It is my contention, based on both clinical practice and research, that at each step of the migration process, women and men encounter different experiences. Women’s roles and sexual behavior may be modified more dramatically and profoundly than men’s. For both heterosexual and lesbian women, the crossing of borders through migration provides the space and “permission” to cross boundaries and transform their sexuality and gender roles. However, this is usually not a smooth process, even for those women who seem to have acculturated easily to the new society. Women who migrate from “traditional” societies may find that new alternatives open to them in the new country. Women who migrate from “modern” societies may also find that alternatives open for them in the new country because of the distance from the familiar environment and/or their families.
We know that the sexual and gender role behaviors of women serve a larger social function beyond the personal. In most societies, women's sexual behavior and their conformity to traditional gender roles signifies that family’s value system. Thus, in many societies, a daughter who does not conform to “traditional morality” can be seen as “proof” of the lax morals of the family. This is why struggles surrounding acculturation in immigrant and refugee families center frequently on the issues of daughters’ sexual behaviors and women’s sex roles in general. For parents and young women alike, acculturation and sexuality are closely connected with being sexually promiscuous. Policing women’s bodies and behaviors is an attempt at preserving the past amidst the constant transformation of social norms. This is not just a benign manifestation of interesting “traditions.” It may cost some women their lives. Groups that are transforming their way of life through a vast and deep process of acculturation, focus on preserving “tradition” almost exclusively through the gender roles of women. Women’s roles become the last “bastion of tradition.” Women’s bodies become the site for struggles concerning disorienting cultural differences. Gender becomes the site to claim the power denied to immigrant men by racism.
The importance of women’s sexuality in the migration process is also illustrated by immigration policies. Perhaps the simplest illustration is the importance placed by immigration legislation and enforcing authorities on issues of women’s sexuality such as prostitution, lesbianism and pregnancy.
It is important to acknowledge that although household members’ orientations and actions among immigrants may sometimes be guided by norms of solidarity, they may equally be informed by hierarchies of power along gender and generational lines.
The impact of migration on gender relations and the impact of gendered power structures on the migratory process cannot be ignored if we are to have a clearer picture of how migration experiences intersect with women’s individual psychological processes. To fully grasp the interplay of gender and the migratory process it is important to understand that even though women migrate for a whole range of reasons such as poverty, displacement from the land, debt, and many other external constraints that they share with men, the impact of these problems is always gendered because of the impact of specific problems such as wage differentials in sender areas and in receiving areas. In addition to these common economic needs and their gendererd consequences, social constraints facing women also influence sex selectivity patterns in migrations streams. Marital discord and physical violence, unhappy marriages and the impossibility of divorce as well as other instances of sexual/gendered oppression often influence women’s decision to migrate.
Women’s agency, viewed within the context of resisting oppression and exploitative structures is particularly vital for a gendered account of migration, because it so often assumed that women simply ‘follow’ men and that their role in migration is reactive rather than proactive. In other words, it is important to keep in mind the extent to which women’s migration is not simply an enforced response to economic hardship by single, widowed or divorced women or wives following their husbands but also a deliberate, calculated move on the part of individual gendered actors to escape from a society where patriarchy is an institutionalized and repressive force. Therefore, so-called ‘cultural’ issues such as concerns with the body, sexuality and representation, might also be significant for a gendered account of migration.
Immigrant women’s regular wage work has an impact on gender relations. Employed immigrant women generally gain greater personal autonomy and independence. There is evidence that migration brings changes in traditional patriarchal arrangements. Many women learn to contest the patriarchal narratives of ethnic solidarity and thus, change the content of some of those narratives.
In an effort to manage some of the guilt generated by largely unacknowledged racism, it is possible to easily forget that sexism is no more deserving of respect when it is spoken in other languages or dressed in other cultural robes. Similarly, racism is not to be tolerated in the name of advancing “women’s rights.” The balance between these two is a delicate, but absolutely necessary one. Sensitivity toward other cultures does not imply unquestioning acceptance of patriarchal definitions of cultural identities and behaviors. We should ask ourselves why is the focus placed on women’s roles rather than other aspects of culture and traditions. Deployment of “tradition” and “culture” to justify sexist or racist behavior should never remain unproblematized.
There is no doubt that political and social concerns about immigration have reached a crisis point in the U.S. and Europe. And issues of gender have surfaced as one of the central points of the discussion. Recent legal measures in some European countries forbidding the use in public of certain items of clothing by women have become contentious. In the United States, although religious prejudices are very present, the main anti-immigrant rhetoric is directed at Mexicans. In a nation of immigrants, these newcomers are seeing as destroying the fabric of society. Prejudices, fueled by politicians and groups intent on creating fear of terrorist attacks, and dark tales about the purpose women may have to birth their children in U.S. territory, mingle with plights for women's rights and for religious freedom. Divergent positions distort each other in these discussions.
Immigration is not a new phenomenon in either Europe or the United States, but the level of acrimony seems to intensify daily. Immigrants seem to have become "the new enemy," rather than just productive members of society trying to make a better life for themselves at their children.
Although gender issues have always been central to the immigration process, they seem to have unprecedented salience in the political and social arenas. Women figure extensively in all discussions that involve reproductive issues as well as clothing. The emotional experiences involved in the process of migration become amplified by societal and political controversies about immigrant women.
It is always the case that as migrants cross borders, they also cross emotional and behavioral boundaries. Most immigrants and refugees crossing geographical borders, rarely anticipate the emotional and behavioral boundaries they will confront. In addition, it is my contention, based on both clinical practice and research, that at each step of the migration process, women and men encounter different experiences. Women?s roles and behaviors may be modified more dramatically and profoundly than men?s. Struggles over the appropriate role for women are present in most immigrant communities. This presentation attempts to address how the psychology and identities of women immigrants and refugees are affected by the migration process and the present immigration crisis. I provide a brief overview of issues immigrant women face upon relocation focusing on psychological effects. No single presentation can adequately address every aspect of the tremendously heterogeneous, complex, and rich experience of immigrant women. Thus I have chosen to focus on several specific areas related to women?s migration and adjustment. I highlight the psychological impact of processes of acculturation and the concurrent transformation of identities as it develops against the backdrop of immigrant communities and the host society.
Language loss and its concomitant sense of identity loss and transformation are one of the most powerful components of the immigrant experience. Language–the forced learning of the new and the loss of the old linguistic community–is central to the migration experience.
Learning to “live” in a new language is not merely an instrumental process. It is not a neutral act. It implies becoming immersed in the power relations of the specific culture that speaks the specific language. Paradoxically, learning the language of the host society implies learning one’s place in the structures of social inequality. For adults, to speak with a foreign accent places one in a subordinate position within those power relations. For children, for whom immigration usually implies schooling in a language other than the language of their parents, this process involves a “creation” of their incipient identities as members of a second class group in the new country.
One of the primary places where issues of national culture and family coherence come together is the question of language, particularly when different generations within a family have different levels of proficiency in the different languages spoken. The parents’ lack of fluency in the new language and the children’s lack of fluency in the “mother-tongue,” subvert authority in the family. The power of children is increased because they become “cultural brokers” while the power of parents is decreased because they depend on their children’s assistance to survive in the new world. The inordinate amount of power children may acquire because of their language proficiency can be at the source of conflicts over authority issues. It also magnifies children’s conscious or unconscious fears that their parents are now unable to protect them.
An immigrant’s resistance to language learning may be an expression of a desire for self-preservation. Entering the world of a new language may pose a threat for the individual’s sense of identity. Individuals who learn the new language at a fast pace may have less of a stake in preserving another identity. This may be why the young learn faster.
Clearly, the access to more than one language pushes at the boundaries of what is “sayable” or “tellable." This becomes particularly poignant when discussing issues of sexuality, a fact I discovered interviewing women immigrants about this issues. I will discuss the paradoxical ways in which languages interact when immigrant women speak about sex and sexuality, basing this discussion on data from my studies.
It is essential to understand the interplay of racism and sexism on the process of immigrant’s identity development. Racism and sexism derive their strength from each other. The racial hierarchization of immigrants is also sexualized. The sexualization of “foreign” women, the perverse interest in the erotic “other,” in other words, the embodiment of gendered racism are deeply embedded in immigration policies and public responses to immigrants throughout the world. Conversely, religious differences and the threats traditional values associated with immigrants can pose for European and North American societies have also become the key signifier in binary oppositions of gender relations and sexuality between immigrants and their host communities.
It will be very easy to assume that poor, uneducated women immigrants do not understand the meaning and subtleties of women’s oppression. And, to assume that those among them who do are probably just imitating or copying white Western feminists. The reality is that in all cultures (U.S. and European cultures included); there will be resistance to women’s transformations of their roles by those invested in maintaining the status quo. And, in all cultures women are perfectly capable of undertaking this transformative task. Those who have a stake at preventing the development of consciousness among women will not be pleased when those women take their lives in their own hands. Sometimes, apparent “cultural sensitivity” is nothing but another variety of racism that, in fact, fosters a conservative politics which locks women into the past. Some of these practices perpetuate the “colonial gaze” and reinforce exclusionary practices used by those who have a vested interest in keeping women outside critical sites of power over their own lives
Indeed, when trying to understand other cultures, we need to reflect about the implications of maintaining a customary system that targets mainly women. Before we can engage in effective counseling or psychotherapy with immigrant women we need to reflect on the implications of what seems to be respect for customs that target mainly women and have serious consequences for their right to bodily and emotional integrity. The question is, obviously, how we preserve sensitivity and respect for others and their cultural differences while continuing to foster liberatory/emancipatory ideals and principles applicable to all oppressed groups, not just to some with exclusion of others. It is not enough to be supported in efforts at liberation from ethnic oppression if women’s gender oppression is not taken into consideration. Perhaps if we reflect on how we address our own racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism (and other “isms”) in a more careful way, we would be more able to refine our understanding and manifest a more authentic cultural sensitivity. This will demand more work to develop awareness about the interlocking nature of oppression and the continued weight of its many subtle forms, a daunting but necessary task. It will imply paying attention and questioning the nature of power and the structures that perpetuate the exercise of that power.
The representation of female saints through the centuries offers an opportunity to observe cultural and historical changes in what is considered suitable images of gender. Although the usual trite perspectives presents saints, particularly female saints, as submissive and unquestioning of authority, a careful reading of their lives reveals a different reality. Many of their autobiographical writings reveal patterns of both resistance and accommodation to Church authorities. Accommodation was sometimes a matter of life and death. This was true for Teresa of Avila, who spent her adult life under scrutiny from the Inquisition and other authorities.
In this presentation I examine historical representations and images of several Roman Catholic women saints through the centuries. I provide a brief historical background of Joan of Arc, Rose of Lima and a few other saints, including relevant points about their resistance and accommodation to authorities and their role in the development of national identities. Next, I analyze depictions of their lives and actions through a gendered lens, situating their constructions in socio-historical context. Questions addressed include: How do the changing images of these saints demonstrate perceptions of gender (and sexuality) in different socio-historical contexts? Why are some images of female saints feminized while others are masculinized? How do these images suit the political and social climate in which they were developed? How do the images change over time to reflect changing views of gender? How did the church and the culture at large conceive of appropriate gender representations and transgressions through the centuries? Finally, I discuss the implications of these changing representations of saints and their impact on present day gendered representations of women.
This presentation focuses on how historical events and individual lives intersect to create autobiographical memory. The memories on which personal narratives are built are particularly important for people who have lived their lives in many places or who have lived through historical transformations such as the feminist movement.
Stories are essential because they permit moments of reflection without which actions and judgment would not be possible. I believe that life stories, although deeply personal, have important political and psychological purposes: They allow us to reinsert ourselves into the narrative that is history, to become a part of public world by participating in the process of its making, while we observe the development of our own lives and of our identity as feminists. The concept of memory and its value has been widely debated in recent years. Obviously, there is value in pondering the role of memory for individuals and society. Memory is the only witness to our lives. Reflecting on our memories and writing about them increases critical insight and engagement. The role of memories in the formation of self and identity, particularly feminist identity, as well as the role of writing those memories in the preservation and integration of a sense of self will be discussed.
Personal stories and narratives also have a transformative effect on psychological development. Recent research regarding the brain would suggest that narratives of self stem from impulses basic to our being. We’ve learned that the mind is malleable, that the brain constantly rewires itself, creating connections among disparate facts and ultimately spinning explanations about the self in the world. In essence, the mind “is telling itself a story.” Telling our stories reinforces social bonding, learning, and memories themselves. Sharing the intimate details of our lives has many functions: The act makes us feel connected to others, alleviates stress and makes us healthier. Researchers have found that writing about emotionally laden events increases our T-cell growth and antibody response, lowers our heart rate, helps us lose weight, improves sleep, elevates our mood and can even reduce pain.
Conflicting identities seemingly present contradictory demands on the individual. The unstable relationships that many individuals have to their multiple identities, demand an innovating approach to issues of identity in the postmodern world. Exploration of the conflicting imperatives of multiple identities provides tools at the individual and societal levels to address these apparent contradictions. The multiple intersections of experiences of oppression and privilege that construct the self need to be recognized rather than focus only on one salient aspect of identity.
The reality is that human experience is differently genderized, racialized, and sexualized. Individual lives are lived through the multiple visions provided by the lenses of gender, sexual orientation, body ability, age, religious affiliation, and other factors. Successful resistance against sexism, racism, heterosexism and other forms of institutionalized prejudice and discrimination, incorporates these multiple intersections of privilege and oppression that construct the self. Focusing on the intersection of identities strengthens the capacity for resistance because it takes into consideration the individual experience at its fullest. This presentation explores the power of focusing on these intersections and emphasizes their potential to enhance our capacity for resistance to oppression using concrete examples based on personal narrative.
| Home | Background | Books | Courses | Links | Workshops and Seminars | Online Reprints