I believe that the majority of my friends are self-aware about the concepts regarding gender and sex and that I too know the differences. After having read these two texts I started to realize that I have a lot to learn- that it is much deeper than what genitalia you have at birth and the deep-rooted assumptions people tie to the male and female gender. In Sex & Gender 101, I truly enjoyed breaking down intersex and how biological gender varies through chromosomes, as well as the practice of gender assignment starting to become something that isn’t enforced in the medical world. I find it frustrating that gender roles dictate a child’s life from the moment they are born until they are old enough to explore their identity and be confident in their decision-making.

I also enjoyed reading Bell Hooks’s chapter Where We Stand, I am aware of sexism and the inequality women have experienced in the past and present. Hooks helped me further my knowledge of this topic when she explains that after the civil rights movement there was still a major struggle for women of all races to be represented in a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. White women then gave up fighting for feminism, and of course, benefited from the power they had from the preexisting social structure white men created. It upset me to read that there was little to no news coverage available to the public about the progress feminism circles produced, but I see a similarity in society today with the BLM movement and obtaining justice for the families affected by police brutality. In closing Hooks goes on to say let us start again, and to let the movement begin again – I feel that is what has happened over the course of this pandemic, with all of the violence and murder we see on social media.