The film “Disclosure” is about the representation of transgender people in today’s culture and the community through the stories of transgender actors, thinkers, creators, and even educators. The first couple minutes of the film had already caught my interest when discussing what trans people were portrayed out to be on tv. For someone who was trans to witness that, it made them even hate themselves more apart from the mockery they experience out in the world. Transgender people will always carry a certain representation of themselves based on what they’ve seen. The idea of transgender was out there in the world. It helped create a positive discussion and outings for others: the more exposure, the larger the radar of being a target and sensitivity.

Sometimes when we watch documentaries or films that include the personal and outspoken people on what the film is about, we question our history and what we have been pushed to behave according to tv standards or America. If it doesn’t meet the standards of certain definitions and normal context, it is considered weird, freakish, disturbing, and even fearful, and that would only be an explanation of it because they are dangerous. It is difficult to find the right words to address transitioning because our only references are negative. Going back to the concept of how tv portrayed transgender people, they were placed in very violent and scary events that led them to their death. In a way, they were always victims because they weren’t accepted, which is all we could perceive. It is continuously produced because that’s what is seen in the media.

When I was growing up, of course, there were transgender people in the world, but it was not like I had a front-row seat to understand their community’s history. There weren’t even conversations about their origin in the world and how they impacted society. Even while I was getting older, I held respect and a neutral level of expression and acceptance because they are human beings, not freaks. Those who mistreat them are the ones who feel the need to obtain a sense of the power of what is right or wrong.

The film “Disclosure” brought up some interesting points about exploiting transgender storylines and where people can fit themselves and relate to while being transgender. Referencing back to the discussion of the film “Boys Don’t Cry,” there were a lot of mixed emotions based on the origin of the story. Mostly because Brandon, a white American transgender man, was the main character of the story who was a victim of hate in the film. But the storyline of his African American friend never made it on the film which who was also a victim of a hate crime. These two characters were not both portrayed in the film. It was one or the other because it was portrayed as though more than one concept could not be identified together, which really changed those who watched the film. It creates a diversity of does a person truly exists or can be defined as more than one thing, and that’s where the idea of misrepresentation comes from.

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. The abortion topic is such a controversial issue because of the negative and positive context that it has. Many influences, such as political and social languages, have made abortion challenging to define or apply anywhere. The film “The Abortion Divided” exams and discover the sides of abortion. It is explained through the real-life experiences of public and private discussions of women handling their unplanned pregnancies.

I don’t feel any way towards abortions. I am not against them because it is a choice someone should have based on their circumstances. It is a decision made with so many different reasons for women. There are so many reasons for someone to choose to have an abortion, for example, unplanned, mental health, physical health, financial status, environment, religion, society, culture, and even emotions. Even the reasons I mention can have a drastic change after one has an abortion or doesn’t. I think it is super important as human beings, professionals, doctors, etc., to be willing to keep being receptive to people’s reasonings and circumstances.

There was this person in the film that discussed her decision to get an abortion. It was portrayed in the movie that she was one out of many women who decided that decision, and especially for her, she felt as if she couldn’t bring another child into this world because she wasn’t financially stable enough with her four other kids. Her decision to not continue with her pregnancy was so understandable for me in a way. First, of course, it is her body and choice but secondly, why would she bring another child into this world that would have to struggle just like her other kids. Plus, if she is already unstable with just four, imagine with five.

It is as well essential to have open, public, and accessible conversations about abortions. I learned about abortions and had my interpretations of them while growing up through watching them on tv and then in real life. The teen tv shows presented young teen moms as the worst thing in the world, and as the solution or reverse of the mistake of having sex, abortion was brought in as a security system. Making that mistake disappear. Abortions were made to be like a recovery quickly system against further consequences. Sometimes though, it felt like that wasn’t always what abortion was cracked up to be because there are even shows supporting teen pregnancy. It doesn’t seem to be from a place of just making money but like presenting to the world publicly and nationally some real positive and negative outcomes that are being truly experienced. I honestly lacked knowledge about the facts about abortions and how they are super safe.A snapshot that took my attention was Karinys Carrillo’s snapshot. It is an image of a women’s insides being pulled from two different directions by people. I believe that this is how women feel based on these many strings attached to their bodies and decisions.

When we hear the word feminist, we automatically think about women who are going against the unjust and cruel treatment by the dominance of men. Yet feminism supports equality of all the sexes through social, political, economic, and personal movements. According to the text, “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.” Black feminism really centers around valuing black women and their need for liberation and liberating and assisting the struggle against other major oppressed systems.

I think an important concept attached to this text is combining all voices and systems of oppression because not just one can be liberated. One cannot have the right, and the other one may not. It is simply hard to break down every race from its class or race from sexuality and give them all their own movement and voice because they are combined through their oppression that happens simultaneously. According to The Combahee River Collective Statement, “racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression, and see as our particular task the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking.” Many black activists such as Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells Barnett have always brought awareness to their sexual identity, then combined it with their political, racial, and personal views to their movement.

A snapshot that I wanted to respond to and took my interest the most was Karinys Carrillo’s snapshot of a dark skin individual putting makeup on in a bra and jeans with a short and maybe masculine haircut. I think this image relates to the idea of breaking down and analyzing the layers of black language and black feminism and where critical thinking started to go against oppression. According to the text, “We discovered that all of us because we were “smart” had also been considered “ugly,” i.e., “smart-ugly.” “Smart-ugly” crystallized how most of us had been forced to develop our intellects at great cost to our “social” lives.” We reject as a community a lot of stances and different layers to a human being because it doesn’t strategize with what we idealize or what we are trying to do. Because we don’t include them in our strategize in politics and movements, we exclude a large part of a black community and black feminism. We exclude a lot of black men, black women, black teens, and black children. This happens because we reference biological features, whether someone is feminine or masculine, and devalue proposals from others who may not support exactly what someone is trying to do. Even the idea of black feminism has a negative context because they feel the need to only value themselves and not organize around every black person.

To reference what I said at the beginning of my explanation about when we hear feminism, we think about women trying to dominate and go against men is in some ways true. Women threaten a traditional system because whether you are a male or female is where you stand in power relationships. One is not greater than the other. It always seems to be a competition to who is better at what. When in reality, they both complement and value each other and the community in different ways.

I am not sure who’s snapshot post was it because their name did not appear with their snapshot, but the one I am going to reference towards an image with a woman in the kitchen, and some words say, “Why, I’d be delighted to put my needs last again.” This image depicts the idea of what women back then presented to fulfill their roles within their home and partner. The idea of a woman staying home, caring for their kids, and supporting their husbands always seemed like the ideal image that many women wanted. Still, it is a false narrative because they envied men and lacked their potential as women, their own nature. A sexual and social role defines women according to what is appropriate and acceptable. Women lacked their participation in the world because of this desire of what a woman should be like.

A quote references back to the snapshot I posted of a woman doing chores that is actually a robot. The text “The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi emphasizes the idea that for women to be liberated, they had to share their housework with their husbands as if it were a group effort. It also discusses the oppression that affects the views of what women are expected to do. According to Mainardi, “I can only explain it by stating that we women have been brainwashed more than even we can imagine, Probably too many years of seeing television women in ecstasy over their shiny waxed floors or breaking down over their collars.” (pg 1-2) Women are built into a system that empowers more men than women. Women that have consistently been doing their job are the reasons why men feel dominated. Men would rather dominate in fixing a cabinet or a light bulb than doing something that needs repetitiveness. Women are left with household services.

Reading this text, I interpret it in a way that men feel exploited by women, and what I mean by that is that men probably feel as if they are overworked and don’t benefit enough compared to women because women stay home. But they are honestly oblivious of how much women do. Men believe that they are above housework because some decide to do manual labor.

Women hold a big part in the creation of what is an ideal household. First, they are emotionally for their kids 24/7, plus they make sure their husbands are alright. They are always up on their feet in chores like dishes, laundry, cooking, buying groceries, taking the kids to school, etc. When women break that repetitive cycle and want a break, some men tend to use that to their advantage to make their women feel weak for not doing their “job.” But some men do help liberate that stress physically and mentally a woman feels.

Women spend most of their time creating a perfect home while their husbands live up to their money and career. I feel that women lack exposure to what is out there for them because they play a position that was automatically given to them.