This week’s content was very emotional and charged with strong realities. Paris is Burning is a documentary following the lives of various transgender women  and gay men. The documentary talks about ball culture in the 80s. Balls were big events with men in drag and trans women performing in various categories. They dressed up and modeled and did theatrical performances. Some described it as a “fantasy of being a superstar”. One of the people introduced was Pepper LaBeija. Pepper was one of the people that performed and had great fame within the community.

  These balls held categories for everyone. The trends in the balls also evolved from people wanting to emulate Las Vegas showgirls to movie stars to models. Later in the documentary, a drag queen talked about intersectionality and how it affects the members of the community. They spoke about the executive narrative which is that a black man often can’t make it as an executive and if they do they are straight men. Looking like an executive at the ball was the closest they could get to fulfilling this role of a gay black man as an executive. 

  There was also a quote that stuck out to me. “When you’re gay, you monitor everything you do”. This continues to be an issue because as much as we wish it were not true, people’s perception of an individual can and will affect their place in society and if they can progress. Many of the people in the community also spoke about the perception of their families. Many had faced rejection from their family or left them.

  A key person interviewed was Venus Extravaganza who is a trans woman who expresses her desire to have a sex change. She gives insight into what many of the people from the balls want which is acceptance and appreciation which manifests as fame and wealth. Unfortunately in the end of the documentary we learn she tragically passed away. They also speak about family dynamics which are described as “mutual bond(s)”. A form of family is the houses they divide themselves into. These are sorts of groups with individuals in each that participated in the balls together. Some of the houses were the Xtravaganza house and the Ninja house. 

  The documentary also mentions terminology of the ball such as voguing, shading and reading. Readings are an art form of insults while shading is more subtle. Vogueing is a dance between two people in a competitive fashion. The documentary was very informative and truly gave great insight on this culture. 

  The second content was a collective statement of Black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974. Their work is to push back against “racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression” and “major systems of oppression are interlocking”. The women’s origins lie in the will to overcome adversity in order to survive and be liberated as Afro- American. The text writes that black feminism 

born from the reactionary forces working against black women even within feminism, where their work was overlooked.

  In the entry they write that after World War II, black youth could have some form of an education or better job opportunities allowing them to rise a bit in economic status which aids their efforts against oppression.

Their beliefs were that black women have been harmed for ages and the only people willing to defend them against this oppression is themselves. 

They also spoke on intersectionality, citing that sexual politics cannot be separated from the oppression faced based on race and class because we cannot separate those categories of our lives from our person.

  Thirdly the spoke on the problems in organizing black feminists. There is a struggle to organize because the problems being addressed reach great lengths; it’s not just one issue. They say that feminism feels like a threat to black people because it questions some standards that have been put into place.Black men generally have a negative action to feminism because it puts them in an uncomfortable position and in a position where they have to give up some power.

  The work they do varies, they have worked on “sterilization abuse, abortion rights, battered women, rape and health care”. They also began addressing the racism in white feminist movements. The statement ends by restating their vision for change and efforts to do so. 

  Isabella Celentano submitted an interesting photo form Pose, a show that talks about ball culture. I thought that was appropriate because its like a modern day take on the documentary, Paris is Burning.