Author: Ashley C

After the workshop conducted by Victoria from the Women’s Resource Center and Robert from the Counseling Center, I can say that I learned a lot of new information. There were a lot of situations they explained that are considered as toxic behaviors, in which I thought were normal and healthy at the time but in reality, it wasn’t. It’s hard for someone to realize when there are unhealthy behaviors being presented. Having people like them to help and give advice is a blessing. I liked that this workshop wasn’t just focused on what a healthy relationship should be but also what a healthy relationship in friendships and families should look like. I have. Now realized that there were moments were one of my old friends displayed a lot of jealousy, constant calling when I would hang out with other friends and so much more. Some can guess why we aren’t friends now, and it was because the friendship was so unhealthy. I want to thank Professor. Munshi for taking time out of class and bringing these workshops to us! Also, to BMCC for offering these amazing resources!

Based on the film(s) you watched, what do the victim-survivors say about their experience and how are their stories received– by their family/friends/colleagues, the legal system, the media?

“What do you call being impacted by multiple forces, and then abandoned to fend for yourself? Intersectionality”. This is a quote stated by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the Ted Talk The urgency of intersectionality, where she touches base on the reality of race and gender bias; and how the two combine and end up creating even more harm than one itself. She uses the term intersectionality to deal with the fact that many of our social justice problems like sexism, and racism are often overlapping.

In this video she talks about an African American women, working wife, and mother named Emma Degraffenreid who sought out better employment for her family and others. She applied for a job but wasn’t hired because she was a black women, so she ended up taking her complaint to court based on the race and gender discrimination towards her in a work place. The judge rudely dismissed her case not acknowledging what Emma was trying to say. It wasn’t just because of her skin color, it was the double discrimination that was happening. The discrimination being that she was an African American WOMEN! Gender and race are being separated, when they both should always be considered in cases like this. It just doesn’t make sense to me how people could be so close minded and not take notice in the bigger picture of these issues.

When reading the article “Beyond same-sex, marriage: A new strategic vision for all our families band relationships” I learned a few new things. First being the definition of a “nuclear family” which is a family group that consists of a male, female, and their children. This is yet another label and social exception that is placed upon people. Feminist and queer interventions challenge the ideas of a “nuclear family” by bring light to this situation and wanting to fight for the rights they should legally have. As stated in the article “To have our government define as “legitimate families” only those households with couples in conjugal relationships does a tremendous disservice to the many other ways in which people actually construct their families”. Basically couples of the same sex, queer or trans are not treated the same because they aren’t what society considers as a family “norm” only those who have “legitimate families”.

I believe that family is more than just blood. There are people who find bonds beyond blood relation that are stronger and better than ever. No matter the gender, nobody should be neglected from their rights, there always seems to be a stereotype or label that is in the way. Sadly this one of the many ongoing issues that the LGBTQ community has to go through. But it’s never too late to keep on fighting for a change, where everyone is equal.

When it comes to the relationship between gender and work especially in the topic of wage gap I had very basic knowledge about it, but after this weeks readings I got a better and much deeper understanding. It constantly blows my mind how us women still don’t have equal pay rights, when we work just as hard as men and most times even more. Something I learned is that pay gap has much more to do with than just gender but also includes race, ethnicity, and disability, as stated in the reading from AAUW, “The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap”As a result different groups of women experience very different gaps in pay”. There are groups of women who earn more or less than the other. This is an on going issue that needs to be fixed! I believe that us women go through so much already and we still can’t be equal.

Hey Everyone! I hope everyone had a good weekend, I wanted to thank everyone who shared their stories and experiences to the class <3 I don’t know if anyone else could relate but this Tiktok is so funny to me because its exactly how I feel when I speak/ participate in any class its kind of silly but I can’t seem to prevent it!

These are two quotes that I recently stumbled upon that I wanted to share 🙂

Question #2:

When reading over the two versions of the speech by Sojourner Truth I can see both similarities and differences in each version. Instantly the first thing I noticed was that in Frances Gage version he switched up the wording and gave it a southern slave dialect in which it is a bit harder to understand on my end. On the other hand, Marius Robinson’s is much easier to read and understand being that it uses wording that we are used to. There were sentences and words used that meant the same in a different way for example “if women have a pint and man a quart – why can’t she have her little pint full?” (Robinson’s version), and “If my cup won’t hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn’t ye be mean not to let me have a little half-measure full?” (Gage’s version). But something they have in common is in the way they both kept the important message of her speech, women’s rights and slavery. 

On this week’s reading “Because you’re a girl” by Ijeoma A she tells us about her personal experiences on the expectations and norms that are placed upon us girls in society. Things like cooking, cleaning and serving the men in the house. These tasks that we are raised to be accustomed to end up impacting us in horrible ways.  She states “My family’s approval was all that I lived for, and I wanted my parents to be proud of me. But, whenever I was alone, I’d catch myself wishing that I were born a boy.” 

This particular sentence really caught my attention because this is something that I personally have experienced myself. When growing up in a Hispanic household you are expected to do it all and to perfection. I was the only girl with two older brothers so if not most then all of the house chores were left to me and my mother, I never found it fair as I wish to stay as laidback as my brothers were. It’s so sad to me that this is a mentality that is still around, us women are still expected to do these particular things. Now that I am older and have a mind of my own, so I definingly don’t let things like this slide.

1. Coming into this class, what are some of your initial impressions of the terms “feminism,” “sexism” and “gender and women’s studies?” How do this week’s readings define or explain these terms? Use specific quotes or examples in your response.

My initial impression of the terms “feminism”, “sexism” and “gender women’s studies” coming into this class was that feminism is a belief of economic, social, and political equality for women. Which is not only an issue but a right that we are still fighting for today. Sexism on the other hand to me is a discussion on a persons sex or gender that inflicts limits on what men and women should and can do, a simple example would be for everyman to be masculine and strong and every female feminine and weak. As for gender women’s studies I thought of it as a study of women throughout the years.

In this weeks reading I found out that gender women’s studies is much more than what I thought. In the article “The Evolution Of American Women’s Studies” Alice E. Ginsberg states, “The whole idea of women’s studies is to make visible what has been invisible and to make conscious what has been overlooked or silenced.”. There are a lot of things, and injustices most of us aren’t aware of, that’s why I hope that throughout this semester I learn more about women studies that I would be able to pass on to others.