This is Bantu Embrace by Mikela Henry-Lowe and she is interested in the representation of Black women in society. Her portrait paintings defy the overwhelmingly negative portrayal of Black women in the media. It is very common for the media to portray only Black pain rather than excellence, her goal is to change that. I love the color palette and geometric shapes used, the heart shape lined in her hair is beautiful. The highlighting of the skin tone is so important as well, love the brush strokes and use of texture. I feel like it sends a very powerful message.

My initial reaction to the leaked document about Roe v. Wade was that I felt heartbroken. I was genuinely so upset because I felt hopeless, and like any time women take a step forward, we’re dragged 100 steps back against our will. After crying on and off, I felt nothing but anger, especially after reading other women’s stories online about their abortion experiences and their thoughts on the injustice it would be to take the right of abortion from us. It takes a lot of courage to share your story online, but I’m thankful to every woman who has done so because it’s helped me understand people’s pain in different situations. Whether a woman doesn’t want to birth a child or can’t have one because of medical reasons, or whatever the reason may be, women should have the right to decide what they will do with their own bodies. And I believe that what I do with my own body is my own business, and if I choose to share my story, I’m allowed to do that too, but that does not entitle others to share their opinion on my body.

While reading the “Brief History,” I learned that the ban on abortions dates back to times of slavery. If these women had children, they would be considered property of the enslavers. This makes the recent news even more disturbing. In “Helpline, This is Lisa,” some really upsetting stories were shared of women who could not afford to pay for an abortion and called a helpline for funding. “Abortion funds nationwide struggle to fill the financial gap for people affected by the Hyde Amendment.” It’s very cruel that abortion can seem like an option only for the wealthy. In the Ms. article, Rebecca Gomperts talks about her work to provide women with safe abortion medication. In my eyes, she is a hero, willing to dedicate her time and life to helping people. She’s ready to fight for something she wholeheartedly believes is a human right. Aid Access was created because the request for help from women in the U.S was overwhelming. How wild that we are meant to be “free,” but that doesn’t seem to apply to women, or at least it doesn’t apply to the non-wealthy ones. Since it was founded in 2018, Aid Access has cared for 30,000 people. It is legal for Gomperts to prescribe abortion pills as it’s also legal for them to be shipped from India to the U.S. She mentions, “one of the problems in the U.S. is that there’s so much legal injustice anyway. Many people are in jail despite their innocence because they are forced to admit to something they never did because they know they don’t have a chance to win a court case. So all these things are intertwined with each other.” And I agree entirely with this statement; the system seems to be designed against us, we’re constantly set up for failure, and I’ve had enough of it. 

The most surprising part of this week’s readings and the film had to be the stigma surrounding menstruation in India. In Period: End Of Sentence, the part that floored me was that some, if not most of these women, had to drop out of their education journey because of the challenges and complications of menstruating without having the proper supplies. It is not right that having access to affordable menstrual products is considered a luxury. In my opinion, these products should be supplied at no cost, and there should also be nothing taboo about a woman’s period. There is a part of the documentary where they mention that women who are menstruating can’t enter the temples because they are believed to be dirty. They don’t even pray to any gods. In 12 Reasons It Should Be Illegal For Doctors Not To Treat Trans People by Diana Tourjée, what shocked me and will always shock me is how anyone can believe that a human being doesn’t deserve medical care. Regardless of how a person identifies, it is still a human right, or at least it should be. In A Birth Story, written by Dr. Dana-Ain Davis, what surprised me the most was that Leconté had to walk anywhere just a few hours after giving birth. Not just walking but pushing her newborn and her IV down the hall, and no wheelchair was offered while her husband carried all their belongings.

The connection between all three readings/film is how these people have experienced discrimination when it comes to healthcare. In the film a woman states, “The thing is when there is patriarchy, it takes time to talk about something related to women.” Menstruation is natural, and women shouldn’t be treated poorly because of it; men can’t just decide periods are a problem. In the reading by Diana Tourjée, Simon Chartrand writes, “I am a transgender person with a disability, and the proposed rule will compromise my unalienable rights. … I need constant access to healthcare, and I have experienced discrimination many times in the past”. I can’t wrap my head around the hatred people project toward others. If a person requires medical attention, there shouldn’t be a reason to deprive them of it, especially if they are disabled and need it more often. In the reading by Dr. Dana-Ain Davis, she writes, “Annoyed that he had to come down to the labor and delivery unit, he commented to one of the doctors, in front of LeConté and everyone in the room, “Why don’t you just give her a C-section? I am not coming down here again.” LeConté felt invisible and disrespected” about the anesthesiologist who administered too much epidural, causing her to feel dizzy. If the patient were not a black woman, she would not have been treated the way LeConté was.

The format in which the stories are shared impacts my understanding of medical oppression. The stories felt very personal, and I felt as though I’ve gotten to know these people and how they’ve been medically oppressed. The film showed me how different these women live and their struggles with something that naturally happens, such as menstruation. The clips where they were very obviously uncomfortable talking about it helped me grasp just how taboo the topic is to them. At one point during the film, it is mentioned that it isn’t a conversation between mother and daughter nor husband and wife.

In this week’s reading of “The Power of Identity Politics” by Alicia Garza, she writes, “One can wake up in the morning feeling empowered–but empowerment is different from power” (186). This statement first confused me until she gave a great example that helped me understand the difference and better understand identity politics. She explained that by saying that we are empowered to decide what we eat for breakfast, but larger forces are actually the ones who hold power because they are the ones who create the options we choose from, or if breakfast is even available to us. She also mentions how the white people of our country and their culture and experiences are what the rest of us are compared to. They are the mold, the initial experiment. “Whiteness, white identity, is a core organizing principle for America.”
In “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina,” Aleichia Williams writes about the first time she had a “race crisis.” She felt as though she couldn’t fit in with the Black students at her school because of her culture or the Latin students because of her skin color. “Even now as an adult I find people are constantly trying to restrict me into a specific mold and identity. My home language is Spanish so this must mean I eat tacos. I have kinky hair so this must mean I bang to Meek Mill. For many, I am too black to be Latin and too Latin to be black.” It is too common to feel that you can only really identify with one part of yourself because of society’s standards. As for topics I’d hope to further explore in this course, I think anything revolving around reproductive rights and abortion is always great to learn about.

In the (1977) The Combahee River Collective Statement, the quote “We might use our position at the bottom, however, 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.” I believe this quote means that in a world where black women’s struggles are the center of attention, that world would be transformed for everyone else in it. The reason for that is that once Black women are free of their oppressions, the entire system would be destroyed. Black women have to fight oppression on not just one front or even two; there is a list. These women don’t have class, racial, or sexual privilege. Unlike the other groups who have even one of the privileges Black women don’t have, they don’t have access to resources or power.  

In The Combahee River Collective Statement, identity politics is defined as a self-awareness where the individual focuses on one’s own oppression. Politics in which groups of people have a particular identity, such as racial, religious, social, ethnic, or cultural identity, help promote their own interests or concerns without regard to larger political groups. “In the case of Black women, this is a particularly repugnant, dangerous, threatening, and therefore revolutionary concept because it is obvious from looking at all the political movements that have preceded us that anyone is more worthy of liberation than ourselves.” Black women are, in other words, wrongfully always picked last. The most disrespected person in America is the black woman, and too many people are okay with that. 

In the Paris is Burning documentary, the drag queens are aware of how they are oppressed. They put on and attend these balls where they are judged on whether or not they’d convince the world outside this event that they are the gender they are choosing to be/perform as. The documentary explored gender roles and how these beautiful people have to struggle due to their identities, such as racism and poverty.  

Capitalism is tied to race and gender because the system was quite literally built to cater to white people. It is more common for white people to have a higher salary or higher position over people of color. A black woman has to work a lot harder to be at the top over any man and white women. In another area like the marketing of “feminine products,” menstrual products are taxed and overall extremely expensive. I find menstrual capitalism to be terrible. Any person who deals with menstruation should not have to pay for essential products so that others can profit.