This week we looked into pop culture, and we watched the video “Disclosure” which is a documentary that talks about the history of Transgender and Cis-gender representation on screen. When we look at how things stand, there is a really great representation of Trans-gender people on TV and film in the past few years than ever before. The film provides a path along with the presentations of Trans, non-binary, and gender-fluid people on screen, starting from the film of D.W Griffith “The birth of the nation” right up to New York’s queer ballroom culture in “Pose” which featured some notable number of Trans people both in front of and behind the camera. The documentary also gives us multiple points of view when it comes to letting us know what it means to be Trans, what forms both the opinion of Trans people and Cis-gendered, the past history of Trans people being portrayed on TV, and many other dozens of media. When we look at the early 1900s, Trans people’s visibility was seen as toxic and complex as Black visibility. A lot of Trans people were seen as comedy, “seen as some kind of freaks,” and people thought that “they were just playing dress up in order to make other people laugh.” 

From my personal experience, I never really had much idea about this topic on Transgender people except for when it is talked about in some of my classes. This video was a good eye-opener, and I really learned a lot from it. The media has always made us believe that there are only two types of gender people can belong to which are either male or female and any other type are not recognized as a gender rather they are being used as jokes and mocked. When Trans people are portrayed on TV, a lot of people see it as misleading and sometimes seen as less human which to me is not right. We as humans have the right to be whatever we want, and society has no right to dispute that choice. 

The documentary also talks about the film of D.W Griffith “The birth of a nation” which is a film that revives the kkk. It was a racist movie and D.W Griffith was also very much aware and understands that he can turn gender-nonconforming people into the joke of his story which to me was not right because these are people’s identities, and by right should not be used as a joke. His film was also used to stereotype people. Also, another film “A Florida Enchantment (1914)” is a film that places questions on “Gender change” and the “Use of blackface”. Looking at the film, we see the lady eat a seed, and just like that she wakes up and turned out to be a man. This is an unbelievably bad way of representing Trans people on the screen because a lot of people watch these movies/films, and some end up believing what they see on the screen. When some of these films are shown in the wrong way, Transgender people are seen as illegal people and sometimes they get harassed and arrested. As Laverne Cox said, “When you think about the time, that time historically, cross-dressing was illegal so that someone who decided to transgress gender expectations in real life was often harassed and arrested.” It was believed that people who cross-dress “Was flirting and when they dress as women, they were taken in by heartless New York copper.” and “Girls who turned into a man was fined $12.45 for walking in street dressed in man’s garb”. This was able to happen due to society’s construct on gender. Gender is a social construct of what society considers to be female/male which means that our society believes in only two genders and that is the only one people are expected to belong in any other type of gender is not accepted and would not be considered as a type of gender. Society has taught us that whichever gender we belong to we need to act upon it. As women, we need to perform & do things that are meant for women same goes for men. Women are meant to put on garments or clothes that are for men and when people go against that rule which was placed by the society, they either get harassed or mocked. 

A lot of these Transgender/cross-dressers have been around for a very long time in this country, but the media has so much represented them in such a way that they are seen more like freaks than humans. I can relate this to my classmate Nazir O’s snapshot which quotes “I think for a long time, the way in which trans people have been represented on screen have suggested that we’re not real… that we don’t exist. And yet here I am. Yet here we are, and we’ve always been here”. Hollywood movies have taught people a lot of ways/how to react to Trans people. “And sometimes, they’re being taught that the way to react to Trans people is fear.” People were told that “Trans People were dangerous. That they must be deviants or perverts.” “Asking why else you would wear a dress if you’re a man.” Some of those images been seen on the screen make people ask questions and most times make people reject Transgender & Cis-gender people. Also, some of those images are so belittling towards all women. “And we see comedians dressing up as women in order to get a job or affordable housing.” It is also sad to see that most of the television shows where we see Transgender characters brought in on shows portray the profession of “sex workers” but in a real sense, some of these Transgender women who act as sex workers were pushed into it due to “employment discrimination that Transgender people face. The unemployment rate for transgender people is three times the national average, and four times the national average if you’re a Trans person of color.” I believe this film was made to make people understand that people of Transgender are humans like everyone else and the significance of the film “Disclosure” was to make known every secret information about Transgender people, so everyone can be aware of it and see them for who they are and what they represent. I also believe it is good for people to disclose about themselves to everyone they love so that they can be aware and be supportive of them. Being a Transgender person is obviously not a sin or a crime, they are also humans and need to be loved and accepted in society. 

This week we looked into reproductive justice, and we watched some interesting videos, a documentary by the name “The Abortion Divide” and “Hobby Lobby on Last Week Tonight.” The documentary “The Abortion Divide” by Frontline talks about the fight over abortion and the stories of women who were struggling/having problems with unexpected pregnancies. The documentary was centered on the story of women who went to the “Abortion clinic” located in Chester, Pennsylvania to take out their babies due to one problem or another. These women decided to have an abortion because they believe they won’t be able to take care of the baby or give the baby a good life when it’s born. These women had a hard time making these decisions and had no choice because some of them can’t handle being single parents and really had no one to support them if they keep the baby. Abortion is one topic that easily becomes overlooked, what is sometimes left out in this discussion about abortion are the real experiences and the difficult decisions that women face. At the beginning of the documentary, we see the protesters outside the clinic opposing and trying to stop women from getting an abortion. One of the protesters said, “We pray for their babies and for them, and we also pray for the, for the abortionists, maybe some of them don’t realize what they’re doing.” These people really don’t know how long it took these women to make that choice. A lot of women are being judged and harassed by people just because they had an abortion without even trying to hear their side of the story and why they decided to take that step. 

 The documentary also shares the stories of those brave women who came to the “Abortion Clinic” to get an abortion. Some of these women took this step due to some personal issues or problems that they cannot control. One of the women named Shaharra said “I don’t want to bring another child into the world, and I’m not financially stable. I’m already struggling with the four that I have and I’m not sure what my other option would be, but if this wasn’t an option, then I know I would be struggling.” This woman believed that having that baby will make her struggle, so why bring in a child and then let them suffer. These are some of the things people need to understand before judging or harassing a woman. Also, some of these women who get this abortion might have been raped or left by their boyfriends and they had to do it in order not to be judged by society for getting pregnant out of wedlock. One other woman by the name of Christine shows us how difficult and emotional it can be to have an abortion after she found out she was pregnant with twins. I believe hearing that made her decisions harder but, in the end, she had to go on with it because of her son who was “More leaning towards Asperger’s and doesn’t like interacting with humans.” She thought having babies would really affect the health of her son Nobel. I think a lot of people need to stop seeing women who go through abortion as being heartless or wicked because they don’t know what is going on in their lives. 

In my classmate’s snapshot, Enrique shows some images of women holding signs that said, “My body, My choice and No to jail for abortion. I love this image because it shows that the choice is that of the woman and the body in question is hers and she should not be questioned or sent to jail because she had an abortion. 

The documentary “Hobby Lobby: Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver talks about the supreme court’s ruling hanging on the religious right of Hobby Lobby. John Oliver takes us through other ways different corporations can be more like humans/people. The video talks about the belief of Hobby Lobby about using contraception which is supposed to help prevent pregnancy. This is what the owners of Hobby Lobby had to say about it. According to John Oliver, they said that “Obamacare’s contraception mandate conflicts with their Christian faith.” All these till bowls down to the abortion talk, A lot of religious centers believe having an abortion or taking birth control pills is a sin but in the right sense, it is not because everything happens for a reason. Just because one belongs to a religion that does not give him/her the right to pick or choose the laws everyone will follow. After the company challenged the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraception mandate in court, they also felt it wasn’t right for them to pay taxes because it was against their faith. This led to some fundamental questions; Do for profits corporations have religious rights? Do corporations have religious liberties or are they just individuals? Are corporations, as a Person, able to exercise religious rights? The answer is No. However, the Citizens United ruling made it possible for corporations to have the same free speech right as people but then it won’t be easy for corporations to have the same religious rights as people have. 

This week we looked into identity politics and how people of color were identified in the 21^st century. In order to understand better, we read two articles “Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina” by Aleichia Williams and “The Power of Identity Politics” by Garza Alicia which basically tells/explains to us how people and women of color were made to live and identify as. The article “Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina” talks about the life experience of a Black Latina woman who moved to North Carolina at the age of thirteen and was unaware about the culture of the people. The article talked about how kids from different races were not seen together and they were divided into three groups either you’re “Black, Mexican, or White”. She also talked about how she was treated after sitting in class with a “group of friendly-looking Hispanic girls” and one of the girls said to another in Spanish “why is she sitting here? Unknown to the girl that she also speaks Spanish and I believe this happened because of her skin color. According to the article, people constantly tell her that she doesn’t fit anywhere and “try to restrict her to a specific mold and identity” and people believed that since my “home language is Spanish that must mean I eat tacos and having kinky hair also means I bang to meek mill.” People kept saying she was “Too Black to be Latin and Too Latin to be Black” due to the skin color. I can also relate this to my classmate Heatherlee’s snapshot which shows an image of a girl who also went through the same thing. On one side we see her with curly hair and on the other side, we see her with a straight slick her and yet she is never good in people’s eyes. No matter what she does, she still gets asked questions like, “where are you from, do you speak African, is that your natural hair, when I see you, I don’t see black, why not have your natural hair out, you don’t love yourself, you might as well wear weave, etc. she is never enough just because of the color of her skin.  

From the article “The Power of Identity Politics”, the term “Identity” is simply a “means of describing what it entails to live outside what has been defined as the norm in the United States” and the term “Identity Politics” was used to “describe the life experiences of those facing systemic oppression, those who are not white, heterosexual, cisgender men”, etc. during times of the Civil Rights movement, women movement, lesbian and gas movements, etc. Identity politics was first developed by Black feminists who refused to be defined politically by a set of standards that wasn’t theirs. The term first appeared in the Combahee River collective statement in 1977 by a group of black feminists who got involved in the movement to fight for their freedom. Identity Politics is ultimately a strong political concept which aims to identify and understand “gender-based and racial systemic oppression” with the goal to ensure everyone is treated equally irrespective of gender and political identity. In addition, power is both simple and hard to define, because it prefers to “operate in obscurity and those who have power rarely want to acknowledge they have unearned benefits at the expense of those seeking equal treatment” but however, Identity politics tries to make that power seen and understood which is primary to how power operates. The Blonde’s indifferent attitude to the reality of politically marginalized people shows how power operates. Like the Blonde, some American Conservatives feel it is not right to Identify ourselves in ways that divide us, rather we should always feel as part of one human family but then, the systemic oppression exists irrespective of their own assertion. 

Furthermore, for the Combahee River collection, their life experiences were shaped by what they called “Interlocking Oppressions” from racism, sexism, capitalism, heterosexualism, etc. They committed to being anti-racist unlike their white counterparts, and anti-sexist unlike their white and Black male counterparts. This experience led them to understand the movement was primarily not for the freedom of all women but for the white women. They realized no one could fight for them, therefore they coined the term “Identity Politics” meaning they would form a politic based on their own experience and work for their own freedom. Moreover, black women cannot afford to see the women’s movement only acknowledged through the “lens of white women” because the experiences of Black women are unique and complex and should therefore be treated differently in order to feel as part of one human family. America is built on white Identity Politics because of the false classification of people based on their skin color. If we remain indifferent and support the assertions of the Blonde in this article, we should understand that until we examine the ways the Elephant in America’s room continues to shape our lives, we will always move in circles with no real chance of moving past it. When we intentionally close our eyes and don’t realize the power of identity politics in our society, it will deter us from changing how power operates.  

This week’s reading was really great, and I also love the fact that it is all about intersections. “The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)” issued by The Combahee River Collective is an amazing and interesting book to read. It talks about the “Multiple oppression & sexual oppression within the black community and racism that is within the wider feminist movement.” From the beginning of the reading, it talked about how a collective of Black feminists have been meeting together since 1974 and getting involved in political work within their groups including partnering with other organizations and movements. These feminists were very committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression. “The Combahee River Collective” brings forth the idea that black feminism is “the logical political movement that all women of color face.” The movement’s genesis surfaced out after its members’ dissatisfaction with other movements for Black Liberation “particularly that of the 1960s and 1970s; Civil Rights, Black Nationalism, and the Black Panthers,” which they see as racist toward their female peers. The Black feminists let their voice out for social change concerning Black Lesbians and all women of color to be heard. A classmate snapshot from Raquel Hernandez shows us some of the social justice movement these women fought for in order to belong in the community. In their snapshot, we see a list of the social justice these feminist women were trying to change like seeking politics & representation, law & justice, right to their bodies & sexuality, health & wellness, less violence & more power, etc… These black women needed a sense of belonging and the right to do what they want. 

The Combahee River Collective Statement also makes an emphasis on Black women’s relationship to their own oppression and how it has shaped their identities like the said, “We realize that the only people who care enough about us to work consistently for our Liberation are us”. Through this embodiment of identity politics, especially their queer experience, they will encourage a politics that focuses on the important need to Liberate Black women. At some point, the Combahee River Collective was unafraid to build on their politics. Through these responsibilities to self-criticism, they “question whether Lesbian separatism is an adequate and progressive political analysis and strategy for those who practice it since it so completely denies any but the sexual sources of women’s oppression, negating the facts of class and race” and acknowledging “the psychological toll of being a Black woman and the difficulties this presents in reaching political consciousness and doing political work which can never be underestimated.” 

The documentary “Paris is Burning (1990)” talks about drag queens that lived in New York and their house culture. It shows how different groups compete in balls walk a runway as if they were fashion models. These queens were judged based on several things: they must be talented dancers, they must be wearing the finest of fashion, and they must look like the gender they are claiming to be. They are also judged on whether they can also portray this gender outside of the world for people to see. A lot of people were interviewed, some were the leading light of the ball scene. One of the people interviewed was Angie X’travaganza who was the founder of the House of X’travaganza. Angie was a transgender singer & dancer and a superstar within the ball scene. Angie talked about how they adopted several street children who later became influential performers. The documentary also talked about Pepper Labeija who was also as famous as Angie. She was a fashion designer and was basically behind many of the costumes worn by contestants. Most of her performances had an Egyptian theme on them. Each of the main performers in the documentary talked about their lives and explains the culture of the balls, and their importance to the LGBTQ+ and it also explores gender roles. An important element of the film is the view/study of how AIDS affected the leading performers and the ball contestants. At the end of the film, we see the news of Venus’s murder reaching Angie; Venus was strangled to death and Angie believed that it was a client who became enraged with her and killed her. Many of the contestants in the balls were all disowned by their families, which was why they had many houses popping up. Each of these houses served as a second home for those who were rejected by their family or suffered homophobia at home. Paris is Burning gives an intimate picture of rival fashion houses from contests for trophies to house mothers offering support in a world filled with homophobia, racism, and poverty.  

This week’s readings were very much interesting to read and had a lot of information. The first reading “The Feminine Mystique (excerpts)” by Betty Friedan talks about the dilemma of women fifteen years after World War II. Betty Friedan used the word “Feminine Mystique” to explain the societal acceptance that women often find fulfillment when doing housework, in their marriage, sexual lives, and childbearing. These women had no other dreams than being “Perfect wives and mothers, having five children & beautiful houses, and fighting in order to keep their husbands. According to Betty Friedan, all these women ever talked about were “Problems with their children or how they can keep their husbands happy, or improve their children’s schools, or what to cook” while their husbands sit and only talk about their shop or politics. Betty Friedan described these women’s unhappiness as “The problem that has no name.” women felt this sense of depression because they were forced to be compliant to men mentally, financially, and physically. Lowering women to the perfect housewife or making them happy homemakers prevented much success and happiness among women and their families. Feminine Mystique helped “redefine the very nature of women’s problem” When women were seen as human beings with great human potential, equal to men, anything that will keep her from achieving her full potential was still a problem to be solved. Having a career was a problem, education, political interest, even the very admission of women’s intelligence and individuality was also a problem. The was also a problem that has no name, an undefined wish for “something more” than washing dishes, ironing, punishing, and praising the children.  

The second reading, “The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi talks about the issues of most men seeing housework as a woman’s job, and in order to liberate women, housework should and must be seen as a group effort (for men & women) not just simply work for women. First Pat Mainardi started her article by differentiating between Liberated women and women’s Liberation. She said, “Liberated women signals all kinds of goodies, to warm the hearts of the most radical men such as sex before marriage, casual living arrangements, and the self-content of knowing you’re the kind of man who doesn’t want a doormat woman but rather a woman with a career” While “Women’s Liberation signals housework, women always try to share the housework, but it never happens.” Even when both have careers, work a couple of days a week to earn a living, men would still not want to share the housework. Pat Mainardi also went ahead to tell us how she suggested this to her husband/mate who will stop at nothing to avoid the horrors of housework. Instead of helping, he offered excuses saying, “I don’t mind sharing the housework, but I don’t do it very well. We should do the things we are best at” which means he is no good at doing things like washing dishes or cooking”. What he can do is “changing light bulbs, light carpentry, & moving furniture. It also means that the dirty chores are only meant for women and women alone. In addition, my classmate Isabella Celentano posted their snapshot, and it said, “Seriously! Am I the only one that can see the trash overflowing, the dirty dishes in the sink, the laundry piled up, and the empty toilet rolls? This image very well explains the message Mainardi is trying to pass through. It shows how all the duty is left for women only even the trash. Mainardi also made a list and a way to train men which also serves as a handbook for women to put men to work. And she said if women really need to make sure their husbands follow this list, they should “Keep checking up periodically consider who’s actually doing the jobs(7)” because things have a way of backsliding so that a year later once again the woman is doing everything… Alternate the bad jobs. It’s the daily grind that gets you down….” 

The last reading, “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” by Anne Koedt helps create understanding and education for women and men about female sexual pressure and oppose the thought about female orgasm. Koedt in her article argues that the clitoris is the “Center of sexual sensitivity” and is the “Female equivalent of the penis(2).” She also said that other “Sensation perceived to orgasmic are almost experienced through the “Clitoris”. She also argued that the idea of vaginal orgasm came from Freud’s own belief in the inferiority of men and women. According to Koedt in her writing, “it was Freud’s feeling about women’s secondary and inferior relationship to men that formed the basis for his theories on female sexuality(9).” Koedt was against the people that accepted the notion that women that do not “Respond to orgasm during good old-fashioned intercourse are somehow flawed and suffered from a psychological problem that needs treatment. Anne Koedt also said that some women’s orgasms can be experienced through “Sexual fantasy” and she supports that even though the “Cause is psychological the physical sensation, be it localized or more diffuse, necessarily takes places in the sexual organ equipped for the sexual climax- the “Clitoris(5)”.