I know we only had to choose one image but I wanted to shine light on this Æffective power through artistic activism that I personally walk by daily on my way to work in the West Village, NY. I actually don’t know her name but I can share that her instagram is @westvillagefamous and as per her small bio description is a “frustrated designer and serial sign maker. I have been passing by this residence for about a year and a half and even though many times, especially before taking this course, I wasn’t aware of some of the meanings behind her quotes, I have always felt that what she is doing is very important. I send snapshots to my sister who always enlightens me when I’m lost. I think this a perfect example of addressing our current social and political climate in an artistic way

What surprised me the most throughout the readings and viewing this week was being able to step back and think that all and any of these people/ women from each could be me and that the reason I am free from some of these oppressions is because I just so happened to come into the planet in the United States and as a second-generation Dominican person. These reasons are not good enough to have such disparities within our species. I have struggled with obtaining medical insurance before in my life but my encounter with any medical need and/or hospitals have never been like the experiences of Leconté J Dill’s birthing story or that of Transgender people so through these readings, I was able to put myself in the shoes of these patients which is what we all should be to Doctors when we visit or are in need of their services. Learning about the extreme stigma surrounding menstruation in rural India was just shocking to see how far behind these communities still are and how women are kept so extremely in the dark about how powerful we actually are. I was proud to see a community of women spreading their new-found knowledge with others and putting the pieces of their womanhood together. One woman even said something along the lines of it being because of generational Patriarchy and how in order to demand change you have to start somewhere, somehow spreading the truth of what you know. This is where I began to make connections between all the readings along with the film because it just really screamed out PATRIARCHY to me as this system is what allows entitled binary people to exclude others even though the reasoning behind the idea itself just does not hold up to the reality of the world we live in along with the medical advances acquired throughout. The fact that barely any adult male in Period: End of Sentence knew about a woman’s period is astounding but so telling of a society that has just deemed the male sex as superior and has kept the power of womanhood a secret to women themselves.

The format in which the stories are shared helped me see the oppression of women with more clarity and then how it surpassed the intersectionality of forms that I feel that I’m familiar with and portrayed that ongoing oppression of Black women and trans people. It helped me understand the importance of the Black Feminist movement that we’ve been reading about lately and also for everyone to speak out against this new rule proposed by the Department of Health which excludes the lives of transgender people. Although I was shocked by the lack of feminine knowledge and education in Period: End of Sentence, I was left hopeful by the broadening of their minds through the discussion of menstruation and what that means for women everywhere.

Garza’s chapter specifically, helped me tremendously in understanding identity politics since it was introduced in this course. I now understand that it is used to describe the lived experiences of those that are not white, heterosexual, cisgendered men and how important it has been for the Black Feminist movement to have been able to distinguish their extreme oppression in comparison to other groups and created a designated place to begin addressing their particular experiences and desire for their own liberation separate from the liberation of other aforementioned groups. “If we don’t acknowledge that power works to the benefit of white, Christian, heterosexual, cisgender men, we will continue to blame those who are subjugated by that power for being subjugated, rather than working together to uproot the legacy of unevenly distributed power” (Garza, 191/192). We all know and have associations with what having power means but through this chapter and quote, I felt the magnitude of importance white America has placed on attaining and maintaining it at essentially all costs neglecting human life drastically in the process. To top this disheartening realization, I was really affected by reading “For more than forty years, the conservative movement has been fighting to capture hearts and minds and align those hearts and minds with an agenda that benefits a few at the expense of many. The conservative movement in this country has invested more in obscuring disparities by race and class and gender than the progessive movement has invested in highlighting them” (Garza,192) because it helped me understand and name where my own conditioning by society arose from and that I allowed to tell me what is or isn’t of this world without me questioning it. 

I love the way this course has been set up for us because literally every week has added to the last and because it has all been so new to me, I’m not sure how to follow all that we have done so far. I noticed a fellow classmate mention reproductive rights and abortion and I’d be very interested in this as well.

“We might use our position at the bottom to make a clear leap into revolutionary action. If black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” What is meant by this quote is that the Black feminists of the Combahee River Collective believe in tackling the oppression placed upon them piece by piece in order to detangle it from the intersectionality of this oppressive umbrella in hopes of dismantling each, no matter how gruesome or long the journey. This is what they have found to be the answer in, one day, fulling realizing a world free of constrictions and inferiority for Black women everywhere. It is apparent just how tricky this can be throughout the reading as we are able to witness how shifts and transitions occur in the movement depending on the issues they’ve decided to focus on at different times where women come and go from collective. “The major source of difficulty in our political work is that we are not just trying to fight oppression on one front or even two, but instead to address a whole range of oppressions. We do not have racial, sexual, heterosexual, or class privilege to rely upon, nor do we have the minimal access to resources and power any of these types of privileges have.” (line 8-11, Problems in Organizing Black feminists). Here, their position at the bottom is emphasized portraying what’s working against the movement as well as what must be confronted simultaneously. By “identity politics”, the Combahee River Collective meant that they were actively commited to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppressions in each of their actions. The Collective wanted to try remembering to keep this at their forefront as much as possible because the presence of these oppressions that were systemically and subliminally placed through history have managed to become the prisons they have for women by these issues remaining ignored during daily encounters that eventually set the tone for how things are. Identity politics refers to a tendency for people of a particular community to form exclusive alliances, moving away from tradition. This is very evident in Paris is Burning, as the Ball lifestyle that is depicted in the film is essentially a world created by drag queens living in New York where we get to see the “house” cultures they create to provide a sense of community and support for those that are often shunned socially. Capitalism thrives off of race and gender. Because of how it inherently usually functions, capitalism continues to keep the power and wealth within the same systems that neglect minorities due to historical racial and socioeconomic statuses. Gender is also connected to capitalism as it is used by the public to coerce us through marketing as well as oneself in receiving advantages/opportunities based upon on our perceived sex or gender.

The liberated woman has realized her freedom to set her own standards for the way she lives her life personally, sexually, and professionally disregarding societal systems and standards that have been in place for much of history. She does not look for validation from society in these areas of her life and is confident in these decisions. She is a feminist and pushes for more equality for women and is trying to be an example of change in regards to what is expected of a women in and out of the home. This woman wants to acknowledge and be acknowledged for not following traditional social conventions as it has become clear to her that there is far too much inequality, injustice, and oppression placed upon women compared to lives lived by men as it seems that for no apparent reason, it was decided that this gender is superior. This woman can be instrumental for women’s liberation because traditional roles such as the Standard American Housewife and what that entails for women is challenged because the liberated woman represents a new standard/option attainable to all women if they should decide to step into this freedom that every human wants and has a right to desire and act upon. In The Politics of Housework by Pat Mainardi she states, “I can only explain it by stating that we women have been brainwashed more than even we can imagine, probably too many years of seeing television women in ecstasy over their shiny waxed floors or breaking down over their dirty shirt collars” (Mainardi, pg 2). Here, she is stating the conditioning women have received throughout history to make us feel like this is just how it is for us yet men do not get this message ingrained in them by society from birth and because they reap the benefits from this oppression haven’t done much to equalize the playing field. Therefore, the liberated woman poses as an essential and new example of another way life can be experienced as a woman. “The personal is political” is portrayed in both readings this week as each highlight on two specific yet distinct aspects of a woman’s life that have been subliminally socially oppressed- the female orgasm and distribution of housework in cisgendered heterosexual relationships that have resulted in the disparity between the significance of men and women’s values and “designated” roles hence, the commencement for the revolting of women through the feminist movement, suffrage and women’s liberation.