Chris Barker: Gender, Race, Culture

In his article, Chris Barker makes an interesting observation about gender, culture, and race. "...what it means to be a woman, a child, Asian or elderly is formed differently in different cultural contexts...It matters whether we are black or white, male or female, African or American, rich or poor, because of the differential cultural resources to which we will have had access."

When I was in Ecuador, I experienced a difference of 'treatment' within the culture, because of my race and gender. I am a white female. In Ecuador, everybody in my apartment complex spoke to me in the formal tense. However, the janitor at our apartment complex, Javier, was black. All the people in the apartment complex addressed Javier informally, even though he spoke to them formally. At first, I did not take this language differentiation seriously, but then I realized that the language difference had racist roots. After coming to this revelation, the difference in language choice between Javier and me became infuriating. Whenever I saw Javier, I made a point to speak to him formally. Whether this helped or not, I am uncertain, but I like to think that I helped a little in combating the racism Javier faced daily. Javier was one of the kindest people I know, and he was always in the best of spirits. Perhaps, he did not find the discrimination bothersome, or perhaps he was just used to it. In Ecuador, being black makes you a lower part of society with less cultural resources. Maybe it is not like this in parts of Africa, where the culture is predominately black...

As a female in Ecuador, I experienced discrimination. Walking down the street to the bus stop every morning meant putting up with whistling from men on the streets and with honking car horns from men driving by. Being white, I was an especially good target for men to whistle at, as I looked foreign, and I was assumed to have money. If you ask an Ecuadorian men why they always whistle at women, they will tell you that it is a compliment, because you are pretty. To me, it was degrading. It made me feel like property. I do not see myself as property (whether attractive or unattractive- that's irrelevant), and I do not see my vagina as a reason for people to whistle at me and try to make me feel like coveted property.

Ecuador was an amazing, dynamic culture. It is a developing country, so many of the issues (such as racism and sexism) are more visible and blatant to the eye. Living in Ecuador allowed me to better observe similar issues in our country. I am sure that many of the girls in our class have been whistled at in America and have taken offense to it. I am also sure that others in the class have observed differences in treatment in America due to race. As Chris Barker says, your gender, race, and class are important, because they can increase or limit the cultural resources/respect that a person gets. I believe that this is true of every culture in the world, not just of the U.S. and Ecuador.