Author: delyser.1

Text Review- Wonder

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Amazon.com: Wonder: 0884605417889: Palacio, R. J.: Books             Wonder the Movie | Etsy

Wonder is a wonderful book and movie! That has a unique and powerful way of reminding readers that beauty is only skin deep. The novel also offers lessons about the dangers of responding to peer pressure and the importance of simple human kindness. For August and the other kids at Beecher Prep, when it comes to  status and popularity are at the top of pyramided for importance. Wonder is sprinkled with the kids’ point of view about their social structure. Also, how status and hierarchy function in their world at school, and what the consequences of being popular or unpopular are on the student population. In particular, Wonder suggests that as strong as popularity might be for August and his classmates, the social structure that allows some students to be popular requires those students to bully their less popular classmates to maintain their position. Julian, for example, emerges early on as the leader of the popular kids at Beecher Prep, and he maintains his position by creating an environment where it is in his classmates best interests to get as close to him as possible by excluding those he considered to be unpopular. This results in a common theme of bullying against August and anyone who associates themselves with him. August was no stranger to bullying before he started at Beecher Prep. You can see throughout the book how Julian has positioned himself as the one and how with his power he has created August as the Other due to him being different from the other. Another challenge for August is identity, it is a tricky subject because he has very little power to control how others see him. He recognizes that other people see him first and foremost as a kid with a scary-looking face and lots of people have little interest in getting to know him once that single surface piece of his identity is established. This is held up time and again as August notices people of all ages looking briefly surprised when they first see him and then working very hard show smiles to cover up their discomfort during whatever conversation happens. With this, he recognizes that people struggle greatly to get past visual appearance of identity. For that, August also struggles to get past surface level interactions with people. This is because people tend to focus so much on his visual identity, it makes it hard for him to show people that he’s also smart, kind, and funny. Taken together, Wonders journey of bullying and social structure shows how toxic a social structure can be when it’s based on putting down others in order to raise oneself.

Context presentation- First half of Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers

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In The Leavers Lisa Ko, the author discusses cultural identity and belonging. For Deming, he struggles with having a multicultural identity. She shows this by suggesting that being a part of a group is not straightforward or black in white. For Deming, this is true, he struggles to keep his Chinese identity in many different situations within the novel. Daniel went through an abrupt situation where he is adopted by a white family when his mother took off. Peter and Kay rename Deming thinking it would make life easier for him but instead were isolating him from Chinese culture. Ko recognizes that a person’s cultural identity changes often show themselves in language, and that is what happens when Peter and Kay change Deming’s name to Daniel. One week in a new environment had already had effects on Deming. Ko shows how one language outstepped another in this situation English outstepped Fuzhouse. Over more time, Deming’s memories of Fuzhouse started to disappear. When Deming would speak Fuzhouse occasionally, peter would scold him and tell him he needed to be speaking in English. Peter and Kay obsess about getting Deming to adapt to his new environment. And even though Deming does adjust to his new white suburban American lifestyle he does not forget his Chinese identity. Absorption into different cultures does not mean giving up one’s original sense of self. You see this concept later with Daniel when ends up going to Chinatown after he walks off stage due to everyone paying their attention to Roland and him getting ignored. He has a feel of familiarity when walking through Chinatown. When walking through he also got another feeling. To Deming being surrounded by other Chinese people had become felt strange to him. This is because in high school he was used to being the only Asian person. He has this sense of belonging within two different cultural because even though when walking through Chinatown may have felt strange it also felt familiar to him. Deming being multicultural does not bring him unhappiness but brings him an advantage over others because he can be whoever he wants Deming or Daniel.

 

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. First edition. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2017. Print.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/multiculturalism

 

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase- Texas Abortion Laws

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The systematic injustice I would like to talk more about is the Texas abortions laws, there are seven million women of childbearing age in Texas, and the law will make it more difficult for all of them to obtain abortions in the state, as legislators intended. This law bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which is about 6 weeks. Many questions on this law have been asked. Such as who in the population will be most affected by this law? Some population groups that are most affected by this law than some others are “teenagers, who often don’t realize they are pregnant until later in a pregnancy; low-income people, who need to find about $550 to cover the cost of the procedure; people of color; and immigrants without legal status.” These groups are not only being oppressed because of their gender but due to their age, race, and finical status. This law empowers individuals to enforce an abortion ban giving power to Anyone who successfully sues an abortion provider. This creates more victims in this systematic injustice

      Another question asked is are the fathers of the children responsible as well? The answer to this is no they are not. Within this law, women are only responsible for this child but the men are not. This shows the injustice towards women within this system because they are having a choice about their bodies taken away. These women are being put in uncomfortable situations that they have no choice but the men in these situations do. After 6 weeks, women are forced to have the child but the father of the child is not responsible to stay around for the pregnancy. Why are men not responsible for something they helped create? Children are not us the women’s genetics it’s 50/50 so why are women 100 percent responsible for the child and men have a choice to be zero percent responsible. This system is taking all the power away from these women. Society has painted a picture that the women take care of the children well the men work. This is a single story that has been created from history and since the men are the ones in this story, they continue to have more power than women. 

       Another question asked about the Texas abortion law was, Does the law make exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother? The answer is no it does not make any exceptions for rape or incest, but it does make exceptions for health reasons. These exceptions are narrow, they allow termination if the pregnancy could be dangerous to the mother’s life. It’s sad that this is what it must come down to for a woman to have the right to an abortion.

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033202132/texas-abortion-ban-what-happens-next

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-answers-to-questions-about-the-texas-abortion-law-7491595/

“Yo, Is This…” – Chloe DeLyser

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Systematic Injustice Abortion Laws

 

 

 

Introduction

Our society doesn’t give women a lot of permission to talk about what they want to, or about what they need or to ask for help. Women are stereotyped as needy or seen as less than the average man so when presenting a problem nobody takes it seriously. This is the cause of many sexist actions that happen in society. Men have also been seen as the average human and women continue to be the “other”. That view of one and another is why women’s problems tend to get overlooked. As a woman in this society that is a scary thought that just because I am a woman, I am never going to be seen as the average human due to my gender. It is always easy for the government to take away rights from women than it is for them to take rights from men.

When seeing an article on the Texas abortion laws for the first time this year I was in complete shock that not only laws like this were still around but how much worse they were getting. I grew up in New York, which is a pro-abortion state, so this is not an issue I grew up around. Now going to college in Ohio who just released new abortion laws themselves which in my opinion may be worse than Texas. I am now in a new environment where abortion laws are restrictive. I was offended by the news media’s aggressive efforts to portray the pro-abortion movement as normal. This is because these protests have been going on for so many years that people do not even have a second look when seeing them. These protests have recently become prominent again with the new Texas abortions laws that empowered other states like Ohio to jump-start off them.

Texas Abortion Laws

The law created by Texas bans abortions states once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity or in another term about 6 weeks into the pregnancy. Most women do not even realize they are pregnant until 6 weeks so how is this fair to them. If a woman does find out before the 6 weeks and chooses to go through with the abortion, they are required by the law to have at least two visits. The first one is an ultrasound second visit to ensure you are still within the new legal limit for abortion care in Texas. If the second ultrasound shows you are past this new legal limit, we can still help you access abortion care out of state. This just makes it more challenging for those who still have a choice. There are also many other protocols such as parent permission if you are under change. They are doing anything they can to make it difficult for women to have this right.

The only exception to the abortion law is that a woman is allowed to have an abortion if the pregnancy puts the mother in a life-threatening situation. Even in this situation the Not even rape or incest are considered exceptions according to the law. I do not understand how that is even humanly possible for someone to allow a woman to not have this choice, especially when in one of these horrific situations. “In 2019, Texas reported 14,656 instances of rape, though that number is almost certainly an undercount” (Pollard). All those who voted on the Texas abortion law knew this information before voting on it. I think this is unconstitutional and shows how broken the government system is especially towards women. It’s not the government’s role to decide which abortions are good abortions and bad abortions.” This is because there is no such thing as a good abortion or a bad abortion. There is only needed abortions and all patients no matter their circumstances are worth having access to the best health care they may need.

No Male Responsibility

These women are forced to keep the pregnancy but where are the men during this pregnancy. You would think that babies are only created by women since they are the only ones who are forced to be a part of the pregnancy. Well, the men who are 50 percent responsible for the child have a choice to not be a part of the pregnancy. Why do men have this decision well the women in the situation do not. I’ll tell you why it’s because our society has created this idea that it’s the women’s fault, they got pregnant in the first place. Women are stereotyped as “sluts” and men are not. It never seems to be the man’s fault it is almost as if women get pregnant by themselves. I feel as some people forget that a child is 50 percent their father’s DNA and 50 percent their Mother’s DNA. I think Texas needs a law holding fathers to account, if they make abortions illegal, they should make it illegal for men to desert women after getting them pregnant. If women can’t back out of pregnancies, men shouldn’t be able to either.

Abortion Law Allows Citizens to Sue

 

This law allows citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone else they suspect of helping a woman obtain an abortion. This law shifts the method of how laws are normally enforced. This act removes the government and law enforcement from enforcing the act and hands the enforcement over to private citizens. It’s believed to be the first type of law enforced by private citizens. If the lawsuit is successful, “the plaintiff is eligible to receive $10,000 in damages plus the cost of legal fees”. It’s believed this bounty law will increase the number of lawsuits filed in Texas. This is only going to cause more conflict in our country than there already is which is scary to me.

Mental/Physical effects on Women

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnU3JwZiv8c

One big is Economic hardship because about half of people who are obtaining an abortion already live below the poverty level. When someone is already struggling financially and are denied care it put them in an even tougher economic situation. These people likely experience debt, bankruptcy, and even infections compared to those able to get care. Being denied an abortion can also lead to an increase in anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem especially in the months after being denied care. It can also increase life-threatening physical health so when women who carry unwanted pregnancies to term are more likely to have pregnancy risks such as postpartum depression, gestational diabetes, and even hypertension.

Highest affected groups

Some groups that are most affected by this law more than some others are teenagers, who often don’t realize they are pregnant until later in pregnancy, people with low-income status, people of color, and immigrants without legal status. These groups are not only being oppressed due to their gender but due to their age, race, and finical status. To fully grasp the damage the law will do to Black and brown people of childbearing age and their offspring, it is important to understand that the state’s health care system has been failing them for years. “Black infants in Texas were twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday”. Throughout our history, policies and laws have worsened racial inequities and the impacts of systemic racism in our health care system and beyond.

 

How the Media Can Help the Issue

Most of the time the media shows this issue as nothing that major just another day in America. They usually just talk about the political side of everything that is taking place. They never get sources who are being harmed by the issue. We need to see more of a women’s point of view and their personal stories to show the feeling and emotion behind the problem. With this, we can see what they are having to go through how they are dealing with everything. People can connect with these women allowing for the message to be internalized. The women who are experiencing this oppression are the media’s best sources to truly understand what is happening in our country. With this, the message can spread and have a bigger impact.

Ways People Have Created Change

The anti-abortion movement has gained the most momentum over the years. Many churches sponsor related ministries, and a recent calendar of events published by an anti-abortion website includes rallies, retreats for men who suffer from the grief, anger, and guilt of terminating a pregnancy, annual walks, and runs and hikes. Billboards denouncing abortion, with graphic images, have dotted the highways. There are also donation sights where you can donate to help these movements so that you can help even if you cannot make it in person. I believe that the enabling legal environment is just the first step toward enabling people to exercise reproductive autonomy and to access safe abortion care.

The United States vs Other Countries Abortion Laws

Recently the United States has made it harder in parts of the country to get an abortion, unlike many other countries that have been doing the opposite. Mexico just recently had a supreme court ruling to decriminalize the practice. Meanwhile, New Zealand, Thailand, and Ireland have all taken steps to ease abortion restrictions in recent years. I think very few Americans realize just how radical and out-of-step America’s abortion laws are in comparison to the rest of the world. In Europe, many countries offer broad exceptions after the first three months for socioeconomic reasons like unemployment, medical issues like fetal impairment, or social issues like the age of the mother. I do not know about anyone else, but doesn’t this just shock you how many other countries are willing to give women these rights they deserve and in the United States women have been fighting this for as long as I have been alive.

 

 

 

 

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2021/09/07/why-gender-war-wont-work-fighting-new-texas-abortion-law/5692537001/

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/579944-ohio-lawmakers-introduce-abortion-bill-that-goes-further-than-texas-law

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/texass-new-abortion-law-will-harm-people-color-further-entrench-racist-policies