#81: Teaching Feminism to Incarcerated Students
Episode description
In this episode, I explain what it is like to teach college classes in a correctional facility. And I focus on one of my favorite academics and authors, bell hooks, who anchors our classroom discussions about feminism, an idea that many of us have totally misunderstood. I cover the "feminist waves," how media impacts our beliefs, and why many of us think feminism is something very different than what it is.
Working as a prison educator is the most fulfilling job I have ever had. When we are thrown in prison and cut off from the world because (we are told) we are too dangerous and awful to play with everyone else, we internalize those feelings of hate and disdain, leading to a long-standing 66% recidivism rate in the USA. But when we are offered services, treatment and reasonable options for self-improvement, we often change our thinking without realizing it, and we begin projects of self improvement.
Check out Yousman's work about media making us afraid.
You can also read about Roy Cohn, political advisor for both Donald Trump & Joe McCarthy.