In “Paris is Burning” the film talks about poverty, being gay as an African American and Racism. In 1987 in New York a fashion show took place. It was opened with the legendary drag queen Pepper Labeija. Men have a competition against themselves called The Ball. You show who you are and how you got to where you are. The Ball is the world to many gays.  The Ball is like the Oscar’s to them, many do not have much close to nothing but they would steal anything in order to go to The Ball. 

The Combahee River Collective Statement has been a balck femisits organization since 1974. They combat the oppressions as women of color face a logical political movement. They struggle with racial and sexual opression agsint them. They talk about major topics.  

The genesis of contemporary black feminism are Afro-American women who sturggle and survive in the American system. 

What they believe in the value of black women. The lives of black women have not been valused for centuries. Their policies come from the love for themselves, their community and their sisters. This motivates them and continue to work harder in life. 

The problems they faced organizing the black feminists, is adressing opression. They are not facing oppression for just one side but the whole range of oppression. They don’t have the power or the privilege to get access to resources of groups with privilege. 

The Issues and projects of the black feminist, working people at a factory who have to struggle with race, sex and class. The projects were to attend the issues of aborition, rape, health care and bettered women.

Aleichia Williams, talks about her experience on her first day of school and the years that follow that. She says that she came from North Carolina and it is a different environment than New York. On her first day she sat next to a group of girls that were hispanic and looked friendly. One of the girls that was in the group questioned her why she was sitting there, she did not want her to sit there. A friend of hers that had already had class with her corrected the girl and said she speaks spanish. She informs us that this was the first time she took her skin color into awareness. She grew up where her skin color wasn’t looked at because it was normal to be darkened skin and be spoken to in Spanish.

“My home language is Spanish so this must mean I eat tacos.” I relate to that quote from her. I am not too dark but also not too white, I have long black hair and speak Spanish. When people see me they automatically think I am Mexican. I correct them and inform them that my parents are from Ecuador. A response is followed by saying but it’s the same thing, you guys both eat tacos. Getting identified as a specific individual is something I get as well. It is not easy to be told that what you say you are is the same as what everyone thinks when you say your Latina comes to mind. Everyone has different cultures and types of foods that surround them. Mexican is not Hispanic. 

Williams talks about being too Black or being too Latin. Having to fit in is not an easy task and can be challenging for some. Not fitting in is also acceptable, be happy with who you are. Williams says she is learning to embrace every aspect of who she is. 

In The Power of Identity Politics it talks about what it is and how it was developed. The author talks about an incident that occurred to her at a bar. Where a white woman was talking to a white man about an Egyptian actor. The white man said that there should be more actors like him, she started to talk about how we are all humans and that it should not be pointed out that he is over color. She has power, she may not be aware of it but a white woman has power to speak her mind and use that to be heard that we are all humans, not balck or white. 

Non white people don’t always see people like them in magazines, when it comes to makeup girls of color have difficulty finding their shade. Even bandages are a white tone. Not until recently a variety of shades of makeup has been created and colored people are in magazines. Body shapes were one type and if you did not have that type of body you were not perfect. Now all bodies are coming to be accepted, plus sizes, people with curves and that should be enforced. We all do not have one skin color and one shape of body. 

The documentary “The Abortion Divide” was an informational film for me to watch as a woman. It shows the decision of four different women, two who decided to have their children and two who went to an abortio clinic. Unfortunately not all women are well informed about all the options they have. 

Getting an abortion doesn’t only side with young girls but Dr. Rebecca Mercer says that every kind of women get abortions women who are old, women of all races, religions, first child or have many kids etc. 

Finance is a common reason to why women have abortions, Shaharra  a mother of four kids has decided to get an abortion becuase she does not want to bring another child into the world where she is already struggling with the kids she has now. Another common reason is unprotected sex, Taryn didn’t think she would get pegnant and a one night thing wouldn’t affect her.

These women are brave, having to decide to get an abortion I am sure is not an easy thing. When I saw that Taryn had twins, it made me tear. I couldn’t imagine having to go through that. Christine’s reaction would be mine as well. There are many questions that are to be asked to oneself. Religion? Twins? Finance? Are there any kids in the picture? Hearing these stories are amazing, seeing that couples go through it as well and it is not only a single woman. 

Seeing the other side of the abortion is eye opening. I am also a Catholic and I don’t really know what to think. I agree that everyone has  their own opinion but harassing someone is not the way to put your point of view out there. Invading someone’s personal space and going up to them and not letting them decide on their own I feel like is disrespectful. Some women want to go in and out and let it be behind them because they are not comfortable talking about it. That should be respected. Not everyone has an option, saying women cannot make a decision on their own and the State has to intervene is sad. 

There are two types of abortion procedures, the medical and the surgical procedure. The medical procedure is a pill that is taken at home to make the pregnancy stop growing. In 24 hours another pill is taken that helps induce the bleeding and cramping to push the pregnancy out. The surgical procedure under IV sedation is being put to sleep. They place a small clip on top of the cervix to straighten out the uterine canal then dilate the cervix to remove the fetus using suction. It only takes 2-5 minutes. 

Amnion is a place that helps women out. They counsel them, help them out with clothes and food for the kids. They tell the women right away that abortion is not taken place there but can be helped. A pregnancy and ultrasound is also provided by them. This is a caring center and shows that they are there for them. 

The film “Disclosure” was emotional and eye opening for me to watch. Before watching this film I did not know much about trans. I only thing I knew was that someone would go from the biological sex they are to the opposite sex. The way the media showed the meaning of trans along the years was a negative way. In the media trans was shown as something to laugh at or something to fear. The way the documentary starts is the best way I believe to describe how trans people are feeling at something and you just don’t get it?” Do you know that feeling when you’re sitting in the movie theater and everyone is laughing  . Now what the media does is for it to become more difficult for them to come out and be who they are comfortable with being with no eyes around them to judge. Trans people are everywhere, you just have to pay attention. Not everyone is accepting of trans people, the more eyes they have on them the more at risk they are at. 

Nick Adams says the way people are being taught to react to a transgender is fear, they are either dangerous serial killer, perverts etc. because the one questions lies Why are they wearing a dress when they are a men? It’s sad because the way media portrays transgender, people cannot have their own opion on how they really feel. Many people are open minded along with transphobic people out there but the media does not allow for one to have their own opinion on it. There are many TV shows out there that bring tansgender down, they are the laughing topic. Many interviews where transgender people were asked questions that were insulting. TV hosts didn’t care how their questions were asked and didn’t see how it might have affected their guests. The celebrities speaking in this documentary seemed hurt when they were talking about the different TV shows. 

Zackary Ducker talks about Dog Day Afternoon, it was a movie where they wanted to cast Elizabeth Coffey Williams but she looked too much like a woman. It is sad that you can never be enough, something is always wrong with the person you are. She also talks about trans women playing a role where they do not have to be a man in a disguise. Once a trans woman plays a woman in a movie and outside of their role they are still a woman it becomes easier for them. 

Zeke Smith Talks about how his childhood favorite movie ended. He was one day feeling down as he was transitioning and wanted something to uplift him and so watched it in college. He gets to the end and sees that the actor vomits and wants to cleanse himself after having physical contact with a transgender person. He also exposes her to everyone, showing everyone that her genitals were tucked. It raises the question to them of who will love them for who they are like how Lilly Wachowski says.  

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop in the Asch building in Manhattan, New York. There were around 500 employees that worked there, they had long hours, the conditions of working there were unsafe and their wages were very low. The employees were young immigrant women who did not understand or speak the English language. 

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a tragedy that occured on March 25, 1911. It was caused by a cigarette button,  perhaps, it started in a bin of cotton scraps. The working conditions were so unsafe that a sprinkler system was not installed, therefore the fire spread quickly. There were only a couple of ways out, a fire escape that collapsed, the elevator that broke down after 4 trips and unfortunately jumping through the window. The exit door was locked from the inside, another way to get out. Unfortunately the fire hose reached to the 7th floor because the fire department wasn’t advanced in technology. 144 people died in the factory and later 2 more people died in the hospital. Due to this tragedy a protest took place on April 5, 1911. The American industrial workplaces were redefined, the law called Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention was passed. The sprinklers system was demanded, fire exits must remain open at all times, the fair labor standards act was created in 1938. Minimum wage laws and time and a half for overtime. 

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was a tragedy that we hope people learned from but unfortunately that is not ture. On December 14, 2010 at the Hummin factory a fire broke out. Exit doors were locked and workers jumped out to have a body to be buried by their families. 29 workers were killed, over 100 workers injured and twenty six were hospitalized. Management paid the families as compensation. These workers are getting paid 28 cents an hour, 1/10 of what wages were 100 years ago. The workers at Bangladesh protested to get 35 cents an hour but were beaten, shot with rubber bullets and a die in the water was put so they can be arrested later. 

ERA

The second part of this week’s reading is how the state of Virginia became the 38th state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment was passed originally in 1972 by congress.The Equal Rights Amendment is the rights shall not be denied to anyone due to their sex, Congress shall have power to enforce the law and the amendment shall take effect two years after meaning in 1974. The amendment was originally written in 1923 but was not passed. It was not passed because it divided women from different classes. The Equal Rights Amendment was proposed by Alice Paul, she was the founder of the National’s Woman’s party. The National’s Women’s party formed protests, petitions to fight for the right to vote.  In 1920 women had the right to vote and due to gaining the right they moved on to the next step. An Equal Rights Amendment was not passed and a deadline for ratification was extended. Once the deadline was close only 35 states passed this amendment. The states that the amendment was not passed had poor interest in protecting people of color and women.