Lived Diversities by Husband Charles Alam Yunis

Author:Husband, Charles, Alam, Yunis [Husband, Charles, Alam, Yunis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Discrimination
ISBN: 9781447321125
Google: TLiwBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2016-03-23T04:29:33+00:00

Gendered space and the relationship of experience and framing discourse

For some individuals of a cosmopolitan disposition, the determined aspiration to live in a multi-ethnic area has not proved to be possible because specific facets of their identity – in particular, their gender – have proved to be an uncomfortable fit with some of the social dynamics of Manningham. The recorded accounts of a few young women speak directly and strongly of their experience of sexism on the streets of Manningham, and elsewhere in Bradford. Writing in the context of a recent political and media furore over the ‘grooming’ of young white women by ‘predatory Pakistani men’, this is a topic that requires careful analysis. Perhaps we should first provide some account of the nature of their experiences. One respondent, who usually lives overseas but spent three months doing fieldwork in Bradford for this project, recorded how she experienced the way in which her person was routinely sexualised in Bradford as shocking in comparison to her ability to walk through the streets of her current home town with no such intrusion upon her sense of identity. In this section, I will draw upon this work extensively, as it brings together not only her own experience, but also that of the other females she interviewed and encountered during her fieldwork. Of her own experience, she reports that:

‘If we think of comfort as a relationship of power in a social setting, the fact that the majority of women I have spoken to admitted that they (myself included) often feel uncomfortable because of being commented and stared at by men – mostly Asian and black and sometimes white – is quite disturbing. Harassment was something I personally experienced almost on a daily basis.’

This is an account that was powerfully echoed in the experience of a white young professional woman in her 30s who had deliberately chosen to live in Manningham because of her cosmopolitan values and her active engagement in intercultural community political action in the area. She found the extent of sexual harassment by young Asian men to be so intolerable that despite her political commitment and deeply held values, she felt that she was forced to leave the area. A young Polish woman experienced the impact of this sexist male behaviour when she lived on Oak Lane. She records that:

‘For two months, I was living on Oak Lane and it was like I was going for a pizza or something like that – so, you know, they’re shouting. Even if I was dressed in my trousers. It was only two o’clock [14.00 hrs] when I went there, you know!’ (T4, emphasis in original)

These are disturbing direct accounts of gender power on the streets and introduce a layer of interpersonal dynamics that run counter to the benign account of the physical streetscape presented previously. The young researcher’s further discussion of this experience serves to remind us of the intersectionality of identities discussed earlier, as it is clear that it is not a female identity alone that shapes the nature of such sexist behaviour.

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