Write these reading reflections in the voice you use with friends; people who share your values, and are interested in gender but don’t know the information that is in your reading. Your response should show that you:
have read the text and can identify the important information;
understand at least three important concepts, events, or people from the text; and
can explain the important information from the text using examples from your own experiences.
Reading reflection entries should be 250 words or more and are due weekly, on Wednesdays by 11:59 pm. It is advised you complete these reflections before the discussion board activity. You can think of the reflection as a warm-up to get you focused to engage with others.
To submit your reading reflections, go to the plus sign at the top of the site > type a title* and type the body of your post > choose the category “Reading Journal” on the right > publish.
*Please use the title format “Journal [Number]” for each entry.
What numerous of us don’t realize/understand is that there are distinctive classes of abuses. Individuals all through history and indeed nowadays are in assortments rails of persecution, for occurrence race, unequal right between ladies and man, gay dark men, black lesbian ladies with unequal right. Within the Walk for Women’s suffrage parade dark ladies were only allowed to walk within the back. Dark ladies involvement a few of the most exceedingly bad persecution since they were treated like a moment course citizen and their lives were seen as less than a human since of their skin. They Walked at a parade for their break even with rights but within the back since they are dark. In “Combahee Stream collective” The creator is fundamentally clarifying this in her novel, on a political level, Devout conviction, herstory, etc. Most stories told in history are never almost herstory. In my history course they talk so small data around ladies, particularly those of color. I appreciate observing the film “Paris is burning ”. It outlines a entire different side of New York residents. The Drag Queens and these interesting balls they attend. This reminded me a lot of the show “Pose” Transgender women feeling less than human. It was extremely hard for them to get any respect as a person. They were not allowed in bars and certain stores. They mostly worked the corners and as show girls trying to make a living and afford dresses for the balls they attended. Black women and Transgender wpmen suffraged the most discrimination for being who they are or choose to be.
understanding that the patriarchy comes down to the system’s foundation and its continuing structure, is far more important than the individual’s opinion. This is so because the individual’s opinion is shaped by the system. Of course, this is not a promise nor an indication that our opinions will automatically equate to one another, but it does highlight the importance of education. Education is how we learn facts and, facts shape opinions. So if the majority that is educated is aware of a fact then the likelihood of a rebellion or majority is more probable. But then again, in my opinion though the patriarchy is very much real- money plays a huge role in what happens and who gets what they want. It is all very complex and upsetting that as a society we haven’t gotten very far. There is genuinely no need for a struggle or for a patriarchy to exist. There simply should not be systems that were built to opress. These systems simply should not exist. It is rather annoying to see how much of the ideas on feminism, equality, and education have been repeated for hundreds of years but there has never been an absolute change in the system. The mere fact that as a country/society we can accept that something such as “far-right” exists, and it main ideology is motivated and based on racialinequality, complete, while male domination and saying in all structures of the system, bewilders me. I agree with freedom of speech everyone is entitled to that, but on a very ethical level it should be oppressive actions and ideology should not be liberated. A founding in the education must exist. Matters of human life are extremely vital for all human life is vital. Like I said it bewilders me how there hasn’t been a radical and absolute change, but yet a continous acceptance in widespread ignorance and oppression. it should not be so hard to extinguish with is unethical and immoral.
I think it is very important to bring awareness to the different levels and types of privilege that one can experience in life. It is vital to highlight the differences in experiences and treatments one receives because this heavily impacts a person’s opinion and ideals which expands into friend groups and far down the line society as a whole. I find it surreal to be treated nicely when I physically appear to have a lighter complexion. My point is that those who are not oppressed or have never experienced oppression have lived gone through life from an advantage point of view. I remember this comedian talking about going on a date with what is considered to be a “golden retriever boy” – basically someone who is just happy and goofy and has no worries, but this particular “golden retriever boy” was white. She explained how she was on a date with him and asked “have you ever been through hardships”/ “have you ever experienced a tough time” and he responded by saying “hmm wow, things have actually been pretty good for me actually” and he proceeded to smile. Not that white people are exempt from trauma or hardships but most white men don’t necessarily experience it because the system is set up to be in their favor. Without stories being told and brought attention to those who have lived a privileged life will never be able to understand that their version of life isn’t the one that is freely lived/shared by others.
“Gender Non-Conforming” and “Non-Binary” are two topics I have always been curious about but felt like there was such little information to really understand, learn and get to know those who identify as such. Alok highlights the biggest issues surrounding those who identify as such as those that also identify as Transwomen (more specifically black women). An example stated was “Texas proposing financial compensation for reporting us using the restroom”. Things like this and worst are the world of those who go beyond the gender binary. It is something that not just as a society are we supposed to correct but educate very early on in the lives of children. This is something to be normalized and not demonized. Alok uses political memory to demonstrate the many ways in which the system has accepted the murder, bullying, and harassment of those who chose to express themselves. It is such a shame that as a society we are supposed to be evergrowing. I wish I had more access to understanding things as such. Sexuality is very complex and there is little information/education available to the understanding of something that is a founding function of the experience of human life. The way you relate/behave sexually is one of the very important parts of identity because it is how you communicate yourself to the world. I think it is saddening that instead of trying to understand and crave more knowledge on these vital issues it is just shut down like the Florida bill saying that LGBTQ matters cannot be discussed on school premises.
I enjoyed every word I read from Bell Hooks “Feminism Is For Everybody”. I agreed with every word and genuinely took it as if I were reading a bible. The comment that most stuck with me was the argument towards abortion. It was just so beautiful to read and she put it all together in such a logistical way. I was absolutely captivated. Bell Hooks said it so that no one else could possibly have an argument to dismiss her powerful statement, “If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice and be feminist. A woman can insist she would never choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the right of women to choose and still be an advocate of feminist politics. She cannot be anti-abortion and an advocate of feminism.”. This entails that one can still have conservative beliefs and be a feminist. One can still believe whatever religion they chose to believe in and advocate for woman’s rights. Personal choice/opinion does not stop the right women have to choose what they want to do with their bodies. I also like the fact that she defines feminism as “a movement to end sexist oppression”. She also stated that over the years the feminist movement has died down due to an unclear definition, which is also true, especially now. Women have started some form of Male-Hate feminism. Which seems to be so widespread and furthers polarization.
Both of the readings and the video made me understand more about privilege. I am acknowledging more of an individual’s experiences as well as my own. We all feel the need to sympathize with other people’s experiences which in a way is kind of insensitive because not all of us fight the same battles so we could not understand every single struggle. Now, we should not invalidate other experiences or even our own but we should be more aware of the different struggles we go through based on the POC. I know this topic is a little controversial but a lot of us are in fact POC so we can have this discussion. We do not usually come together unless it’s to talk about white privilege or even how they have made things harder for us. As people of color, we tend to say things like “same” or “I could relate” when we compare racism experiences but in reality a lot of us can not really understand on the same level. Privilege can be earned or unearned such as white privilege by color of their skin. I do not agree with the fact that people are born into wealth without worrying about anything in their whole life but others have to work hard to have food on the table, some water or even shelter. I did however find out that it is also the littlest things considered as privilege such as waking up, having health insurance or even having a family. Privilege affects everyone and we should try and set a change.
Below is a bulleted list of points to consider when doing future Reading Reflections. This is a general list based on my reading of all of your reflections. I also included a sample reflection that I wrote below.
Your reflection should be 250 words (roughly). Many of you wrote much longer reflections. For a classmate’s reflection that is a good example of length and depth, see Samantha Rojas Reflection 1.
You do not need to separate the readings and respond to each separately. You can give a holistic response.
REPLIES ON REFLECTIONS ARE NOT REQUIRED. You can read and respond (which is a great idea), but it won’t be counted in the same way the discussion responses are.
Reflections should give your impressions and thoughts, not be an outline of the readings.
Sample Reading Reflection on Week 1 Assigned Readings
One reading dealt a lot with defining terms and making sure we know the difference between gender and sex, and how gender is learned through socialization. The other reading was focused on defining feminism and advocating for a specific kind of feminism. In Sex & Gender 101 I learned importantly that gender is who we feel we are, how we express that to the world, and how those connect. We learn gender through socialization – which means learning how to behave in socially acceptable ways. Sex is the biological features of a person’s body. It is most frequently determined by genital morphology – or the form a baby’s genitals take when they are born. But other things makeup sex including chromosomes and hormones, which we don’t see, and may impact sex. In the bell hooks piece we learned that feminism isn’t man-hating, but it is a movement to end sexism. We learned that all people are complicit in sexism because we are taught it through socialization. hooks also makes a distinction between reform and revolutionary feminism. Reform is wanting equality and for women to hold the same positions as men, make equal money, etc. It is within the system of capitalism and marked by conflict. Revolutionary wants to change the system because there are no chances for equity in our current systems. So it wants to change the system to one of cooperation. Its interest is equity, justice, and inclusion, not equality. I included this graphic to help explain the difference. Hooks wants us to move to the right side.
