Alcoff attempts to differentiate between what is acceptable and what is not when speaking for others.  She claims that speaking about a group is different from speaking for a group when she says,“Thus I would maintain that if the practice of speaking for others is problematic, so too must be the practice of speaking about others.This is partly the case because of what has been called the “crisis of representation.” For in both the practice of speaking for as well as the practice of speaking about others, I am engaging in the act of representing the other’s needs, goals, situation, and in fact, who they are, based on my own situated interpretation. In post-structuralist terms, I am participating in the construction of their subject-positions rather than simply discovering their true selves.”   However, this leads me to wonder where do you draw the line between speaking for others and speaking about others?  Doesn’t a representative of a group contradict this statement?  Alcoff claims that speaking for others is knowing and discovering the subject matter at hand while speaking about others is the speaker’s way of interpreting the group based on the speaker’s situation.   Many groups have representatives speak on their behalf.  In these situations, the representative is speaking for others yet the title of a representative seems to employ the position of speaking about others. 

“As my practices are made possible by events spatially far away from my body so too my own practices make possible or impossible practices of others. The declaration that I “speak only for myself” has the sole effect of allowing me to avoid responsibility and accountability for my effects on others; it cannot literally erase those effects.”  

This quote made me realize that when speaking for or about another group, I will have some influence on the way others perceive that group.  As with doing service work at the Boys and Girls Club, what we say about the Boys and Girls club will surely have an effect and influence others’ perceptions of the Club.  Therefore, we should consider what we say about the Boys and Girls Club carefully and take responsibility for those outcomes.  As a student, we will have to write about and eventually make a PSA representing the Boys and Girls Club which brings to light Alcoff’s claim that speaking for others often time raises problematic issues.  Alcoff mentions these issues when she says “The recognition that there is a problem in speaking for others has followed from the widespread acceptance of two claims. First, there has been a growing awareness that where one speaks from affects both the meaning and truth of what one says, and thus that one cannot assume an ability to transcend her location… The second claim holds that not only is location epistemically salient, but certain privileged locations are discursively dangerous. In particular, the practice of privileged persons speaking for or on behalf of less privileged persons has actually resulted (in many cases) in increasing or re-enforcing the oppression of the group spoken for”.  For our future assignments, it should be in our best interest to represent the Boys and Girls Club with the best ability we can.   According to Alcoff’s claims, we should go about our work by getting to know the people we work with at the Boys and Girls and understand their feelings and thoughts.  By doing so, as a service learner we will have a better understanding of their position.