The Combahee River collective, it said, “A Black feminist presence has evolved most obviously in connection with the second wave of the American women’s movement beginning in the late 1960s. Black, other Third World, and working women have been involved in the feminist movement from its start, but both outside reactionary forces and racism and elitism within the movement itself have served to obscure our participation. ” It was very unfair that during the second wave of the American women’s movement, black women participated in the movement but didn’t gain enough credits for it. Also there is no policy changed for their situations. When I was watching Mrs. America, it addressed this part too. Black women who joined the movement was disappointed to notice that white feminists fighting for feminism, female right but even though, they didn’t consider black feminists’ right. That’s why it matters that to have your own foundations, your own community. That’s why Combahee River bought up the concept “Identity Politics”, and it is important to know about your identity, to tell your stories and engage with people who sharing the same experience, and empower from them. It is a long journey and long fight, know how to gain power and find people you can fight with together matters.

By watching Paris is Burning, I can know the queer history and culture at that time. It enriches and inspires other industries and artworks. For example, Madonna’s song Vogue is impacted by it. But unlike Madonna that she can perform this song multiple times on different stages also earn money. The original vogue creators and other queer are still struggling about their lives. The mainstream is curious about their lives but just want to take a look but not really want to care about it. The film was shooting at 1990 and till today, we still can witness queer community especially black queer community are still being attacked because of their identities.

Reading the Combahee River Collective statement, I agree with it. Liberation must be intersectional. The CRC was necessary because traditional white feminism was exclusive and lesbian separatism refused to address anything besides sex. They share, “We have a great deal of criticism and loathing for what men have been socialized to be in this society: what they support, how they act, and how they oppress. But we do not have the misguided notion that it is their maleness, per se—i.e., their biological maleness—that makes them what they are.” Their statement, “Any type of biological determinism, is a particularly dangerous and reactionary basis upon which to build a politic” is incredibly powerful and should still be the idea/basis of our liberation and political movements today.

I loved finally watching Paris is Burning, as I have been meaning to for forever! It was a great insight into the ball scene during the mid-to-late 1980’s, and the many intersections of identities of the members of the ball community. The various identities covered include black, latinx, poor, sex workers, gay, transgender and individuals living with AIDS The film shows the beutiful community of drag, vouging, and balls. For everyone, the balls and competitions were an escape from whatever shitty reality (sexism, homelessness, poverty, homophobia, racism, classism) they were faced with. It was their fantasy world, their time to be a shining star in a world that was denying them a spot in media/popular culture, and well-paying jobs. The importance of a “chosen family” for LGBT is emphasized. Young homeless kids share their stories of being thrown out of their house, and finding refuge, family and parental figures in the ball scene. 

One of the men in the film states, “When you are a man and a woman you can do ANYTHING. You can almost have sex in the street if you want to. The most somebody is gonna say is” hey get a hump for me.” But when you’re gay, you monitor everything you do. you monitor how you look, how you dress, how you talk, how you act. Do they see me? Do they think of me?” This line is powerful and highlights the privilege that heterosexual people have that goes unregistered to them. They will never have to worry about things like whether or not if they kiss in public it will get them harassed or assaulted (because of their gender or sexuality). This is still rampant in our current society, even here in NYC. 

After reading both articles looking at gender politics through the light of capitalism there’s about three different ways a gender lens can help with our thoughts alongside varying factors. The first step is to get access to capital by involving women as both investors and investees. The second is encouraging workplace equity, which involves utilizing capital to respect gender diversity in leadership and promote equal rights across the company’s value chain, from top management to the shop floor. When we examine the abilities of men and women to access capital through a gender lens, we see that there are significant differences. Women have historically had difficulty obtaining investment funding across all industries, from shopkeepers to filmmakers to high-tech entrepreneurs, despite evidence that women-led businesses may provide greater and more consistent returns in business growth.

After reading this week’s material, at first, I had a hard time truly understanding and grasping what I was reading. The topic was interesting but I think it had to do with how long this week’s reading was BUT I did in fact enjoy it. Something that stood out to me from the reading was when the writer wrote “Feminism is, nevertheless, very threatening to the majority of Black people because it calls into question some of the most basic assumptions about our existence, i.e., that sex should be a determinant of power relationships. Here is the way male and female roles were defined in a Black nationalist pamphlet from the early 1970s:
We understand that it is and has been traditional that the man is the head of the house. He is the leader of the house/nation because his knowledge of the world is broader, his awareness is greater, his understanding is fuller and his application of this information is wiser… After all, it is only reasonable that the man is the head of the house because he is able to defend and protect the development of his home… Women cannot do the same things as men—they are made by nature to function differently. Equality of men and women is something that cannot happen even in the abstract world.” It had me thinking about how men and women seem to hold different levels of power. For some time it was always believed that men held more power than women and men had more advantages and opportunities given to them as compared to a woman. We’ve seen how white men and women are treated differently to than of a person of color. We’ve seen how men are treated differently to women. So it leads me to question if there will ever be a time in history when everyone will be seen as an equal. Would that even be possible in a society where one is constantly fighting for a change? We started off by breaking away from what roles we were assigned (women being given the role of only cleaning and providing while men had to work). We have slowly broken away from what makes a man a man and what makes a woman a woman (thinking back on how people used to say you are what you a born as). Yet it leads me to wonder and think about just how much longer it will take until we reach a point where everyone is equal regardless of gender and race.

I found these readings very interesting this week. The question that stood out for me the most is the effect race and gender have on capitalism. Most times people forget the effect that a man or a woman has in society. Most of us have witnessed the effects of white men in society and the amount of power they have over the people. Most people disagree, but women and men are supposed to be equal. Without either or it is really hard to prosper in the world because the other is always needed. Capitalism thrives off of this but makes it harder for the ones seen as lower to prosper. I noticed in “Paris is Burning”, I liked how it was pointed out the reason why the woman/mother is the woman/mother of the house. When it comes to housework and being a mother, it is only something they’d be able to handle. One of the most powerful beings on Earth is the mother because of the amount of things they go through in periods of time. On top of having to care for the kids, they have to keep the house in order, and maintain their husband. Obviously, this has changed over time because those were seen as traditional roles, and now a man can also take the role of mother, specifically if the mother isn’t in the relationship. I think a lot of single fathers realize how strong a mother is when they experience the same. I find it very fascinating how strong a woman truly is.

Paris is Burning holds a very special place in my heart. It is where I began my research for playing Mimi in Rent the musical all those years ago first in 2006 then in the Off- Broadway revival in 2011. Learning about the Ball lifestyle was completely brand new to me then and opened my eyes to so much that I hadn’t been aware of prior to watching. I felt very connected to the character I played and the entire musical in general so learning about this community was tremendously helpful especially in understanding the character, Angel. I am happy to be revisiting this film for this course and at this time in my life when this content is broadening my knowledge further as I try my best to approach it all as openly and unbiased as possible. BTW, the show POSE is a great representation of this Ball lifestyle and “house” culture as well as performance/acting by the cast. I was very enlightened to read the Combahee River Collective Statement. I found the statement “To be recognized as human, levelly human, is enough” from the Collective to convey such a raw portrayal of what they urge for and simultaneously ridiculous that so many live without these basic rights.

After watching Paris Is Burning and reading The Combahee River Collective Statement, I was left a little confused by identity politics and “the person is political”. I read over Prof. Waychoff’s explanation from last week and thoroughly read her briefs of this week’s material but was still not able to fully grasp the difference between politics and Politics. – I get the gist, that this is separate from governmental Politics but zeros in what surrounds us in our everyday lives. I had to do some Googles to give me examples.

Once I attained a deeper understanding of these terms and their differences, I was able to see how they correlate with the text and the video. The reading opened my eyes to the injustices Black women face, and how their value in society comes from that shared belief- being that their identity represents the politics they care about. They state “No other ostensibly progressive movement has ever considered our specific oppression as a priority or worked seriously for the ending of that oppression.” This led to the creation of separate Black feminist groups such as the NBFO. We also read about how Black feminism was not accounted for in comparison to white women advocating for the same thing, if not more.

When watching Paris Is Burning, one of the house mothers said something that really stood out to me; “The mother is the hardest worker, that is why she is the mother of the house.” – Instead of assuming the father or the male role as the strong figure. On top of that, these were men and transgender women recognizing and truly believing that the mother is the leader of the house, thus utilizing that as their leader titles for the ballroom. I loved this film, it was so beautiful to see these people live out their ultimate dreams of beauty and fashion mixed with music and voguing. It truly felt like a safe space for them to be who they are without hiding.