Normalization Of Violence

I. Introduction In “The Everyday Violence of Hepatitis C among Young Women who inject drugs in San Francisco” by Philippe Bourgois, Bridget Prince, and Andrew Moss , it gives a glimpse at the everyday life of the women that are involved in the drug culture which underlines violence is normalized and overlooked. With the entanglement of the street drugs, these women are also in abusive relationship that result in economic isolation, power struggle, and substance abuse. Throughout this article, the main argument is the violence that is intertwined with the drugs, is normalized through the “love” concept, predatory practices, and jealousy. The characterization of this argument would be a open-ended discussion and is made to question the normalization of this daily violence.
II. Summary of argument “Patriarchal …show more content…
Calamity is an example of the uneducated women that are involved in the drug culture which ultimately gets them involved with violence. Calamity was attacked and was left to die but she was luckily taken to the hospital to get urgent care. “...Around 7:00A.M. Tony went into my jeans pocket and took my pocketknife. I was sleeping. He then stabbed me four times in the throat and then raped me”(257). This is evidence that in some cases the sexual predation only leads them to encounters with dangerous men hoping for sexual pleasures. This could be examined as an evidence for the argument as well. Lastly, Cat is one of the examples that is given to show the jealousy in relationship, which leads to abuse and ultimately controlling her. “He would not let me leave the hotel room. That was scary, because afterwards he would say how much he wasn’t into violence”(258). The women not knowing the logistics of the drugs can raise the risk of receiving Hepatitis C, especially knowing the men do this practice out of