Struggling to Avoid Poverty

I found both of the Listen Up chapters to be very interesting. Hakim-Dyce’s story about considering the job of a “go-go dancer” was particularly intriguing for me, because I’ve never heard the female side of applying for a job in a strip club, or even the perspective of a woman visiting a strip club and considering it a place of work.  Most often, society forgets that the women in strip clubs likely would love to pursue another career but simply don’t have the option.  When thinking about it, it makes perfect sense that working in a strip club as a dancer would be the last possible option for many women on the job scale.  As Hakim-Dyce mentioned, she tried a whole host of other job options first, preferring a receptionist job or even a job as a clown for birthday parties before considering working as a “go-go dancer.”  Although these jobs may not be the most desired, it takes precedence over a dancing job.  This article really shows the desperate measures many will take to avoid complete poverty.  For many women, it is impossible to turn down the high pay that many of the dancing and pornography industries have as their lures.  Hakim-Dyce mentioned hearing rumors of a $1000/week salary, which is very hard to turn down as a college student who is struggling to make ends meet.  In the end, it worked out for Hakim-Dyce because she put in the extra effort on the side and applied for so many jobs.  Her persistence allowed her to avoid the industry, but the reading very much suggests that the idea of entering the industry was something that haunted her for a long time afterwards.

            The second article by Rangel really stressed the importance of education and knowledge.  As with the first article, the difficulty in making ends meet was a central theme, strengthened in this article by the addition of childcare, which is an extremely taxing addition.  Rangel stressed how big of a relief it was when she was able to find childcare for her child, since it was such a problem for her to be a student, work, and provide childcare on her own.  All of the elements of her life were precariously balanced, and if one thing fell, she would have lost her education, which was one of her main life goals.  The article really put into perspective the struggle to stay out of poverty, and how difficult it is to maintain an education while caring for a child and working at the same time.