White Noise
Ultraviolence
Psychological abuse is the ultraviolet of the violence spectrum. The bruises on women’s psyche are invisible. Physical violence means physical damage, and that tarnishes beauty. Psychological abuse doesn’t—it’s convenient that way. The female function of sex appeal remains unscathed and evidence of the crime is hidden to boot. Really, it’s a win-win for the bad guys (and yes, I use “guys” purposefully).
Because my mum is the coolest, I like to follow in her footsteps. She’s fairly outspoken, and I try to be the same. She volunteers her time with female survivors of domestic violence, and I do the same. A recurring concern among the women I’ve met is that their abuse was not serious enough to warrant an intervention. There was the sense that psychological abuse, while degrading, did not “count”—as if what measured the severity of abuse was something quantifiable (perhaps the number of bruises, or of hospital visits).
Juggling Racism
I am angry and Asian and this, apparently, is a problem.
I should be a model minority, but I am not. I’m supposed to be successful in school, go on to a higher-paying job, and prove that in America race matters little.
Let's Put a Cap on Privilege
This summer, Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick ‘78 rather surreptitiously signed a bill that nominally will cut down on welfare fraud. The practical consequences of this bill for Massachusetts’s lower-income families are severe. It will narrow the disability requirements for welfare recipients, and force women to work into their third trimester of pregnancy.
These new obstacles are only additions to an already harsh welfare program, which is funded by Temporary Aid for Needy Families, a federal block grant created in 1996. TANF is allocated to states, primarily for the purposes of funding welfare and was instituted by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. One of the components of TANF is a family cap, which financially penalizes families for having children while on TANF by refusing to provide for newer children when calculating benefits.