Screams from the Pink Collar Ghetto: February 2014

I'm currently in Ubud, Bali trying to find my muse. Well I know where she is but it appears that I can only come and see her if I am tied down into a chair, caffeinated to my eyeballs, and have spent at least 8 hours procrastinating.

So this is not really a poem - more of an inspiration. I was looking through my quotes from Goodreads.com and they gave me a list of tag words from the quotes I like which I thought was an interesting meditation on me and what appeals to me.

Below: the poem.

What is a Pink-Collar Ghetto?

Pink Collar Ghetto describes women stuck in certain jobs, mostly low-paying and usually because of their sex. “Pink Collar” denotes historically female jobs like maids, secretaries, waitresses, and nurses. "Ghetto" is where marginalized people are forced to live.

I chose this title for my blog from a book I started to write when I was 22 and working in South Carolina as a bartender (barmaid according to my mother) and a receptionist/ temp. As a feminist, I was worried that I would never break out of the pink-collar ghetto. I read Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Bean Trees" and it inspired me to leave SC and go back to school.

Now I am a feminist humanitarian working on gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. It's been a long way from that pink collar ghetto in South Carolina but I never forget my roots.

Screams from the Pink Collar Ghetto

Sunday, February 09, 2014

Poem from Bali