Privilege is a unique right, benefit, or immunity provided or available to only one individual or group. When it comes to being privileged I always felt like I didn’t have since I focus on the bad things going on. I didn’t realize how lucky I was. From the moment you are born, the society into which you are born can provide you an advantage over others. If you are born into a so-called first-world country, for example, your health, safety, and financial prospects are likely to be better than if you are born into a third-world one. I have the privilege of freedom of speech. I am privileged to be able to spend time with my family. Most people have either lost one or both parents, their parents are divorced, or they are completely alone in this world. Passport privilege refers to how easily you can travel around the world based on the passport you carry. I am privileged to be going to college. There’s obstacle that prevent people from finishing school. My parents did not have it easy growing up, but we now live in a house and have all we need. I have the privilege of showing my emotion. Due to the different movements now I have the privilege to vote, work, and many more.

Oppression is brutal or unjust treatment or control for an extended period of time. My experience with oppression derives from the fact that I am a Hispanic woman. The students at school would tell me to return to Mexico because I had nothing to do here. But the ironic part is that I was born in the United States, so I wouldn’t know what to do in Mexico. Growing up, I struggled to understand and speak English. When I spoke in school, the kids would laugh as if it were the funniest thing in the world. I was self-conscious. It was so awful that I just stopped talking in class. That hurt me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Why should a person be subjected to such treatment? Simply to make the other person feel better about themselves. Reading the text and watching the film had opened my eyes like no other. Of course, I’d heard the terms privilege and oppression before, but I never felt the need to comprehend them, but I was mistaken. I feel more informed.

The women’s suffrage movement was part of the larger women’s rights movement, fighting for the right of women to vote and run for office. In the mid-nineteenth century, women in numerous nations, most notably the United States and the United Kingdom, organized groups to push for suffrage. The labor movement in the United States arose from the necessity to preserve workers’ common interests. Organized labor unions pushed for better salaries, appropriate working hours, and safer working conditions for people in the industrial sector. The labor movement spearheaded attempts to end child labor, offer health benefits, and assist wounded or retired workers. The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would provide equal legal rights to all American citizens, regardless of gender. It aims to abolish legal disparities between men and women in areas such as divorce, property, work, and other areas. How are these topics all related? These rights have changed how things are done. A better way to describe them would be the domino effect. All of them are related because they deprive someone, typically women, of a right. Although it should not be necessary to use people’s suffering to demand change or pass legislation, this is often the case. In 1911, The Triangle Shirt Factory, one of the deadliest workplace fires in New York City, killed 146 young women due to a lack of protection in their employment. This shouldn’t have happened.

How/why are labor rights also issues of gender justice? Gender justice is truly about ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender, has an equal opportunity to arrange their life and succeed. Labor rights are also concerns of gender justice because women continue to battle discrimination and demand equal pay, maternity leave, and protection from workplace violence to this day. Gender justice is the elimination of inequities between men and women in our society. This includes unfair treatment based on gender, including privilege and priority. To this day, young women, really teenagers, are deprived of their rights and denied the right to organize. As we all know, history tends to repeat itself, and if we don’t act now, it will be too late for millions of young women everywhere. Looking back in time, we can see that many things have changed, yet there is always opportunity for improvement.

This week’s readings were unique and informative about identity politics. I never really understood the meaning of identity politics. “The Power of Identity Politics” and “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina”,gave me a better perspective of what identity politics is. In the reading “The Power of Identity Politics” by Garza, she explains how in order to understand  identity politics we have to understand the meaning of power. Identity politics and power are linked in some ways. The term identity politics was developed by Black feminists.  When they realized that the women’s movement was not for all women, but for the emancipation of white women, they coined the phrase. Another experience that led to the phrase identity politics was the Black freedom movement, which was created largely to free Black men rather than all Black people. “The Power of Identity Politics” by Garza, she mentions that the current state of affairs is due to America’s reliance on white identity. As we know, this world has always been a man’s world, whether we like it or not. Not just any man, but the man had to be rich and he also had to be white. Can you tell me who created and wrote our Constitution? That’s right, the white man had a hand in drafting the principles. When those principles were established, they did not think of black people, they thought black people were inferior. “Too Latina To Be Black , Too Black To Be Latina” Williams’ writings explain the identity issue she faced and continues to experience as she grows up.This text demonstrated to me that some people expect you to conform to assumptions of the community with which you identify, such as many people believing that because she speaks Spanish, she must be Mexican or eat tacos. I was frequently asked as a child why I had curly hair. Because I’m Mexican, they were perplexed when they saw my hair. To them, I didn’t have what you’d call Mexican hair. That’s straight hair. They would tell me that all I ate must be tacos as they did to the author. As a child I always felt that I wasn’t “normal.” People frequently fail to see the powerful influence their words can have on others, and this occurs far too frequently.

We covered a wide range of topics in this class, which helped us better comprehend the world and its challenges. Women in combat is a topic I’d like to study as a class in the remaining weeks of the semester. Previously, only men were permitted to fight. What changed? Do women have power in combat? 

While reading the readings and watching the film I was surprised with the information given. Yes, I knew that there were struggles for people, but I didn’t understand how bad it was. In the reading “A Birth Story” by Dána-Ain Davis, Cheyenne Varner & LeConté J. Dill, they discussed how the physicians and nurses treated her horribly. In these conditions, oppression should not exist. The health of a mother is more important than the color of her skin or should be. It showed me the experience of an African American woman. I had no clue they were going through that. Giving birth should be one of the best memories a parent could have but due to disclination some parents remember something else. What surprised me in “12 Reasons It Should Be Illegal for Doctors Not to Treat Trans People” by Diana Tourjée, was that they were in the making of a new rule proposed where healthcare providers and insurers to legally deny care to transgender people. “Period: End of Sentence” was an intriguing and shocking film to watch. It’s absurd to believe they knew what a period was, but their reactions to seeing a pad and having questions were stunning. When they asked the males what a period was, some didn’t know, which was shocking, but they didn’t make it feel awkward; rather, they seemed to want to know what it was. In many respects, the style of both the readings and the film influenced my perspective of medical oppression. The style in which the experiences are delivered has an impact on my perspective of medical oppression and/or other aspects of gender as plain ignorance. Each story followed a similar pattern of judgmental medical authorities who ignored their professional services in order to act on their personal convictions, putting people at risk.

Everywhere we go we are surrounded by art. Art comes in different sizes, shapes, colors, and many more. Art is the way an individual is able to express every emotion one is feeling. As you can see from all of the art in the world, there were many factors that influenced the art created by people. What’s amazing is that there could be art that is trying to tell the same story but the way the artist expresses it in their art is so different from the others since they have their own perspective of the story they are trying to tell. The world is full of cruel things but with the art that surrounds us it makes the world shine brighter. Botero frequently included people dancing in his paintings. And, while his satirical depictions may appear amusing at first, they frequently highlight social and political concerns. Botero shows a ballerina at the ballet bar with one leg and one arm held erect in Dancers at the Bar. The picture might be interpreted as a critique of the social pressure on women to be thin, particularly in the traditional dancing business. Botero’s subject exudes confidence and strength, as though she is unconcerned about complying. Botero’s “Ballet Dancer at the Bar” demonstrated that society’s idea of beauty is incorrect. It makes no difference how someone seems because they are stunning in every manner. 

Before, women were taught to be housewives. They had no say in what went on. Since society looks down upon women having a voice. This led to women having to be quiet. If they even thought of going against that, it wouldn’t be good for them. I was born where I have the liberty to vote, go to school, get a job, have a voice, and so on. Yes, there still are things that are unfair in this society. The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long struggle to give women the right to vote in the United States. It took over 100 years for activists and reformers to obtain that right, and the fight was not easy: disagreements over tactics threatened to derail the cause more than once. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, however, was eventually enacted on August 18, 1920, enfranchising all American women and stating for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the privileges and duties of citizenship. Some proponents of women’s suffrage thought that this was their moment to lobby politicians for really universal suffrage. As a result, they refused to endorse the 15th Amendment and even joined forces with racist Southerners who claimed that white women’s votes might be used to cancel out African Americans’ votes.  This information was surprising but then again one would do anything to have rights. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony established the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. They began to campaign for a universal suffrage amendment to the United States Constitution. The liberties we enjoy today are a result of all the women who were courageous enough to fight for them. We may appear to have made little progress, but we have. Any accomplishment, no matter how great or tiny, is a triumph.