CRE 298: UsToo: A #MeToo Conversation with Five Asian American Writers

 

1.      Different women of color experience different set of experiences, while the vast majority of those in the #MeTOO sexual assault stories are white women.

2.      But is this because fewer women of color submit or do they feel pressure to represent and tell their own stories fall by the wayside?

3.      For some the challenge of being assaulted stem from her multiple identities..as a nonbinary femme and queer and Muslim and Bangladeshi means bringing a gretter set of issues to the table.

4.      At times gathering people who shared marginalized identities, some feel that they cannot access that space

a.      Feels more intense when Jordan shares her story with queer Muslim community that she was assaulted in that space because everyone knows each other and will talk

b.      Having people that believe her makes a difference in how she creates new communities

c.      Working through therapy -the content ofher experiences (writing and reading apiece about sexual assault on state_) but not the full emotions of it

d.      It’s easy to dismiss these experiences, as we discover some who have faced even more hardships straight up poverty to hate crimes to erasure

5.      One thing that causes silence from  women of color is that they do not want to loose their small space of safety..not only patriarchy but also a sense of safety and loyalty to their community.

6.      Loyalty to their communities is an issue -p[articularly in the context of state of violence

a.      We should not ignore the interpersonal violenc that also targets Muslim men and boys

b.      State sanctioned racial profiling

c.      And history of domestic violence

d.      The person that attacked Dulani was a member of the queer community of color, and poetry…she therefore found herself avoiding or leaving community spaces that were really important to her

e.      Strangely she did not want either of them to loose access to that community

7.      Being a student, Ching-In was tgargeted on the street by white men who were strangers on the street.

8.      Men fealt entitled to approach her and remark on hjer body or appearance..they considered to be ewcxotic

a.      They believged Chinese or Japanese women were naturally prostitutes and they often solicited her for sex work

b.      She has been stalked

c.      Sexual assault actually came from an acquaintance she met through a friend

d.      Most believe the sexual myth of exotic foreigner and seually available

e.      She gets less harassment sexually now that she presents herself more androgogynous or masculine

                                                  i.      But the harrashment is more overtly hostile way for appearing queer or androgynous in public spaces

f.        Withing the school system it was the predatory behavior of teahcfers that was pervasive within the school system..this includes those who were targeted for harassment and for those who wer witnesses.

g.       Greater frear of not wanting to go public and sharing in confidence.

9.      Rowan -acknowledges that like most women she has experienced verbal harassment and unwanted touching

a.      More subtle stuff most damaging

b.      As a mixed race person -she does not feel part of a particular community

c.      Identify strongly as Asian American but did not grow up in an Asian American community

d.      She was often confused by her body and did not know what to expect when she approached puberty and adulthood

e.      She did not know if she was pretty or ugly -a ridiculous binary, which consumes teenagers

f.        She was looking to men for signs, and their opinion helped her determine her rank on the racial hotness scale

g.       Rankings presented anger and aggression

h.      Took years to understand how loaded and damaging the information was

i.        It was a form of internalized racism

10.  Whisper networks work differentially in small, marginalized communiteis

a.      We are aware of those who overstep boudnaries and also those who are violent offenders

                                                  i.      Code of siolence draws then line between protecting ourselves and throwing someone in our community to the wolves

                                                 ii.      General expectation that we telle ach other who the perpetrators are, but not ke interviews or tell world who they are..part of the moral dilemma of loyalty

                                               iii.      Shitty men in media list comprises mostly white men, many women of color do not have access to the list, but the proof is in the pudding whith the exception of a few men, largely the list is controlled by whites. Male writers.

                                               iv.      Many activists, who take advantage of women (such as Sherman Alexie and Junot Diaz) are also abusers of women within these communities

b.      The whisper networks protects those who are more connected, those who have build up a strong network, and have a certain degree of social capital

c.      Thoe who are often targeted for harassmen are often those who are newer and greener to the community

                                                  i.      The whisper network relies on who you know and whether they ar compelled to share information with you.

11.  Hollywood focuses on white men, because it is a white dominated industry

12.  But we often talk about sexual abuse and rape within our own families and communities

a.      Intentional spaces or containers need to be developed to address the harm

b.      The whisper networks and social media call outs are ill suited to do this

c.      Transformative justice must be used as a weapon for public takedowns of people

13.  Real time is slower than social media

a.      Real time allowes periods of silence, reflection, growth, space, self-forgiveness, processing with loved ones, rast and responsibility

b.      Real time transformation requires stating your needs and setting functional boudnaries.

14.  Nia King and Mia Mingus helped to articulate transformative justice work and healing that go to the root source

a.      Recognizes that we must do more than work with the victims and survivors

b.      But also bystanders and witnesses.

15.  Many people experience child sexual abuse, that impacts how they interact with others

16.  This includes what is shred with community members experiencing violence of racism and etc.

17.  Its hard to actively unlearn the ways we separate perpetrator from victim/survivor that was taught to us

18.  We are going to have to encounter perpetrators and victims/suirvivors in our communities, we cannot escape the responsibility to repair to restore the community, and this starts with accountability.

19.  Cisgendered men often use women and queer trans people as vehicles of their own healing

a.      These are not ideal stepping stones toward transformative justice

20.  Often the partners, close friends, and other community members suffer because of the trauma some continue to experience from surviving rape and childhoods replete with abusive relationships.

21.  Christine talks about her rapist, who had suffered from undiagnosed manic depression, alcoholism, and the conversation -two decades after the assault helped her heal by learning about his own humanity.

22.  Part of being a human is coming to that understanding and unpacking our past and feelings, stepping forward with wisdom and renewed commitment to be better person-it starts with forgiveness..particularly forgiving themselves.

23.  The legal binary of perpetrator victim is oversimplified

a.      Ineffective solution -to range of violence

b.      This framework is helpful in certain context, c=hallenging the binary helps us talk about all capable of violence and harm

c.      Prison industricl complex models punishment as accountability, by removing th epreson who has caused harm from the community

d.      But accountability doesn’t happen in isolation

e.      Transformative justice is about addressing the harm in a way by getting at the root causes of violence

f.        It requires us to show up for each other, unlearn violence, and know our own trauma stories and ho9w we are shaped by them

g.       How they trigger and how they impacts on how we engage.

h.      Teams must helping and supporting the person who caused the harm to be accountable

i.        Another team supporting the survivor

24.  Movement to Power –“South Asian Women’s Creative Colelctive

a.      Combined movement, writing, and somatics for survivors group

b.      None of them expressly talked about their stories, but they did talk about their feelings and emotions

c.      The fundamental transformation requires a community to show up for each other

d.      Figure ways to unlearn violence

e.      And it looks diverent  then what we currently do

f.        Cannot look at these situations=inisolation

g.       The person who caused the harm has often learned this behavior ina cosiciety that supprolts this kind of behavior

h.      We must identify those social medias, and see whose stories and voices and concerns are being centered right now and why.

25.  Many experience more harassment when they present themselves as a femme =  a lesbian whose appearance and behavior are seen as traditionally feminine.

26.  If our culture of toxic masculinity tells cishet men that they are entitled to a ciswoman’s body and allows the rage they feel , then the reaction is more violent when individuals do not adhere to the gender and sexuality norms we expecting

27.  Trans, nonbinary, gender nonconforming people are not highlighted in this conversation because they do not fit into our gender-ginary narratives and therefore easier to dismiss or overlook

28.  Therefor they are pushed out of the framework because they do not look like a survivor we anticipate

29.  For nonbinary femme and femme -they wear a costume that does not fit into the binary constructs..often when they are violated, the perpetrator is dismissed because the victim does not vit legitimately into the hetero framework.

30.  Some Asian and non-Asian people feel sexually-isolated, and resentful because they do not fit into the binary, they feel trapped in a desexualized world and ignored.

31.  How do some deal with it -this activism here is about performance, where the performance itself provides emotional support, through their writing and performance..which allows people to witness this the bearing of witness to the audience and encourages them to tell their own stories as survivors helping other survivors. Victims to other victims. And the complicated interrelationship between these and other interrelated identities.

32.  They also discussed workshops they created to unlearn their own violence -transforming silence into action

a.      Acknowledges that to confront unhealthy and abusive behaviors in ourselves, we need to lift the shame and silence about these behaviors in direct and constructive ways and to cultivate self-awareness about their behaviors.

b.      First step is to name and acknowledge the harm

c.      Then change the culture to build safer communities

d.      Then change the institutions

e.