysis. Due to the fact that the prison industrial complex is a societal system, it has the power to oppress and dominate, just as other societal structures do. And as is the case for society as a whole, within the prison system there are certain identities that are subject to higher rates of marginalization. Intersectionality is very applicable to many different elements of the issue of women's incarceration, so for the purpose of this paper I will specifically examine intersectionality through the experiences of trans women of color who are incarcerated.

An article by Sari Reisner, Zinzi Bailey, and Jae Sevelius researched a sample of transgender women, and analyzed this sample in terms of race, incarceration, victimization, and health disparities. They found that trans women of color are more likely to be incarcerated than trans women who are white, and they also found that this intersection of race, class, gender, and incarceration for trans women led to a higher risk for health disparities. The authors also found that transgender women may not receive the specific medical treatments they need (such as hormones) while incarcerated. Another crucial element to note of the unique experiences of trans women who are incarcerated, is that if they have not gone through gender reassignment surgery, they will most likely be placed in a male prison facility. The researchers described how in order to protect them from other prisoners, trans women will many times be placed in Ad-Seg, but this leaves them vulnerable to abuse from prison staff. Intersectionality is crucial to think about when thinking about these women's experiences. Trans women who are incarcerated face unique obstacles within the prison industrial complex that cis women do not have to worry about. Also, within the population of trans women who are incarcerated, it is lower class trans women of color who are hit the hardest. When thinking from an intersectional viewpoint, it is important to acknowledge the ways in which systems and policies stigmatize different identities, and leave marginalized communities with these layered stigmatized identities most vulnerable.

Conclusion

When navigating everyday life, it is important to keep in mind concepts such as the social construction of gender, agency, privilege, oppression, and intersectionality. In terms of my special topic, these concepts are highly applicable to the experiences of women who are incarcerated, and it would be irresponsible to look at this issue without using these modes of analysis. Using these concepts to explore women's incarceration brought up questions and critiques for certain forms of feminism that seem to forget the diversity that exists within the broader community of women. Solidarity should not just be reserved for women who are deemed "respectable", and it should not be withheld from entire groups of women just because they are not white, cis, straight, and middle class. Conversations surrounding feminism cannot continue to forget and exclude so many. If our feminism does not uplift all women, then who is it for? What is the point?

References

Cox, R. (2012). The impact of mass incarceration on the lives of african american women - sociological abstracts - ProQuest. Review of Black Political Economy, 39(2), 203-2012.

Foss, S., Domenico, M., & Foss, K. (2013). Gender Stories: Negotiating identity in a binary world. Waveland Press.

Launius, C., & Hassel, H. (2015). Threshold Concepts in Women's and Gender Studies: ways of seeing, thinking, and knowing. Routledge.

Leah, R. (2017). 86 percent of women in jail are sexual-violence survivors. Retrieved from https://www.salon.com/2017/11/11/86-percent-of-women-in-jail-are-sexual-violence-survivors/

Lowe, J. (2017). The incarcerated women who fight california’s wildfires. The New York Times Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/31/magazine/the-incarcerated-women-who-fight-californias-wildfires.html

Mason, C., & Magnet, S. (2012). Surveillance studies and violence against women - sociological abstracts - ProQuest. Surveillance & Society, 10(2), 105-118.

Reisner, S., Bailey, Z., & Sevelius, J. (2014). Racial/ethnic disparities in history of incarceration, experiences of victimization, and associated health indicators among transgender women in the U.S. - sociological abstracts - ProQuest. Women & Health, 54(8), 750-767.

Snell-Rood, C., Staton-Tindall, M., & Victor, G. (2016). Incarcerated women's relationship-based strategies to avoid drug use after community re-entry - sociological abstracts - ProQuest. Women & Health, 56(7), 843-858.

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shoujoboy-restart · 3 years ago

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Like they demanded me to have proof that transwomen are the most prostituted demographic in Brazil...while literally mentioning the fact there are entire prostitution streets(and zones) of nothing but transwomen and i should go there "to experience how homophobic trans women are" or some shit, it's literally why so many trans women disappeared and we're killed during the military dictatorship here in Brazil

And then after I did provide sources claiming 90% of trans women use prostitution as a means of survival(a similar number ive seen reported multiple other times on the news) he complains because it's a trans organization doing it, even thought the "unbiased" governmental research and statistics organization here in Brazil has been going trought defunding since Bolsonaro's presidency because he doesn't want national approval ratings and poverty level to be exposed, they didn't disprove or debunk anything in the study they are just using the fact it's a trans representing organization as a reason for me to not use it, demanding proof for common sense like the disproportionate prostitution and sexual exploitation rate while making absurd accusations like that for every radfem that has harassed me before there is 3 trans women raping women in bathrooms, killing(?) and spreading child pornography (??) All without any sources either.

a fonte do teu dado é a antra bro, teu argumento nao tem fundamentação na realidade se a tua fonte é literalmente a antra

also para de greentext, é mt cafona

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equalityforher · 8 years ago

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Mental Health: A Feminist Issue

by Rachel Sloan

Trigger Warning: The following piece discusses potentially triggering topics including mental illness and suicide.

Ableism has long been a problem within social justice movements, and feminist discourse has a history of excluding or actively ignoring the experiences and input of people with disabilities. There is a particularly troubling lack of feminist research and ongoing dialogue on the way mental health intersects with other social categories and informs our understanding of identity, oppression, and privilege.

If the overarching goal of feminism as a movement is, as famously defined by bell hooks, “to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression,” it’s essential to continually re-examine our approach to issues that target those most vulnerable. There is a tendency to dismiss mental health as a privileged issue, but, realistically, mental disorders affect people of all backgrounds, lifestyles, and identities, and can be particularly damaging to people of marginalized groups.

An estimated one in five adults lives with a mental disorder, and nearly 10 million US adults struggle with what’s considered a serious mental illness – a disorder that interferes severely with one’s daily life and limits their ability to work, cope, or function without impairment. Today, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people age 10-34, and the rate continues to increase. Although mental disorders are often influenced by genetics, socialization and environmental factors play a substantial role in the development of mental health problems.

People living with mental illness and intellectual disabilities need better, more attentive allies. Advocacy for mental health – particularly with regard to relatively common disorders like depression and anxiety – appears to be on the rise, though discussion surrounding mental health and self-care still seems primarily self-serving. Even within feminist circles, the stigma associated with mental illness is still very much in place – especially for those living with personality disorders, psychotic disorders, and other severe, invisible illnesses that remain largely misunderstood. In a neoliberal, capitalist society that prioritizes productivity in the form of profit over its populace's well being, working class families of color tend to suffer the most.

Feminists cannot adequately or inclusively address a number of issues including trans rights, domestic violence, poverty, homelessness, mass incarceration, reproductive justice, and more without an intersectional lens, and the role of mental health requires further analysis. The strength of the stigma, access to affordable and effective healthcare, the perception of one’s mental health status, and the factors that influence mental illness all influence and are influenced by social categories including race, gender, socioeconomic class, sexuality, and physical ability.

The National Eating Disorder Association estimates that 10 million American women suffer from eating disorders, constituting a staggering 85% of anorexia and bulimia cases. Women are two times as likely as men to be diagnosed with panic or anxiety disorders, and are three times more likely to engage in suicidal behavior – men, however, constitute the vast majority of completed suicides. Additionally, transgender people struggle with mental illness and suicidality at a much higher rate than cisgender people, indicating a connection between gender oppression, cis privilege, and mental health. A deeply troubling 19% of trans people have been refused care entirely, and half of all trans people report having to educate their own medical provider about transgender care.

Mental illness exists on a vast spectrum, and no one experience is representative of the rest. I suffer from BPD, and although it brings daily, unpredictable, often debilitating challenges, my identity as a white cis woman from a middle-class family provides me with opportunities and respect not necessarily afforded to people lacking the same privileges. In her telling piece for The Fader, Christine Pungong depicts the obstacles she faces as a black woman with BPD, identifying the heightened stigma that stems largely from the fact that “we live in a world that doesn’t grant black women vulnerability.” She details how black women are expected to appear strong and unemotional, and the notion of mental illness as a sign of weakness within black families and communities. Sociocultural expectations, perceptions, and stereotypes continue to prevent people from feeling comfortable or entitled to seek treatment.

There is an alarming lack of adequate, accessible, affordable, mental healthcare for already marginalized populations. Furthermore, it’s important to recognize that experiences within healthcare, as with any institution, are gendered, racialized, and otherwise shaped by perceptions of identity. For these and other reasons, black women are less likely to receive effective treatment for their mental health, though they actually exhibit higher rates of mental illness – unsurprising considering the stress and obstacles caused by systemic racism and sexism.

Allyship is not about comfort, but about action and social change. The phrase “If It’s Not Intersectional, It’s Not Feminism” can be found plastered on protest signs, t-shirts, and across social media platforms since the Women’s March. However accurate, this type of performative solidarity is, in the case of many mainstream feminist movements, where recognition of intersectionality begins and end. Feminists that continually prioritize self-fulfillment and individual empowerment over the liberation of marginalized people fail those most in need of active, supportive allies.

Moving forward, those who identify with the feminist movement must make concerted efforts to include people battling mental illness in their work, elevate their voices, account for the diverse experiences and needs of people with mental disorders, and study the connections between mental health and other, overlapping systems of oppression and privilege. In order to affect real change for the most vulnerable populations, it’s necessary for feminist politics, advocacy, and scholarship to apply an intersectional framework to further examine the role of mental health in upholding systems of oppression.

People with mental disorders and intellectual disabilities are at a much higher risk of harm than the rest of the population, thus signaling the need for feminist action. Not only are prisons disproportionately filled with poor people of color, but the majority of people in prisons are mentally ill. Additionally, it’s no secret to anyone paying attention that US police present a specific threat to black people, and a frightening 2015 study revealed that people with severe untreated mental illnesses are 16 times more likely than other civilians to be killed by US law enforcement. A disproportionate number of the homeless population is mentally ill people of color and, contrary to popular belief, most people with mental disorders are not violent, and are actually over ten times more likely to be victims of violent crime than those without mental illness. The majority of people living in poverty, thus lacking the resources to prioritize mental health care, are people of color. The overlap between oppressed identities and untreated mental health problems can lead to a number of additional obstacles preventing upward mobility and the possibility of liberation.

Rachel Sloan is a 24-year-old Kentuckian with dreams of a feminist utopia. She's a proud queer woman with a passion for radical intersectional feminism and mental health advocacy. As a survivor of mental illness, she speaks out about her experiences in hopes of raising awareness and chipping away at the stigma.

#Rachel Sloan #Feminist #Mental Health #Stigma

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ulrichfoester · 6 years ago

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myTherapyNYC Gives Back to the Community

This holiday season, myTherapyNYC is giving back to some of the charities and organizations that we love. There are so many incredible nonprofit and charity organizations that promote wellness, community, and safety in New York City. Considering this, each of our therapists chose an organization they hold close to their heart and then donated a portion of the practice’s profits to each one. Here are the organizations that our therapists chose:

American Indian Community House

Weston believes the holiday season is a good time to think about the people who are indigenous to our land and have such an important role in our history. The AICH is an organization and community space that has promoted the well-being and visibility of NYC’s native population, including those who identify as LGBTQ or Two Spirit, for almost 50 years. This amazing volunteer-run organization is one of a kind in the city.

The Doe Fund

James chose to support this organization, which got its start in the 1980s with feeding homeless people in Grand Central Terminal. The Doe Fund has since expanded to help formerly incarcerated people re-enter society and is a role model in decreasing recidivism rates. It has also been extraordinarily supportive to people challenged by substance abuse, incarceration, poverty, and HIV/AIDS.

Girls for Gender Equality

Pamela loves this organization for their focus on the experiences of cisgender and transgender young women of color. They are doing transformative, anti-racist, feminist work by supporting young women as they work to access their power. In these current times, it feels especially important to Pamela to recognize organizations that support women.

Girls Write Now

Christy volunteered for Girls Write Now before she pursued a career in mental health and the way in which this organization goes above and beyond to promote confidence and creativity in young women left a strong impression on her. Girls Write Now provides girls with opportunities to connect with like-minded peers, professional creative women, and volunteer licensed mental health professionals, in order to provide the best possible support.

LGBTQ Center

Rich chose to donate to the Center as an acknowledgment of their ongoing support for the LGBTQ community’s needs. Over the past 15 years, he has seen many of his clients find a lifeline in their services. Their substance abuse treatment program is particularly important, as the LGBTQ community deserves to have treatment tailored specifically to their needs.

Safe Horizon

Cate chose to donate to Safe Horizon, because she appreciates how this amazing organization supports super-vulnerable communities, including survivors of intimate partner violence and human trafficking. Safe Horizon provides life-saving resources to many people, coordinates with other organizations, and promotes safety by getting people out of dangerous situations and into safe spaces.

Safe Horizon – Streetwork Project

Both Zachary and Elena chose to support the Streetwork Project. This division of Safe Horizon provides a large array of supportive services to homeless and at-risk adolescents, many of whom are LGBT-identified. Zachary hopes to see this fabulous grassroots organization grow. Elena appreciates the organization’s client-centered values and strong sense of community.

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund

Ryan believes it is more important now than ever to support the trans community. As other sections of the LGBTQ community gain recognition and access, trans people still struggle disproportionately with basic rights like employment and housing. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund fights for those rights and helps to ensure that the most vulnerable members of our community are seen and heard.

The Trevor Project

Peter chose to support this organization that offers LGBTQ youth a way to connect and get the support they need in times of crisis, confusion, fear, and doubt. For many callers, the voice of a caring Trevor Lifeline counselor can offer some much needed hope that “it gets better” and help protect these youth from taking their own lives.

Trinity Place Shelter & Gay Sons and Mothers

Joe gained a deep appreciation for this organization when he worked there as a volunteer therapist. Trinity Place Shelter provides a safe place for homeless LGBTQ youth and helps them gain access to resources so that they can transition out of the shelter system and grow into independent, positive, and productive adults.

Joe also donated and raised awareness to Gay Sons and Mothers, which is founded by Rick Miller. This organization highlights the special and unique bond between gay sons and their mothers. It also brings awareness to the difficulties and complexions of this bond.

United Nations Human Rights Council

Kimia chose to donate to the UNHRC because she is amazed by their work with trauma survivors. This organization is known for shining a light on mental health issues connected to the suffering of minority groups, refugees, and political prisoners. Kimia saw this organization’s positive impact first hand when she worked with them in Geneva, Switzerland.

VOCAL-NY

Glenn loves this grassroots organization dedicated to ending the AIDS epidemic, the war on drugs, mass incarceration and homelessness in New York. Their mission is to build political power in the low-income communities of color that are disproportionately affected by these issues through community organizing, leadership development, public education, and other supportive services.

Overall myTherapyNYC donated $2,500 to these incredible organizations. If you have the means to do so, we hope you will consider giving back this holiday season too!

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