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Girl interrupted book review
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According to Girlhood Interrupted, the author conducted a study of collected data from authorities that broadened the view on poverty and inequality among black and white girls between the age of 5-19. The adult perception regarded that young black girls are less innocent compared to white girls at a parallel age, indicating that the color of a child’s skin may affect how their actions are perceived. In the study, it was depicted that black girls are less nurturing and comforting, knowledgeable on adult topics, and more independent as opposed to white girls. The “adultification” is misjudging and stereotypical, especially for adolescents as one would assume extensive roles that are powered for adulthood. The title Girlhood Interrupted emphasizes
Among the most prominent are strains of racism/classism, belonging and dislocation, death and meaning and self-identity, and sexual awakening. In a slim 187 pages the author competently weaves social commentary (via the seemingly innocent adolescent perspective) into a moving narrative that only occasionally veers toward the pedantic.
In Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, Annette Lareau discussed the extensive amount of research she conducted employing observational and interview techniques. She collected data on the middle class, working class, and poor families. She was trying to understand the impact of a child’s early parental guidance on the child’s life. She was able to conduct this research with 12 families, all of whom had fourth graders. She gathered enough information to conclude the major differences in the parenting styles of each type of family, which was directly correlated to socioeconomic status. Annette Lareau opens her book with two chapters to give the reader an idea on what the examples she gives will detail.
On Being Young-A Woman-and Colored an essay by Marita Bonner addresses what it means to be black women in a world of white privilege. Bonner reflects about a time when she was younger, how simple her life was, but as she grows older she is forced to work hard to live a life better than those around her. Ultimately, she is a woman living with the roles that women of all colors have been constrained to. Critics, within the last 20 years, believe that Marita Bonners’ essay primarily focuses on the double consciousness ; while others believe that she is focusing on gender , class , “economic hardships, and discrimination” . I argue that Bonner is writing her essay about the historical context of oppression forcing women into intersectional oppression by explaining the naturality of racial discrimination between black and white, how time and money equate to the American Dream, and lastly how gender discrimination silences women, specifically black women.
The research in “Rebel Girls” is concentrated with girls of color. In addition, the girls do not want to be associated as “special” because they do not want other youths to feel discouraged. Rather, they want them to feel as if they too can take part in social development. The reason the girl activists are regarded as “special” is because adults think that the youth does not k...
The short story “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, and Halfie” by Junot Diaz is the main character, Yunior’s, guide to dating girls of different races and the ways to act in order to get what you want from them. The only thing Yunior seems to want for these girls is sexual acts. This short story argues that a person’s heritage, economic class, and race affect how a person identifies themselves, and how their identity affects how they act towards other people. The pressures a person may feel from society also has an effect on how a person treats themselves and others. The pressure and expectations from society are also what makes Yunior think he needs to have sex with these girls. There are many different occasions of the main character talking and acting differently to other people within the story, such as: to himself, his friends, and the different girls he tries to date.
“We found that equality for women was generally directed toward white women 's issues” Tohe continued “Most Indian women ended up in low paying, dead-end jobs that offered few benefits...”(182) In American culture women of color are on the bottom rung of the societal hierarchy, with little representation and help from the Feminist Movement but they have still made strides and risen above what they were given. In a large portion of the text Tohe contrasts how her culture views puberty versus American culture, and Tohe uses her personal experience to paint the contrast as a whole for the audience. “The underlying message was that puberty was a dirty and shameful business that you went through alone.”(180) Tohe contrasts her culture and how they see puberty as a celebration and as a transition into womanhood, and even more importantly
Getting played is a well written portrayal of the harsh realities of African American girls in poor urban environments. The theoretical framework this book uses will be related to Sampson and Wilson 's Toward a Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality 1995. The relationship with race and crime is complex with historical, cultural, structural factors and more.
Kimberlé Crenshaw’s assertion that the advancement of racial equality is not attainable without the advancement of gender equality is supported with adequate evidence throughout her article, “Black Girls Matter.” Crenshaw’s argument is founded upon the biases woven into government-funded initiatives focused on bettering the lives of the nations underprivileged youth while turning a blind eye to the marginalization of the female colored youth. In particular Crenshaw focuses on President Obama’s initiative, My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) and Michelle Obama’s global initiative Let Girls Learn. Furthermore, the article emphasizes the shortcomings of the nations female colored youth in terms of education through the presence of sexism and racism.
Assata’s childhood was filled with contradictions. Despite affirming that her family instilled in her “a sense of personal dignity” (Assata 19), she notes that, for them, “pride and dignity were hooked up to things like position and money” (20). In this way, her “awareness of class differences in the Black community came at an early age” (20-21). Her grandparents associated being good enough with having the same things white people had. Although she was raised to believe she was good enough, this was not the message that the environment constantly communicated to her. She attended segregated schools and grew up amidst an unconscious rhetoric of self-hatred fostered by beauty stereotypes that included skin bleaching, hair straightening, and the rejection of numerous body parts: thick lips, wide nose, kinky hair. All of these distorted beauty expectations disrupted her identity as a black girl. If she was expected to behave as whites did, why didn’t she have the same things as they? she wondered. This caused a great amount of resentment toward her mother, for example, for not having “freshly baked cookies” (37) upon her arrival from school —like white kids in commercials did—, and resentment towards having to do chores, which white kids did not have to do. The anger continues to build up and appears to reach its childhood peak when she tells the story of a white boy she attacked in the sixth grade because he accused her of stealing his pen. Assata states: “I was usually very quiet and well behaved. [The professors] acted like i had jumped on that boy for nothing, and they couldn’t understand why i was so angry. As a matter of fact, even i didn’t understand. Then” (42). This episode exemplifies the outbursts of rage that daily encounters with racism can lead to. Her incapacity to articulate the reasons for the anger show her inability to assimilate the condition of
The book, The Child Called It, represents survival many different ways. The book is about a child named David surviving through child abuse. Throughout the book he shows many different traits including perseverance and courage. David had perseverance because even though he was getting abused he persevered through it. He persevered through getting stabbed and sleeping in a garage. He preserved through not eating for 10 days straight. He also persevered through getting held over a burning stove. Another trait David showed, in many different ways, is courage. David was courageous through all of the horrible punishments that his mom made him do. He started to realize that if he went into the situation with courage, it would be better. Even though
Black and Female: The Challenge of weaving an identity.? Journal of Adolescents July 1995 19. 466.
One day a innocent black boy (under 18) went to the store, only to be followed by the manager of the store on July 19, 2014. The worker saw the boy as a threat to the store because he thought the boy was going to steal stuff from the store. This is outrageous, because stereotyping black boys (under 18) is an issue/ongoing problem that needs to be addressed because it endangers the chances of black boys getting a good life. Readers can expect to learn true facts about this issue.
Lights, camera, action. The spotlight gleams down on me. What do I say? Sure, my blackness typecasts me as aggressively outspoken, even though my occasional moments of shyness and social awkwardness prevents me from navigating within this narrative. A common rhetorical tactic that is upheld in the black community is the premise that young girls should be “seen, and not heard.” This narrative was heavily consumed in my household, which brew me to believe that my voice was trivial compared to my male counterparts. The Sapphire archetype of anger and the Jezebel archetype of sexuality failed to align with my shy persona. At a young age, I developed an inferiority complex. This is one of the effects of teaching young girls to keep quiet.
Our book defines intersectionality as the “analysis claiming that systems of race, economic class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nation, and age form mutually constructing features of social organization, which shape African American experiences and, in turn, are shaped by African Americans.” (Collins, 2004, p. 351) African Americans are always facing experiences that involve several of these attributes. Normally, our experiences revolve around race and economic class, but that’s not always the case. My gendered situation will discuss these particular intersections: race, age, and economic class.
Childhood is a powerful and important time for all humans. As a child, the things one sees and hears influences the choices and decisions they make in the future. “How a child develops during early and middle childhood years affects future cognitive, social, emotional, language, and physical development, which in turn influences their trust and confidence for later success in life” (Early and Middle Childhood). Yehuda Nir’s, The Lost Childhood is a first person memoir based on the life of a youthful Jewish child who survived the Holocaust. Taking place from pre-World War II 1939, to post-World War II 1945, this memoir highlights the despicable things done during one of the darkest times in modern history. Prior to being published in October