I wanna start by talking about Shavoya Easy’s snapshot 12 which says “Trans rights are human rights” because I know many people don’t see it that way.  Trans people are fighting for their lives quite literally and the narrative is that transgender people are a threat to cis lives. They’re fighting for the right to live, access to healthcare, employment, corrective representation, and simply to be recognized and treated like a human being. 

Disclosure tackles transphobia in media and how portrayals of trans people teach the masses how to view, react and treat trans people, it also disastrously affects the way trans people view themselves. Media is very powerful and people often underestimate its influence. In the film it said 80% of Americas don’t know a trans person personally so much of their information about trans people comes from the media. And with films pushing stereotypes such as trans serial killers, trans sexual predators, and the butt of jokes it’s no wonder transgender people are viewed as monsters and a laughing stock. It’s dehumanizing. There’s a long history of terrible trans representation, the obsession with trans people is hella weird. What’s even weird and honestly disgusting is the trope of male comedians dressing up as women. Disclosure talks about how it’s a “rite of passage” for cis-het Black male comedians to gain mainstream recognition in white society. It’s a layered thing where Black men sell out themselves by playing into their own “emasculation”, playing into disparaging mammy and sapphire stereotypes of Black women and presenting trans-ness as a game of dress up. It’s anti-black, sexist and transphobic all in one. Transphobic representation often comes with homophobia, sexism and racism, they are all intertwined, which is why the fight for trans rights is all our fights.

It was very heartbreaking to hear the trans people in this film talk about how these horrendous depictions affected their self esteem. When you have no personal trans person in your life to give you guidance and when you see yourself on tv being depicted as monstrous disgusting things, how can you not believe those things. How does one love themselves when media, loved ones, and society is telling you, you’re repulsive? That’s very damaging to one’s mental health. We don’t talk enough about trans mental health and that needs to change.

We need to recognize trans people are human, humans who are suffering so greatly at the hand of silly gender constructs that don’t even serve cis women or men. I try my best to be an ally to the trans community. It’s takes constant education and conversations with people in your lives. An old friend from middle school came out as a trans woman recently and I told them I’m glad they’re living in their truth. I know how much she struggled when she was being bullied for “being gay” and how much she didn’t really identify with that term. Trans people are not mythical creatures they’re our friends, family, coworkers, classmates, people. Have a some compassion. I had to threaten to not be friends with someone after they used a transphobic slur that I previously educated them against saying, and they got their act together. Had to explain to a high school friend that trans women are not appropriating womanhood. Have to catch myself when I think or say borderline transphobic or trans exclusionary things.Educate yourself, educate others, allow time to learn and be patient with people but also let them know you have zero tolerance for that shit. Normalize defending trans people.

The last thing I want to touch on in Disclosure is their closing statement that representation isn’t the end all be all but rather a means to reach the trans community in an uplifting way and to educate the masses. It’s not just important that trans people are visible on screen but also that they are in the writing rooms and the work continues outside of the acting world. Trans people in the streets need protection and opportunities like the ones onscreen. Legislature, economic access and equity, as well as redefining masculinity and dismantling the gender binary are all components that go into working towards trans liberation.

In The Power of Identity Politics Alicia Garza makes a great point, stating “Identity is the elephant in America’s room” (191). Identity is such a fragile subject to bring up in American society, it’s often met with eye rolls, attitude, and offense. White Americans like to remain colorblind to race issues and men of color like to remain sex blind to gender issues, this necessitated the emergence of identity politics. Identity politics refers to politics that addresses the lived experiences of those whose identities lie outside of the norms defined by American society or singular race and gender movements that ignore Black women’s intersecting identities, experience, and oppression. It is a way to combat power dynamics being replicated in movements that seek to end said dynamics.

Identity politics is about recognizing power, what it is, how it operates, how it manifests, how we contribute to it, and most importantly, how we remedy it. “A lack of understanding is central to how power operates. Power prefers to operate in obscurity; if how power operates was fully transparent, I suspect many of us would rebel against it.” (Garza, 186). People belonging to groups in power, namely white people, cisgender men, and heterosexual people, are blind to their privilege; they don’t and refuse to see that they are the default in society. White people fail to see how whiteness is centered in everything in this country, beauty is defined by Eurocentric features (straight hair, thin nose, fair skin), “flesh tone” and nude are synonymous with the color beige; white people are the default for human. It’s easy to say “I don’t see color” or “there’s only one race the human race” when you’ve lived in the safety of default humanness instead of a racialized body that defines your quality of life.

Allena McKenzie’s Snapshot 10 which shows an image saying “I don’t see race, I’m a good person” and translate it to its real meaning of “I’m going to use my place of privilege to refute and deny the sufferings of those who do not have white privilege while at the and time erasing their personal and cultural history”. I love that meme because it exposes the truth behind those sayings. Ignoring race doesn’t make you a good person, it makes you the opposite because that mindset serves only white people. When you don’t see race, you don’t see how whiteness has committed atrocities against of people of color, you don’t see the history, and culture of people of color, you don’t see our beauty, you don’t see how larger society ignores, abuses, dehumanizes and erases us. It is important to see us, to hear us and to operate from a point of recognizing our presence.

In “Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina” Aleichia Williams talks about her middling identity of being both Black and Latina and the alienation she experiences from both communities. Erasure of Black people in Latin America erases their contributions to dance, music, language, and culture there, it erases the history of enslaved Africans in Latin America, it erases their presence and current contributions and trials. Imagine being erased from the home and culture you were born and raised in. The sense of not belonging because of the false narrative that Latino is a race, rather than ethnicity. Because the image of a latinx person is the mestizos phenotype that resembles JLO, and Becky G. Deportation is a Black issue that’s not recognized as such because Afro-Latinx people aren’t seen. This is why Identity politics is important, we must identify those who fall outside of what’s defined as the default.

The Combahee River Collective Statement 

The Combahee River Collective Statement was a group of Black socialist lesbian feminists who’s aim was to address multiple oppressions at once. It’s a touchy thing for me to be reminded that various equality movements ignore Black women’s plight. Black women exist at the very bottom of every oppression, race, sex, sexuality and class but that is rarely recognized even among Black women ourselves. We tend to put everyone before us not realizing that if our needs were met that would mean the people above us needs would also be met but it’s not the same the other way around. White womens liberation doesn’t equal liberation for Black women or any other WOC for that matter. Black men’s liberation doesn’t equate to Black womens liberation. In fact, both these groups achieving liberation that excludes us would mean they’d have more power to oppress us. “If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” (19). Black women are oppressed by the system of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism which all work together to keep us down. The racial gender pay gap highlights perfectly how these system work together making Black women bare the brunt of their oppression. Black men don’t want to address their sexism and ultimately that is holding the Black community back, white women do not want to address their racism and that’s hold the feminist community back. The Combahee River Collective believe the aversion to listen to Black feminists on the part of men, white women and non black women socialists is ultimately what holds us back from a revolutionary change in society. The most revolutionary are the ones who are most oppressed.

Snapshot 9 Response 

I was particularly drawn to the picture posted by Mario Jesus Nava which quoted Angela Davis. It reads “ I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing the things I cannot accept”. A powerful quote that I frequently use as an affirmation, not just for political oppression but also for everyday struggles that aren’t deeply tied to systems. If my habits are holding me back I tell myself this quote to reclaim my power over my life so I can get to work. It kicks me out of complacency and propels me into action. It’s a truly powerful statement. 

Paris is Burning 

The documentary Paris is Burning educated me further on Black and Hispanic NYC LGBTQ culture and history. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of Ball but it’s the first time I’ve gotten an in-depth history of it and its significance in the Queer community. Balls are competitive extravaganzas events created by queer people for queer people where they dress up and compete in different categories for prizes and glory. At Balls LGBTQ people could be whatever they wanted to be, they could be drag queens, models, and even dress as certain professional roles that they otherwise wouldn’t be chosen for because they were Black/Brown Queer and poor. A whole culture was birthed out of this, queer tradition and vocabulary. Terms like read, shade, and voguing which are still used today and gained popularity among those who are not Black/brown nor a part of the LGBTQ community came from Ball culture. The world doesn’t offer LGBTQ people (especially BIPOC LGBTQ people) a safe space to exist, so they created their own. Ball was their safe space, a safe space for creativity and expression, sexuality, gender identity and a shelter for those who were homeless literally and figuratively. Many LGBTQ youth who were kicked out of their homes by parents and relatives who were unaccepting of their identity found refuge and family in these spaces. Ball is a home, a representation of the resilience of the Black and Hispanic LGBTQ community, it’s prismatic personality and its influence and impact.

It’s actually really infuriating that women were told what to do, what to want and even how to think. Women had no control over their own lives or body. And it’s especially infuriating to me that women were shamed for being “frigid” and that heterosexual sex centers the penis and disregards female pleasure. What’s even more infuriating is that while so much progress has been made women are STILL controlled and disregarded in sex.

Women’s roles were so limited. There’s nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom, but the term “housewife” as it is conceptualised is inherently oppressive because there’s a lack of access to other avenues and occupations, unequal labor, and the absence of freedom of choice. In the 20^th century women’s  “only dream was to be perfect wives and mothers;  their highest ambition to have five children and a beautiful house, their only fight to get and keep husbands. They had no thought for the unfeminine problems outside the home;  they wanted the men to make the major decisions.They gloried in their role as women, and wrote proudly on the census blank “Occupation:  housewife.” As stated in The Feminist Mystique by Betty Friedan. Imagine having your desires dictated to you, being reduced to a single role/occupation, it’s so unfulfilling. Many women do not want children, or husbands, or to stay at home, they want freedom to choice their occupation, choose their destiny and live true in their identity. Luckily we’ve made major progress in this area of woman’s liberation.

Frigidity is such a silly concept. Most women do not have vaginal orgasms. In Anne Koedt’s “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” it states “Although there are many areas for sexual arousal, there is only one area for sexual climax; that area is the clitoris. All orgasms are extensions of sensation from this area.” (4). I can personally attest to this because penetration is only pleasurable in one area, the underside of the clitoris leading into the vaginal canal (so essentially still the clitoris).  I’m assuming that’s the infamous gspot but it’s never been pleasurable enough to give me an orgasm, so I’m very much in agreement that vaginal orgasms are a myth. Shaming women for something their anatomy is not meant to do is ridiculous. How illogical and moronic that the “intellectually superior” and “logical” gender just makes up facts with lack of scientific backing. The mental torture this wreaked on women. Women to this day are concerned about not being able to have vaginal orgasms  and are unsatisfied in heterosexual sexual relations. The lack of education on the female body has many women confused about their own body and has heterosexual men neglecting their female sexual partners needs. It’s a toxic cycle of dissatisfaction and insecurity for women and I want it to end. 

Nicole Guidetti’s Snapshot 8 which features a Tik Tok about Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” which is said to be the first feminist anthem. I first heard this song sampled by a new artist named Saygrace and I was immediately in love with the lyrics. Lesley Gore captured my exact sentiments when a man is trying to be controlling or possessive, like seriously “don’t tell me what to do and don’t tell me what to say”. I’ve had random men in public  tell me to smile, policing my facial expressions it’s wild. I’ve even dated a controlling guy who tried to control how I dress, and tried to force me into the gym because my ass wasn’t big enough for his liking, I left him with a swiftness. As Lesley gore says “I’m free and I love to be free to live my life the way I want, to say and do whatever I please”. 

            It’s a shame it takes tragedies for change to be enacted. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 could’ve been avoided if there was a value for human lives over profit and products. The factory comprised of mainly young female workers, 500 or so, packed in a factory making garments for 11-12 hours a day, every day, for 14 cents an hour. When the fire broke out the factory was not equipped to deal with it; only 1 working elevator, rusted hoses, and an exit door that opened inwardly, the workers couldn’t get out in time. Women were jumping to their deaths. This incident was so horrible that the public and activists took to the streets. The International Lady Garments Workers Union and The Sullivan Hoey Fire Prevention law birthed out of this tragedy, bringing forth fire safe factories conditions, minimum wage laws, etc. Eventually sweatshops in the US were no more. However, sweatshop labor for clothing companies in the US now depend on sweatshop labor overseas in countries like Bangladesh, where Triangle Shirtwaist conditions are STILL present and taking lives.

The Bangladesh Hameen factory fire of 2010 almost 100 years after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, mirrored that tragedy exactly, only it didn’t result in drastic improvements. There was very little change and when the Bangladesh workers protested and demanded a raise of merely 35 cents hourly, they were beaten and brutalized by police. These people are asking for the bare minimum, and it is seen as an outrage. They are producing garments for billion dollar companies like Gap, Walmart, and H&M, who refuse to make working conditions safe for them and pay them higher wages. So many women and even children slaving away to make OUR clothes. This is a problem we, as American consumers, play a part in, it is not just a global issue, it is an American issue, and a feminist issue.

Jasmin H’s snapshot 7 that shared the article Bangladesh Garment Workers Reject Minimum Wage Hike, Call it a ‘Cruel Joke’ by Surangya, which was written in 2018, further shows how little change has occurred in Bangladesh sweatshops, even as more tragic sweatshop deaths occur. Conditions are still unsafe, the workers are not getting paid a livable wage, they are working well over full time hours, they have no rights to organize, its inhumane. “The poor working conditions of Bangladesh’s garment workers have been widely documented with the low wages regularly compelling them to work overtime in unsafe environments. More than 85% of the workforce comprises women, who have to work in the absence of basic amenities and without the proper enforcement of laws granting maternity leave and benefits.” (5). American women were liberated from the horrors of sweatshops and have many liberties that women overseas don’t have today. These women are oppressed by our consumption, our government, laws, and policies and by corporations exploitering them for cheap labor. As American feminists we owe it to the women overseas to advocate for US laws that holds corporations accountable for the horrors they commit to women, children, and people of color globally. We can’t turn a blind eye to the women we are playing a part in oppressing. These women don’t have the liberty to organize but we can organize on their behalf.

ERA

            The National Women’s Party proposed the ERA/Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution in 1923, it states that equal rights cannot be denied based on sex. There’s a lot of controversy around this amendment; feminists and women in general are largely divided on whether they want this amendment passed. So far 38 States have passed this amendment, fulfilling the 3/5 requirement for it to be added to the Constitution however there’s still a series of steps to get pass before it is officially added to the Constitution. Personally, I think it will benefit women greatly because it would protect laws that concern women’s rights like abortion rights from constantly being attacked and repealed. There’s so much debate on whether it’s necessary but I think it is necessary because women are still not recognized as complete human beings who deserve of autonomy, property, employment, etc. However, I do think the amendment should be revised, adding a definition of equality that recognizes female specific liberties like maternity leave and expanding it to include trans women and gender nonconforming people. I simply don’t trust a patriarchal government to not pervert the intent of the amendment to mean treat women like men.