I found this week’s readings to be incredibly insightful and resourceful. As this class goes on, I continue to get fascinated by the amazing groups of female writers, and activists, who have dedicated their lives and time to helping women from different backgrounds and races. I found the reading, “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina, to be very relatable to what I have personally gone through throughout my life. There were many instances during my upbringing where people would say things such as “you sound super white for someone who’s Latina”, or constantly being mistaken for “Puerto Rican or Dominican”, or being told I look like I’m from every other Spanish speaking country under the sun beside the one I’m actually from, which is Mexico. When I was younger, statements or questions like the ones I used to get never bothered me, I even found some funny, but as I get older, I have begun to get very annoyed and bothered by them. To be clear, I am never offended at being called Puerto Rican or Dominican, but am offended when I’m told “Wait, you’re Mexican?… You don’t look Mexican…” from people who have never taken a second to take in the diversity of Mexican people. My native Mexican mother and my siblings, for instance, are fair-skinned with blue and hazel eyes, and I would constantly get told that I was adopted. Although I’m sure people don’t often realize that they’re being offensive, I think people need to do a better job at thinking twice about their statements and questions before asking/saying them. It’s okay to be inquisitive or be shocked by someone’s response, but you should always be respectful.

The Combahee collective river collective organization was a group of black feminists and lesbians who felt that the existing political groups did not address or understand their problems. It was formed in 1974. The Combahee collective statement was written in 1977. The statement aimed to give the outside world a preview of what the group was about, what they believed in, and the challenges they faced in their organization. Demita Frazier, Beverly Smith, and Barbara Smith were the primary authors of the Combahee collective statement of 1977. It was brave to come out as a black lesbian back then, given the challenges already facing black women. The group addressed multiple oppressions in their statement, including sexual oppression and racism. The consequences of coming out as a member of such a movement during those years led to disowning by family and general hate from the immediate community. Thanks to this organization, more organizations for black women sprang up and made major strides in the liberation of black women members of the LGBTQ+ community. Paris is Burning was a documentary featuring the underground balls in the 1990s. The director, Jennie Livingston, had just graduated from Yale and was aspiring to be a photographer. She stumbled upon men dancing and posing at a park and got intrigued. These poses were called voguing, and she found herself at a ball. She saw different genderqueer, gay, lesbian people dancing and modeling in very fashionable clothes at the ball. Identifying as a lesbian at the time, she was fascinated with these balls and the freedoms they allowed these people to have. The balls consisted of houses with a mother and father. The mothers and fathers were mainly older gender-nonconforming people who taught and mentored the children in these houses. Many of the members had been ostracized and disowned for coming out as gay and had no means of survival. A majority of them became escorts to earn a living as not many jobs were available to them. Diseases such as AIDS, transphobic violence, and gentrification led to false perceptions of these communities and other hate from the outside world. Today, this film has received positive reviews and has been adapted on various platforms such as Netflix. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have hailed this movie as the start of their road to the rights and freedoms they enjoy today.