Intersectionality

Something that I have an interest in is cooking since I always watch cooking shows such as Chopped or MasterChef. I note that the competitors always bring in new flavors into their dishes even if they aren’t from the country that the flavors they’re using are from. They explore different cuisines and flavors. The question that I will pose is, how authentic are the foods if it isn’t cooked by a chef who is from the country of the cuisine. This brings in intersectionality which defined by Threshold Concepts is “a theoretical framework that posits that multiple social categories (eg., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio economic status) intersect at the micro level of individual experience to reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro, social-structural level” (114-115).

We can see that there are a lot of identity factors in play regarding to the question. Most of the time people think that those who have lived longer or are older have more experiences therefore they’ll probably know more. If their race/ethnicity is tied to the cuisine, they’ll also probably know more and etc. with the other factors. Of course, the chefs who are older and stick to their race/ethnicity/country cuisine will be privileged whereas those who choose a different cuisine will be oppressed. Just from their skin color, people may start judging the authenticity of the food and never think about anything beyond that. We always judge without knowing the full background information of the people, therefore we don’t fully understand them. “Although gender as a category of analysis is useful, it is incomplete without understanding that other categories of identity (race, sexuality, class, age, etc.) are equally as important in gaining accurate knowledge about people’s lives and experiences” (114).

Intersectionality

Intersectionality... defined as the "theoretical framework that posits that multiple social categories (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio economic status) intersect at the micro level of individual experience to reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro, social-structural level... (AKA) How multiple forms of oppression and identity interact to create someone's experience in society. 

So how does this relate to something I'm engaged in?

Once a month on a Friday night, my mother, sister, and their co-workers organized a group for the Hmong community of Manitowoc titled "Family Ties". (My duty is to volunteer as a babysitter, cook, helper etc). Basically, this once a month "get-together" consist of presentations to inform Hmong parent's, that know little English and are not 100% indulged into the American culture, about family communication, safety, and daily concerns they have at these meetings. 

Some things that have already been discussed is fire and emergency safety rules (how and when to call for help), how to indicate signs of sexual assault/molestation, signs of verbal abuse, etc. These events also include food and games for the kids. Yes, kids are allowed in a separate room while the parents discuss the grown up stuff. 

So the issue is, we no longer have a permanent community center for the Hmong community ever since it was sold and turned into "Paradise Foods" downtown.  An intersectional approach that could help the issue is introduce the Hmong community to the Manitowoc community and provide information about who they are, where they're from, and what they're trying to achieve. To help the people of Manitowoc understand that these people are not dumb just because they're not fluent in the English language, but they're just trying to adjust and understand the American culture and also keep up their traditions. Also, that the Hmong community has some interesting traditions and if we promote it to the Manitowoc community, they will want to help raise money and find a place for the Hmong people of Manitowoc. 

So if we create an understanding between both communities, maybe they can help each other out. 

Intersectionality

An area that I would like to discuss is how people are treated in the work place.  With this I have two different workplace, personal experiences that I will focus on.  The first experience will be a female in a retail job and the second will be a male in an office job. The point of this is to show that both females and males bring up important issues of how a person can be treated because of who they are.

Having a retail job for a female can be difficult.  Especially if you are working in a store that is dominantly shopped by men.  So right off the back, just because you are female you are seen as less knowledgeable about the products.  Then, if you are petite, or attractive that raises more flags to customers and they start to think that you can't know anything you're too pretty to know about manly things.  And who is to say it even gets that far, customers may even avoid you.  It can be frustrating and it is a major problem because they are judging a book by its cover. 

Being a male in an office job isn't really necessarily bad, right?  Well what if you're the only man out of 50 employees working there.  Then that would raise some problems wouldn't it.  Usually men don't take office jobs, if they do it's usually a CEO position, not a book keeper.  It's seen as not manly enough or too relaxed.  Some may even say it doesn't pay what a man should be making to support a family.  No one really looks at the positives that he has a job and is contributing to his family.  They only see the one man out of 50 employees who is only a book keeper. 

The overall issue here is workplace inequality.  For both men and women it can be an everyday struggle, which is why I wanted to discuss it for this topic. 

People should think about the person they are judging based off of intersectionality, before they act upon it.  That girl working retail, could be one of the most intelligent employees there, but you won't go to her for help because of her gender and looks.  That man working as a book keeper, probably is happy and content with the job he has and doesn't want the stress of being a CEO.  Because not only would stress effect him but it would effect his relationship with his family as well. 

We have to think deeper and stop judging people based off of gender, looks, race, social class and social standards.  There is more to a person than those things.  Yes it is easy to just judge/assume right away but if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, there can be a bigger and better understanding of what someone is going through or why they chose to do the things they do.

Privilege & Oppression

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sustaining-the-olympic-le_b_11683450.html


I think this article is very interesting because it is trying to highlight the privileges of being a women athlete.  It uses the example of an athlete in the Olympic Games but over all it's about the support of all women.  How putting any kind of support, and of course money, into a women athlete have great benefits.  This policy, specifically in this article, promotes privilege to American/White women athletes.  They say that one win leads to another and that American women are getting stronger and stronger.  This also includes U.N. girls as well, but doesn't really say much about any other ethnicity/race which is where oppression comes in.  The U.S. and U.N. have programs to support girls to continue to be athletes after going through puberty.  There are even slogans or campaigns, such as #likeagirl.   Although the idea in its entirety is pushing for gender equality in athletics it isn't focusing enough on the diversity that comes along with gender.

Power and Oppression

Article: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/lupita-nyongo-harvey-weinstein.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

This is less of a public policy but still something that is relevant and worth mentioning as it is a prime example of power and oppression. The many instances of  assaults against women by Harvey Weinstein show how being in a position of both literal and social power can enable abuse. Because no one questioned Weinstein and he had the ability to make or break actresses' careers, he used that to his advantage to assault and harass women. The women also felt as though they could not speak out, as he was at the head of a powerful company and none of the women knew about the countless other times he had harassed other young actresses. Though it is a disturbing thing, it is good that these situations are finally being brought to light. I hope that in the future people like him are shut down sooner, though I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. The roots of intimidation run deep.

Intersectionality

Something that I feel strongly about is getting tattoos.  I myself have one and want to get more.  I work at Family Video, and when I was hired the manager told me that when I work I can't have it show, so it needs to be hidden.  This is a controversy that I would like to address; businesses want to seem professional so even the smallest tattoo cannot be visible, or they will not hire you if you are full of tattoos.  My personal beliefs/opinions differ greatly when it comes to what part of society feels and what businesses feel.  This is where an intersectional approach helps in approaching this situation.

Intersectionality is a framework that proposes that multiple social categories intersect at the micro level of individual experience to reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro level (TC, 114-115).   This is saying that in order to understand how a person is being oppressed in society, you have to look at different factors of their life including race, working class, employment, gender, sexuality, and ability.  By looking at these different aspects of a person's life, you are more able to understand how much more privilege you have compared to others, or how much you are being oppressed in society.

By looking specifically at the issue above about tattoos, using this intersectional approach, we are able to better understand other people's points of view, and not come to such biased conclusions.  By putting this into action, we have to look at the employers' own thoughts on tattoos, statistics about customers and how they feel, which might lead them to find someplace else to go, and how many people that have tattoos can be associated with being thugs or rebels.  We have to also look at the other positive aspects too including that the people who have tattoos are showing a sign of creativity that could also be shown in the workplace, and whether the person applying has the qualifications for the job, not being judged by appearance.  By looking at all these different categories and how they intersect with each other and the main 'controversy' of not being able to wear tattoos in the workplace, we are able to see how it affects those with tattoos.  People in this situation might feel they are not being treated fairly, but there are other factors they have to look at as well to make these decisions.

Privilege and Oppression

Searching, I found it very interesting about how we, citizens of the United States take for granted of the privileges we have. For an example, we don’t know how hard it is in other countries to earn the amount of money we have. Some live very poorly, and in harsh conditions, worse than those who have it the worse in the United States. The two groups who are affected by this are the legal immigrants trying to better them self finding a better “world” and the other group are those who are privileged, and doesn’t see how hard group one had it. Only worrying about them self because of the “jobs” taken by group one.

https://www.numbersusa.com/problems