Anyone seen "Born Into Brothels?"  Indian subject.

It shows the liberation achieved by schooling and simple cameras in  
the hands of children.  Also shows what can suck a girl child (in  
this case) right back into the life of the brothel.  I feel the term  
"sex worker" tries to legitimate an occupation of utter degradation,  
though the term is more and more used.

This subject is so complex, as Daphne has shown--male prostitution,  
incest.  This is ugly stuff.  I think the only thing to do is  
recognize ahead of time the complexity of the issues and try to  
formulate strategies for dealing with the classroom problems ahead of  
time.  The examples that teachers are bringing up are educational for  
me.

Andrea

On Dec 26, 2008, at 3:42 PM, Muro, Andres wrote:


> Poor analogy. Statistically, the % of abusers is way higher than  

> the % of prostitutes. So, if you say that in an ordinary group of  

> women some will be mothers, you are not being sexist. Statistically  

> you have a good chance that some will be mothers.

>

> With men, in an ordinary group, statistically there is a good  

> chance that some of us may be abusers. Rather than calling the  

> statement sexist, we are better off recognizing our problem and  

> working towards changing it.

>

> On another note, the comparison of abuse to prostitution is also  

> poor because women who become prostitutes usually don't do it it  

> out of desire, but out of desperation to survive. Being aware that  

> some women and men are prostitutes is not a condemnation of them.  

> It is a condemnation of society that forces many into that kind of  

> lifestyle.

>

> Men who abuse don't do it out of desperation and ought to change  

> and be condemned.

>

> Happy holidays (and I haven't declared war on xmas since we had a  

> party at home opened presents and everything else),

>

> Andres

>

> Andres Muro

> Please take a look at my updated artwork at:

> http://www.flickr.com/photos/25224248@N05/sets/72157611453345957/show/

>

> From: diversity-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Kearney Lykins

> Sent: Fri 12/26/2008 10:42 AM

> To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List

> Subject: [Diversity 314] Re: abusers in our classrooms

>

> Karen,

>

> Whether or not men are more violent as compared to women is not the  

> point. Indeed, I agree that they are. But Kate makes a  

> generalization based on fallacious reasoning.

>

> To illustrate my point, suppose I claimed that I know that in an  

> ordinary group of women, some will be prostitutes to a greater or  

> lesser extent.  Clearly such an outrageous remark would be  

> condemned (rightly) as sexist.

>

> But suppose my rationale is the following: While most women are not  

> prostitutes, and do not sell their bodies for sex, most prostitutes  

> are indeed women, and most acts of prostitution, particularly those  

> acts committed on men, are committed by women. Therefore, I am  

> being very careful with my language and not sexist whatsoever when  

> I say that in an ordinary group of women, surely some of them are  

> prostitutes.

>

> Sound familar?

>

>

>

> Regards,

>

> Kearney Lykins

>

>

> From: Karen Wyman <Karenw at nmcadv.org>

> To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List <diversity at nifl.gov>

> Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 12:08:40 PM

> Subject: [Diversity 302] Re: abusers in our classrooms

>

> Dear Kearney,

>

> I have to disagree that Kate’s comment is sexist. While most men  

> are not abusers and are not violent, most abusers are men, and most  

> acts of violence, particularly those acts against women, are  

> committed by men. It is not unreasonable, inaccurate, or sexist to  

> conclude that “in any ordinary group of men that some will be  

> violent to a greater or lesser extent.” I think Kate was being very  

> careful not to be sexist with her language and word choice.

>

>

> Also, I’d like to suggest that students are not in classes to  

> “handle” their classmates; they are there to learn. It is the  

> instructor’s responsibility to create an environment in which that  

> can occur, and that often includes being aware of potential  

> problems before they happen and intervening on behalf of the safety  

> and wellbeing of all students. I think it is an interesting  

> assumption to think that these hypothetical students are  

> necessarily “non-feminist.”

>

>

> I think that privilege is an important piece of this conversation  

> that is being left out. I believe that, in addition to confronting  

> racism and sexism, we also have a responsibility to interrupt male  

> and white (and other kinds, too) privilege when it rears its head.  

> I wonder if that might be an interesting discussion: what can we do  

> to confront the use of unwarranted privilege in our classrooms? How  

> can we interrupt those conditioned behaviors that come with that  

> privilege? Male privilege is one of the many tools that abusers  

> employ to exercise power and control over their victims, and there  

> are a number of ways in which we, as educators, have the  

> opportunity to either challenge or reinforce that privilege.

>

>

> Respectfully,

>

> Karen

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

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