Today in class we will use They Say, I Say to respond to Half the Sky. Students will profile a character that illustrates an argument from one of the many stories the author's tell and practice agreeing or disagreeing using citations (3) in a 3 paragraph response. State what they say first, that is, state the argument. An argument is a claim that is debatable.
Students can do this activity as a group and then post it. It is also homework. Chose another character and respond in 3-paragraphs incorporating citations: 1 free paraphrase, 1 short quote, 1 longer citation or block quote.
Readings, etc.
Continue reading from Half the Sky. We will check in on page numbers. I will post the assignment for the essay after class here as well with due dates and sample questions students might consider. Yes, I am still reading Mighty essays. Don't worry, you will have a week to respond. For those students who have already received grades and comments, get the essays back to me with the narratives and the graded drafts.
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 6:56 AM
15 Comments:
Kathleen Adams
Professor Sabir
English 1A
12 March 2012
They Say I Say- Argument
The authors are mistaken when they say girls just grin and bear it, because they overlook these are cultural practices that have been passed down from generations. The fact is, when these girls escape and run to the police, they are taken back to the brothel and beaten more. When they are fighting back, they are punished in heartless ways: acid, rod irons and whatever else they can use to destroy their self-esteem. I disagree with the authors’ view of the girls accepting the agony of being beaten, raped constantly and not fighting back. They are drugged and are made to look like they are enjoying it, when they are not.
Paraphrase: The original
“They know that a woman humiliated in that way has no other recourse except suicide,” Mukhtar wrote later. “They don’t even need to use their weapons rape kills her.”
Paraphrased: “They recognize that a female disgraced in that manner has no further option but recklessness,” Mukhtar wrote later. “They don’t even want to use their arms rape murders her.”
Block Quote:
After administering the sentence, the rapist pushed Mukhtar out of the stable and forced her to stagger home, almost naked, before a jeering crowd. Once home, she prepared to what any Pakistani peasant woman would do in that situation: Kill herself. Suicide is the expected way for a woman to cleanse herself and her family of the shame.
Mukhtar’s mother and father kept watch over her and prevented that option; then a local Muslim leader –one of the heroes in this story – spoke up for her at Friday prayers and denounced the rape as an outrage against Islam. As the days passed, Mukhtar attitude mutated from humiliation to rage. Finally, she did something revolutionary: She went to the police and reported the rape, demanding prosecution. The police, somewhat surprisingly, then arrested the attackers. President Pervez Musharraf heard about the case and sympathized, sending Mukhtar the equivalent of $8,300 in compensation. But instead of taking the money for herself, Mukhtar decided to invest in what her village needed most schools. Half the Sky (71)
Savannah Conley
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
March 12, 2012
A hero or heroine is a person who either helps save others without expectations of getting something out of it for themselves, like power or money. A hero or heroine, often puts themselves, and sometimes even their family, in second place and makes helping others a priority. Heroes are sometimes simply inspired good doers, other times, heroes can be recovered victims or witnesses to vicious crimes, that instead of disabling them, they empower themselves and decide to use newly found strength and understanding to help others that are in or were in a similar position. In this particular novel we are finding that there are stories of both victims and heroes and sometimes the victims become heroes. In Half the Sky the authors tell us that prostitution in India and Nepal is common and that although many cases of prostitution are also cases of slavery, some cases are through free will as well. I agree that prostitution isn't always cause by slavery but I also believe that the way these countries societies are set up force women into slavery by leaving them no other option, and forcing someone to do something against their will might as well be slavery.
In Half the Sky we learn the story of Meena Hasina, who begins her story with a shocking detail, “ ‘I was eight or nine years old when I was kidnapped and trafficked” (3). She was only a child, they kept her separate and waited for her to mature and at twelve began to force her to have sex, for no money and no choice. This is an apparent case of sex slavery, because she is forced to do things against her will and she has both witnessed and experienced the beatings if she disobeys, along with threats of death. Meena dictates what happens when as a slave, she said no:
“‘I resisted so much that they had to return the money to him. And they beat me mercilessly, with a belt, with sticks, with iron rods. The beating was tremendous.’ She shook her head to clear the memory. ‘But even then I resisted. They showed me swords and told me they would kill me if I didn't agree’” (4).
In my opinion, when Kristof and WuDunn address the alternative reason some girls are prostitutes they explain that women who are in their twenties often are there by their own choice because they need to feed their children (5). To me this isn't another reason separate from slavery. In my opinion, if a woman cant feed or support her children without being a prostitute, her society is enslaving her. I believe this because if a woman is given no other option then to me, that is forcing a woman to do something against her will. To me, slavery doesn't always mean chained down, and slaves in my opinion can be paid, slaves in my definition, do not have the freedom to think and make their own choices. By that definition, women who choose prostitution, are just as much slaves as a girl kidnapped.
Daniel Escudero-Whitney
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
12 March 2012
They Say / I Say
_Half the Sky_ / Character profile exercise #1
Many women are forced to have sex against their will, for the enrichment of others. As sexual slaves, the lives of these prostitutes become very complicated. Often, they are hooked on drugs that were forced on them at the brothels. Regardless, there is a stigma that goes with having been a prostitute that the women have to live with for the rest of their lives, even after they have been freed. Unfortunately, many of the women end up going back to the very same brothels from which they were rescued. (Kristof and WuDunn 39)
Kristof and WuDuun describe Srey Momm in their book ¬_Half the Sky_: "Momm, like many brothel girls, had become addicted to methamphetamines" (39). Although the social stigma associated with having been a prostitute was never elaborated on by the authors, the only thing that Momm could think about was getting her fix of meth. It was so bad that she had to go all the way across Cambodia to get back to her brothel in Poipet just to get a fix.
I admit that I do not know what things are like in Cambodia, in terms of culture, but I do find it hard to believe that Momm had to go all the way back to Poipet just to get some meth. I'm sure she could have found someone to get her some closer to home. There must have been another, more profound reason for her return. This brings us back to the social stigma of having been a prostitute. As Kristof and WuDunn put it, ". . . Momm [underscores] that prostitutes are neither acting freely, nor enslaved, but living in a world etched with ambiguities somewhere between those two extremes" (39)
Jovita Wechsler
Prof. Wanda Sabir
English 1A
3/12/2012
The authors of Half the Sky argue that in order to change the lives of women in countries were injustices are committed against them, the changing of laws isn’t enough. Most of these countries are impoverished and the law isn’t really enforced outside of the capital. In an example that us westerners can relate to, they show us the example of the civil rights movement:
Even in the United States, after all, what brought equal rights to blacks wasn’t the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteeth Amendments passed after the Civil War, but rather the grassroots civil rights movement nearly one hundred years later. Laws, matter, but typically changing the law by itself accomplishes little.
Personally, I agree with the statement, that laws do bring change, but only superficially. I know for a fact, that poor countries that have an ancient culture, religiously or socially, the people don’t respect the law, because as far as they are concerned they aren’t doing anything wrong, since they have had these practices for hundreds of years. Besides the reality that most of these places face, no one is there to enforce the law upon them.
So it is clear that for women to have equal rights “...that change has to be felt in the culture as well as the legal code.” (66) As norms tend to show, the only way to modify a culture, is through education, therefore governments and aid groups can’t fool themselves, much less the world that if they change the laws it is all going to be better.
Daniel Escudero-Whitney
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
12 March 2012
They Say / I Say
_Half the Sky_ / Character profile exercise #2
It is ironic that rescuing someone who is being forced to have sex with strangers for money will often result in that person going right back to their captors after just a few days of freedom. One would think that a sexual slave would give anything to break free of their life of servitude (Kristof and WuDunn, 45).
There are, however, those who never go back to their brothels. The authors of _Half the Sky_, Kristof and WuDunn, show us how Srey Neth tries to put her life back together after having been rescued from a slave brothel: "As for Neth, her new grocery shop initially did a booming business . . . " This is certainly a good example of someone who, when given the opportunity to achieve, actually has the gumption to go through with it.
It is unfortunate that all sexual slaves do not get to have a similar story. Kristof and WuDunn sum up the phenomena very succinctly:
[The final] lesson is that even when a social problem is so vast as to be insoluble in its entirety, it's still worth mitigating. We may not succeed in educating all the girls in poor country, or in preventing all women from dying childbirth, or in saving all the girls who are imprisoned in brothels. But we think of Neth and remember [how we sure made a difference with her] (45).
Great response Savannah. Great support and your introduction is excellent!
Daniel, I like your statement that you don't understand why Momm has to travel so far for a fix, coupled with the claim that stigma forever taints the women's lives who were enslaved and are now free.
You second piece using Neth as an example is also well put.
Jovita, I like your argument and the reasons why you agree with the authors. The writing needs editing though.
Kathleen, you didn't understand the assignment. Look at your classmates, then revise your post.
Ngoc Huynh
March 13, 2012
Short citation
Nick and Shery state that "the realtity is that as long as women and girls allow themselves to be prostituted and beaten, the abuse will continue." This statement is a little harsh, it is only true to a certain degree. Yes, women don't rebel when it comes to brutal beatings and threats of murder, but who can honestly say that they will have the courage to fight back when they are outnumbered and more weak? It is not safe for anyone person to risk standing up and have the doubt that anyonw wil back them up. Sometimes the helpless depend on law enforcment for help however, the law isn't the to help the little people. "The authorities rarely intervene except to accept cash bribes, and so gangsters sometimes emerge in such places as absolute rulers." says the author.
Paraphrase
Nick went into the brothel that one of the girls worked at , Srey Neth. He aseked her questions, he interviewed her. He asked her if she really wanted to leave hat place. He offered to buy her away from the brothel and take her back to her home town, he wanted to be sure that she wouldn't return to the brothel. As Neth was answering Nick's question, she was very passionate. seh told him that this place was hell. Then her last statement was "you think I want to do this?" The majority of these sex slaves, they dont want to be enslaved. They just don't have help or believe that if they stand up, they will have people to be there to protect them. For example, using Momm as an example, she didn't want to be at the brothel, nor did she want to go back , however, she had an addiction that she has no control over. "She yearned to leave the brothel behind, but she could not overcome her addiction," says the author.
Block quote
The brothel owners know that these girls are afraid of dying and getting hurt so in order for these girls to protect themselves. They don't want to get beat or die, so they obey and folow rules, just as we do here in America, we obide the laws. In order to be able to lie the life that is handed to you in safety, people tend to try to rise to the top so that they aren't the scapegoat. That is the process in which Momm took. Nick tells the story about her rise when she put another girl below her:
A trafficker promised [a girl] a job as a hotel maid in Poipet and then sold her to Momm's brotel, where she was beaten until she accepted customers. Momm became the new girl's minder, ensuring that she did not escape.
Momm had been brutalized for years in the brothels, but now she seemed to be slipping into a managerial role; if that continued, she would be breaing young girl into the business- or beating them, just as she herslef had been beaten. The slave was becoming the overseer.
It is very hard for the girls to stand up against sex slavery if girls are loosing eyes and their lives if they stand up. It's also hard when their own kind doens't want to be apart of the rebellion and the traitor becomes a rat as well. There is very little for a women to depend on that will ensure her safety.
Ana Vasquez
March 12, 2012
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
Page 67
Exercise #1)
Short Citation: Sometimes it is not easy for women to speak up and tell a person what is happening. “ One of the reasons that so many women and girls are trafficked, raped, and otherwise abused is that they grin and bear it” ( pg. 47 Kristof and WuDUNN). I’m two minds about Kristof and WuDUNN claim that women in a way “ask” to get raped and abused , because they never step up and say something about the issue. On the one hand I agree that it can be true in some cases but it is only done that way because women are not allowed to speak about the problem; but on the other hand I disagree completely with this statement made. Not all women ask or agree to get raped and abused. No woman wants that.
Paraphrase: Women have continued to fight for their rights, and their freedom. As the author’s state from the speech Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave during his civil rights struggle, “We must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your bent back” (pg 47).
Blockquote: Most women who are usually abused, are those of poor communities and women with no education. Usha Narayane, [ a girl from India who lived in a poor community] can be a perfect example of a trafficked women. She was trafficked but she was also a strong women who was able to set herself free from the men in whom she was being abused by.
Mark Jansz
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A, Spring 2012
March 03, 2012
In Half The Sky, it is custom for husbands to beat their wives if the wife is disobedient. To them it is their right to beat and abuse the wife, and the wife has to accept this custom because they can’t do anything about it. Zoya Najabi, a housewife who is a victim to these events said, “I should not have been beaten, because I was always obedient and did what my husband said. But if the wife is truly disobedient, then of course her husband has to beat her.”(69) I strongly disagree with this custom. It is not just in any way or alright to beat your wife if she is not obedient. I believe matters can be solved without having to have this violent out bringing. They have been raised in a society where they think it is their right to do these violent actions, but they do not see the wrong in these actions that they commit.
The reason why these kinds of beatings happen is because the husbands are not literate or educated in these sorts of manners. But Zoya also adds that the beatings occur also because of the wife is lacking to take care of, or being obedient, to the husband. “‘Mostly those kinds of beatings happen because the husbands are illiterate and uneducated,’ she added. ‘But it also happens that the wife is not taking care of her husband or is not obedient. Then it is appropriate to beat the wife.’”(69)
The husbands do not know the pain these women go through. They think it is ok and it is their right for hurting these women. The abuse they do to the women is horrific, torturous, if you’d say. As Nick and Sherry stated:
First, Zoya’s husband dug out an electrical cable and flogged his wife until she fell
unconscious. Then, the next day, her father-in-law strapped Zoya’s feet together, tied her
down, and gave a stick to the mother-in-law, who whipped the soles of zoya’s feet. “My
feet were beaten until they were like yogurt,” Zoya said. “All my days there were unhappy,
but that was the worst.”(69)
The abuse that Zoya has gone through was unbearable. She not only took beatings from her husband, but also from her mother-in-law and father-in-law. This custom that they have is an unhealthy custom that is wrong in so many ways. You can’t live a life of violence because some person has not been treating you right, or is not completely obedient to you. That is just the way life is, it is human nature to resist. Human’s are not dog’s or animal’s that have a master, we are only master’s of ourselves and to bring violence to one’s mind is wrong. You should not try to beat somebody to a pulp for who they are. That is just not a moral thing to do.
Hoan Vu
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201A
3 March 2012
On ch3, P53. I agree with the Authors about Usha Naragane, she became the heroine of the slump "Now Usha... but she is the galvanic new boss of Kasturba. The heroine of the slump" because of her heroic act the monster Akku Yadav was defeated in humiliation. And the people of the slump were living in free of fears.
On p53 I agree with the author about how women around the world should took the same step as the women in Kasturba to stop gender base violence "ultimately, women like those in Kasturba Naga need to join the human right revolution themselves. They constitute part of the answer to the problem". In my opinion the human right revolution does need people like the women in Kasturba Nagar because it will change the perspective of the people that view females as a less equal, and ultimately might contribute to less human trafficking. But on the other hand I am not strongly agree with the fact that is the answer to the human right issue that involve women, because people in different culture around the world have different point of view about women.
Paraphrase (88)
Original: "In the cauldron of violence and misogyny. That is in Eastern Congo, the HEAL Africa hospital where Dina was treated is a sanctuary of dignity. It is a large compound of low with buildings where patients are respected, it's an example of and aid project that make an extraordinary difference in people's life. And one of those helping patient like Dina is a young American women name Harper Mc Connell"
Paraphrase
In the intensity of violence and hatred against women in Eastern Congo. Dina was treated in dignity and respected in low white buildings. It is also a sanctuary for many others like Dina. This is the product of the AID project lobbying in making a different in people's life. Among the angels is a young American name Harper Mc Connell.
Block quote (98)
"The world health organization estimates that 536,000 women perished in pregnancy or birth in 2005, a toll has that barely budged in thirty years. Child morality has plunged, longevity has increased but the child birth remain almost as deadly as ever, with one maternal dead every minute".
Stephen Yang
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
13 March 2012
They Say I Say Character Profile
In the book Half the Sky, the authors claim that empowerment through violence isn't the answer to solve abuse, but it is necessary to transform a culture under oppression. It is not outsiders that are the solution, but the women who stood up against tyranny. These women should be praised, championed and protected for what they've done. Usha Narayane is one of these women who stood up against the despair of Akku Yadav, the boss mobster of the impoverish city of Kasturba Nagar.
When Akku Yadav threatened to torture her for reporting him to the police, she threatened him and his gang back. When her neighbors heard of this, they gained hope and courage from Usha and rallied together.
Citation
"The Dalits were deeply proud of Usha's schooling and success, and the thought that Akku Yadav would destroy her was agonizing. The neighbors gathered at a distance, not knowing quite what to do. But when they saw Usha fighting back and hurling abuse at Akku Yadav, finally forcing his gang to retreat, they found courage. Soon there were a hundred angry Dalits on the street, and they began picking up sticks and stones." (51) I agree with the authors that this was the right thing to do against a widely known gang. The only way for the people to escape despair is to fight against it themselves as one.
Even if the law and it's authority is corrupted, the people have the right to enforce justice upon those who are evil. Women especially have this right against a monster such as Akku Yadav because he used many cruel torture method on women to envelop fear into the people.
Block Quote
All the women from Kasturba Nagar pressed forward and surrounded Akku Yadav, screaming and shouting. Some pulled chili powder from under their clothes and threw it in the faces of Akku Yadav and the two police officers guarding him. The police, blinded and overwhelmed, fled at once. Then the woman pulled out knives from their clothing and began stabbing Akku Yadav. (51-52, Kristof and WuDunn) If Ghandi were still alive, he would say that an eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind. But in this case, I would disagree with this and agree with the authors that by giving women power, they are able to have the courage to speak up against prejudice.
Paraphrase
In the story of Usha, it would be hard to say it was ethical to kill someone. After years of oppression against women submitting to injustice, it is emotional to watch a woman such as Usha to rally the people- even if we're uncomfortable with the bloody conclusion and cannot pardon homicide. (53) I disagree with the author's disagreement that violence isn't the answer. In my opinion, violence solves everything. Without violence, there wouldn't be justice to be enforced. If women had empowerment over the men, society wouldn't look down or oppress women so much. It may be moral to let someone slap one cheek and offer them the other, but it certainly isn't just.
Daniel Escudero-Whitney
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
13 March 2012
They Say / I Say
_Half the Sky_ / Character profile exercise #3 (In-class)
Rape is the most stigmatizing and yet, somehow still the most under reported crime in the world. Because of this, researchers have a hard time tabulating their figures (Kristof and WuDunn, 61-62). Some countries definitely have it worse than others.
Rape is such a problem in South Africa, for example, that women have a new product for rape prevention. Sonette Ehlers, the creator of Rapex, got the idea from what one of her former patients had said to her: "If only I had teeth down there."
Kristof and WuDunn describe how Ehlers took that idea to the extreme when she created Rapex:
It resembles a tube with barbs inside. The woman inserts it like a tampon with and applicator, and a man who tries to rape the woman impales himself on the barbs (61).
Although Rapex is considered by many to be barbaric, it seems as though Kristof and WuDunn, the authors of _Half the Sky_, are showing it in a good light. I would have to agree with them if that is true.
Colleen Low
Professor Sabir
English 1A
18 March 2012
Cyber Assignment “They Say I Say” pg. 67
Loving-kindness are acts of goodness, consideration, compassion and generosity to others. It is the truth in giving and positive, to which the giver does not expect anything in return and one who gives whole-heartedly mustn’t pass judgment. In my understanding of loving-kindness; Metta, it is an active interest to others by giving love without clinging (Upadona). In the book, “Half the Sky,” the authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wu Dunn come to the aid of a young girl, Srey Momm, who is a runaway and forced into prostitution for 5 years. In Momm’s case after a week of being freed, she returns to the place of hell, to which she begged to escape. Her circumstance is an addiction to methamphetamines, which are dispensed to the prostitutes to control them. Another reason is the inability to sustain themselves economically, and being ostracized by their own families or the culture of the beast and to this the author explains, “Momm underscores that many prostitutes are neither acting freely nor enslaved, but living in a world etched in ambiguities somewhere between those two extremes (39). It is problematic and these setbacks for Momm causes great disappointment, to which Momm has to face, Momm and other girls need more prevention and social services to teach the girls a viable job to reenter society. I adamantly agree, to which the author states
The first is that rescuing girls from brothels is complicated and uncertain. Indeed, it’s sometimes impossible, and that’s why it is complicated and uncertain. Indeed, it’s sometimes impossible, and that’s why it is most productive to focus efforts on prevention and putting brothels out of business. The second lesson is to never gibe up. Helping people is difficult and unpredictable, and out interventions don’t always work, but successes are possible, and these victories are incredibly important. The third lesson is that even when a social problem is so vast as to be insoluble in its entirety, it’s still worth mitigating. We may not succeed in educating all the girls in poor countries (45).
I am of the same mind to help is indispensable with great gentleness and patience. We cannot concede to the problems to the causes and the effects of helping, but by understanding and in many cases intervention is not the only solution. It is through loving-kindness, to which the giver finds a reflection of their own nature in the person, who is receiving.
Colleen Low
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
18 March 2012
“They Say, I Say” pg 67 exercise 1.
One of the stories in “Half the Sky” is about the acceptable traditions of kidnapping a female, then violently beating and raping her to submission, in order to force the young girl into marriage. This is culturally acceptable in Ethiopia and in this story it happened to a girl named Woinshet. Her father, Zebene is deeply upset about his daughter’s situation, to which Zebene expresses, “I knew it was very bad for the girl, but there was nothing to do. They all married the man… When he goes free, people see that, and they do it again and again (63). Unfortunately, the criminals are set free, and within the culture and authority this behavior is not looked down upon. Woinshet was hurt by the reaction ad the accusations from the community, “People were saying I broke tradition.” The authors agree to how Woinshet was wrongfully treated and discuss how girls like her need the moral support. They also agree that organizations like Equality Now are helping by forcing governments, and communities to acknowledge the criminal acts and inhumane treatment that violate women’s choices, by involving activists to apply pressure and educate young women of their rights to make changes. The author’s also state the effectiveness of the organization, “Equality Now’s army of letter writers did shine enough of a spotlight on Ethiopia that it was shamed into changing its laws. Today, a man is liable for rape even if the victim later agrees to marry him (66).
The authors do note that laws mostly pertain within city limits and not so in more rural regions. Despite efforts in laws, the author have other options in mind, “We sometimes think that Westerners invest too much effort in changing unjust laws and not enough in changing cultures, by building schools or assisting grassroots movements (66). In many cases of change it has to come within the source, to which the author utilizes the expert opinion to state their case. The writers use Mahdere Paulos, a woman who runs the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association; she “acknowledges that change has to be felt in the culture as well as the legal code (66). Woinshet desires to study law and work on cases of abduction, she is a true survivor.
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