Hello! I am getting further into the book Pushout and really enjoying it. I am hoping you are either liking this book or the book you are reading! Today I will be focusing on the modern-day relevance to Pushout.
As I keep advancing in reading this book, it is becoming more and more eye-opening. Each time I read another section I become more knowledgeable about what has been going on around the world, which is helping me better understand why the movements have started to make huge impacts recently. Last blog post I focused on the rhetorical part of Monique Morris’s book, but today I am connecting it to modern-day relevance. When a person is making a “relevance” to something, they are taking the concept of a topic and connecting it to a more current topic or event. The book Pushout has been able to share stories of past events, however, what is happening to these girls is a modern event. Black girls are getting discriminated against in schools throughout recent years, it is happening every day.
Chapter 3, “Jezebel in the Classroom”, was the next chapter I read in the book. It was focused on mostly sex trafficking young black girls and how these girls are choosing work over education, as well as their struggle between the two. It is really overwhelming to hear some of the stories Morris shares throughout this chapter. As young women, this topic runs through most of our minds. We tend to wander and be frightened by this topic, but few are affected by it. Women want to feel as though they have control over their bodies, which many do. I have always felt as if I am the one who controls my body, not a man. I have never been forced to my body for something I am not comfortable with, or have turned to use my body as a way out. This is very different for young black girls, they see their bodies as something they can use to be able to crawl out of their living situations, and maybe have a better life.
In the book, Morris brings up a story about a young girl named Diamond, who was being sex trafficked and no one was able to help her. She was being bullied in and outside of school, and there was nothing that she was able to do about it. In the book, it says "I hate the bitches at this school" (97). The administration did not catch her behind the story of what she was dealing with and what was happening to her. Instead, they immediately expelled her from the school. Diamond had no choice but to traffic when she was in school, and she was bullied for that. There was a poem that was stated at the beginning of this chapter that was referring to Diamonds story:
As I keep advancing in reading this book, it is becoming more and more eye-opening. Each time I read another section I become more knowledgeable about what has been going on around the world, which is helping me better understand why the movements have started to make huge impacts recently. Last blog post I focused on the rhetorical part of Monique Morris’s book, but today I am connecting it to modern-day relevance. When a person is making a “relevance” to something, they are taking the concept of a topic and connecting it to a more current topic or event. The book Pushout has been able to share stories of past events, however, what is happening to these girls is a modern event. Black girls are getting discriminated against in schools throughout recent years, it is happening every day.
Chapter 3, “Jezebel in the Classroom”, was the next chapter I read in the book. It was focused on mostly sex trafficking young black girls and how these girls are choosing work over education, as well as their struggle between the two. It is really overwhelming to hear some of the stories Morris shares throughout this chapter. As young women, this topic runs through most of our minds. We tend to wander and be frightened by this topic, but few are affected by it. Women want to feel as though they have control over their bodies, which many do. I have always felt as if I am the one who controls my body, not a man. I have never been forced to my body for something I am not comfortable with, or have turned to use my body as a way out. This is very different for young black girls, they see their bodies as something they can use to be able to crawl out of their living situations, and maybe have a better life.
In the book, Morris brings up a story about a young girl named Diamond, who was being sex trafficked and no one was able to help her. She was being bullied in and outside of school, and there was nothing that she was able to do about it. In the book, it says "I hate the bitches at this school" (97). The administration did not catch her behind the story of what she was dealing with and what was happening to her. Instead, they immediately expelled her from the school. Diamond had no choice but to traffic when she was in school, and she was bullied for that. There was a poem that was stated at the beginning of this chapter that was referring to Diamonds story:
"Tra la-la boom-di-yay
I met a boy today
He gave me 50 cents
To go behind the fence
He knocked me on the ground
And pulled my panties down
He counted 1-2-3
And stuck it into me
My mother was surprised
To see my belly rise
My father jumped for joy
Because it was a boy" (96).
Reading about this girl and how she had to be a prostitute makes my stomach turn. Diamond was 14 years old, and her "very older" boyfriend was 25 (96). She had no choice but to stay with him in her point of view, which is what happens to most girls. It is said that 57.5% of all juvenile arrests are black children, and 40% of sex trafficking victims are black women (Davey). So, not only have these girls been quitting school to become a prostitute, if they are caught they can be sent to jail which worsens their situations. Diamond was expelled from school rather than being helped by the administration. In the stories that Morris explains, you can infer that these girls have learned that they do not need education, all they need is their bodies for male pleasure. "A lot of these girls don't think education is important, or why, like 'What is an education going to do for me''', a girl named Jennifer explains in a story Morris shares (111). She’s more worried about making money rather than getting a good education.
As I grew up, I have been taught to strive for education and to be able to get the most education I can receive so that when I am older I can have a stable living. I have never throughout my life thought that I would have to turn to use male figures to be able to live and get by. It is sickening when hearing that girls younger than my little brother is already being sex trafficked. Reading the book Pushout I have been able to see what these girls are going through and their thought processes, and I can say that I am shocked each time I read a new story.
In recent years, the US Olympic women’s ex-coach, John Gerrard, was charged with 24 felonies including human trafficking and sex crimes. On CNN, Evan Simko Bednarski explains the charges, which were “14 counts of human trafficking-forced labor resulting in injury, six counts of human trafficking of a minor for forced labor, and one count each of continuing criminal enterprise, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and lying to a peace officer during a violent crime investigation”(Vera). The girls who were abused and sex trafficked have emotional abuse, eating disorders, self-harm attempts, and different forms of physical abuse. Although this relevance is not exactly like the situations the black girls go through in schools and throughout sex-trafficking, I decided to use this as my relevance through the emotional aspects piece of it. These gymnasts were forced to pay him thousands when they knew what he was doing, and they did not know how to get out of it, they had nothing else to turn to for years. These young black females are in poverty and are turning to sex trafficking as a way to meets the day’s end. However, they are getting caught up in prostitution and are unable to find ways out of it. They are doing whatever it takes to be able to provide for themselves and put themselves through high emotional distress.
The topic of sex trafficking was greatly emphasized in this section of the book and has been a large modern-day relevance in our society. As I keep reading I hope to see and inform you of the other ways these girls are getting discriminated, because each one is even more of a reason to stand up and along with these black females and any female who is being sex trafficked.
As I grew up, I have been taught to strive for education and to be able to get the most education I can receive so that when I am older I can have a stable living. I have never throughout my life thought that I would have to turn to use male figures to be able to live and get by. It is sickening when hearing that girls younger than my little brother is already being sex trafficked. Reading the book Pushout I have been able to see what these girls are going through and their thought processes, and I can say that I am shocked each time I read a new story.
In recent years, the US Olympic women’s ex-coach, John Gerrard, was charged with 24 felonies including human trafficking and sex crimes. On CNN, Evan Simko Bednarski explains the charges, which were “14 counts of human trafficking-forced labor resulting in injury, six counts of human trafficking of a minor for forced labor, and one count each of continuing criminal enterprise, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and lying to a peace officer during a violent crime investigation”(Vera). The girls who were abused and sex trafficked have emotional abuse, eating disorders, self-harm attempts, and different forms of physical abuse. Although this relevance is not exactly like the situations the black girls go through in schools and throughout sex-trafficking, I decided to use this as my relevance through the emotional aspects piece of it. These gymnasts were forced to pay him thousands when they knew what he was doing, and they did not know how to get out of it, they had nothing else to turn to for years. These young black females are in poverty and are turning to sex trafficking as a way to meets the day’s end. However, they are getting caught up in prostitution and are unable to find ways out of it. They are doing whatever it takes to be able to provide for themselves and put themselves through high emotional distress.
(Vera)
I know that finding education and being able to go through education can be hard for many different people. Choosing to work over school looks like a better option when children are struggling to be able to provide for themselves and sometimes siblings, and/or parents. Throughout my life, I have been fortunate enough to have a good education, play sports, and not have to worry about paying the bills or being able to get the next meal. I come home most nights from school and sports and there is dinner on the table waiting for me, and when I take a shower there is going to be hot water. I can have these fortunes, which many black girls are not able to. They are leaving their school because it is not emphasized by their teachers and peers. The girls need to make sure their bodies are taken care of before they go do anything else, even before they get an education. This world needs to change, there needs to be a difference between making money and getting sex trafficked, there has to be a line that the men/women cannot cross. These young black girls cannot grow up knowing this is their life, and there is no way out of it unless they end up making money. But, then they are left with emotional distress for the rest of their lives. These women, girls, have to be treated for who they truly are, not of any other value because of their races. The topic of sex trafficking was greatly emphasized in this section of the book and has been a large modern-day relevance in our society. As I keep reading I hope to see and inform you of the other ways these girls are getting discriminated, because each one is even more of a reason to stand up and along with these black females and any female who is being sex trafficked.
Works Cited
Davey, Samantha. "Snapshot on the State of Black Women and Girls: Sex Trafficking in the U.S." Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, www.cbcfinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SexTraffickingReport3.pdf. Accessed 24 Mar. 2021.
Morris, Monique W., et al. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. Paperback edition ed., New York, New Press, 2018.
Vera, Amir, and Evan Simko-Bednarski. "Ex-USA Gymnastics coach John Geddert found dead after being charged with human trafficking and sex crimes, officials say." CNN, 26 Feb. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/us/john-geddert-usa-gymnastics-coach-charged/index.html. Accessed 24 Mar. 2021.
It is sickening that women still feel responsible often for the crimes perpetrated against them. What do you think makes women feel responsible for what is done to them? Describing the news story with the gymnastics coach a little more would have been helpful to establishing the context.
ReplyDeleteHi Ms. LaClair,
DeleteI agree, it is definitely sickening that the women still feel responsible for crimes that were done against them. I think that they may feel as if they are still responsible because it is happening to their bodies, and that there is not much they are able to do about it. Many times, there is the general answer that "you could have done something about it" or "you really could have found help", although, these girls can sometimes have no other options. The girls on the Olympic team did not have another option, there was not another Olympic team they could go to in the US to train that was easy for them. Relating it back to the book, some of these girls are so young that they do not know the difference between what the men are doing and if it if wrong or not. Overall, I think that there are many different aspects as to why these women think that it is their faults for the crimes that they are the victims.