Things that left me Shook Week 14

This week, I feel like the overarching themes of the course, race and gender, were especially emphasized in the readings; but in two different ways. Tuesday’s readings revolved around women in disaster situations, with a specific focus on the devastation and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Prior to delving into Tuesday’s readings, I felt as though I only had a less than detailed holistic view of the impact of Hurricane Katrina. These readings allowed me to gain a deeper and more specific understanding of the ways in which Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans, but disproportionately affected those who inhabited it; especially, women, the elderly, and people of color. 

In Women of Katrina: How Gender, Race, and Class Matter in an American Disaster I learned that there is a dire  need for equity among evacuation strategies, emergency relief, and resources rooted in support and services. During  Katrina, the lack of equity resulted in a disproportionate amount of deaths among the elderly and disabled, sufficient threat to the safety of women and girls, and an overall lack of mental healths services; which to begin with, was, and still is, lacking among communities of color. In regards to women and girls, I was unaware of the increase in sex trafficking, prostitution, sexual exploitation, and sexual assault in the aftermath of Katrina, as well as the role militarization and hegemonic masculinity played in said increase.

On a different note, Thursday’s readings, the introduction and conclusion of Sasser’s On Fertile Ground, continues to discuss the disproportionate effects  women endure in a larger environmental context.  On Fertile Ground, focuses on the ways in which Populist ideologies and practices burden the private reproductive lives of women with the fragile balance of the environment. In turn, the reproductive rights of women are infringed upon and up for debate in the name of environmental justice. Although we have talked about this in class, I feel as though the Sasser articles elaborated on our discussion very well. On a positive note, the Sasser article offered solutions to Populist ideologies, which were as follows:  stronger scientific grounding in the realm of Populism due to the fact that scientific knowledge is perceived as a means of finding neutral support for ideas revolving around environment, addressing the overarching and embedded t racism and sexism within Populist ideologies, and emphasizing the role youth advocates have in steering the discourse surrounding the relationship between reproduction and environmental concerns.