I absolutely loved this week’s readings. As a person of color, I loved the reading “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh. In the reading, Peggy Mclntosh goes into depth about white privilege, the privilege she acknowledges she has, as well as the truth of how anyone who is not white has to endure on a daily basis. The second reading, “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye talks about the fight women have to constantly be in because of society. It is a struggle being a woman and a person of color in a society that judges both, and the readings this way made me feel understood and was speaking the things I personally think are true. 

I have learned about Peggy Mclntosh before, in my sociology class, I had taken. She is a famous influential individual in society. She understood that white privilege is present in society and decided to document the times throughout her daily routine she experiences white privilege. In the reading, we see a lot of times she experienced white privilege. Some of these documented times that touched me personally were numbers 4,10 and 3. Number 4 says, “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.” I can not count the number of times I have been followed around a store while I was shopping. It makes me extremely offended, upset, and embarrassing that I was experiencing this. How do I look like I’m going to shoplift? Because I’m Hispanic? Number 10 says, “Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.” I use to work as much as I could when I was younger, I had two jobs at one point. When I would go to banks to deposit money (cash or checks), I would be looked at suspiciously. I can see the question on their faces “how do I have so much money?” Lastly, number 3 says, “I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.” I have just experienced this number this past weekend. My family was throwing a party for my grandparents as they are celebrating their 49th-year anniversary. My grandparents own their own house on Staten Island and are nice people. Our neighbors left and right have a great relationship with my grandparents were invited to the party. We ordered mariachis for the party, and the police arrived at the house with their lights flashing. The police came not once, not twice… four times! A neighbor was un-neutral to us and unpleasant because we were celebrating with our culture! They tried stopping us from celebrating because we are people of color. When the police would arrive our neighbors who were invited had to speak to the police rather than us. That in itself is wrong. It made me feel inferior. I am happy that Peggy Mclntosh raises awareness of white privilege. She raises awareness that people choose to not recognize white privilege just like people choose to not recognize male privilege. 

In  “Oppression” Marilyn Frye explains the oppression that women experience. Society makes us act a certain way to fit its standards, we are constantly being judged. In the reading, Marilyn Frye describes oppressed woman as a bird in a cage, where the bird is barricaded by all these “wires” surrounding it. Just as the snapshot my classmate Heatherlee shows, a woman is trapped in a small cage where a man in a suit is holding the cage. To me, this image spoke volumes, because women are oppressed by society personally, emotionally, and professionally. Women are oppressed personally/emotionally because if we decide to wear a nice dress that fits to shape our bodies we are labeled by society as “slut” or “easy” but if we wear baggy clothes now we are labeled as “lazy” or “unfeminine.” We never win! I have personally experienced this and it is so frustrating that as women we are constantly being judged. Women are also oppressed professionally because women are not treated the same as men. Men get a better range of higher pay and/or higher status. Overall both readings spoke out to the frustrations I personally feel as a woman and a person of color. We go through a lot that men and white people do not have to experience.

I found this week’s readings to be very informative but frustrating. In the book, ”Beyond the Gender Binary” by Alok Vaid-Menon we read about the injustices that individuals experience when they identify non-binary. Throughout the reading, we learn how non-binary individuals feel, what they experience, how society affects them, and insight on the four categories of dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope. Personally, throughout the reading I found myself agreeing with Alok Vaid-Menon when explaining change needs to happen so everyone can be accepted. However, I disagree with the tone they demand it in.

  In the book, ”Beyond the Gender Binary” by Alok Vaid-Menon, I believe Menon’s goal is to show the injustice of non-binary individual’s experiences on a day-to-day basis. Menon argues that the non-binary community is in danger by the society we live in today. Laws have been passed to specifically target them, there are attempts to isolate and degrade their community. For example in the book says, “the local, state, and federal levels targeting gender non-conforming people by attempting to prohibit curriculum about us, banning us from public accommodations, denying us access to legal protections at work, and barring our access to healthcare.” I happen to agree, coming from a huge city, I have seen institutions that ban their community with signs. I somewhat agree with Menon’s term on those who have “power.” I think recently people have been more accepting to the LGBTQ community because of reforms that have been passed. So I agree that society changes based on those who have “power” to an extent. Menon continues by explaining the stereotypes and biases of non-binary individuals only make the situation worse. These people who have biases are in these four categories, which are dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope. In each category, there are statements that these people who have biases say to brush off the non-binary community. I have heard a few of these statements in my life and it does frustrate me how small-minded these people are. One of these statements says, “If we allow people to self-determine their genders, then pretty soon people are going to start identifying as frying pans…” making a joke about a serious topic is very immature. People who say jokes like this don’t take the community seriously or want to have that long debatable discussion. When I read this statement I thought about my classmate, Sadira Mohammed’s snapshot. The snapshot shows a sticker that says, “I am gay, I am straight, I am lesbian, I am bisexual, I am transgendered, I AM HUMAN.” This community is human beings. They deserve to be treated equally as everyone else. Whatever they choose to identify as we all are human. 

While I agree with most of Menon’s thoughts and the message they are trying to get across, I do not agree with the tone Menon uses. Personally, I think their tone is angry and it is forwarded to everyone who is not considered non-binary. Of course, they should be angry at the injustices they face by those individuals with biases and who do not want to conform, but I was frustrated that they were blaming all non-binary people. In the book, Menon uses blames people who pick genders for their babies, or the colors they choose to put on the baby, etc for the non-conformity society has. I don’t think this is fair to be blaming others. Parents should still have those choices. We should be working together, not having an us vs. them tone/mentality. Gender expression is not just man/women, it is not black and white,  we all have our own forms of expression and identity.

I found this week’s readings to be very insightful and eye-opening. In the article, ”Sex and Gender 101” by Kyl Myers we are taught the difference between biological sex and the social/cultural construct of gender. While in the second reading, “Feminism is for everybody,” by Bell Hooks goes into depth about the concept of feminism and the setbacks that are present in our society/culture. Both readings provide a massive about of information, however, it all comes down to what our society views as should be and shouldn’t be. 

The article, ”Sex and Gender 101” by Kyl Myers was very insightful to me because there were a lot of terminologies I did not know before. Such as the terminology/categories that are in gender. These terms/categories are called, “gender assignment, gender identity, and gender expression.” Kyl Myers emphasizes throughout the article that all these categories mean different things. Kyl Myers also points out these categories don’t always “align because of fear of how they will be perceived if they challenge traditional gender norms.” After reading “Sex and Gender 101” I was overwhelmed with the amount of information I was reading, but I think that is the point. Gender is not Black and white. Society has tried to drill in our minds that we should function in the roles we are born into. This article is reminding us that every single individual is different. We all have our own assignments, identity, and forms of expression. 

In “Feminism is for everybody” also discusses the views our society believes what should be and shouldn’t be. For example, in the reading, Bell Hooks says, “Most men find it difficult to be patriarchs… But they fear letting go of the benefits. They are not certain what will happen to the world they know most intimately if patriarchy changes. So they find it easier to passively support male domination even when they know in their minds and hearts that it is wrong.” This is a clear example of our society’s norms on how a man should be and shouldn’t be. Our society says men should be tough and dominant. If a man were to go out on that norm, they will receive a negative response from society. In my classmate’s snapshot, Erika Jimenez shows a picture of a man doing laundry while his baby is strapped to his chest. In her caption, she briefly explains a story of her brother-in-law receiving a negative response because he is a stay-at-home dad. Because her brother-in-law, and the man in the picture, went out of the norm of what a man should be he is now called “soft, submissive, lazy, etc.” The reading continues by explaining the feminist moment will only be accomplished when we can understand one another. I happen to agree, femininity, will always be seen as a negative trait because of society’s assumptions. Society has to reshape its views to understand feminism and gender. I believe this generation has taken a great step to reshape society and I hope it continues.

• Myers, Kyl. “Sex & Gender 101.” Raising Zoomer, Raising Zoomer, 17 Apr. 2018, www.raisingzoomer.com/article/2016/1/6/sex-and-gender-101.
• Hooks, Bell. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Routledge, 2015.