Author: Jarlyne Zuniga

while watching the film “Out in the Night”, there were gender violence present it showed how men verbally harassed these women. The women were African-American lesbians and were violently and sexually threatened by a man on the street. Unfortunately, they had to defend themseldves and stab the man. they were being incarcerated for what they did, it’s sad to know that they had to plead guilty, because of defending themselves they were charged with criminal possession of a weapon and gang assault. If they would have never defended themselves they would have not been charged but they would have either been raped or killed.

This film made me realize that not only men go through these legal systems but also women, the legal system let these women down with how they handle the situation. Especially failed Renata, she got sentenced 8 years but her rapist only got 5 years. The headline, they really made it seem like these women were in a “gang”, and when people start to see and hear about gang they automatically think about drugs and guns. Stuff like “attack of the killer lesbian” was said and I just don’t think that was right. It was basically their word against everyone else, they only showed how the girls were beaten up by the man, they didn’t show/say why the women were beaten up for it.

In the reading “Beyond same-sex, marriage: A new strategic vision for all our families band relationships”, stated by the government that only households with spouses in marital relationships are considered “legitimate families”. same-sex is not considered a normal family or a family at all, Feminist and queer intervention challenge ideas of the “nuclear family” by wanting to be accepted in their fight for marital rights. The idea of a “nuclear family” is a couple (male/female) with children of your own, so when it came to a couple of the same sex it’s hard for them to fit in society when this is the idea of a functional family. The idea of families of the same sex is not traditional so it isn’t considered a normal real family, they aren’t to have the same norm that other families would have.

In my opinion, I don’t think it matters same-sex or not, you can still be a family. Those rights shouldn’t be taken away from other individuals because of the same sex. A family is being around those who you love and care for, being a couple of the opposite sex and being married with kids isn’t only a family, and I think that’s was the point, sometimes family can be more than just your own blood, I know a couple of the same sex who have kids and people are somehow wowed and just not okay with it. I know some kids are sometimes also wowed with their friend’s parent being of the same sex and I feel like it’s something to change.

The reading ” Transgender people And Bathroom Access” really caught my attention because I feel like this has been a debate that has been going on for a while. I personally know a person who dealt with this problem throughout high school. People in school would question this person about what exactly did they identify as, and I know now when I look back I wonder what was going through this person’s head, I would like to know more about this topic, seeing different people’s views or stories from transgender who experience any harassment based on this. It would be an interesting topic to talk about. Most people seem to have a problem when it comes to transgender using a public bathroom, Transgenders still have to deal with being rejected and harassed. I feel like people need to be more aware of what’s going on in society and talk about these problems. Transgender people are not a treat so for them to be treated like it It’s wrong, to prevent those privileges like using a public bathroom, I don’t agree that it’s okay. This also makes a big effect on transgender people because they start to feel unwanted by their own society, if we are all equal then why is that transgenders have to be considered into private bathrooms.

This video is funny to me, it makes me laugh so I hope maybe it can make someone laugh and lighten your day.

Share your reflections about the texts from this week. What themes do you see across the different texts for this week? Based on these readings, what do you see as the primary issues that concern feminists in the late 1960s and early 1970s? Where in the texts do you see different priorities or concerns come up — and, what do you notice about these differences?

The themes that I see constantly across these different texts were they all were stating how women were oppressed. The woman suffrage, civil right movements , these were how they fought oppression. In “I want a wife” it express the men desire to having a women that can serve them. It says things like “I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs” who will clean the house and take care of kids, so on. These things were what women were expected to do, because these are consider “housework”. In “The Politics of Housework” it showed the excuses that men use to tell women in order to continue doing housework. A phrase that the men would say then would be translated to what they actually meant. “Meaning: Unfortunately I’m no good at things like washing dishes or cooking. What I do best is a little light
carpentry, changing light bulbs, moving furniture. (How often do you move furniture).
Also meaning: Historically the lower classes (Blacks and women) have had hundreds of years doing menial
jobs. It would be a waste of manpower to train someone else to do them now.
Also meaning: I don’t like the dull stupid boring jobs, so you should do them.
“I don’t mind sharing the work, but you’ll have to show me how to”. It is sad that men mentality was like this or some men mentality from now are still thinking like this. Unfortunately for women we can stand up for ourselves but because of the limited power we have its hard to stand up for yourself.

What do you see as the relationship between women’s movements and abolitionist movements?

The women’s movement and abolitionist movement are somewhat similar, however the differences are the group of people and how they were treated. The relationship between the two is that the the abolitionist movement was a way to stop slavery, to end the mistreatments towards people of color. The united states became a nation to value personal freedom,” all men are created equal”. As for women’s movement, women’s right to fight for equal right as men. it applied to reform policy movements on topics like voting rights, abortion rights, domestic abuse, maternity leave, equal pay as men, and a lot of other things. women’s right to fight for equal right as men.

These goals were accomplished , they may had not been about the same thing but however in a way they can connect to each other. These movement were made for the same reason, to stop inequality , to stop the mistreatment that people of color were getting but also the mistreatment of women. The rights that women didn’t have. women and people of color were not allowed to vote at some point. women being sexually assaulted or abused, same thing with people of color.

Ijeoma A. and Pascoe write about expectations that are placed on girls and boys, respectively. What are some of the norms that they write about? What are some of the norms that you grew up with, either in your own experience or that you witnessed? How did you relate to these norms?

Patriarchy is the system in which our society runs. it is a system where men hold power over women and can be seen in every area of everyday life. we participate in this system by allowing boys to think at an early age that girls must be in certain “box”. These stereotype that we create everyday around the idea of living in this patriarchal society.

In the reading “Because You’re a girl”, Ijeoma mentions some of the responsibilities that girl are to do. The main things were like cleaning and having to cook/serve for your man. I live in a hispanic household, so I can relate. my mother would say things like “you need to learn how to cook, clean because how are you gonna serve your man”. when non of my sisters or I will clean, things like this would be said “its like I’m living with boys”. we were expected to be cleaner than the boys. when I was younger I had to wash my brothers dishes because they are boys and they didn’t have to do it. recently my brother said to my mother that I should wash his dishes because that’s what we do. when it comes to “what women are to do” I can say that the way our parents/grandparents think is way different than our mindset now, we are from different generations so what my mom was taught from my grandmother , she kinda was raising us how she was raised. we women are to put our feelings aside for men, just to satisfied their needs. we are to put man man first when it comes to us.

Coming into this class, what are some of your initial impressions of the terms “Feminism”Sexism” and “Gender women studies”?

Some of my initial impressions of the term “Feminism”Sexism” and “Gender women studies” were that, women fights for their equal right(equality) such as same pay rate as men, or career. Sexism is where a person believe that a men because they are muscular and have a penis are superior. where as to a sexist men believes that a woman was made to cook, have kids and provided for man.

This week readings explained these terms by really making me under the meaning of what is women studies. Dr. Guy-Sheftall defines women studies by stating “The simplest way, I think to define it is to say that its like black studies, Chicano studies, gay and lesbian studies. It actually is the study of women and issues surrounding women such as: race, class, gender, sexuality.” before coming to this class I didn’t think how deep we will be getting into women studies. we will also be learning how when women get together , they create an empire . Nothing is more amazing when females are getting along and helping each other.