The readings “White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible Knapsack” and Marilyn Frye “Oppression” opens up with examples and how to define being privileged and the effects one can get by oppression. The reading “White Privileged: unpacking the invisible Knapsack” talks about different ways someone can be privileged, for instance, white privileged or men privilege. In the reading, it states My schooling gave me no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant in a damaged culture. I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will. She, as a white woman is showing us that oppressor, is optional and only because you have advantages as she did, it doesn’t change the fact that you don’t have to treat others differently because of race color, or status. She also states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege.“I disagree with her on this one because even if you are white or any color race placed in a position where you have it better than others you can see that you are privileged let alone if you’re white privileged you can see that you have way more advantages then people of color or status. To exemplify as a Hispanic woman in The Bronx I still have privileges no matter if I live in an area where there are a lot of incidents or crime rates I am still privileged because back in my country they don’t have the benefits or opportunities or privileges I do. So I believe you can carefully not be taught that but it’s always there no matter how you look at it same goes with male privilege. When I hear the word oppressed I think about injustice and unfairness. The reading by Marilyn Frye talks about Oppression as a female. We get to read about how women get oppressed very differently from men and how we can’t really do much about it since its always going to be like that unless we say something about what really is going on in our lives and putting a stop to what’s bothering us because in this society it can be treated very differently. Oppressions like the reading says are hard to recognize when one is really doing it but I feel like you can if you put your mind into others’ perspectives and how you treat them can affect a lot. All in all, this is what I’ve learned from these two articles about the concepts of Oppression and Privilege.

Alok’s book “Beyond the Gender Binary” talks about confrontation acceptance and educating others about one’s experience living in a world where people’s opinions can really have an effect on one way of living.3 concepts that helped me understand the view on gender and Alok’s perspective on the gender binary are talking about acceptance and Alok’s past dealing with bullies and people who tried bringing Alok down for being themselves as a non-conforming gender. In the book it states “You want to be different to draw attention to yourselves. Hurt feelings aren’t real discrimination.” (Page 41)This was sad to read that there are people in this world that actually think like this. Because this leads to non-conforming people having a lot of negativities in their life like being unemployed by the mistreatment they get or feeling useless or not heard enough by others for not accepting them for who they are. Furthermore, he states how 40 percent of trans and gender non-conforming people have attempted suicide because of emotional and physical violence. Alok speaks about not only this conception which was very sad to read about but also how to be acceptable to people beyond the gender binary roles. Alok talks about the difference between tolerance and Acceptance within gender in this case non-conforming people. To exemplify,” Tolerance is always about maintaining distance: “This is about something over there that docent concern me.”Acceptance, on the other hand, is about integrating differences into your own life:” This is something that I am part of and I need to learn more to better help”(page 43). This and confrontation are two other aspects Alok tries to present in the book like when Alok talks about a childhood bully who ended up confronting Alok again and apologizing for being introduced to homophobia at a young age instead of accepting others. I genuinely felt this book intriguing in ways that I also was being educated on how non-conforming people like Alok lives in this world and grow up as they are.

“Sex and Gender 101” shows the reader the differences between specific terms regarding gender, and sexual orientation. Reading the article, I learned about these terms which helped me understand their meaning. More importantly, differentiating each word aided in my understanding of the cultures around us, including my own. For instance, the difference in sexual chromosome variations like XX/XY Chromosomes and 46 (XX/XY) intersex chromosomes. This helped me understand that some people at birth have differences in chromosomes which leads to their gender assignment. Also, there are some people that are born with both types of chromosome variations which could change over time. In other words, the chromosomes play a role in truly understanding a person’s gender but as a result of culture and life experiences, they may be free to change their gender. Moving toward culture, males, and females may possibly follow certain stereotypes. Being a Hispanic woman, it is common for males to be looked upon as the head of the household, providing for the family, and taking an authority-like position. On the other hand, females in my Hispanic culture are looked upon as responsible for taking care of their household and raising their children. Generational traditions may alter over time like gender identities due to a rise in education regarding their capabilities to achieve power. For instance, women in Hispanic culture in today’s time can choose to work jobs and provide for their families and raise their kids at the same time. Also, Hispanic men learn to coexist with women in power positions in government, law, and business. As mentioned before, these changes in culture happen as a result of education. Moving back to the topic of gender identity, changes in culture and a rise in education can help people have a clearer understanding of who they are based on their gender, sexual orientation, identity, and more! The article educated me on these topics which can expand our ways of thinking.

In “FEMINIST POLITICS Where We Stand” talks about the misunderstanding of feminism. Moreover, 3 concepts this chapter talks about are how women can be sexist as well, fitting feminism in its correct term, and female freedom getting misunderstood and having to get that back. To add on sexism, in general, is placed in wrong misleading directions like how it states, at the beginning, of this chapter “all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult.“ One has to really understand sexism to understand feminism because you can’t judge based on other’s points of view or how they word things how in the article it shows how people think feminism is just women who want to be equal to men just that when it’s not just that they’re is more than just simple ways people try to express this term. Another thing this article talks about is how women are also sexist not only men if they believe they are superior to others because of the economic power they have they don’t agree or try to fight with the women who was to be treated equally as men because of where they’re placed in life not having to worry about anything. We also got to read those female politics are losing their way of embracing feminism and we as the ones reading this should remind them of the real reasons and get them back on fighting for our freedoms and rights. Personal experience, I grew up in a household where women and men are equal when it comes to making money doing chores, and life decisions. To exemplify, I was raised by a single mother who had 2 sons and 2 daughters she lived in a household where men were superior to female and females were known as useless and only worked for being housewives, she didn’t want us growing up in that environment so she made everything equal and making us all independent on making our own choices no matter what others say because we all can do it as she did. So as men, my brothers understood how women should be respected and treated equally.