What is the Role of Women in gang culture? Lady Q: The Rise and Fall of a Latin Queen written by Reymundo Sanchez is a biographical account of a female gang member’s life and her experiences. Sonia Rodriguez was heavily involved in gang activities at a young age, she was held in an environment that made it easier to become entangled in that life. Her parents and her family in general were dysfunctional to say the least, and her community was equally as vile to her upbringing. This all ultimately led her to seek shelter in gangs, and she became loyal to her new surrogate family. Gang culture led her to take the persona of Lady Q, a representation of her gang identity, as that is the name she was given by her new family. Her life was a rollercoaster
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Her household from a young age was in constant conflict with violence, and drugs through both her parents. Her father sold drugs, and her mother was always clashing with her father, and sometimes they took out their frustration on their children. Sonia Rodriguez’s’ life was missing the structural functionalism of the love of her parents, and the care that she needs to have a functional home life. In class we described how society is a human organism that needs multiple services to survive, the examples given were school government, faith, legal system, but there also needs to be some support. The family structure usually takes care of the role of support, providing protection, and teaching a child. For Sonia Rodriguez she had no support, her family was harsh with constant fighting, and a complete distrust between the parents and children. There was also always an underlying suspicion about her as she states,” Vivian and Jazmin often lied, stole money, and stayed out past curfew, but no matter what they did, somehow Sonia was always to blame, always the scapegoat”(12). She had no support in her home, so she began interacting with individuals whom she believed could have her back, as she says ,” The only people giving her time, attention, and respect were members of the Latin Queens…”(41). This relates back to structural functionalism of …show more content…
Sonia Rodriguez rough childhood was hard to read, mainly because I saw the dysfunctions that created Lady Q and how it motivated her to act rebelliously. I enjoyed that this book covered one person; it made the story more personal while connecting it back to the larger Macro issue of gang violence. Her personal story dealt with the motivation that many people that come from a dysfunctional home have to join a gang. In the book you felt sympathy for her desperation, knowing that without her gang she felt she had nowhere else to go. This in part makes the last couple of pages so chilling to me. In the epilogue the author Reymundo Sanchez states,” Unfortunately, regardless of her perils, Sonia still smokes weed and keeps company with like-minded ’hood rats who do nothing but bring her down. But this is where she feels she belongs”. No matter what she went through, she still feels a connection to her neighborhood and feels that she cannot escape her environment. In the end, I feel that the book was insightful and necessary to gain a singular female view point of gang
Her household from a young age was in constant conflict with violence, and drugs through both her parents. Her father sold drugs, and her mother was always clashing with her father, and sometimes they took out their frustration on their children. Sonia Rodriguez’s’ life was missing the structural functionalism of the love of her parents, and the care that she needs to have a functional home life. In class we described how society is a human organism that needs multiple services to survive, the examples given were school government, faith, legal system, but there also needs to be some support. The family structure usually takes care of the role of support, providing protection, and teaching a child. For Sonia Rodriguez she had no support, her family was harsh with constant fighting, and a complete distrust between the parents and children. There was also always an underlying suspicion about her as she states,” Vivian and Jazmin often lied, stole money, and stayed out past curfew, but no matter what they did, somehow Sonia was always to blame, always the scapegoat”(12). She had no support in her home, so she began interacting with individuals whom she believed could have her back, as she says ,” The only people giving her time, attention, and respect were members of the Latin Queens…”(41). This relates back to structural functionalism of …show more content…
Sonia Rodriguez rough childhood was hard to read, mainly because I saw the dysfunctions that created Lady Q and how it motivated her to act rebelliously. I enjoyed that this book covered one person; it made the story more personal while connecting it back to the larger Macro issue of gang violence. Her personal story dealt with the motivation that many people that come from a dysfunctional home have to join a gang. In the book you felt sympathy for her desperation, knowing that without her gang she felt she had nowhere else to go. This in part makes the last couple of pages so chilling to me. In the epilogue the author Reymundo Sanchez states,” Unfortunately, regardless of her perils, Sonia still smokes weed and keeps company with like-minded ’hood rats who do nothing but bring her down. But this is where she feels she belongs”. No matter what she went through, she still feels a connection to her neighborhood and feels that she cannot escape her environment. In the end, I feel that the book was insightful and necessary to gain a singular female view point of gang