When it comes to other cultures and ethnicity we have come to believe what we see on tv. Such as how Eastern countries are seen as third world countries, who need to be helped. Or the many many stereotypes surrounding one’s culture. So when we meet someone new for the first time we already have these past notions based on what we have seen or read. But there is so much more to a person than what we know or see. When it comes to representation there is only one. On tv, it is all the same, a straight man and woman. A woman taking care of the kids, a man working, a woman wearing dresses and skirts, and a man in a suit. I remember how it was a big deal when on an episode on the Disney channel there were two lesbian moms with a kid. Good for Disney to finally start to get with the times, but it’s long overdue. In this coming era of Marvel, there was hesitance but we will now be seeing our first of many LQBTQ characters coming alive. Kids will finally be able to see someone like themselves on tv and have it be “normal.” It’s coming from a big brand, Disney. ABC has their show the Fosters which actually had their first transgender character. 

When it comes to gender nonconformity you see artists such as Harry Styles who come to mind. He is someone who just does what he wants and wears what he wants. He uses nail polish, wears glitter and sparkles, and has even worn dresses and skirts, in public and on the front covers of magazines.  

The media is able to shape the views of the people. So when it comes to topics such as transgender people, they better do their reaserch or risk the wrath of the LGBTQ community. But in all seriousness the power the media holds on the lives of the youth is powerful. If you show that being trans is bad and a sin and should be persecuted, etc. That will literally have people targeting transgender people. Transgender people are continuously targeted and struggle to have a piece of equality. So portraying or even speaking about transgenders are not terms to just be thrown out lightly.

Gender is indeed a social construct. We have placed a label the moment we are born. On that label, there are expectations, rules, and different treatments. Take the label away and we are all just humans. There is no such thing as a “real man “ or a “real woman”. Society thinks that your genitalia determines everything about you. But that is not the case, a real human is someone who can be themselves in however form they want, they are “real”. Saying someone is not a “real man or woman” just makes one sound and looks stupid. Who are you to say what is real and what is not. Just let people do whatever they want. 

Over the years I’ve come to notice how much of history has been changed from its original. It’s like they didn’t teach us anything in school. What is the point of changing the history in textbooks? So many untold stories and so many forgotten people. We only remember those who make it onto the textbooks but even so we learn what they want us to learn, not the whole truth and history. This is the fact for Susan B Anthony. In history books praised for being a pivotal activist in the women’s suffrage movement. But in the video “Untold Stories of Black Women in the suffrage movement,” we learn about her controversial standpoint. That being that women deserve the power to vote and obtain property more than a black man, emphasis on black men. One thing to say is that women deserve the right to vote more than men. But she was diminishing specifically black men. As to say black men are lesser than white men and women. So we remember her as this great woman activist and textbooks have forgotten about her other standpoint. If you are going to stand up for women you can’t go and attack and diminish a whole other group of people who are facing their own challenges and setbacks. If anything they are on the same level, black men, white and black women fighting for a seat at the table. Bashing others just takes away from your credibility, you can’t say you’re fighting for justice and equality just for one group of people, you have to fight for all because one is not more important than the other. 

Just looking at the timeline of  “One Hundred Years Towards Suffrage” I’m just left in awe. So much history, so much progress but so much left to do. You know it was easy, so many setbacks and pushback have occurred. You and I know that there is so much to get done because as women we still face struggles and adversity, we are still fighting for a seat at the table. A span of 101 years has passed since women obtained the right to vote. But at the beginning of the timeline starting in 1776, a total of 144 years had to pass and occur in order for the bill to be passed. Without these women, without these voices, things could look completely different. It is our turn as women to keep that fight going. If it wasn’t for them where would we be, and if it isn’t for us no progress or change will occur. It took how many years for women to get the right to vote but that was back then. In today’s age progress is more achievable but that doesn’t diminish the work of those women. Women can vote, go to school, have careers, not depend on a husband, etc. The opportunities for women today are limitless compared to women back then whose options were limited. We mustn’t take things for granted because the fight is still going.

It was heart-wrenching to watch those videos about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. They were right in saying that it could have all been prevented. These corporations were treating their workers like animals. How do you have fire exits locked, only one elevator working, one fire escape, and no water sprinklers? The fear and desperation these women felt. They were being taken advantage of, they could be easily replaced by another woman and the poor pay they were receiving was nothing. The fact that something this horrific has to occur in order for some change to occur. Women were probably complaining about these very same matters but were dismissed, because to the owners, they are replaceable.  Something like this occurs and change happens immediately when it should’ve been established in the first place. 

We may not think about it, we may turn a blind eye but this does continue to occur in other countries. These factories may have been abolished in the United States but they didn’t disappear but rather moved. It moved to countries where the workers are too poor and powerless to fight back. In the very same countries, citizens flee to come to America. Progress is slow and at a standstill in these countries. American corporations take advantage of these places and workers for their own advantage. Still paying workers poor wages, poor working conditions, and no benefits, preying on the fact that these workers need the job more than the job needs them because once again workers are replaceable.

I’ve seen these posts and videos about sustainable fashion. The more we buy the more resources we use thus the more pollution and harm we create for the environment. But if we are smart about the pieces of clothing we purchase then we don’t buy as much and factories don’t produce as much. But also it’s better to thrift pieces rather than having factories mass produce. With that being said companies lose because people don’t want their product.  We can’t look the other way, just like people fight hard for animals. Stopping the consumption of any products that come from factories that harm and mistreat their animals. How are literal animals getting improved treatment, when there are actual human beings treated like animals in factories being treated worse and unfairly.

As much as we falsely believe that police and the church (religion) are two separate entities we must realize that politics and religion are somehow always intertwined, the use and excuse of relation are what many hide behind and use as their excuse for their doings. No bigger monster is created between politics and religion when the topic of abortion is brought to the table. Political representation is made up of predominantly white males. All the power goes to the white males who deem themselves in power and control. A man in charge of a woman’s uterus, a man calling the shots, a man who thinks he has a sole opinion on what a woman can and can’t do with her body, her very own existence. Then we have Christians, Catholics, whatever religion they are blasting on and on how abortion is bad and sin, how women are demons and whatnot. You even have doctors who are against abortion. The ones who not only take an oath to aid their patients but to not disclose this person’s information. So if a woman goes to her doctor to weigh her options and then has a doctor preaching blasphemy for her inquiring about an abortion. But then there is the topic of women no longer even having the option of getting a safe abortion because of lawmakers. 

First, there are way bigger and important issues to be discussed and fixed, for example, all the migrants stuck in texas jails, families being kept apart, and more and more mistreatment of them, more and more of them, one day there and the other gone missing. But no lawmakers let weigh in on a topic that has nothing to do with you, something that was instituted for women. Don’t even dare bring religion into this because if you are saying abortion is a sin and blasphemy how about we go over all the things that are wrong about your religion. Let’s talk about how you hide behind religion to make yourself powerful but behind closed doors, you are not this mighty religious follower you are a hypocrite.

A woman should be allowed to have the option of abortion. Again, it is her body and her choice. Women will find a way to obtain an abortion. It is better for them to have a safe resource for them to do so. It is no easy decision but it is not yours to make it on their own. We don’t know their stories, we don’t know their reason, and we don’t need to because, at the end of the day, it is their body and their choice.

Why must we do these two things? One puts people into boxes, labels them, and creates some sort of checklist onto them. There are too many people in this world that those boxes cannot capture one single race or ethnicity into one. Reading about Aleichia’s experience growing up makes you think and realize that so many people have had this very same experience as if it were a right of passage to self-awareness of your very own skin color. Something you never pointed your mind to because you are just a kid not self-aware of the world around you. A world that will judge you and treat you one way just for your skin color. 

While it may be normal to find so much diversity in New York as one of its nicknames is the “mixing pot”. But for Aleichia moving to North Carolina things were very different. Here people just didn’t “mix”. Everyone keeps to their own race. For Aleichia this not only causes confusion as to who she is but self-awareness of her skin color. Something she normally paid no mind to. Her skin color says she’s black, but her culture says she is Latina. In her case, she cannot be both. This is because people cannot comprehend that a black person can be more than the stereotype that society has created for them. 

I think for myself and many others being first-generation Mexican- American there is the issue of not being enough Mexican for my parents, because I don’t speak Spanish all the time, or because I don’t follow the traditions of my culture. But I am not “fully” American because I am not “white”. Honestly, I was somewhat embarrassed about being Mexican because of the stereotypes people made up of Mexicans. But I grew up to love and be proud to say I’m Mexican, that I speak two languages, come from a culture of amazing food, music, etc. I will also say I’m American, not just because I was born and raised in  America but because I am made American, I am made Mexican, it is who I am.

In the Power of Identity Politics, something that stood out to me was the conversation of representation in cinema. It correlates to how we view other ethnicities and cultures. Movies and tv are our glimpse into cultures we have not associated with. Just how people think Mexicans come from drug dealers, and all Mexican girls get pregnant as teenagers. Why do people think this because of what they see? But we all know you can’t believe everything you read and watch on tv or online. But for this very reason, we need more representation because right now there is this idea that a black person cannot be Latina because of her skin color, that she must choose one and place herself in a box.

Looking back this is what people , mostly men, really thought a woman wanted and would be satisfied with. Being home cooking, cleaning , raising the kids, that’s what their life consisted of, that is what they were born to do, their sole purpose. Later they were surprised when women wanted more, and wanted to be treated fairly and just. In some cases women were forced to stay in unhappy, abusive, toxic marriages because of the sole purpose that they relied on their husbands. Men had the power, they brought home the money, they were a woman’s life line. Without a husband you had nothing. No surprise here that women wanted out. Women wanted to pursue their own dreams and goals. Looking to present day women are waiting and committing,getting married later in their life. This is because they want to achieve goals before they settle down. That’s not to say you can’t have the best of both worlds. There are women  who do get married, have a family, and still have a career. But this was not an option for women in the past. Something we might overlook is LQBTQ women during those times. Not only were they forced to hide who they truly are. But having to marry someone who they are not in love with nor attracted to. Not being able to express who they truly are, love who they really want, looking their inner self in a cage at the sake of losing it all. 

The feminine mystique I think was everything women were thinking and talking about put into one piece of writing. It has transcended from generation to generation and is still being read and analyzed till this day. This is because this piece genuinely  spoke to women . Women are more than a housewife, more than a stay at home mother. Men are not the only ones who get all the power and glory. There are constant barriers stacked up against women , pushing them back. But women continue to fight and push back. There has been progress made but it’s not enough. Not until the idea and notion that women are just born to be caregivers and housewives is eradicated. We know that there is so much out there we can do , but in other countries women don’t have the same luxury.It is for that same reason that the job is still not done. It’s one thing to want to stay home and raise the kids and what not, the problem is that women were not given the option to do so but rather forced to do so. This was the only thing they had. When women started talking to one another and admitting that they are unhappy , that they wanted more, that this is the way everyone felt , they took action. It’s moments like these that make history. We can sit back and compare a woman’s life then and now. Yes progress has been made but there is still work that has to be done. From women in STEM making strides to be a part of “male dominated” jobs, to women not wanting to get married or simply waiting, to women putting themselves and their goals first.