The reading from this week was very interesting for me. I was confused at first when I read the first reading which was “The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi. The article mostly talked about societal gender standards/roles that men and women are forced to do. In the article, women are expected to always do the housework and avoid asking for help from a man. Whereas men are not expected to be helping around the house except for when it comes to carpentry. I think the article really explains how men react to doing household chores and their excuses. A lot of men find the work to be tedious when done constantly and oftentimes they are not willing to help their wives. 

The article also explores the topic of how men can’t survive without women since women do most of the work within the house. A lot of males are raised to think that females are supposed to do housework. This is all based on patriarchy. 

The second article that I read was a little interesting. It gave me a huge amount of information about female sexual anatomy. I find that it was interesting to know that a lot of women back then were forced to see a mental health professional because they had problems in bed. I thought this was ridiculous that they had to go through all this. If they had any sort of problem they were thought I was mentally mad or something. I learned that a lot of women don’t really know how to achieve orgasm during sexual intercourse. This is because a lot of men don’t know how the female anatomy works and thus they recreate a lot of myths about how the female body works. Sex is all based on satisfying the male partner. Women aren’t satisfied by their male counterparts A lot of men don’t know how the female anatomy works and thus they create a lot of myths about how the female body works. 

The suffrage, labor rights, and the equal rights amendment are related to each other because these amendments were started by people who have protested and taken action to stop the abuse of their rights. Most of these movements took a lot of pain and suffering in order for their voices to be heard. All of these movements have one thing in common which was that they were protecting or giving rights to those who felt oppressed. The suffrage movement gave women a chance for their voices to be heard by men in power. The labor rights movement gave both men and women who are laborers the right to form unions and be protected under laws that prohibit mistreatment of workers.

Labor rights are also issues of gender justice because a lot of factory workers are women/children. Most companies that manufacture overseas hire workers who are mostly women. For instance, in the video, they explain that the garment industry has a lot of female workers. There are more women working in these inhumane conditions than men. They are also likely to get paid less and aren’t given basic rights. This doesn’t all mean that men in third-world countries aren’t going through the same situation. 

I see a lot of these historical issues enacted in today’s society in many different ways. We look into the past for a lot of inspiration and I think these historical movements give a lot of our inspiration to today’s society. A lot of people speak out about issues and use different examples of these movements to show that one can actually accomplish what they are fighting for. Some fights still continue to go on. We may not be aware of it here but in another region of the world, there are people fighting for the same rights. I think these historical moments set an example of what happens when groups of people form an alliance with one another.

Based on all the topics we have discussed I liked learning more about privilege. This topic was a huge eye-opener for me and I now understand what it means to be privileged. Most of us have a helping hand in certain areas but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be ashamed. At least acknowledge it and help others who don’t have a helping hand. 

I also liked last week’s topic about activism. There are so many forms of activism. For instance, I’ve been hearing a lot about a petition to make CUNY schools tuition-free. I’ve heard about this through various professors and other students. I even had a professor have an activist in our classroom and speak to us about the cause. 

The way I defined activism before the reading was that it had to do with standing up for what you believe is right. For instance, I believe that people have the right to medical care. I thought that’s what activism was but after doing the readings and watching the film I come to realize that it is more than believing in what you think is right. It is about taking actions within your community and making a change that will impact people. 

The film I watched was called “Knock Down The House”. I enjoyed watching the film because it was a big insight into how campaigns develop and why they are doing it. I appreciate that most of them are doing it for their own community and not just for the money. Most of them are doing their campaign to help the average American get by since most of us don’t have enough to get by. 

It was really a huge impact on me and it made me appreciate those that are activating for our communities. The fact that most of these people were women of color or came from a background of poverty is inspiring. That goes to show that anyone could really have a huge impact in the world and in their communities. 

I think the one where it hit me the most was the mother who had lost her daughter simply because the daughter didn’t have proof of insurance when visiting the ER for something. The daughter ended up passing away because she wasn’t able to get the proper care and tests. This was a terrible way for someone to lose their loved one. I admire how the mother is fighting for access to healthcare for those within her community. 

A few ways that I have engaged in activism are mostly online sharing a lot of posts and spreading awareness to causes. During my high school years, I remember that I participated in the climate change march. I would just go in support of climate change and spread awareness of a lot of things that are contributing to global warming.

I also did a breast cancer walk once when I was in middle school. I think that was the first time I’ve ever participated in any activism and it was a great inspiration as I felt good for participating in a cause. 

There were many other protests and causes I have participated in but I forgot what the name of it was. All I know was that it feels good to know that you are trying to make a change for your community and not just for yourself. 

I think the way in which I experience privilege is the fact that I’m a male and I come from a financially stable family. I don’t necessarily have to worry about whether or not I have money when I can always ask my parents for money. I feel like not many people have this privilege since most parents aren’t able to provide their kids with spare money. Also, many college students live or have to support themselves and have no financial help. As a male I guess people take me seriously and don’t question my motives whenever I’m working with people. Whereas if I were a female I would’ve come off as rude and many would question my intelligence and motive. I see this often where women are seen as bitchy or rude for being dominant. Whereas a male does the same thing and they’re seen as a leader. 

I guess one way I experience oppression is the fact that I’m a gay Hispanic male. Although I’m a male I come from a Hispanic background. When I was younger some people would treat me differently as if I were incompetent simply because they saw I was Hispanic. In my opinion, I wouldn’t say being gay is entirely oppressive because we are more accepted than trans people or anyone part of the LGBT community. Gay people are represented in mainstream media. But I’m only talking about western culture. I’m not 100% sure but I’m pretty sure in eastern culture LGBT people aren’t as accepted or represented as they are in the west. I guess that’s a privilege, being gay and living in the United States or any part of the west. You’re less likely to fear for your life here. 

After watching the video and doing the readings it has helped me define the concept and meaning of oppression and privilege. I have fully defined what it means to be privileged. I feel like a lot of things can fall under oppression. Some things we can’t change like our sex. Male automatically have privilege from the day they’re born whereas females don’t.