In “Feminist Politics Where We Stand,” by Bell Hooks, she describes feminism as a movement whose goal is to eradicate sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. According to this definition of feminism, this movement aims to put an end to the cruel and unfair treatment of people based on their gender and sex. In another essay, bell hooks claimed that some people mistake feminism with a desire to be equal to or hostile toward males. I agree with Bell Hooks since the mass media typically portrays feminism as radical, going to great lengths to struggle for equal treatment (equal pay to the opposing sex or even being treated equally to the opposite sex). I think everyone should be treated fairly regardless of their gender, sex, or race. 

My understanding of gender has improved since reading the article sex and gender 101. According to what I understand, a culture assigns a person’s gender based on the family they are born into. It looks like people are being forced to be something in this description that they may not want to be. I think that your internal feelings and the roles you feel most at ease in determine your gender. For instance, even though your assigned gender is female, deep inside you know that is not what you want to be. Additionally, I discovered that there are three different kinds of gender: gender assignment, gender identity, and gender expression. The gender you are assigned is your gender. Whether you feel more feminine than masculine or more masculine than feminine, gender identification refers to how comfortable you are with yourself. Gender expression is the act of expressing one’s gender through one’s choice of clothing, makeup, and haircut. I thought the article’s discussion of sex focused more on the science vs gender debate. It also discusses the XY chromosome, which indicates that you will be assigned a male, and the XX chromosome, which indicates that you are assigned a female. Sex is more about your external genitalia. 

“a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” Explain what you understand this definition to mean.

In the introduction of the book “Feminism is for Everybody,” the author kept preparing this phrase and even went into detail about what she meant. feminism is often looked at as a group of angry females who want to act like men and overall view men as the enemy. However, not everybody takes the time to go in-depth about what a true feminist wants or try to understand what the issue is. This relates to the article “sex and Gender 101” because society believes that gender must play a “social and cultural role based on your biological sex”. That’s where the issue begins because not every female wants to be a stay-at-home mom or be what is known as “wife material”, women want to work as well and want to be respected. There should be nothing wrong with a woman asking to work in the same field as a man. There should be equal pay if both females and males are doing the same job. 

How does this definition compare with what you thought “feminism” meant before you did this reading?

Honestly, I was in that small percent group that didn’t really know much about feminism, I knew maybe that it had to do with women fighting for equal rights. I didn’t want to agree with the concept of feminism without knowing the true meaning behind it, but I believe it is more than just rights, its equality, and respect towards one another. In the article” sex and Gender 101″ what caught my attention was that women in the U.S. were earning more college degrees than men however its own country didn’t value women’s equal education. It is frustrating knowing that a female can go to school, spend hours studying, get a degree, and still get looked upon by the single fact that they’re a female. It took females a long way to get the right to work, to vote, and be heard yet you see that not every job would want a female instead a male because they’re stronger.

How does the reading Sex and Gender 101 compare with what you thought about gender before you did this reading?

The reading clarified a lot of things that I was always confused about but never had the courage to ask anybody simple fact that I dint want to sound ignorant. I have a friend who uses the pronouns they/them, this article helped me understand a little bit more about gender. I had no idea how deep a gender can be and I’m sure there are still a lot of people who confuse sex & gender and think they’re the same thing when they’re not. gender assignment can be an individual who identifies themselves as female or male based on their genitals, but parents play a big role here when a baby is born and their private parts don’t look “normal”. Keep in mind there is no such thing as a correct “normal” way external genitals should look. keep in mind as well that there is no such thing as a correct way to act for either a female or a male.

Alok’s book “Beyond the Gender Binary” discusses understanding what gender is. It allows us to get closer to facts about how gender forms and their fluidity. His writing shows how people think, why they don’t understand who others are, and how people perceive the world in everyday situations where they are being misunderstood and judged. Alok explains that society’s rules are built on stereotypes and straightforward structures based on very little we know or assume. I can compare this to the medieval discovery of Copernicus that placed the Sun in the center, and people could not believe it at first. The Earth is not flat, and the Sun does not circle us. We are not born one man and woman only, and we do not need to stick to the birth certificate label for the rest of our lives.

Alok’s writing made me sad. I am not a revolutionary leader type, but I like to wonder how people feel! My empathy goes far, and understanding his words makes me see how much people suffer. It is unfortunate when Alok explains how transgender people do not exist in society in others’ perceptions. How, then, can people analyze, and build laws and health coverage, for someone they “don’t believe in ”, they don’t acknowledge, something that they do not accept- they reject—nonbinary people? It is discrimination. It takes human rights away and blocks access to methal care, social life, and even safety. Again, it is sad that we need to explain basic human rights to ignorants. Let’s go deeper and imagine that the world is all men and women are not women but “men-less’ creatures. And we need to prove, demonstrate and fight to show men that they are not the only gender. It sounds like science fiction. So for non-binary people, the reality they see is a false reality. Moreover, the wrong perspective builds unfair rights that punish non-binary people! Religion wants to eliminate them, and politics creates a colossal problem of citizens’ right to be. The culture is not flexible. We should pray in universities for education, not in churches for blessings. We would know that living beyond the gender binary isn’t a new thing. We should know that word is not a symbol of 2 -there is not only masculine and feminine. Not only one or the other. It is not an illness or a disorder.

After reading “Feminist Politics Where We Stand” Bell describes feminism as “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression”. I agree with Bell’s definition of feminism because she explains that the goal of Feminism is to end gender based oppression and discrimination. Feminism is a cultural movement that challenges sexism and empowers gender equality. My definition of feminism is similar to Bell’s meaning because I believe that everyone should be treated fairly regardless of your skin and gender. Both sexes should be treated fairly regardless of their gender and in order to change this we must fight for equality. Feminism should be more supported by people because it promotes equality for everyone. 

I first heard about the word feminism in school when learning about women in history trying to end sexism. In history class the topic of feminism was in 1848 property rights and rights for women to vote. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were both activist leaders of the women’s right movement in the United States. Their goal was to achieve voting rights for women as a congressional amendment to the constitution. 

What influenced women’s right movement was socialism, abolitionism, and enlightenment. Women were denied legal rights to vote, keep wages, have custody of their child, and own property. Men were looked upon while women were looked down as lacking mental capacity, being weak, and should only be a servant to their husbands. During the Industrial Revolution women were taken advantage of because they were paid one third half of a man’s salary when completing the same job. This reflects on what’s happening today; many women are still receiving lower pay than men. Women lives were unfairly constricted which led women to fight for their rights to live and work as equals. Both of these women gathered people from all over the world to help fight for equal rights and challenge gender-based oppression. 

In “Sex and Gender 101” by Kyl Myers taught me a lot about gender and sex. From reading the article I learned that gender could be broken down into three categories: “gender assignment, gender identity, and gender expression”. Before reading this article I believed that gender was just a characteristic of women and male but reading the text gave me a better understanding of gender. It went more in depth with how a person “gender expression can change over time”. People can identify as whatever they want to and choose their own adventures.

If I’m being honest going on to this I just thought feminism meant just women wanted equality within having the same advantages and ways as men. This article has made me think differently about that. I personally am not very feminist even though I do believe we should all be treated equally and with respect. I wanted to learn more about how to be more feminist and more true to myself as a woman and female freedom because of what is happening with places making abortion legal how crazy is that I honestly was hurt because who wants to be taken the rights of they’re own body none ins this world should be taken that right. But that is what I thought this meant when using the word feminism but reading these two articles. In “Feminist Politics Where we stand” Reveals that I too wasn’t the only one who thought the word feminism was just that meaning but we as young adults can be misinformed as how this article literally stated that feminism is misunderstood and it’s not right because we are distancing ourselves from what really is the problem and moreover misleading others like myself not really knowing the true meaning feminism. Reading “Sex and Gender 101” at first I thought gender identity was only assigned at birth based on chromosomes and genitals, however, I learned that cultural changes and education can lead to people having a change in their sexual identity also what they feel and know what they are at such a young age. When I was younger I thought like this but I am learning more and more how we are all different and feel different and are unique In our own different ways gender is just a label but it’s us who decides what we wanna be at the end of the day and I just feel so informed and am learning more about feminism and gender coming into this class. Feminism now I understand more not only from the article “Sex and Gender 101” but also from the article “FEMINISM POLITICS Where We Stand” because it talks about how in order to understand feminism we also have to understand sexism and how this plays with our freedom and right within history and the future as us being young adults learning about how to express ourselves and what we believe is right within being feminist and women.

• Explain what you understand this definition to mean.

My understanding from this definition is that Feminism generally refers to the movement for social, political, and economic equality of men and women. According to bell hooks, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression. The point of her discussion is that women cannot come together under one banner unless they confront their own sexist thoughts. She also emphasizes the importance of intersectionality in pointing out that when women continue to oppress other women then they cannot unite under one banner. Because of their varying overlapping marginalized identities, such as race or class. 

• How does this definition compare with what you thought “feminism” meant before you did this reading?

Before I did this reading I didn’t know much about feminist. According to my understanding of feminism, women are primarily committed to gender equality, equal pay for equal work, and sometimes women and men share household chores and parenting duties with mens. I have gained a deeper understanding of feminism and my belief in gender equality after reading this essay. Women shouldn’t have to be harassed or discriminated against simply due to their race and gender. I think Hooks makes an excellent point when she suggests that if women come together, the feminist movement will be able to include women of all races and colors. I believe this is a very compelling statement because so many women face inequality due to their race and gender. The outcome could be significant if all women united to fight similar struggles. I think that women should not have mens questioning what she does with her body. 

• How does the reading Sex and Gender 101 compare with what you thought about gender before you did this reading?

Before reading sex and gender 101. I honestly did not have any knowledge about it, I am sorry but I thought that people only used she, her, and them as pronunciation. This article makes me understand It is important to understand the difference between sex and gender.  A major change in my thinking in the way I viewed people labels. I now respect all labels, such as pronouns, and the variety of ways people identify and express themselves. And also i did not force myself to learn any of this because in my religion we only used the pronunciation she and he. However we have to give respect to how people identify themselves.

Discussion#2

What I understand of what movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression Means is that a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression is a movement by such a large amount of people that want to end sexism. Sexism in meaning Evaluating women less positively than men, Sexist Language to anyone, A belief that one sex is superior then another and etc. The sexist exploitation in meaning the profiting and achieving social or political from sexual exploitation of another person. A movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression for me as I see it in a way it means to me that this is a fight against any oppressors or any struggle that they may face. How this definition campers to what i thought feminism meant before i read the reading is equal rights for everyone this was my definition before the reading as i read the reading i see in a way it is in a way like this but also adding on to that definition by saying by overcoming all adversity and fighting in any way by Completing movements towards what people believed in. In the reading they spoke about how everyone has their own meaning when it comes to feminism such as women wanting gaining equal rights, feminist who hate men this is discussed in the reading that not everyone’s meaning of feminism is the same but it doesn’t mean that they are not feminist in their own right this is shown here “women who want to be like men. They do not even think about feminism as being about rights – about women gaining equal rights. When I talk about the feminism I know – up close and personal- they willingly listen, although when our conversations end, they are quick to tell me I am different, not like the “real” feminists who hate men, who are angry. I assure them I am as a real and as radical a feminist as one can be, and if they dare to come closer to feminism they will see it is not how they have imagined it”  The reading sex and gender 101 compared to what i believed before the reading witch was that gender was that i believed that psychologically there two genders a women and a man but i also believe that anyone is free to express them self as how they feel inside. In the reading it informs us that sex and gender are not the same thing because sex refers to our anatomy like sex chromosomes, sex organs etc. “Sex refers to anatomy and physiology. This includes sex chromosomes, sex hormones, sex organs, and external genitalia. I must note – most distinctions of “biological sex” are made off of the appearance of an individual’s external genitalia. External genitalia and secondary sex characteristics can most certainly be altered and there are medications that can change an individual’s hormonal chemistry or suppress puberty. Additionally, no two people have identical genitalia or hormonal levels. There is not one way to be male or female or intersex. I do not subscribe to the idea that an individual’s biological sex is unchangeable nor that it is their destiny. This article is meant to be a basic, foundational introduction to the differences between sex and gender, and it should be stated that everything mentioned here is much more complicated than this short article conveys.” A Person’s sex is what they are biologically but gender is the social and cultural roles that males and females are expected to subscribe to based on their biological sex. In the reading it says “Gender can be broken down into three main categories: gender assignment, gender identity, and gender expression.” When they say gender assignment they mean what gender you are assigned to depending on your sex. The gender identity is what you actually identify as and the gender expression is how you show it and display your gender to the world.