i picked both of these because the first one reminded me of what role women play in society. I feel like we are the creators of things and there is so much about us that we are good, can add onto and and can flourish in. However, her being buried  is like all that we are capable of is buried however we still manage to flourish. The second one I picked because it was a famous interview Cher had where she spoke about her mom. Growing up Cher’s mom would tell her that in order to insure her success she’d need to find a rich man. To which Cher responded I am a rich man. Stating that she will be the one to secure her success and wealth in life. I just absolutely adored her reaction to it. It’s so expected to just follow the rules and play it safe. However she was determined and she was able to get on live to and tell that story of how she made it. There’s this understanding built by the patriarchy that women need to rely on men. Cher publicly announcing that she doesn’t care for it was a bold statement. However, it was all in par true.

i believe activist art is absolutely important and necessary to culture and society. As people we experience life through what we see, hear and are taught. However what we are taught and what we think are always fluid.  Artistic activism allows people to see things they aren’t used to. Pictures have a thousand words. One is always bound to have some type of emotion whether positive or negative. Being exposed to seeing images they’re not used to is also a form of introduction to concepts they have either disagreed with or haven’t been exposed to. Though I picked much calmer versions of activist/political art there are many that genuinely tell a story. I feel as if art allows a person to express themselves with their soul. It is more than just paint or shapes put together. Sometimes we can look at art and it looks right back at us. Exposing our beliefs and making us question their foundation. I think feminist art and war art are one of my favorites. It feels like such a revolt. It’s a beautiful form of rebellion. It’s vulgar, it’s life, it’s real. Activism wouldn’t have gotten far with just words. People need something to see and look at. Something that can physically evoke feeling.

I was excited to read  “too black to be Hispanic, too Hispanic to be black” I really empathized with the author. I didn’t think much about my own race or ethnicity until I was raised in the United States. I’m from a small town in Brazil and we all just thought black, white, yellow, we’re all Brazilian. Unlike other states where there are more cultures present. In São Paulo there are Chinese, Indian, and other foreign cultures present but not in little old pontezinha, Recife. I was shocked when I came to America and saw how many different people there were. It boggled me that all of them came from different places yet they all speak the same language. I was mesmerized. As I grew older I saw how people continuously questioned where I was from. I also experienced racism when white people that lived in my building continuously caused problems with me and even called the cops once claiming I was trying to break into my own apartment… Being that we live in New York the melting pot people from all over the world are here. No one really knows much about Brazil and most assume we’re all white. Which is not the case. I’m biracial. I have both Portuguese and Angola (Africa) descendants. Yet I’ve been very much aware that I have a rather ethnic face. During the winter I become pale and I’m often mistaken for Greek or Italian or if I wear my hair curly and I’m tan it’s assumed that I’m Arab. I don’t mind it but growing up it felt imperative for me to be as nationalist as I could. I wanted to represent my country and scream it from the top of my lungs. I was proud to be Brazilian. I wouldn’t find many Brazilian people my age growing up and it saddened me. However, this allowed me to merge with many people of other cultures and learn new things. I was able to learn Spanish and speak it with many friends. I learned to see different perspectives other than just a “Christian” mindset when I became close friends with Buddhist and Muslims. It was great but I still never shut up about my country. I honestly never will. It’s more than just nationalism. I love my country with my heart. Each of us are so different but our culture makes us into such passionate people. Always being confused as someone from somewhere else. Being discriminated because of how I looked. It was surreal for experiencing such a dislikeness to being different when I never understood it to matter. I never thought it could matter.

“We might use our position at the bottom to make a clear leap into revolutionary action.  If black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” This was one of my favorite quotes from the read. This statement directly translates to we are oppressed and so are others. Our liberation is dependent on others’ liberation. This also means that freedom in itself means the fall of the oppressive system. I also loved this quote “The personal is political because everything that is seemingly personal is always already an experience one has within a system of interlocking oppressions.” I can understand people not wanting to be politically active because “there’s no point” but it is vital to the human essence to have a government with which the people agree. When the government does not serve the people, it should be overthrown and abolished.

“identity politics” is the politics of who you are out physically in the world. For example in Paris is burning it was much easier for Livingston to remain accepted in society because though she was gay and a woman she is still white. She is still able to blend in and not feel persecuted. Unlike those of color who are a woman or lgbtq. Being that their experience of existence is already determined not by who they are as people but what their physical attributes represents in their status of life. Being a person of color subjugates one to a life that is not lived at ease. Adding on by being a woman or by being homosexual or trans. Raises the risk of rape and murder. This is because society has conformed to not respecting and dismissing them as people.

i always feel like the reason why gender and race always affect a person is because capitalism has made it that way. It is so odd to me, the limitations  one has to face in a government that is supposed to serve the people. I think all of it are just things the government throws at us to distract us from the bigger picture of what’s really happening. Just as there are poor balaclava people there are poor white people however. The odds are highly against black people nonetheless. The system is just designed to leave minorities where they are and the focus of better pay and an overall better life where the earth is healthy, we are healthy does not exist.

It’s interesting how Koedt highlights that Freud’s studies are based on the male ego. “on his assumption of women’s inferiority to men.”. It prompted me to search up the question, “do women orgasm through vaginal penetration.” I read this, “Although some women experience orgasm with vaginal penetration during sex, most women are orgasmic only during stimulation of the clitoris. Differences in how women and men experience orgasms can lead to unrealistic expectations and a misinterpretation of the meaning of sexual response.”-mayo clinic. I did not ever think that some women wouldn’t be able to receive an orgasm through vaginal penetration, but I did know that one could obtain it through clitoris stimulation. I feel like it also highlights the narrative of why people think a woman should only be able to experience sex with a male and not a female. “The assumption that mature female orgasms are vaginal is evidence that sex has been defined as heterosexual and by what is pleasurable to men, not women.” This line stuck with me because many men do not take their time to please a female. I feel like it is effortless for a man to have an orgasm, and in many cases, men orgasm first. After that, the sex is finished. The overall understanding is that a woman orgasms strictly through vaginal penetration and is neglected any other need. Genuinely the idea of sex has been very much only bee defined under a heterosexual scope and a man’s perception.

The way I look at it these are rights are related to people who are part of the working class, make up the majority of the population, and are getting the shorter end of the stick. These rights are connected because these rights are human rights. What baffles me is the longevity of struggle. It seems unsensible and hard to grasp how individuals in society must fight for rights in general. If I had it my way, we’d spend a year maybe even two just going over all things that need to be reformed and simply implementing them. However, as I grow I see more and more how greed and the power of money destructs society. Not to say that if the issue of money were to be changed and people were able to just experience life and not suffer racism, sexism, homophobia, and economic struggle people would simply be good and live peacefully. It is the fact that they are experiencing this under a government that in my opinion enforces and champions it. If the government took control of these areas, focused on education and freedom there would be a lot more ease and peace in experiencing life. There was the issue where women were not getting paid the same as men whilst doing the same job. History shows progress but in the end, there is always a bit of unfairness left.

Ever since I watched “Girl Connected” it’s all I’ve been able to think about. I was so moved by how we as women take so much that we shouldn’t have to. Though I’ve completely detached myself from receiving news for more than a year now, I haven’t been totally cut off. Recently, I got the news that there was not going to be a ratification of the abortion law in Texas. Instead, the lawmakers of texas have not just criminalized abortion but they have made it to the extent that any woman that does, receives the death penalty. It does not matter if the woman was raped or if the baby is a product of incestual behavior. Just complete control over our bodies and for what. Another news I felt weirded out to hear was that an anti-abortion activist had five fetuses in her home. “The police said on Thursday that five fetuses had been removed from a home in Washington that, according to an anti-abortion group, belonged to an activist who was charged by the Justice Department this week with blocking access to an abortion clinic in October 2020.” (NYTimes). Honestly, everything just makes me sick.