This was the main image I used from the link. I am not sure who made the art but I assume it was by Olivia Burton – the one who the link is from.

I chose this image because it shows a good example of global warming. Increasing water levels. Obviously this was written before the water line increased, and by the time the picture was taken the water had increased. Eventually if we keep up with how we’re going, the entire phrase will be completely submerged. That is the result of the greenhouse gasses being trapped in the atmosphere, heating up the planet, and causing major icebergs to melt, and therefore increasing the sea levels. It is activism to me because it is fighting for environmental activism. Many people don’t believe in global warming and go on with their day not realizing that it really is real and affecting us all daily. That image is an example that slowly but surely, that quote on the wall would be completely submerged underwater and who knows what else.

Not much surprised me when reading these stories or about the film. These are things I’ve learned about or seen. I know of many activists in India who fought hard to earn fundamental rights in India. But I did like what the women were doing in making their own sanitary products and trying to get their own financial independence instead of being forced to marry and live off their husbands. When it came to A Birth Story, I read a lot of experiences where most Black women were being neglected by medical staff and were put in many uncomfortable scenarios. In “12 Reasons It Should Be Illegal for Doctors Not to Treat Trans People”, it’s not surprising, but it’s highly disappointing that people go through these experiences and have to witness it. 

Throughout the readings and the film there are a lot of connections. The main connection is that the people are either people of color, a part of the LGBTQ+, and/or they come from a low-income community. All of these descriptions fall under the main influence of what medical abuse affects. What I noticed was that, in “Period. End of Sentence.”, the girls were usually taught to be disgusted by their period. Men are usually uncomfortable when bringing up the talk of female menstruation and don’t think of the impact it has on the women. This connects to those who are transgender and those who give birth, most people find those ideas to be disgusting or weird, when it really isn’t any of that at all. The ones who think that are just ignorant and negligent.

I know that these readings have definitely enlightened me into learning a lot more about people’s experiences and how they share those experiences. I like watching the film because they actually grab realistic views and moments as the women move through. “I could be denied critical, necessary, and immediate medical care that could leave me permanently injured or even dead.” (Tourjée) Anyone prohibited from being treated adequately by medical care should be highly illegal. In places like India, most people from outside ignore the medical inequity unless they are personally impacted or witness it with their own eyes. It was amazing that these moments were recorded for these women and shared with the public. People who are seen “as out of the ordinary” by the public will witness this medical unfairness. The good thing is that this is all coming to light.

As Garza said in her writing, identity politics is hard to understand and give meaning to because of the number of times it’s been tainted by society. I see identity politics as a form of politics set toward an individual. I like the idea of having identity politics. You have your own political views based on your personal values and identity standards. I find it hard to explain, but Garza explains here,” Identity politics was developed by Black feminists who refused to be defined personally or politically by a set of standards that were not their own.” This can relate to Williams’ “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina,” “I’m learning to embrace every aspect of my identity and not let small minds put me in a box that just doesn’t fit. I’m Latina. I’m black. Also, I’m human. No one can take that from me.” Identity politics was corrupted by society, but as we learn more about our identities and flaunt them as we can because we are proud of who we are. For the remainder of the semester, I am not sure what we should do to be honest. Maybe it’d be more interesting in focusing on race, but mainly how race and inequality affects women of color in the workplace. As a woman of color, it’d be interesting to learn a bit more about that. Maybe also talking about the effects of motherhood on women, or something along those lines. We can also talk/watch movies with female leads that break societal stereotypes.

I see people of color to be the backbone and the building blocks to society. So once we help the ones that were placed on the bottom, it would cause the whole tower of oppression to collapse. I think that women of color have it much harder than men of color just because the women were seen as less than an object. I believe that if we can raise poc women up the ladder, then it would allow others who fall under the same oppression to rise with them. As Black Women, there are many different types of oppression they face in comparison to white women. When the women’s rights movement was in session to get the right to vote, black women still weren’t allowed to, not because they were women, but because they were black. Even though all the women in the states were fighting for the same thing, equal rights to vote, that didn’t acknowledge or represent black women. I believe that the Combahee River Collective’s meaning behind “identity politics” is more self made. So, they focus more on their identities, race, and other forms of identities to form their own political standards instead of focusing on the big group. This is seen in Paris Is Burning because most of the women there had their own forms of identity politics. They place boundaries and situations from inside their circle and outside their circles. These identity politics form what political views we want to follow based on how we view ourselves. When it comes to capitalism, race and gender are very important. It is especially when the both are intertwined. Race and gender have always been a problem in humanity because there has always been a race and gender which is seen as superior. Those being the white race and male gender. This can connect back to capitalism because capitalism can be seen as having hierarchies and if you don’t fit in being a white man, then most likely you are at the bottom of the spectrum. What I’ve noticed from capitalism is that people like me, a poor woman of color, can not move out of this poverty. Whenever one tries to move up the system, it is only made harder for us to continue and eventually we are bumped back down to the bottom. This system was made so that people like me cannot prosper. That’s what race and gender have to do with capitalism in my opinion.

What I consider a liberated woman to be, is a woman who breaks away from the stereotypical boundaries placed by society and fights against society. A liberated woman fights for women’s equality and breaks the repetitive cycle placed on us throughout history. This term is important because in the past, if women even dared to stand up to their husband or any man, they were crazy and could be killed. This is important in Freud’s analysis on what makes a woman “frigid”, which is any time a woman reacted in a way men didn’t like (Koedt). “It was Freud’s feelings about women’s secondary and inferior relationship to men that formed the basis for his theories on female sexuality” (Koedt). In all honesty, how would a man come up with conclusions about a woman. No one knows better about themselves than themselves. This is why liberated women are important. A liberated woman is important in the women’s liberation movement, because that movement is completely made up of liberated women. These women are the ones who are fighting against their stereotypes and the misogyny placed on us by men. They fight for those women who aren’t capable of fighting themselves. They take the backlash from society as soon as they step a foot out the door in contrast to what society expects of them. These pieces show “the personal is political” because most times the Women’s Liberation Movement isn’t seen as political. In Pat Mainardi’s “The Politics of Housework”, they wrote, “I am only interested in how I am oppressed, not how I oppress others.” This quote was merely focusing on why most men and people don’t see women’s liberation as a political movement. They don’t want situations in which they are seen as the bad guy, they only want to blame others as being the bad guy and therefore, this movement doesn’t count towards it. Every day is a battle, whether you are a woman, a person of color, and in the LGBT community. Throughout the years, women had to hide away in order to respect a man’s ego, not all men, but the majority. I think it’s important for everyone to be educated on what’s happening in the system, that way we can learn how to at least improve it even though certain changes aren’t expected. I learned a lot while reading these texts and I hope to learn more, they were very interesting.