Former Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw Convicted of Rape is an article published by CNN that explores the recent conviction of Daniel Holtzclaw in order to expose the horrifying abuse of power used by this ex-police officer against women of color. Daniel Holtzclaw was a Police officer in Oklahoma that targeted black women from a poor neighborhood in order to force these women to perform sexual acts ranging from oral sodomy to groping to rape. He targeted specific women according to their race, socioeconomic status and criminal history, trying to guarantee that their voices would never be heard. This article proves that sexual violence can come from anywhere, even those that are supposed to be protecting your freedom, not taking it away. It
Women are consistently seen as the inferior sex. They are seen as weaker, less intelligent, less informed, and less likely to be able to protect themselves or speak up about violence against them. And many times people perpetuate these sexist thoughts and beliefs without even realizing it. As Bell Hooks discusses in her book Feminism Is For Everybody, men allow sexism because they fear the loss of the power of the patriarchal society that rules our country, and anyone who isn’t actively fighting against this sexist oppression is part of the problem. And racism and classism both play large roles in this passive perpetuation of sexist ideals. As Hooks said in her book, “utopian visions of sisterhood based solely on the awareness of the reality that all women were in some way victimized by male domination were disrupted by discussions of class and race.” This quote explores the idea that as long as women try to overpower other women based on the color of their skin or the amount of money they hold, there can be no progress forward for women as a whole. If white women are not willing to help those of a different race, or wealthy women are not willing to help women of a lower class, there will be no way to fight against a patriarchal society that allows men, especially wealthy white men in a position of power, such as Daniel Holtzclaw, to get away with oppression, exploitation, violence, and rape of
When sexual education is taught in schools, teachers should include a section on intimate partner violence. This should include being able to see signs that could help identify someone as potentially abusive, resources that are available, and stories of people who have been sexually or otherwise abused. There should me more awareness spread through the media. Instead of the skewed and unreliable information that the media spurts out, there should be more women telling their stories and sharing statistics, and showing that it is okay to seek help and that it is okay to tell your story. It is important that information about the problem of sexual violence and the impacts of sexual violence are made accessible to everyone. Once people are aware and informed, not only will it help to prevent further attacks against women, but also if women see that they are not alone in their struggle, more women will come forward and be able to receive the help that they need. There may be some who still will not have access to this information, but even if only a few become informed, those few can reach out and spread the information, and keep spreading that information and lifelines for help until progress is
Malcolm X stated that the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected person in America is the black woman. Black women have long suffered from racism in American history and also from sexism in the broader aspect of American society and even within the black community; black women are victims of intersection between anti-blackness and misogyny sometimes denoted to as "misogynoir". Often when the civil rights movement is being retold, the black woman is forgotten or reduced to a lesser role within the movement and represented as absent in the struggle, McGuire 's At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power does not make this same mistake.
Rape can happen to anyone. Women from different cultures, races, ages, and economic level are all vulnerable. It does not matter who you are or where you live, although women of lowest status are most vulnerable to rape, and so are Hispanic and African American women. (An...
People today, need to recognize the importance of domestic violence. There are so many women that get physically abused and even killed every year. Women need to protect themselves more and stop going back to the abuser. The authority and court systems should be stricter on men to prevent domestic violence against women; there are so many men in this country that get away with so much because the women get scared to call for help and feel like they are prisoners.
White women had been oppressed, and eventually when America began to diversify, those coming into the country were becoming oppressed and alienated. Even those who had been in the country were being discriminated against, but it’s because white Americans were prejudice towards those who identified as other than white. Sexism was and is definitely prevalent within the feminist movement, as feminism is fighting for the equality between men and women in general. Sexism creates and justifies systems of domination based on sex and gender (FYS Class Notes). The feminist movement began on the acts of sexism, as women did not have the same rights as men. Today, I think that women still aren’t treated as equal to men because people, especially men, think that women aren’t capable of doing the things a man can. I also think that part of the reason that men think women aren’t equal is because women can have children, and they just assume that the woman is supposed to take care of that child for the rest of her life. Yes, it’s her child, but it’s also the man who helped her create the child’s responsibility to take care of the child as
Many women do not get treated the same as men and that is a problem. Shirley Chisholm gives a speech about the Equal Rights Amendment. She talks about how the different sex are not being treated the same. There are many prejudice that was going on in the 1900s and that have become a problem in the society. Many people think that they are higher than others and that they are better because they have white skin. But they are just the same no matter what skin color or sex they are. There are much discrimination between men, women, and other races and Shirley Chisholm talks about it in her speech “For the Equal Rights Amendment” and how there was and is prejudice. Every women or other race can do the same things a white man can. Matthews wrote “In 1972 Shirley Chisholm, a congresswomen from Brooklyn, ran unsuccessfully for President in a race that mobilized many African-American women to become involved in politics.” It does not matter what sex a person is, they can become anyone. According to Chisholm in her speech “For” she states “House Joint Resolution 264…provides a legal bas...
In fact, the history of feminism has shown that often times, the feminist movement only serves “the most affluent, socially accepted, and privileged women within it” and often fails to secure equality for women who don’t fit this favored status (Rios, “4 Things We Can Do to Make Feminist Organizing More Inclusive”). The feminist movement’s privileges are largely enjoyed by middle to upper class, white women. However, it is critical to understand that the movement fails and is not doing its job to the fullest extent if it does not focus on those marginalized and oppressed women within it. Jessa Crispin, author of Why I am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto, explains that “Just because a certain population of women — who are mostly white, educated and upper middle class — can participate in higher levels of society, that doesn’t make it a victory for all women, it’s the collective that needs taking care of” (Racco, “Redefining the F
...raising awareness and not keeping this “taboo topic” in the dark. The more publicity spousal abuse receives, the easier it will be for people to talk about this serious issue. Publicity is not the sole way to end this problem. Each and every person has to realize that they are on this Earth together and if they do not band together when it comes to an issue such as this it will never be conquered. With the growing number of battered families shelters and awareness about abuse added to the educational system, the eradication of this problem can happen. It is important to keep in mind that this problem will not simply go away just through getting the word out. It also takes people to stand up against this horrid abuse and say it is wrong. Everyone deserves the right to be happy, and if domestic abuse is out of the picture, that mission goal can be easier to achieve.
“Women and men do not receive an equal education because outside of the classroom women are perceived not as sovereign beings but as prey” (Rich 446). Women already have this preconceived notion that they not only have to compete with men in school but the pressure that society puts on them to compete with other women every day. The body shaming epidemic going on now tells women that if they don’t have the right measurement then you are not considered attractive, it is another example of how women are viewed as a whole instead of as individuals. Adrienne Rich also discusses the obstacle that women face every day, but no one wants to talk about, rape. “How much of my working energy is drained by the subliminal knowledge that as a woman, I test my physical right to exist each time I go out alone?” What Rich is expressing is that women always have the unnecessary burden, of not only being considered the weaker sex in society but also physically being reminded that as women doing something as mundane as walking to your car you have to be conscious of the possibility of being raped. This is affecting women outside of the classroom setting, if women were represented more in mainstream curriculum there would not be such a conception about gender
This has heavy ramifications on women as a class because women come from such vast backgrounds—race, social class, financial background, sexual orientation, gender expression, cis/transgender backgrounds, age, ability, and any other backgrounds imaginable—women have to reconcile all of these backgrounds together as fellow women. Bennett would argue that the lack of knowledge of the past of women as a class “hinders our ability to trace continuities in women’s history,” specifically because women’s history is different with every separate tie to other backgrounds (Bennett 79). One might argue that the only thing that ties women together as a class in modern society is the ability to make patriarchal bargains. Even though not every woman is able to assimilate into the patriarchy as easily as white, cis, straight women, in modern society, more women than ever before have been able to make patriarchal
Gender oppression doesn’t exist by itself; it is interlocked with many other oppressions such as class and racial oppression (Williams lecture, 10/6/2016). The women’s movements of Truth’s time were focused on fighting against sexism that mainly only white women faced that ignored relations of power between white people and black people. For Truth, the most significant issue in relation to gender inequality is that the issues of slavery and race are being pushed aside because the women’s movement only wants to focus one issue. Truth doesn’t quite propose a solution to this problem in her speech; she instead wants her voice and the voices of other black women to be
Betty Owens was kidnapped on her way to a school formal, raped repeatedly by four white males, and worse might have happened it it had been for her friends getting help from a young white police officer (Lecture 4/13 ). Officer Joe D. Cooke Jr. was on duty when the friends of Betty Owens came running for his help, and instead of doing what many white policeman before had done, he ran to her aid (McGuire, p. 163). What is amazing about this case is the fact that not only were these men arrested and jailed by a white man but that they were threatened on the seen with being shot for their offenses against miss. Owens (McGuire, p. 163). The fact that the white boys were arrested on the spot and spent the days leading up to their trial in jail was also something that this case had happened that had never occurred prior in Southern states. This all being said Miss. Betty Owens was extremely lucky that officer Cooke was on duty and not the chief of police since it was common knowledge that the only reason why he stayed in power was by igniting race tensions (McGuire, p. 161). In Florida this case was the first of it’s kind in that it was the first all white jury to convict a white man, let alone four, of raping a Black woman, this was yet another important step in the Civil Rights Movement but more importantly a step in the right direction for the feminist movements. Rape of white women had always been such an outrage and meant death for the perpetrator, but with each of these very public cases the outrage against any man who committed violence against women, of any race grew, culminating with the Joan Little case which broke down the last of remnants of the Jim Crow law (Lecture
Among the many subjects covered in this book are the three classes of oppression: gender, race and class in addition to the ways in which they intersect. As well as the importance of the movement being all-inclusive, advocating the idea that feminism is in fact for everybody. The author also touches upon education, parenting and violence. She begins her book with her key argument, stating that feminist theory and the movement are mainly led by high class white women who disregarded the circumstances of underprivileged non-white women.
Since the 19th century, the women's movement has made fantastic strides toward obtaining civil rights for women in America. Woman suffrage has been abolished, and they are no longer viewed as second-class citizens. Unfortunately, the issue of gender inequality still echoes in today's society. The fight to change a society shaped predominately by men continues, and will likely pursue for decades to come. Whether it be social, political, or economic rights, the main idea is equality for all genders, man or woman. In modern society, it seems that such a simple concept should be accepted globally by everyone – so why do women still face the daily toils of demanding the privileges that should available to all? No matter the class of woman, it is likely they will suffer from inequality and stereotypes at some point in their life. We see this in the workplace, where women have been shown to earn less then men. Some women also face the dangers of sexual violence, and are left victimized for such crimes.
The society we live in is rape-conducive, rape-friendly, if you will. Despite the anger I feel joining those two words together, I know the sad paradox holds within it a great deal of truth. We are a violent society that has shrouded rape in mystery and shame. To stop this nightmare’s venomous crusades, all people must wage a private war to eradicate their own acceptance of the savage crime. While it is only a minority of men that actually commit rape, it is everyone’s silence that tells them it’s ok.
Imagine you are a 28 year old woman, and have been working for a Wall-Street bank all day. You decide to go on a run in Central Park to wind down your day. It is a cool evening. The air is lush and Central Park breathes with the energy of New York. It is April 19th, 1989. You start your run off strong. Halfway through your run, you turn a corner and a man steps out from the shoulder. He strikes you with a tree branch. You realize he is dragging you. Everything spins. You cry out for help and howl with pain. You hit your attacker around the face. There is a struggle, but he easily overpowers you. He takes off your clothes and binds your wrists to you head. The blows do not stop. Everything goes black. When you wake up, you are in the hospital and are told you have been raped, and severely beaten. You suffered severe hypothermia, blood loss, a fractured skull, and have been in a coma. You cannot remember what happened that night and you do not remember the attack. You feel alone, ostracized, and overwhelmed. Your physical injuries are nothing compared to the pain that dwells in your heart. This is the story of the Central Park jogger, and this is the reality of rape.