Today’s society has made it socially acceptable to judge people based on their race. Stereotyping may appear to be a common occurrence, but it is an oppressive practice. Following the reading of these two short articles regarding race and how it negatively affects women’s lives, it is clear that all women must band together to resist the oppression they face.

Feminist Politics Where We Stand, by Bell Hooks, examines the meaning and evolution of feminism. “Simply expressed, feminism is a movement to eradicate sexism,” Hooks begins her essay. oppression, and sexist exploitation” (Shaw 37). She utilizes this term because men are not perceived as the adversary, but rather as the source of sexism. As she progresses through her essay, she discusses how feminism has changed through time, culminating in the feminist movement’s decision to focus solely on concerns affecting “white women.” Prior to reading information on what feminism meant to Hooks, my own definition consisted of mainly woman empowerment but not so muvh of race inequalities. Alongside Hooks findings, her ultimate point may be illustrated In the final paragraph of her essay she writes, “Because the feminist movement lacks precise definitions, feminist politics is losing steam. Those definitions are in our possession. Let’s take back what’s rightfully ours. Let’s have a look at them and see what we can come up with.” (Shaw 39). Hooks is expressing the belief that if women, or anyone, band together, the feminist movement’s beliefs can be reformed to include all women of all races and colors. This is a really persuasive point she makes because so many women endure challenges due to their gender and ethnicity, and so if all women banded together to battle comparable challenges, the impact could be significant and eventually everlasting. 

Before completing our Sex and Gender 101 reading, my initial thoughts on gender as well as its stereotypes include both descriptive and prescriptive elements, or attitudes about how men and women should behave. Men are expected to be agentic and avoid weakness, while women are expected to be caring and avoid dominance. The terms “sex” and “gender” are sometimes unconsciously used interchangeably by individuals. After taking into consideration aspects throughout the reading of Sex and Gender 101 I found that Despite the similarities, the two terms are not interchangeable. On the basis of the baby’s genitals, we generally assign a newborn’s sex as male or female. We assume the gender of the child once a sex is assigned at the child’s birth. A few more comparison in the text I’ve immediately noticed was my overall separation of primary sexual binaries, such as male, female, and intersexual all consisting of there not being one way to being either or. I agree with this fact, tying back to the initial point I made earlier as far as how male and females are expected to act. Being that we live in such a modern day society where we all may try to accept any differences in order to still create aspects of equality is where expectations may come to a fault. Men don’t need to act musclin to be considered a Man, vice versa. Even though this may be some of our norms it’s ultimately not our modern day world factual reality. The word “gender binary” is frequently used to convey the belief that you can only be male or female, never both. Friends and relatives frequently send gifts of “gender appropriate” apparel and toys to new-born babies, reinforcing this perception. Giving a child a gift that is incorrect for their gender is typically seen as a huge social faux pas per se. It’s worth mentioning that appropriate gendered conduct varies a lot throughout cultures, and even within cultures, it’s changed a lot over time. Some civilizations have been significantly less wedded to the binary than ours, while others continue to enforce it with greater meaning.