Activism Blog 2

Activism: For the past few weeks I have continued to work with MVP by doing various works.  I did tabling in front of the Student Union to raise awareness about domestic violence and human trafficking.  During my first tabling experience, a few other girls and I informed students including how one might be able to help if involved in that type of situation and the training we offer in the Wellness Center.  The second week I tabled was a more fun way to raise awareness and for students to learn. By the time I got there, there was a poster with different types of questions about human trafficking such as Demographics and Laws. Students would pick from a category, answer the question, and given a piece of candy as an incentive. Most people answered the Demographics category because it was the easiest. We were handing out flyers about human trafficking as well.  In addition to tabling, we were also working on a drive for Harbor House to help victims of domestic violence as mentioned in my last activism blog. Jamie and I decorated boxes and taped the list Harbor House needed for its victims.  The list included office supplies, cleaning products, clothes, bed sheets, diapers, etc.  When we were done one box was kept in the Wellness Center and another one was put in the Women’s Studies building.  I learned throughout the week that the boxes were full! We still have a few more things we can do to help Abigail and the organization of MVP.

Reflection:  All this relates to the chapter we have been talking about in class about the environment. Surprisingly, the environment has a lot to do with gender oppression which leads to violence against women. Politicians use the environment to make products for people to consume. The majority of those products are targeted towards women, such as cleaning products and cosmetics all advertised by the media.  The media creates the false representation of women known as the beauty ideal because women are often objectified and seen as products. This relates to domestic violence because some men don’t value their wives or girlfriends seeing them as their property and forcing their will on them. Similarly, human trafficking works the same way. People are not valued for their person.  Instead they’re bought and shipped from country to country as sex slaves or other forms of oppression because they are seen as PRODUCTS.  Another drastic way that violence against women relates closely to the environment is that Earth is given female sexuality and qualities. We hear and see this all the time, for example “Mother Earth,” “virgin forest,” and “rape of the earth.”  As mentioned in our text, “. . . in the Western model of development, sources, living things that can reproduce life –whether forests, seeds, or women’s bodies –are turned into resources to be objectified, controlled, and used” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 539).  If not these resources are seen as unproductive. Therefore, the way our society is using and abusing the environment portrays how women are viewed creating violence against women including domestic violence and human trafficking.

Reciprocity: The past few weeks have been a lot of work in trying to finish my service learning hours and juggling all my other productive and unproductive work. I mentioned before I had never volunteered for anything but now that I have gained a little experience doing volunteer work I would definitely do it again. It was hard making time for it but I managed to squeeze it in any break I had. Tabling gave me a chance to meet new people and socialize more. I had a lot of fun decorating the boxes and it gave me a sense of self-fulfillment knowing I was doing something for a very good cause. I wasn’t so thrilled at first because I don’t really like to draw and I don’t think I’m creative. However, I did bring out my creative side and I decorated a really cute box. In class, our lectures seem to amaze me each and every time. I can’t believe everything relates to each other especially to WOMEN! I do have a hard time putting it all together and contributing ideas to “unpack” it. But when we discuss it is a little crazy and very shocking. It makes me sad because it’s all a system that oppresses women no matter what. Everyone should take a Women’s Studies class so they can become aware of what type of world we’re living in. That way we can all contribute by taking baby steps that will eventually lead to big change.

Kirk, Gwyn , and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women and the Environment. 5th ed. New York, New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 535-546. Print.

Campus Engagement

For one of my Campus Engagement assignments I decided to attend a speech given by Corban Addison. He is the author of the book “A Walk Across the Sun,” which is a fictional story based on human trafficking in Mumbai. In his speech he talked about young girls being slaves. He argued the rates of slavery in society today are so much higher than ever before because so many of these girls are being used as prostitutes in the human trafficking business. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. There are about 22 to 30 million slaves and 2 million of those are children used as sex slaves mostly in their 13 to 15 years of age. Addison emphasized that this is a very difficult topic to talk about and therefore, it’s often overlooked because society blocks it out of their mind, especially adults with children who can easily relate. Addison is a lawyer in Virginia married with two kids, but being a lawyer wasn’t what made him happy and he knew he didn’t want to do that for the rest of his life. He loved to write stories and for many years he’s had a pile of manuscripts which have gotten denied by publishing companies. But that all changed when his wife suggested he should humanize human trafficking into a fiction story.

In order to write his book he needed more information and he turned to government reports and scholarly journals. The things he read were awful and as he described it in his speech, the deeper he got in the subject the darker it was, and he we wondered if there was a light, a hope in all that darkness. He found inspiration in Mother Theresa, known for helping others in need and that's what he wanted to do. He said if there were any solutions in general, not just the human trafficking industry, we should commit our lives to solve it. His speech was very interesting and easy to understand and follow. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay the whole time because I had a class to get to but I am definitely considering reading his book to learn more about this horrible industry and insight on how us, as a whole, can help end this slavery.

Activism Blog

1.      Activism: For my service learning project I decided to work with Mentors in Violence Prevention. This organization is concerned with domestic violence against women in society. MVP raises awareness to people about this major issue and teaches them different ways in which domestic violence can be prevented. Before doing any type of work with the organization, I had to attend an hour and a half training with the director, Abigail Malick.  A few other girls were there as well and throughout the training we discussed domestic violence statistics and some of our own opinions and views on this issue. After that, we have met a few more times and maintained contact through email to decide what ways we can work together here on campus. We decided to do tablings in front of the Student Union every Wednesday from 10-2 to raise awareness to other students. We are also currently planning on doing another tabling at Late Knights and working with Harbor House to host a drive for the benefit of victims of domestic violence. This will include clothes and any other supplies that would be helpful to these women. There will also be an event on Saturday at Downtown Orlando that I plan to attend as part of MVP.

2.      Reflection: Working with MVP has made me realize how severe domestic violence is in our society. This issue is often overlooked and it shouldn’t be that way. As a woman myself, this concerns me very much because I wouldn’t want to be in that position or see any other female going through that kind of struggle and abuse. This relates to the topic of “Making a Home, Making a Living” in our book which talks about women performing productive and unproductive work because lots of women in a domestic violence relationship are often victims in their own workplace. Just recently, there were 11 cases in Orlando in which the abusive partner went to the woman’s job and did a shooting. This is extremely dangerous because it also creates unsafe environments for other people that are not directly involved. As a result, other employees died that had no fault or had no idea about the issue. In addition, lots of women lose their jobs because their controlling partners are constantly calling or appearing. This makes them feel nervous all the time knowing there’s not really a safe place leading to poor job performance and eventually get fired by their employers. Therefore, domestic violence not only occurs in the personal home space but it can happen anywhere. In an act of violence, the partner is not concerned with anything but hurting the woman and this can hurt others too.

3.      Reciprocity: Since I still haven’t done any work with MVP, only planning, I haven’t gained a lot. So far I have improved my skills at planning events and being more outgoing, for example, meeting new people and talking to them about places and dates to host our events. I know at the end of the semester I’ll gain personal satisfaction knowing I volunteered for a good organization and I helped women victims of domestic violence.

Kirk, Gwyn , and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Making a Home, Making a Living. 5th ed. New York, New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 207-210. Print.