Both pieces this week, Amos’ Dancing for Their Lives and Hessler’s Tales of the Trash, use an immersive style of reporting to transport readers into the lives of their subjects. Whether in a crowded women’s bathroom as Iraqi women prepare to find customers within an underground prostitution ring or accompanying trash collector Sayyid Ahmed on his daily rounds. As journalists immerse themselves within the lives of their subjects, second-hand recollection is replaced by first-person experience, getting readers closer to the actual lives of the subjects. I believe that this first-person narrative brings profiles alive and is the type of reporting I hope to emulate.
I also found the focus of these pieces to be especially fascinating. Both of these articles differently explore the nuanced power of female sexuality. A tool for survival amidst debilitating social and economic repression, yes, but also as a unique mark of shame. Amos describes young female Iraqi refugees in Syria who use prostitution as a way to support their own lives and those of their families. Yet, this means of survival holds its own immense risks, especially as honor killings of accused prostitutes throughout the early years of the twenty-first century served as a message to those engaging in this illegal channel of income. Syrian benefactors were ultimately the winners in this market – Syrian club owners were paid steep cover fees by male Iraqi patrons and by the women who left the club each night with a male companion. In this case, female sexuality was not only criminalized and seen as a mark of shame for those whom it employed, yet was also commodified by the very men who stigmatized its use. While this is by no means a novel concept, its global and long-lasting endurance, as well as the specific tie it has to migrant communities in Syria, was exemplified in this reporting.
In Hessler’s piece, the sexuality of men is glorified and commodified – in this case through the sale of sexual performance-enhancing drugs pervasive in Ahmed’s community. However, this is juxtaposed with the circumcision and genital mutilation of women, a physical representation of the forceful repression and discouragement of female sexuality. These innate contradictions point to the larger gendered disconnect within the society Hessler is reporting on.
In commenting on these themes, both of these pieces also use the profile format to comment on the larger issues plaguing the communities their subjects interact with. I think this is a crucial aspect of profiles that increase their relevance and poignancy.
