I was particularly interested in the fact that women would also use hypermasculinity to prove themselves in similar situations. I can think of examples of this in my own experience, but I've never thought of it this way before. Do you believe that women are less likely to be criminalized for hypermasculine behavior? Specifically, how do you think it would differ? #so345
@eh2003
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@Argyle_ "it should not be citizens' job to police the police." This really stood out to me. It's a super weighted statement but it has a lot of meaning throughout the entire book. I also think back to the Jennifer Hunt article we read. A big issue is that citizens' can't police the police, but who is? #so345
@akr804 I think this was a really good thing for Rios to point out. He also mentioned in Chapter 7, how J.T. was in youth programs after school to avoid being alone during those dangerous hours. I don't think that deviance being associated with night time is entirely a misconception, but it would be beneficial to make the 3-6pm frame more commonly known. Then maybe more kids would be encouraged to attend the after school programs and avoid crime. #so345
@akr804 I feel like the exploitation of others in order to protect your own masculinity is almost taught by the interactions they have with police. Officers tell them that they need to be "real men" and inadvertently become an example of what real men are like. Then they exploit and victimize the boys to prove their own dominance and masculinity. So as baffling as it is that T would do things like this, I wonder how he was supposed to learn anything different. #so345
This chapter reminded me of some of the kids I grew up with who would act out in school a lot. My mom works in a school and talks about kids doing this stuff a lot too. Teachers and other adults wouldn't understand why they would do stupid things to get in trouble. Now I see that it was a way for them to have some semblance of control over the situation. If they're going to be criminalized anyway, why not make a point of it and save their dignity. I want to explain this chapter to my mom. #so345
@purplepuppy52 I think you summed it up really well. It's an inescapable paradox that is really difficult to navigate. To be constantly criminalized just for existing is degrading, so it makes sense that they would do whatever they could to protect their dignity. Even if that meant making the criminalization "worse." And honestly, why would they want to choose the supposed freedom granted by the people who make them feel less than? It's sad but understandable. #so345
One of the most frustrating things from chapter 4 for me is how little it seems people try to help the boys despite claiming that they are. The police treat making them paranoid as an amusing cat-and-mouse game, teachers don't take the kids seriously and the community centers (whose whole mission is to help "at-risk" youths get better) also further criminalize them because that is more profitable. So what's the point? Do they claim to help kids at risk just to boost their own labels? #so345
@iamastudent11 I’m interested in this question too. Unfortunately I feel like many of them would feel like they’re automatically being accused of being bad people and get defensive. Though I would hope that more of them would have a more open mind and be more conscious of their actions and implicit biases. I agree a lot with @bear1234 . I think this book or something similar would be good to include in the curriculum of police training to help with bias. #so345
@GSMD05 I think this is really important too. It’s one thing to discipline children when they do something wrong, but for it to go to the extent of criminalizing them is ridiculous. The fact that a bad label coming from police and schools has enough influence on how parents view their kids is sad. Especially when the same exact thing likely happened to most of the parents when they were young. #so345
@Argyle_ This may be a biased opinion, but I think most of the time they just don’t care enough. I feel like a lot of the time the people in charge of controlling and taking down social movements are so focused on control and appealing to certain people that they don’t care who it affects or how in the process. We can see this in the drug war—politicians knew the reality of who they were harming, but changed the language around the movement to cover up what they were trying to do. #so345