Rape and Violence against Women

Crenshaw's essay " Mapping the Margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color" was an interesting read. Intersectionality, a feminist theory that studies the relationships among different social relationships and their inherent multiple dimensions, is coined by her. Crenshaw suggest that we should study social inequality not as a independent phenomenon, but rather, as a system constructed by categories such as gender, race, class, etc that are socially and culturally different. The multiple interactions and simultaneous exchange of information between these different categories is what creates a system of oppression.

I thought the example she gave of the latino battered woman who ran away from her husband in search of a safe shelter best exemplifies the complexities of intersectionality. The woman, despite being in a desperate condition and living literally in the streets with her son, was refused a shelter in the organization because she could not speak english and therefore would be of not use amongst the group of women. Even though the son could have translated for her, the "rules" could not be bend and she was not welcomed. This woman did not only suffer because of her gender, but also because of her class and race. Like many Latinas in the US, she must have depended solely on the income of her husband. The fact that she cannot speak the language makes her more a more vulnerable victim for attacks.

All this reminded me of an article I read titled "Racist, angry? The answer may be in a pill." In this news article, they reported that science has advanced to such a high degree that a pill capable of changing people's morality is already being engineered. Apparently, this pill is hailed to be the cure of racists thoughts. The combination of chemicals will be able to enhance their empathy, reducing their aggression towards other groups of people. This drug can affect moral behavior and pharmacologically induce altruistic behaviors - a quality the people at the shelter described by Crenshaw desperately needed.
Will the pill, then, be the answer to the inequality of women, rape and sexual assault?  Sounds too ludicrous to me.