So what do you do?
There’s nothing like being in a room full of social workers and overhearing everyone else’s research interests, job experiences, or areas of specialization. I can’t think of any other situation where I could state my actual research without reservation, explanation, or tempering the terminology to make it seem less galling to the listener. Too many times I have been asked what I’m interested in studying (by non-social workers/non-public health workers), only to watch the person’s face crumple into a sort of confused sympathy before the all-too-familiar flicker behind their eyes indicating the unspoken question: “What the hell happened to you that you would want to study such a thing?”So here it is, the unabridged version: I am interested in studying violence against women and sexual minorities, particularly within the context of socioeconomic factors influencing immigration/migration to the U.S. from Latin America (particularly Mexico and Central America).Here’s the abridged version: I’m interested in studying women’s health and economic needs in order to help reduce domestic violence, especially within immigrant communities where many traditional services may not be available.Unabridged version of one of my colleagues’ research area: Women’s help-seeking behaviors and cultural responses to rape and trauma in Congolese refugee camps.Abridged version: Survival skills of refugee women in Africa.Unabridged version of another colleagues’ research interests: Risk behaviors of queer and questioning youth in low-income urban areas who are in foster care, unstably housed or runaways, including sex work as a survival method.Abridged version: Poor gay youth.Further abridged, if political party affiliation of company is unknown: Poor youth.It’s a relief not to have to disguise or dress up what you’re doing to someone else, but it makes me wonder WHY we, as social workers, feel the need to put parentheses around what we do, or apologize for it being scary, or skirt around issues by not using certain words that are jarring in so-called polite society (such as RAPE, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, SEX WORK, DEATH, SUICIDE, CHILD MOLESTATION, ADDICTION). These words are jarring; these issues are not palatable or polite. They are warped and disgusting, and they reflect a warped and oftentimes disgusting reality that isn’t going away just because somebody feels uncomfortable with them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in hurry to scream “TRANSGENDER!!!” to my grandma, but I do think we could come out of the closet a little more and stop apologizing for studying the things that everyone else would just as soon forget. Otherwise, how will we ever change the world?
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