when it comes to writing freely I honestly don’t know what to write but what I can say is I’ve learned so much from this class when it comes to feminism and oppression and privilege. when I first came to the United States I had no idea the meaning behind this words and even when I asked people the would give me their definition of it. but the older I got the more I understood what each of this words mean because I came face to face with it. I had seem some privilege first hand and racism and all sorts of things , I had come face to face with misogynist people and their taboo ideas and it hit me like wow this sort of things is what feminist fight for. I wanted to take this class to learn more about women and I definitely did, I learned from our beginning when we started fighting for our equal rights , and what other women from all over the world do as well to fight for this on a daily basis till this day just like In the reading ” what’s in a name? on writing the history of feminism how we been fighting for equally since the 60s and we would continue to do so till we are treated with equal love and respect .

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.

You’d think writing freely would be easier but honestly it was a bit difficult finding what I wanted to speak on. Coming from an immigrant family and being first generation is difficult, and lately I’ve been dealing with a lot of guilt. When we spoke about privileges it really opened my eyes to how immensely privileged I am, especially when thinking of how my family lived in the Dominican Republic. My grandma would work tirelessly for hours cleaning up an entire school for a measly $100 a month. She grew up during dictatorship and lived her childhood in fear. My mother, a bit more privilege was able to go to school, went to a top school but couldn’t afford to pay the semesters due, and eventually had to leave a few months before she was set to graduate to migrate here. it made me realized that life is just a stepping stone, we do all that we do for a better life then the ones before us, and to give a good life to our kids, and grandkids etc. It made me reflect a lot on my schooling, on how I take things for granted and just overall made me open my eyes and try harder to do my best everyday, not only for my own well-being but to pay homage to my grandma, and my mom who did all they did so I could have a life like this.

Over the last few weeks, it has been incredibly inspiring to learn about privilege, oppression, and activism. These critical topics, I feel, were a great way to lead up to learning about the history behind feminism. As Professor Waychoff stated, “If we want equality today, we have to understand the past”. Having the ability to read memoirs and learn about women’s recollections of the past in regards to their experiences has been eye-opening. I never realized how broad the word feminism is, so getting to know the many different meanings behind it and how many different women connect it to themselves or to their activism was really cool to see. Although various women have been active in fighting for women’s rights, which I am extremely grateful for, we are still experiencing life-threatening/unfair situations. This week’s reading, “It’s Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women”, made me realize how important it is to show activism and support by allying with others to make a change. At the end of this reading, I thought about the women in the Netflix film I watched last week, “Knocking Down the House”. I thought about the strong congresswomen going above and beyond to support their communities and it inspired me to do just the same. As many of my peers stated in their own discussion posts last week, it takes one person to feel the need to make a change and many others who want the same will follow!

Women have been fighting for a chance to even be seen as equal to men and I feel like even in the 21st century we still have a lot to prove. It is very important to look back at history because of the work and suffering many women had to go through just for us to even be in the same work field as men. Of course, we have to celebrate the victories we have and the accomplishments of the women who risked their lives or even lost their lives just to give us the right to vote, but at the same time, it is important that we also realize how much progress we still need. In a lot of countries, women are still being treated poorly and have no rights. Reading about how women used to come together no matter what to protest just to have men hit, spit or even throw stuff at them even being arrested and tortured. We had to fight to have a spot in this world and we still have more to go. I do also believe in feminists that can be too overly extreme and start to degrade and push men down and to me I do believe that yes we should fight against men who oppress us but the ultimate goal is to be seen as equals. I used to work at a job that was all outdoors lugging logs around and building gardens and the majority of the people working there were all sexist and made me and other females feel inferior and that was hard because I constantly was seen and treated as a weak little girl. Obviously, I left that toxic environment but we have to do better to have better work places where women feel equal. Where they have a safe space to share, work and be creative.

First off, I have to say that I’m really excited about this discussion post. I’ve been wanting to write about this for a long time because Twitter threads weren’t doing it for me anymore. Maybe it’s because I spent a lot of time watching movies and TV shows during the pandemic, but I started paying more attention to details I wouldn’t notice otherwise. One such thing that stood out to me is the portrayal of women in media (both in terms of lack or representation and misrepresentation). This issue worsens when it comes to women of color, plus-sized women and members of the LGBTQIA+.

Women are grossly underrepresented in media, especially high-budget movies written by men. The fact that Bechdel’s test exists is a testimony to the fact. And even when we are represented, it’s usually as the main lead’s love interest or some other one-dimensional trope with no story or motives of their own, only existing to drive the male lead’s story forward. Women characters are either put on a pedestal (the manic pixie dream girl or the cool girl that challenge the men to be more spontaneous, the devoted girlfriend, the supportive mother), or, sexualized as objects of desire and villainized for their sexuality, ambitiousness (the gold digger, the seductress, the career-driven stuck up) and so on. We are rarely allowed to just exist, as humans, with both flaws and redeeming qualities.

The creators of media are not solely to be blamed for this, the issue exists within the demographic consuming the media as well. We have seen this with the new Star Wars trilogy and Captain Marvel. I am not a personal fan of these movies either, but the criticism (bordering on harassment) these actors got for simply being women was ridiculous. We can also see the disconnect come into play when female characters most women enjoy or relate to, is largely disliked or not as celebrated in mainstream forums. Be it Diane Nyugen from Bojack Horseman, Siobhan Roy from Succession, Fleabag from Fleabag, and many more. Where male characters are applauded for being “morally grey” or “complicated”, women characters are penalized for the same.

One may argue that these aren’t important issues or that things are way better than they were before. However, with the way media plays a significant role in today’s society, it is important it represents its residents. Furthermore, just because it is better does not mean it’s as good as it could be. On the other hand, casting a woman in a historically male character (James Bond, Dr. Who) isn’t the solution. It is a half-assed attempt at making peace. We should be writing better roles for women and striving to make a space where diverse women and non-binary people are represented and appreciated the way they deserve to be.

For this week’s writing it is free from all and as I read this announcement I immediately begin to smile. I am extremely tired. I started my new job this past Friday and I have to juggle both school and work. I just wanted a safe space to get that off my chest. Nevertheless, I do want to discuss my thoughts on women’s suffrage. The reading “one hundred years toward suffrage overview” made me realize, women have been fighting for their rights in America for a very long time. They were denied so much and for what? Because they are women? These women both white and black put together numerous organizations, strikes, associations, and even wrote books. As I read the timeline, women kept pushing and pressing the matter. Even during the First World War, they used all what they had learned in the workforce to build a stronger case after the war. Susan B. Athony was arrested for attempting to vote for Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. It takes courage to walk into a ballot room and try to vote for a president as a woman in the 1800’s. Doing something like that was forbidden. The fact that she did that is badass in my opinion. Near the end of the reading timeline women are granted a lot that they were denied many times before. To my understanding this shows if you want something in life, keep on fighting the good fight regardless of who is trying to keep you small. 

In the video, it focuses on black women suffrage. They talk about Ida B. Wells who played a huge part in women rights. A speaker in the video says there was a women’s suffrage march. (I did not like that black women were only allowed in the march if they marched in the back. But we are focused on women rights at the moment.) However, during March Ida B. Wells ran to the first of the march and continued on the march. This is very significant because Black women’s oppression was probably the worst kind. Due to the simple fact that they were black and a woman. There was a lot of activism going on in these years. A lot of things were not right and women tried to change it. I thank the women of yesterday for making the women of today empowered.

This week I gained an understanding of the history of feminism and what it means. Feminism began in the early 19th and 20th century. During that time feminism started with the legal inequalities, and the women suffrage. Now between 1960s to 1980s feminism consisted of debates to include cultural inequalities and most importantly what role did the women have in their society during that time period. The second wave of feminist where basically in a battle with the third wave of feminist because they had different perspective of things. The second wave wanted to have equal rights and for discrimination to stop. Throughout the years us women did not have a say in anything, we didn’t have equal rights. We weren’t able to vote. We had to be at home cleaning taking care of our husbands and of the children, we didn’t have the right to get a job or to vote. During these times besides feminism there was also a mixture of racism too.