Call Us Out Of Name: The Untold Lives Of Women And Girls In Poor America

In the book, Don’t Call Us Out of Name: The Untold Lives of Women and Girls in Poor America, author Lisa Dodson writes about the challenges and experiences women endure while living under the federal poverty line. The title of the book itself, represents the women, and their fight to overcome the stigma that comes from receiving welfare, participating in work programs, or from early motherhood. As Dodson (1998) mentions, that each story told by a woman demonstrates their personal trauma or their fierce individuality, and their overall ways of adjusting to the policies and economy in order to survive and raise families (p. x). Furthermore, Dodson (1998) states, that “over a period of changing economic conditions, welfare mothers were increasingly labeled as ‘dysfunctional’ precisely because they were transformed into nonworkers” (p. 182). The stigma created is rooted in the …show more content…
But to cover up for the poverty that that is being experienced, by showing moral sympathy to those who are deprived (Wacquant, 2009). According to the neoconservative ideas, an individual should be independent and accountable for their own personal responsibility. Therefore, welfare recipients are surrounded by a stigma that is difficult to expose and eliminate, especially now, since women have made gains in social and economic equality (Mills, 1996). The stigma surrounding welfare recipients, uses the concepts of dependence, addiction, illegitimacy, and promiscuity (Mills, 1996). The false generalization serves as a political tool to support the welfare reform, additionally it creates the illusion that the job training and precarious jobs are helping the women overcome poverty and become “responsible” and “moral” citizens. However, instead, it diminishes the efforts women are making to raise a family and overcome poverty with