Border Patrol’s Not-So-Secret: the Normalized Abuse of Migrant Women on the U.S.-Mexico Border

I am delighted to announce that a version of Valeria Vera's research paper for the Davies Forum has been published in USF's International Affairs Review (fall 2013).

Abstract:
The aim of the United States Border Patrol is to prevent terrorists, weapons, and illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Now heavily militarized, is the Border Patrol out of control?

Read more here.

FSS-- future?

"The first task of a feminist security scholar should then be to develop a willingness to listen and to consider another view of the world" (Wibben, 2011, p.111).

The future starts with one simple word: curiosity (Enloe). Developing curiosity, as I have learned in the past two semesters, is necessary in the path towards establishing a feminist curiosity and to questioning everyday aspects of the political, because "feminism is political" (Wibben, 2011, p.113).

I think a big danger to the future, not just of Feminist Security Studies, but to society and people in general, is the same danger that Wibben identifies as "the myth of the empowerment narrative, the idea that we could be 'giving a voice' to someone (who am I to give a voice?)." She claims, instead, that "we need to 'ask ourselves the hard questions about what we are doing and why we are doing it'" (2011, p.110, quoting Andrews). This is the threat; that instead of perpetuating hegemony, knowledge, and power hierarchy, a critical aspect to the future of Feminist Security Studies is to understand that realities are all different, to question, and to tackle issues using the narrative perspective as a way to inform the general. As Cynthia Enloe said, the particular is the general, and the general is the particular, just a lot of particulars.

Wibben, A. (2011). Feminist Security Studies: A Narrative Approach. New York: Routledge.

Walk Against Rape

(This is me!)

Overall, the Walk Against Rape was very... revealing, I would say. There were a lot of emotions throughout the 3.5 mile walk that started in the Women's Building, at 18th and Guerrero, up 18th, then on Castro, down Market, down 16th and all the way to 25th and Potrero, at La Raza Park. 

At times, I felt like crying. Other times I felt really empowered. I felt supported. I felt hostility. I felt a unease.

I am a runner and have ran many races that benefit diseases. I realize how different advocating for such a cause really is. Then I also realized that rape culture can also be a disease. 

The whole time I was walking, I felt myself almost going through phases. Sometimes I would drift away only to be brought back to the reality of the march, of the blazing sun, of chanting, by cars driving by honking in support. Then I would remember to smile. To scream. To whoop loudly and bang my sign up in the air. To scream YEAAHH!!!!!! as passerby's smiled on, snapping pictures, as I saw people faces peeking out from their apartment windows, as people on the street would just stare on, as police-men riding their motorcycles and bikes regulated us, as tourists passed by on foot or on tour and thought "San Francisco". 

The whole time I was walking I thought about aspects of my personal life and moments when I have felt rejected, assaulted, or violated for the reason that I am a woman. I thought about my Mexican heritage and how I was raised and still live in a highly machismo-dominated culture. I thought about all the gender norms within my family, and the gender norms to which I been conforming to my entire life. I thought about the times I, too, have victim-blamed. Of the times I've discriminated. I thought about all the times I've used the word slut, whore, or hoe to refer to someone. Of the times I've been to college parties and seen girls passed out on the ground, some half-naked, and I just looked at them in disgust. I thought about the rape accusations against some boys on the soccer team at USF last year and how I had been called to share information with someone in the dean's office; even then I had thought, "some girls ask for it; they ask for it. They should know their limits." My goodness. How fucked up was I. 

Nobody deserves to get raped. It is NOT the woman's fault.

I don't know how many people in the walk had been victims themselves. But it didn't matter. We were one. We weren't going to be defeated. Nobody was going to tell us that we couldn't march. Not the police, not the government, not rapists, not anyone. I scream-responded with the women from Mujeres Unidas y Activas in Spanish as they chanted: "Si signifier si! No significa no!" and "violadores al carajo!" among many others.    

When I saw the sign "what causes rape", I thought about all the times I have been protected and told not to go out at night, to be careful about leaving babysitting gigs here in SF too late and taking a cab home because I can get raped, to not drink too much because I can get taken advantage of......... The list is endless. And it's so wrong. And I know I'm not alone.

One thing that really made me ponder and ... scared me... is something we've already discussed in class.  The whole time I was walking I couldn't stop judging all the men, and especially the police officers that were there. In this class especially, we have discussed a lot about militarization (obviously) and in the term paper that I am writing for this class, I focus on uncovering a lot of crimes perpetrated by legal officers and law enforcement. Some girls have mentioned nightmares as a result of all the information we read about, the crimes, the realities. I know I can't look at every man as a potential rapist. And I was trying to refrain from doing so. But it was hard. I saw them and saw patriarchy. I saw machismo. I wondered what they thought about my sign. I wondered if they felt attacked. I know rape is also committed by women. And that not all men are rapists. Nor abusive. But it's so hard for me look at them the same. It's really hard to continue having a relationship without closing myself off as a result of everything I am learning. Every time I get in an argument with my boyfriend or my dad now, patriarchy is everywhere, and so are my rights as a woman. It's so hard for me to identify the line between what is okay, what is normal, what isn't. 

How can I?

I know I'm never going to be "normal" again. Feminist blinkers are on. Everyday. All the time. It's scary when you slowly start to realize how blinded you were. When you are about to make a judgement on something and then stop yourself and think, "wait, that's not what I've learned." It certainly causes a lot of disruption in one's life. But I certainly have never felt so content, gratified, and hopeful (although extremely confused) about myself as a woman, my body, my rights, my voice, and the power I hold as a woman. 

Ann Jones' Davies Forum Lecture at USF

VIDEO HERE: The Longest War: Militarism and the War Against Women
Lecture presented at USF on 2/21/2013

Ann Jones is the author of numerous books on violence against women, including Women Who Kill and Next Time She'll Be Dead which focus on domestic violence in the U.S., as well as, more recently, Kabul in Winter and War is Not Over When It's Over, where she takes her expertise to conflict zones. As part of the Spring 2013 Davies Forum, Women, Violence and War, she lectured on "The Longest War: Militarism and the War Against Women." 

After the lecture, some of us went out to dinner...

One Million Bones

On April 16th an event was held in Gleeson Plaza. It was called "One Million Bones".

Although I consider myself an artistically challenged individual, and although at first I was worried that my resulting masterpiece would not be considered a "bone" and therefore be disqualified, as I began to mold my clay and be encouraged by those around me, my mind unconsciously pushed my worries aside and instead filled me with thinking thoughts. I began to wonder: whose bones? Kids, included? From what genocide? What about war? Who would it benefit? How many bones would be created? Will the money truly reach the cause? Whose foot am I molding? How much did it hurt? Will I ever understand? Why are people so selfish? Why are people so incomprehensible? Who gets to determine who lives, who doesn't, what type of revolution or attack, who gets to be killed? Why don't more students come to this event? They can't be too busy. Some probably don't know. Others simply don't care.

Hey, you, passerby, stop. Come! Build a bone. It won't take long. But it might consume your emotions. I promise you will be more aware. I don't promise you might not feel a little sad. Or even depressed. Just come. Be a little self-less. Be a little less ego-centric. No; your life isn't that hard. What you have to do right now isn't as important. It can wait. Just stop. Stop. Come back. Stop!! COME BACK!!!! 

But they didn't stop. They were too busy. They weren't curious enough. It didn't matter. They didn't care. Their lives are just too important. They were just too busy. 

Everyone is.

I uploaded my picture on Instagram. I hash tagged #onemillionbones #stopgenocide #stoptheviolence. I clicked on the #onemillionbones and was surprised to find so many pictures; so many shots; so many bones in different locations throughout the world. I felt special that my little child-sized foot might be able to unite along them. To add to that something bigger. 

I do hope there were more than one million bones. And I hope that more than 1 million people on this planet could have, for those few minutes, spent them recreating and imagining: one bone. Who did it belong to? Why did they lose it? Where are they now? Why?

- Valeria Vera

Beautiful Soul, Beautiful Woman: Cynthia Enloe

I met Cynthia Enloe (through her writings) last semester through my Feminist International Relations class, also with Professor Wibben.

Enloe has inspired and transformed the way I think and perceive so many realities, ideas, and "norms", but I never imagined what it would be like to meet her in person: an extremely down-to-earth, simple, friendly, incredibly brilliant, and happy woman.

Her evening lecture was about what impact the militarization and increasing masculinities that have resulted from the Boston Marathon bombings have and will continue having domestically, and also in a variety of subjects linked to the bombings, including the logic of officials and law enforcement, the media, and the "American" population. Although I hadn't been following the events too much, I had been hearing hushed opinions everywhere, many of which made me pretty upset. Enloe acknowledged many of these, and even when a member of the audience told her he didn't agree with one of her points, she was thankful and gracefully expressed her argument. Which I agreed with. I thought this was so admirable.

Since I was part of the few students who had coffee with her afterwards (we went to Sacred Grounds), I also received extra (privileged) time to speak to her about some points of view and including the research paper I am doing for this class, which focuses on the sexualized violence of migrant Mexican women as a result of the increasing militarization of the border. Some of the issues I brought up Enloe agreed with, also expressing my frustration on the limited aspect of the field. What I appreciated most, though, was that not once did she discourage me; on the other hand, she expressed her interest and encouragement, sounding excited and keen on hearing about it more. She even provided suggestions. Afterwards, she signed my book and wrote that I will uncover the truths on the border. Thank you Cynthia Enloe. I will. I plan on devoting my career to it.

 - Valeria

Cynthia Enloe at USF

Awesome pics from last night! Thank you Professor Wibben and Cynthia Enloe for an amazing day, coffee break, and evening talk (I didn't get to go to dinner afterwards). 

So cute...!!!

Global Women's Rights Forum

I waited until the last day to see the forum-- the title of the panel and presentation really hit my passion pit: domestic work and women's rights.

The panel was made up of Valerie Francisco, who mobilizes with Gabriela, USA, defending the rights of Filipina women in domestic work and transnational issues; Maria Hernandez, who was representing Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), a Spanish-speaking crisis hotline; Catherine Osborne; Lillian Galedo; and Lois Lorentzen.

These were a collection of women speaking on behalf of the safety issues and hazards/ dangers of being an undocumented domestic worker in the US, what types of policy advocating were taking place, what current bills and propositions in the house and senate of California are and have been on the federal even, too, and most importantly, to recognize the struggles and hardships that women face and survive.

I thought this was all awesome. Not only had I recently started interning at the Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC), but I have started engaging in a lot of advocacy and researching about these issues. It's crazy to realize how invisible society has created these people, how it has pushed them to the margins, how intense, real, and prominent racism and hate are, and also how much lack of choice there really is.

The growing victimization of women (and men), of those undocumented, is growing and getting worse-- but these continue to be silenced. These are traumatized, these live in fear, these often find themselves with no other choice. Are their reasons and actions ethical, then? Are they still being treated with dignity? What is missing? Why? Whose fault is it?

Recently, many groups have united and had created a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. This would assure that domestic workers would ask for and assure: 3 sick paid days, over-work time pay, rest and breaks, and 8 hours of sleep. This bill had already been passed, but vetoed along the way. It was up again for debate the next day in Sacramento-- and these women were sure that it would be passed.

The last thing, and one that left me intrigued, was that one of the speakers called out that "Domestic Violence makes all other work possible."

I felt and still feel, very empowered.

"Reportero"

The following reflection is from watching the film "Reportero" at the Human Rights Film Festival at USF on Thursday, April 4, 2013:

The film I saw at the Human Rights Film Festival was "Reportero". I chose to see this film because of two main reasons: I knew it was filmed in Tijuana, and two, it dealt with drug war issues.

The film turned out to be longer than I expected. And at some point, I will admit, I dozed off for a bit (which was disappointing). It turned out that rather than being about drug issues, it was more about the Zeta newspaper-- including its history, production, and current workings. It was more about getting to know this newspaper than about issues in Tijuana themselves, although Manu of the issues that the Zeta has dealt with and endured are, of course. Big historical issues in Tijuana.

The film went into a somewhat chronological depiction of the beginnings of the Zeta, how it was founded, under what circumstances, and by whom. 

It turns out (I didn't know this) that the founder was a guy named Blancornelas in 1980. He was in exile in the U.S. (under the PRI regime in Mexico) and from there, he began to publish the Zeta. His wife would take it to the border and then it would be distributed. To this day,which was a surprise to both my family and I (I informed them later, they read theZeta) the paper continues to be printed in California, as this assures freedom of voice and liberty to print whatever they want. 

The most important aspects of the film, although of course the whole workings of the Zeta are pretty incredible, was the devotion the journalists have to their cause. So far, two people have been killed and another survived an attempted murder. The first was "El Gato" Felix, who was one of the "most humorous and honest journalist" Mexico ever saw, and the co-editor in chief of Zeta. He was shot by someone who worked in the office and for Jorge Hank Jr., son of prominent and wealthy Jorge Hank from Mexico City. His shooter is still in prison, but the intelligence has never been caught as the crime has never been investigated.

The second person, the survivor, was Blancornelas, who was miraculously not killed thoroughly, but nonetheless died five years later (2005) from cancer.

The last victim is Franco Ortiz, who was killed in the early 2000s. 

It is not just these men but everyone who has devoted time to the writings of Zeta who have dedicated incredible passion and a huge part of of their lives in sacrifice for justice and the exposure of truth.

The film exposed many truths, and also many realities. 

Overall, it was a good film and one that is important when attempting to learn more and get involved in drug wars, in Tijuana, and in the failures and impunity brought about by the systems.

It's films like these that I enjoy watching because I believe that issues in Tijuana, as with any other border country, are often times over looked and people get caught up in the mainstream, what the media has to say. Except, this documentary lifted many veils and demonstrated the resiliency of the citizens, as well as the real extent of violence: it isn't as bad as the media portrays it to be. It makes me really angry when I tell people that I'm from Tijuana, or that I will be traveling there, because often times their responses are: "and you won't get shot???!"

It certainly did leave Tijuana and some truths about Zeta exposed. Some stuff I already knew. But overall, I felt really proud for the work they have been doing. Yet saddened and disappointed with both the Mexican and U.S. Governments and their deep levels of corruption and impunity.

Revision of Ann Jones' Chapter on Burmese Refugees

Ann Jones' chapter on the Burmese refugees in Thailand  focuses on the processes and struggles of her project the "Global Crescendo Project" which used photography as a means of documenting the daily lives of displaced Burmese minorities in Thailand. Mainly focusing on the Karenni women, who were thought to be shy and self-contained, the GCP brought a voice to many of them, as well as bridged the "gap between women and action" that exists as a result of impunity and patriarchy. Beyond the common difficulties in the camps, such as disease that passes quickly throughout camp refugees, domestic violence is in high frequency but seldom acknowledged, as "women endure violence because they saw no other choice,". As Jones' points out, such violence is incredibly ironic because it was a similar form of GBV, or torture, that the refugees were escaping from in the first place. Most importantly, the GCP began a path to educating and teaching men "how the problem starts and how they can solve it by themselves", learning, and using their knowledge of their history of suffering to promote rights and security writhing the community and the private sphere.

Ann, Jones. "Burmese Refugees in Thailand: Someplace Else." War Is Not Over When It's Over. New York: Metropolitan, 2010. 168-203. 

Part of Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuwfgXD8qV8

Hey guys, I thought of this as I remembered last class' discussion about the ways in which this course has not just changed the way we think about women, violence, war, to minimally state it, but I think it's fair to say it has changed the way we experience and perceive many things-- from our everyday lives, we see things in a different light. I just had to share this because watching it made me pretty upset with the images Katy Perry is setting across, as well as the bumper sticker that says "All women are born equal, then some become Marines". I'm not sure if maybe I understood it wrong, but the way I took it to mean was that first of all, women and men aren't even born equal, but women are; second, when a woman joins the Marines, she isn't equal to other women because she loses her woman-ness, her femininity. So then, this bumper sticker is explicitly devalorizing not just women, but even women in the Marines by demonstrating that they aren't women anymore once they join-- seen through Katy's masculinization as she chops her hair off, and puts on the "tough-guy" act.
How does this video continue to justify the patriarchal structures working within the system, and here in the Marines? It also made me realize how stressful it is to realize the huge number of little girls and young women who look up to Katy Perry, who obviously uses her power to restructure existing the existing power-structures and society. Lastly,  we've mentioned this before, but now that the combat ban is lifted, does anybody think it's important/possible that women began to keep their femininity, or at least not be forced to masculinize? How do you think they would react? Would it change things? Is it necessary? Would it create a little more equality, or what about women who don't mind being masculine?

Burmese Refugees in Thailand

The chapter on the Burmese refugees in Thailand from “War Is Not Over When It's Over” by Ann Jones focuses on the process and some aftermaths, or bringing the Global Crescendo Project to photograph the daily lives of the thousands of displaced Burmese minorities "imprisoned" in these "temporary" homes for 20 years. Mainly focusing on the Karenni women, who were thought to be shy and self-contained, the GCP brought a voice to many of them, as well as an attempt to bridge the "gap between women and action" that exists as a result of a lack of impunity, patriarchy, and the opportunity to put into action the system of governance. Beyond the common difficulties in the camps, such as disease that passes quickly throughout because the houses are so close together, domestic violence is in high frequency but seldom acknowledged, as "women endure violence because they saw no other choice," ironic because it was a similar form of GBV, or torture, that they were escaping from when they were forced to escape Burma.  In the end, the lives of the women who participated were greatly impacted, and changes began to be made, but most importantly, it began a path to educating and teaching men "how the problem starts and how they can solve it by themselves", learning, and using their knowledge of their history of suffering to promote rights and security writhing the community and the private sphere.

Ann, Jones. "Burmese Refugees in Thailand: Someplace Else." War Is Not Over When It's Over. New York: Metropolitan, 2010. 168-203. 

I saw this on Facebook not long ago (I don't remember how many likes it had, but I'm pretty sure it was a couple hundred thousand) and this came to mind as I was reading the piece by Jones, Chapter 4.

Summary of D'Costa Case Study

Bina D'Costa's case study of women who were subjected to rape and sexual assault during and after the Independence War of Bangladesh accomplishes two main things: (1) Examines the theme of silence as a response or rationalization to these instances of rape and/or sexual assault and (2) Problematizes the governmental response to these instances which included rehabilitation programs, forced abortions, war-baby adoption programs, and a "marry them off" campaign (143). According to D'Costa, the women experienced three types of silence: (1) On the part of the successive government (2) self-imposed silence or "negotiated survival" and (3) Silencing from social workers, activists, and human rights groups. D'Costa reports a variety of personal and/or methodology challenges that informed her study, such as encouraging the women to share their experiences, formatting interview questions, and deciding whether to refer to the women as "survivors" or "victims".

Summary by Lisa, Helen, Valeria, and Jillian