After finishing this week’s reading, I feel like there’s a lot to think about in terms of why we call feminism what we call it and how that came to be. This particular article also interested me because I’m taking a linguistics class and it felt like a moment of overlapping topics. The two terms ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’ I think are simultaneously bold broad and specific terms. Even when we go through the decades we see the multiple different types of ‘feminist’ and how their views shift with the time, or how feminism has this flexible definition to it.

“‘Feminism’ has had different meanings to different people in different times and places…feminism can never ddefine sexism as the only oppressive force in women’s lives…feminism must be inclusive, flexible and willing to accept contradiction.” This quote really resonated with me because it opened my eyes to the fact that just like how society has grown to lower the ‘wall’ that stands between men and women and how we live our lives, feminism has also grown. It’s always hard to stomach the concept that before you, things were different because you weren’t around to see it. Feminism has grown and reshaped its definition over the years to accomodate the women who are pushing for the changes to happen in the world.

Another part that was really interesting to me was when Goldber started talking about how some people are feminists but don’t like to associate themselves with the term since it has a bad reputation in media. “They have not disavowed feminist views, only the name that is given to these views…” They are represented as these evil, crazy, and mean people, and never as ordinary women. I’ve noticed this myself on twtter but thought maybe I was just on the ‘wrong side of the internet’ or something. I think it speaks volumes that women who are trying to level the playing field are instead being stereotyped into these boxes and made into laughing stocks.

My definition of activism is when we the people decide that we want change to happen in our society and work together to achieve that common goal. It is the act of standing up for what you believe in and fighting for a difference you want to see become a reality. Whether that be through the act of marching, going on strike, boycotting, or peaceful protesting there are so many ways as an activist to get people on board and make sure your voice is heard.

The film I watched was United in Anger, and it went into great detail about the aids epidemic and the activist group behind it, ACT UP. ACT UP was brought together by people who had lost their loved ones to aids, had been diagnosed or just people who wanted change before things got worse. The government and FDA were not funding the aids research and things were being taken at a literal pain-staking pace, so people took to the streets and organized an association that aimed to get drugs to combat aids faster and prevent more people from dying.

One major moment of activism I remember vividly engaging in was during my senior year of highschool my friend and I attended a climate strike. It was to spread awareness in Manhattan about the Earth dying and how we can all do little things to save the planet in the long run. It was a really fun experience honestly and it felt very energizing and powerful to be surrounded by so many people who cared about the same thing as me. Also, marching around the huge streets of New York all day made my voice feel heard. I would realistically also engage in the activism around gender justice most likely by joining a similar march.

One quote I really enjoyed from How to Think Like an Activist was when Syfret went into detail about how the youth can still be powerful activists despite being young. “Fresh voices have a distinct ability to break through discourse…reach the heart of issues and make people engage…What younger activists might lack in direct experience they make up for with ingenious ways of thinking.” She then brought up the famous example of Greta Thunberg, which coincidentally at the climate strike I attended, she was there and let us hear her speech which really fired up the crowd about making a change.

My mother always reminds me of my privileges, ever since I was little she would always say how I was lucky to have a roof over my head, food on the table, be able to go to school, have two loving parents and the list would go on depending on the lecture. She did this ofcourse because she wanted me to be aware and thankful for the things I had in life that I might have not taken a notice to, and remind me that not everyone experiences life the same. I’m privileged to have the level of education I do, to be able to pursue my dream, to live in America, and have a supportive family. I’m privileged to have access to clean water at any time of the day, be able to read, have an on the books job, own stuff I bought with my own earned money.

I experience oppression by being a young black woman in America, it’s dangerous to walk the streets alone at night, my voice isn’t always taken seriously when I express my opinion, I’m expected to take up less space, be polite, classy, never angry, always smile and be friendly, not look tired or annoyed, have the ever-changing trending body type of the year, abide to heteronormative standards that were set in place thousands of years ago. The list goes on and on and on to the point where even when I read articles in this class there are still some things I forget because I’m just so ‘used to.’

I don’t think the video necessarily helped me nearly as much as Frye’s and McIntosh’ amazing explanations on oppression and privilege did. Frye compares oppression with that of a bird who’s trapped in a cage, the restrictions not allowing them to do anything in the confined space. McIntosh on the other hand described privilege (more specifically white) as “an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (McIntosh 1). In this sense I can define privilege as a sort of tool that aids a specific person based on aspects they usually have no control over. While I would describe oppression as almost a wall, or blockade, it’s like being fenced in as if you were a zoo animal, but we all have different size cages. But, the video did put into a more visual perspective how everyone has some sort of privileges, we all don’t share the same ones and some we even had to work for, they weren’t just given to us at birth.

Moving beyond the gender binary for Alok means we as a society should’ve put the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in these tiny boxes. We also shouldn’t limit the genders to being exclusively man and woman, because there is so much more beyond that. Also, not everyone can fit into these boxes society pushes on us and tries to stereotype people into. When we move beyond the gender binary we acknowledge these multiple options that are available.

My gender identity almost perfectly fits into the binary norm society has set up for me, and even as a child I was very in touch with the fact that I loved all the little things that made up ‘being a girl.’ I played with dolls, loved to dress up, do makeup, own a scary amount of pink items, have a sweetooth, I enjoy cute things like plushies or fun character socks, hair accessories and doing my nails. The list goes on and on and on, but, my mom has always told me that sometimes she feels like she raised a boy. (As a joke but I’ll explain why.)

I’m a very messy person and that’s something men get stereotyped as, I also don’t know how to cook, (and don’t really plan to but I know it’s something I have to get to eventually) I don’t really like kids. (I’m just awkward with them so I tend to avoid them, I’ve really only had that ‘mother instinct’ come out like once and that was just last week.) I really love the horror/gore genre, I love listening to rap and I have a loud laugh.

The gender norms society put into place follow along the lines of women being quiet, getting scared easily, being good at cooking, and natural mothers. “Nothing is spared; we mark everything- the colors, the emotions, the relationships, even the food…we don’t even realize that we are doing it.” (Alok 7). Before reading this, I never really sat down and considered all the areas gender is unecessarily platformed in society. The only real necessary measure I could think of is for the bathrooms, fitting rooms, and maybe the gyms.

“What’s never questioned here is whose standards of authenticity are we being held up to in the first place?” (Alok 8). This is the exact question I mentioned having in one of my previous posts, who created these gender ‘roles’ that have lasted thouands of years? Why are we still conforming to such an old and made up prophecy?