Women, LA, and #MeToo
Since it's Women's History month, and also since I wasn't in class last week, I've decided to focus this blogpost on women's relationship with public health systems and policies in Los Angeles. In order to create equitable healthcare, it is crucial to understand and address the differences in experience that women have when it comes to accessing and receiving healthcare. Issues such as poverty, lack of quality education and violence all disproportionately affect women, especially women of color, immigrant women, women with disabilities, and so on.
Some things I'm thinking about: How do issues we've talked about in class, such as homelessness, food insecurity, gentrification, policing and violence connect with women's mental and physical health? How can we create and practice public health policies that are trauma-informed and inclusive? In writing this blogpost I was thinking a lot about the #MeToo movement in terms of a public health issue and the way it publicized issues of gender based violence. What does it say about Los Angeles that Hollywood was 1) a hotbed for gender discrimination but 2) also the vessel through which the "story" broke?
Here's a (long but interesting) report done by the county last year about women: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/owh/reports/EnhancedPDF/OWH-WomensDataReport.Enhanced2018.pdf
I think it's important to understand that women play a role in all of the things that Rachel mentioned. Additionally, I think it is important to recognize their role, identify any inequalities or discrepancies, and finally, approach the issue in a way that can benefit those who may not have access to things such as: health care, mental health care, etc. I also think there should be a call to educate and inform women about mental/physical health- specifically to those who need it most. I think it is important to prioritize women seeking asylum, women/girls in lower income communities (who may not have access to a robust educational curriculum surrounding health), veterans, and those who are homeless.
ReplyDeleteLA is full of bullshit. Mostly the entertainment side. So to me, I am not surprised when hearing about the constant discrimination of women in the workplace. I have to give some credit to Los Angeles though because of its massive entertainment platform. #MeToo created a safe space for people to open up and share their experience(s) with sexual assault. As a result of the Harvey Weinstein (and other major producers, directors, actors etc.) LA instantly became that hot bed for gender discrimination; however, the turmoil in Hollywood also allowed many women, who have experienced abuse, to come out and unapologetically share their story. So while it became the vessel through which the story broke, it also became a vessel for the story to take on a different narrative and provided hope to those who may not have felt as hopeful before.
So many issues that we've talked about in class like homelessness, over policing, violence, etc affect women in so many different ways that are detrimental to women's mental health and physical health. I think we need to identify the discrepancies and inequalities that surround women and then we can approach and start to fix the issue so that it can benefit the people who are affected by it. Like Cole said I think it is more/most important to prioritize women that have less resources like women from lower income areas, homeless, or are in situations where they can not receive help like an abusive relationship. Many women are not educated about what they can use and where they can go for counseling that is on the cheaper side or what resources they can use when they are in need of medical care. I also think many women who are in abusive situations whether it is verbal abuse, physical abuse, or sexual abuse need to know that there are places they can go or call when they are in trouble and so they know they have people that can support them. also as far as gender discrimination, it is everywhere whether it's in Hollywood or in your own family. There are so many situations where women and young girls face discrimination and it happens everyday.
DeleteSomething that interest me when thinking about the topic of women's relationship with healthcare is girls and women who are homeless and how they deal with their menstrual cycle. Having a period is an extra expense in a woman's life; tampons, pads, diva cups, lily cups, and many other products can cost a certain amount of money to get in the first place and replenish when you run out (you wouldn't have to replenish your amount of diva/lily cups but you might need to replace them down the road). For girls and women who are homeless, they will most likely not be able to get them for themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about the #MeToo movement, I think it 1) created a platform for women to express many their stories of abuse and 2) created a platform that uncovered or highlighted our society's problems surrounding gender discrimination. Obviously there is an extreme amount of work to do regarding the treatment of women in the work place, but I think the #MeToo movement was a start and step in the right direction.
Going off what Simone said, I was just talking to someone the other day about how annoying it is to go to the store every month to buy pads and tampons, as well as how expensive it is; however, it’s easy to forget the privilege that we have in being able to afford to buy these materials. I noticed today that there were pads and tampons in the girls restrooms across campus, and I think that it would be really helpful if we could start donating various hygiene products in order to keep the homeless as healthy as possible. Also, I feel like this goes along with public health but idk, a lot of homeless women don’t have access to contraception or don’t know that they have access to it, so I think that finding ways to make it accessible would be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, LA struggles with gender discrimination in pretty much all walks of life and so does basically the rest of the world, but like the others have said, LA has created this space for people to open up about their own encounters with sexual assault. It really brought to light how much of an issue sexual assault is and how related it is to gender, which in turn leads back to gender discrimination in the workforce.
I agree with Cole that Los Angeles has an interesting relationship with #MeToo because it was both the center of a horrible culture of sexual assault and victim silencing but also the center of its exposure. I do think it's interesting to consider how the visibility of Hollywood, because of its celebrity and the personal fame of its most well-known figures, made the movement immediately seen throughout the U.S. The #MeToo movement existed long before the Harvey Weinstein story broke and rape culture and sexual harassment pervaded a variety of industries in America, not just the film industry, but I think the women who came forward to speak out about their experiences with Harvey Weinstein and others like him had a particularly profound impact because many were beloved, famous people well-known to everyday people across America, and they served as role models to so many. Hollywood's wide reach, while it can often be a vehicle for prejudice, also allowed influential women to empower other women, in every sector of public life, by bravely speaking out.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, there were a lot of findings in the document that Rachel shared that interested me. For one, there was a section on education as a determinant of future health and I was surprised to learn how one in four women in LA received less than a high school education, and only one in seven have a college degree. When I think of the adult women I know, definitely more than 3/4 of them finished high school and many went to college, so this statistic emphasized for me how people group together into communities with shared wealth, educational achievement, and privilege, and can't see the full range of experiences outside of their own.
I thought that the 2017 report done on women in Los Angeles was really interesting (albeit overwhelming) and provided a lot of good insight into the struggles women face in terms of their healthcare. The report noted that “deep-rooted determinants of health such as discrimination, trauma and stress serve as significant factors underlying the ongoing health inequities identified for women in Los Angeles County.” I think it’s often overlooked that a lot of gender discrimination boils over into numerous other issues that women face, particularly in healthcare discrepancies.
ReplyDeleteHollywood being a place where some of the most powerful executives of large companies live/work was obviously a big factor in #MeToo breaking because of the increased reach the stories would have being in the entertainment capital, so I wasn’t surprised that the story “broke” in Los Angeles. I also think the movement says a lot about Los Angeles in that the city is one that often hides its biggest issues under things that are perceived as some of our greatest facets, which can be applied to a lot more than the #MeToo movement.
I was reading the report you attached and it had some really interesting facts and statistics. Right off the bat, it talked about how Latina women make up nearly 70% of the female population in LA county, yet they are among the those suffering from the greatest socioeconomic challenges which in turn can pose serious health risks due to their lack of access and ability to afford quality care. African American women have the highest rates of poverty as well as the most likely to experience homelessness, violence, and discrimination which can severely impact their health, seeing as those are all large obstacles in the way of obtaining proper health care. n terms of homelessness, there were 14,000 homeless women in 2016; mental illnesses, substance addictions, and domestic violence are all leading causes of homelessness among women. With this, the proper help and service is unaccessible to homeless women because they simply cannot afford it.
ReplyDeleteLike Simone and Sophie said, I think it’s really ridiculous how expensive feminine hygiene products are. We really take for granted the fact that we are able to afford pads and tampons, and in that, we take for granted everything else that comes with being hygienic– bathrooms we have access to, all the showers we get to take, washing our faces, our hair, brushing our teeth. We see these as basic and normal things that we would never have to worry about being without, but for many, having access to all of that is a luxury, and living without those things Is a reality.
I was looking through some of the statistics on that powerpoint you shared and something caught my eye under the Trauma and Stress amongst Mothers section. 37. 8 % of women with a recent live birth who report experiencing at least one incident of any discrimination over her lifetime. It turns out that around 60 % of these incidents happen at work. Additionally, 15.4 % of all discriminations amongst women with a recent birth happen based on Race/Color. I would be curious to look into discrimination of women (both pregnant and not pregnant) in the workplace and how that is different than what we experience as female students in high school. Looking forward to our college experience, how can we either prevent this and/or navigate these issues in the work place.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of #MeToo as being a super LA-based movement is something I often forget about. It seems like the fact that famous folks in the entertainment industry have access to reporters' ears and time definitely helped it break, but I'm glad that it extended beyond just Hollywood and into many different sectors. However, I still feel like it is still a movement dominated by wealthier/whiter women, even though it disaffects already marginalized groups, particularly undocumented women. For instance, many women feel as though they can't report sexual violence/domestic violence/workplace harassment because their residency in the US might be threatened. I think it would be interesting to look at how this problem affects LA given the number of immigrants here.
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ReplyDeleteWomen are underrepresented in high power roles in many industries including but not limited to the film industry. Gender inequity in the film industry is also representative of other fields in which the number of women in high power positions is extremely limited. https://womeninfilm.org/. While the me too movement main objective was providing a voice for victims of sexual assault it has been influential in raising awareness of diversity in the workplace whether it is race, gender, etc. Like many other posts I agree that all of the mentioned issues have impacts on women. My aunt is a police officer, and she has told me countless stories about workplace discrimination. While she thinks the LAPD is taking steps in the right direction, she still has to deal with sexism and racism on a daily basis that not all officers have to endure.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the article Rachel sent, several things stuck to me. One was that “Latinas are almost three times (72%) more likely to report household incomes less than 200% FPL compared to white women (24%)”. Also, “about 76% of Asian women and 64% of Latinas are foreign born; among those, 92% of foreign born latinas report living in the U.S. for 10 years or longer compared to 72% of foreign born Asian women.”
ReplyDeleteI know for a lot of latinas in the job field, it’s seems very 2 dimensional. You are either this sexy, fiery latina (think Sofia Vergara) or someone’s maid. From my personal family stories, I was told how hard it can be to go to school, graduate college, and find a sufficient job when you are an immigrant or child of an immigrant. One because of the cost but also because it’s not expected of you to go to college or graduate. Especially because so many people don’t see latinas as capable of making decisions or working in intellectual settings.
Bringing it back to the topic, I think Hollywood in general takes advantage of these things, and uses them to manipulate all women. I think so much of the #metoo movement was validating women and encouraging them to know their worth. So many women are doing big things because they see other women doing it and because they no longer have to stop and ask “can I do this? is this okay to do?”