The documentary, Rape in the Fields, details the sexual harassment and abuse of female farmworkers in the United States and the important power dynamics that come with undocumented workers and their supervisors. During lecture, we discussed “unwelcome” and “involuntary” actions, specifically in the workplace. The film documents these actions through the particular story of Renee Rodriguez and Olivia Tamayo, where unwelcome actions were clearly present, unwelcome purely being an understatement. The harassment taking place on Harris Farms and similar farm and food industrial cites places the “unwelcome” distinction in great contempt, there is clear criminal activity happening and workers certainly being taken advantage of yet there is no reporting. …show more content…
Speaking out about things like this becomes impossible for these workers and the position of supervisor is instantly given an incredible amount more power taking away workers’ ability to consent. It could easily be argued that consent cannot be given within the relationships being investigated because of this, just as a relationship between a teacher and a student is considered rape even if the student is of age due to power dynamics. The movie cites that these women are terrified of deportation and would risk their livelihoods if they spoke out. The farmeworkers are not just being forced to accept unwanted advances, the power dynamics existent within the unwanted advances adds another reason as to why this is explicitly rape and abuse and could never be consensual. Continuing with the power of the farm owners versus farmworkers, the vulnerability of the farmworkers is illustrated in the Harris Farm trial at the beginning of the film. To simply detail this powerlessness, the abuser got away free. Olivia Tamayo wasted so much time, energy, and money just to relive her trauma and watch her abuser walk free. These women are not only vulnerable due to their legal status in the United States but also because of the …show more content…
This leads one to the conclusion that there is honestly nothing for these women to do about their abusers. The worst these abusers ever see, in terms of the law, are immigration charges or charges against them for hiring undocumented immigrants. Finally, though, the EEOC did sue the rapists in the plant and the women were awarded money. Which, in my eyes, that still is not the justice they deserve. The documentary effectively displays the amount of sexual harassment existent in agriculture and the farms throughout the United States. There are few to no statistics on such harassment because of the legal status of the workers and the reluctance of people to gather such statistics. That being said, this is what Women’s Studies is for, though. Classes like this allow us to synthesize this information, become aware of it, and work to fix it. These women are susceptible to rape and it is our job to uncover and work to fix such injustices. It is necessary for us to have intersectional perspectives in order to bring to light real life gendered problems existent for women of color in our own
“Such a woman faces two major obstacles: fear and finance -- fear for her safety and that of her children and a lack of money to support herself or them. The most dangerous time in the life of a battered woman is when she attempts to leave her abuser. Threatened by the loss of control, the batterer is likely to become even more violent and may even try to kill her. There are simply not enough shelters to protect all the women who need them” (1).
from their families and lives in the United States. If an illegal immigrant woman is being
The introduction chapter 'Rethinking rape law' addresses an analytical overview of rape laws throughout a range of jurisdictions. Thus, engaging the development and debate of sexual assault laws within international and comparative perspectives. Within this overview, research emerges towards the vast supply of rape complaints during criminal investigations.
to working in the fields, it wasn’t exactly what the landowners had them do. Workers also had
This United States of America is not fond of undocumented immigrants, especially women. Cruel anti-immigrant laws, policies, and practices have had especially dramatic impact on immigrant women and their families. These measures force immigrant women to choose between the threat of an abusive husband and the threat of deportation if they call the police. Immigration policies can also make women sit in detention, thus leaving their children. During this time, some of the women might be raped by officers. This is because detention lacks sexual abuse prevention policies. These women who are in the detention centers are not dangerous, instead they are placed behind bars because of small crimes such as driving without a license or they are charged the civil crime for violating immigration laws.Women are faced with the emotional burden of separation from their families.
Sexual aggression among college students has been a popular topic of examination for the past three decades. One of the reasons for the repeated analysis is the fact that sexual aggression remains a common and enduring experience among college students. An early survey on this topic found that 54% of college women reported experiencing some sort of sexual victimization (Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987). That same year, Muehlenhard and Linton reported that 78% of female college students experienced some sort of sexual coercion and 15% reported experiencing a rape. Studies since then have consistently replicated those findings. Sexual coercion is commonly defined as any method used to obtain sexual contact with an initially unwilling partner, including negotiation and reasoning, guilt or emotional pressure, and the threat or use of physical aggression (Lyndon, White, & Kadlec, 2007).
Agriculture was the most important economic activity in America from the founding of Virginia in 1607 to about 1890. Although farming declined rapidly in relative economic importance in the twentieth century, U.S. agriculture continued to be the most efficient and productive in the world. Its success rested on abundant fertile soil, a moderate climate, the ease of private land ownership, growing markets for farm produce at home and abroad, and the application of science and technology to farm operations.
...population. He played on the emotional and physically aspects of the females, who are the victims. Emotionally, the maternal instincts of women were used as means to their own abduction and rape. Physically, they were unable to defend themselves against the rape, because they were unconscious during the whole ordeal. This reinforce the purpose of the paper, to inform and create speculation of a crime that could be committed.
"Around the world at least one woman in every three has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family." (C,J Newton, 2011)
According to a statement addressing the sexual victimization of college women The Crime and Victimization in America states that, “ One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.” This disturbing fact has not minimized throughout the years, instead it is continuing to worsen throughout college campuses. Sexual assault is not an act to be taken lightly. Society must stop pinpointing the individuals who commit these crimes one by one, but rather look at the problem as a whole and begin to understand the main cause of sexual assault and possible methods to reduce these acts of sexual coercion.
Sexual assault has nothing to do with attraction, desire, or passion, but for the feeling of power and control over another individual, anger, and the want to hurt another (Kaminker, 1998). The rape epidemic sweeping the nation’s colleges needs to be examined more thoroughly. The colleges that deny acting upon accusations need to be scrutinized for their actions. Every sexual assault case needs to be examined with justice, care, and respect of the victims. Prosecution levels of the accused needs to be increased, to where no man/woman has the right to commit the crime, but can get away with it.
Knowledge is power. An example of awareness producing activism can be seen in the war against Iraq. When one learns of an unjust war being carried out they, now knowing the circumstances, will act as they will to stop the injustices occurring. The same can be seen in women’s activism. When people become educated on the topic of women’s rights, they come to understand the circumstances and can act accordingly to help stop the problems from carrying on. Anne-Marie O’Connor’s article about the maquiladora women in Mexico and their terrible working conditions brought awareness about, as well as Sam Dylan’s article on the mistreatment of these women.
...apidly our world today. There are hundreds of places people may go and visit for help or more information about rape and sexual violence. It is very important that when and if it happens, the victim needs to report the crime to authorities immediately. People must know the truth about rape and sexual violence and what to do about it.
1 in 5 women will experience sexual assault as an adult (cite). To me, that statistic is mindboggling. I’m not sure people are really aware of the fact that in our society women are raped every single day or maybe they are aware but it doesn’t truly affect their lives until it happens to them or someone they know. Rape is a serious crime. I’m not sure there is a worse crime than rape. Rape is when one person violates the personal space of another. More times than not the attacker is male and the victim is female. With rape not only are you at risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases but also your piece of mind is taken away. Women can experience symptoms of PTSD after being raped. Rape is crime where the act in itself is awful, but also dealing with it after is very painful as well. If our society were more knowledgeable about rape maybe it wouldn’t happen as much. Knowing the difference between the different characteristics of a serial rapist versus a single victim rapist could potentially help women or men identify their attacker, if they know what to look for. This may be more of a struggle for if the attacker is a stranger or a one-time offender, but if women are able to give details about their attack, this could help the criminal justice system find these criminals after the fact. In this paper, I will explain and critique three different studies that were conducted comparing and contrasting serial rapists and single-victim rapists.
Since rape is a sensitive issue, there are limited options that the social worker could take. One option would be to respect the self-determination of Rose to not discuss the assault again despite the fact she is showing poor mental health. By doing this, the social worker is not fulfilling her obligation to address client’s wellbeing. The second option would be to disclose the assault to her parents in an effort to encourage Rose to seek help. This, though, does not guarantee that Rose will be willing to seek help. In fact, telling her parents might harm Rose more as it is unknown how her parents will react. She may also not be ready for her parents to know. In addition, reporting to her parents can be seen as a betrayal