So this white dude college kid decided that a woman's POV is crappy and wants to go her twice better

[gategrrl]

I've written a brief article here on Hathor, about a blog entry/book review on Frugal Dad, a frugality website. It isn't so much about Frugal Dad's blog, but about the book that's reviewed on it, called Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard, a young guy who decided to call poverty on himself and live in homeless shelters until he could save up enough money to get a cheap car, an apartment, and a savings of about $2500USD.

The fact that Shepard is a college educated, young white guy is brought up and brushed off a few times in the comments section. It's not brought up at all if I recall correctly, in the main review, but I'll give Frugal Dad a pass on that--but I may not for too much longer. Frugal Dad, like another budget-minded blogger site I frequent (The Simple Dollar) is written by white guys who reek of their own unacknowledged class/white male priviledge. Frugal Dad has started to come under fire for some of his assumptions of other socio-economic classes, and unfortunately, he hasn't been too graceful under fire.

Anyhow, the book under discussion...actually covers much of the ground I've already mentioned. What incensed many women commenters was the brush-off and out-right hostility toward Barbara Ehrenrich and her first take on the working poor. I haven't read her book either (yet), and granted, she probably has tons of white female priviledge going on with her, too; but it seems that the entire basis of Shepard's book was to refute her experiences and conclusions. How like a bright young man, huh?

I highly recommend a read of the Frugal Dad thread, and then the Hathor thread, and if you'd like, comment here or on Hathor. I would really like to hear what you all have to say about this, if you've read either/or or neither of the books mentioned.

Comments

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Do you have any links to reviews/discussions of Ehrenrich's book? I did a paper on the working poor in college, but that was back in '79 or '80 and while I bet things haven't changed substantially (except to have probably gotten far worse), I'd love to get a sense of what she had to say.

Never mind. I've been meaning to buy "Nickled and Dimed" for a long time. Maybe I'll scrape up the money and do so now. :-)

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Not specific links to her book, no.

[amycooper.livejournal.com]

You know even the briefest of qualifying commentary (as in, "This is, at least, how x, y and z works/happens/is experienced as a young white man"). His privileged status doesn't necessarily discount his experience or experiment but it would be important to keep in mind that that he is privileged - to be college educated, to be male, to be white. Others without those privileges would probably face many of the same challenges-and then some. The fault isn't the experiment's set up, the the experimenter's inability to acknowledge those factors. Because to many of the privileged, privilege is treated like a curse word, an insult.

I've had something mulling around my brain about this. I really ought to write an essay on it. It would be called, "Privilege isn't a Bad Thing Except When it Is." :p

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I don't know about that-as a young, educated white guy, he probably got better pay rates than the other homeless going for those jobs. He also tried his experiment in Charleston, SC, where a young, educated white male is especially "prized" (I don't know how else to put it). If he'd tried this in New York, I don't know if his results would have been better or worse.

As a young white educated male without physical problems, he also had access to better paying jobs than a woman.

He also had the knowledge that he had the capability of leaving that life altogether, quickly, with that credit card in his back pocket.

I think his experiment is applicable to similar young white educated healthy males. And, that's just about it. IMO, of course.

[amycooper.livejournal.com]

That's what I am getting at. His experiment is a good equivalent for other white, educated healthy men starting "at the bottom." Qualifying that with "this is how hard it is/isn't for a Privileged person" is needed.

This is similar to any other "empirical" experiment. You can only focus on a narrow group, but it doesn't necessarily apply other groups. For example "experiences of first generation college going Asian women" doesn't really apply to "experiences of college going African American women." You may get somethings about women in general in college for the first, but you really need to do the second.

Though, I think the educated part of the writer's experiment really mess up the poverty aspect. Most poor don't have access to high ed.