Discussing Durazo’s piece “In Our Hands: Community Accountability as Pedagogical Strategy” in class today felt like somewhat of a surreal experience. It was nearly impossible to not imagine that scenario happening in our own class and how we would each react to it. How I would react to it. Like a few others in the class, my opinion comes in the form of sexual assault aggressors not deserving the chance to speak and not deserving the opportunity to engage in an environment where their story is listened to.
In “In Our Hands” the aggressor, Gerardo, had that very special opportunity where he was able to admit what he had done and discuss that in a classroom setting where the survivor of his assault was not present. I found it necessary to check my opinion on this piece constantly throughout reading it. While it is necessary to focus on directing anger in a way that is productive and gives the perpetrator an opportunity to fully understand how wrong their actions are/were, it felt off that the same opportunity to speak and share was not given to the survivor in the same circumstance (away from the perpetrator). While over the course of the 3 classes they revolved their discussion around this, giving mainly other survivors the chance to talk, it still felt counter productive because this student was still offered the space in which he was capable of back-tracking and seeking sympathy and compassion. Yes, he was kept accountable and the class did so in a way that was productive and truly sought to make the aggressor accept the what he had done as completely wrong and unacceptable. But I still felt there was a hole in the discourse, and though I can’t put my finger on it exactly, I know it’s because the survivor of this particular act of sexual assault did not receive the equal opportunity to speak. This class got a completely rare opportunity to put some of these methods of accountability to work, and it was good that they took that opportunity. These methods of accountability are necessary and powerful, but for nearly all of the attention to be revolved around him and his experience seems flawed. In the instance of sexual assault, the attention should be on the survivor not the perpetrator.
It is interesting in this reading to consider the power that listening holds. In feminist discourse we talk a lot about instances when marginalized people's voices are muted or erased from conversations, and how this is a terrible transgression, and I think this holds particular weight here. Many people are very uncomfortable with the fact that this perpetrator of violence was allowed a voice, which I think speaks to how important being heard or not hearing someone really is, as these kinds of recognition politics are really meaningful to our own subjectivities. Moreover, because this type of recognition transcends and reconciles the discrepancies between individual lived experiences and broader, systemic forces.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting to me about this case in particular is the ways in which Gerardo's voice was permitted, but entirely within the control of the class. This subverts the normalized structures of listening, in that his position of dominance was undercut by the community. Further, I imagine that being in that class, and conversing with a perpetrator must have been a powerful experience for some people, as a dialogue with one's own perpetrator, especially one in which the power is in your own hands, is an experience which is not sanctioned within our current systems of sexual assault discourse. Further, gaining recognition from a perpetrator seems similarly meaningful, especially given that many perpetrators do not even see themselves as such. Thus having a perpetrator recognize your experiences and emotions seems potentially powerful.
I wonder how these interactions would have been affected if the survivor was invited/interested in speaking, or if this would have changed any of the student's perceptions of the situation, or of the perpetrator himself. Especially considering that the brevity of the discussion was hinged largely on the individualization of the assault.
I also needed to check myself throughout the reading. There were many instances where I feel like I would have wanted to walk out. Many instances where I would have wanted to kick him out to protect the other individuals in our class. I commend the people in the classroom that stayed and kept him in the place he needed to be. That is hard. I would probably be so angry I could not speak or think and that they had the ability to for intelligent thoughts. It is something I strive to be.
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