Personal Story of a Minority
Woman
"Lisa Mamac, born in a rural farming
village in the Philippines, tried to escape the inevitability
of marrying there and raising her own family in the poverty in
which she grew up. Like many women moving from rural to urban
areas as their country is in
dustrializing, Lisa left her village for a large
city with plans to go to school. Rural to urban migration socially
dislocates women and girls as patriarchal power in traditional
societies provides almost no possibilities for women outside of
marriage or their family. Under these conditions women are made
particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Away from home
and on her own, Lisa fell in love and then became pregnant,only
to learn that the man she was involved with was already married.
He left her and she struggled alone with her infant, who died
at 8 months. She tried to go back to school but did not have the
money. Finally she became involved with a man who said he would
put her through school. But he didn't. In October 1981, Lisa met
a man who was a chief prosecutor in the court of justice of the
region in which she lived. He told her of a high-paying position
as a receptionist in a 5-star hotel in the Netherlands. He arranged
for her to have the job." When Lisa arrived in the Netherlands
she was put into a brothel. Like many women trafficked into prostitution,
Lisa's only chance for help was to appeal to customers to help
her escape. In 1983, one customer listened to Lisa's story and
agreed to help her." It was two year before a raid of the
brothel. In 1985, Lisa began her struggle for freedom.
Barry, Kathleen. 1995. The Prostitution
of Sexuality. New York. New York University Press. pp. 49-50.
We chose to share this narrative because it is proof that trafficking
and prostitution still happens and that it affects people in many
different ways. In this case it affected Lisa, her family, and
her education just to name a few. It also shows how women may
become vulnerable to trafficking in thinking that they are making
a better life for themselves and not realizing what is happening
to them.
Maya Angelou's Still I Rise
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies
You
may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust,
I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause
I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living
room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainity of tides,
Just
like hopes springing high
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders
falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful
cries.
Does my naughtiness offend
you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause
I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my
own back yard.
You may shoot me with your
words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You
may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like
air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance
like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's
shame
I rise
Up from a past that's
rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black
ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I
bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror
and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak
that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing
the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream
and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I
rise
I rise.
Armistead, Cynthia L. "A
little of Maya Angelou's Poetry." http://www.technomom.com/angelou.html. Copyright 1996-1999. Last updated
10/30/97. Accessed 5/30/00.
We chose Maya Angelou's "Still I
Rise" because it demonstrates multiple meanings. To Angelou,
she is talking about her culture and the difficulties in which
the African American race has faced. She says that even though
she (and others of her descent) has faced many obstacles in her
life she still finds the courage and hope deep inside to "rise"
above or move beyond what non-African Americans believe she (and
her race) can.
We chose this to relate to the prostitution
and trafficking of women because often times they also are not
highly looked upon much like the African Americans were at one
time. We believe for the prostitutes to overcome the lifestyle
they chose or were forced to live, they must look deep inside
and find their hope and courage to change their lifestyle and
"rise" above the lifestyle they once lived.
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