Category: DB10

The story “Out in the Night” shows homophobia and racism. It’s a story of 4 African American lesbians whom are not only targeted by their race, by being called a “Gang of Killer Lesbians” by media even after they found innocent of a crime but they were also violently and sexually confronted by an older man who blatantly to “fuck them straight” in turn of “getting some” which clearly tells us that just because they are gay, that men still convince themselves that women who are lesbian or have no interest in men “haven’t met the right man” and in honestly, it quite hurtful on top of it being disgusting. That some men still have the nerve to poke and prod at women to get a little bit of action, pushing them into boxes and making them uncomfortable. It sucks and it shows how society not only has targeted people of color but LGBT people and women a well.

Basically the story “Out in the night” is about a group of young friends, African American lesbians. They were out in the gay neighborhood of New York City. One of them is Renata a single mother and Femme Patreese Johnson. The group of them were walking in this area and an older man sexually and violently confronted them. He says to Patreese “let me get some of that” as he points below her waist. When she says that they are gay, the man becomes violent and threatens to “fuck them straight”. He is acting like because they are gays, they need a man. It is typical when a man sees a couple of girls together and says, “you just need a good man.”  However, we need to accept and respect any decision that others make about themselves. 

The film ” Out The Night ” tells the story of a group of 4 lesbians young friends who are all in their late teens and early twenties. The four young African American lesbians are violently and sexually threatened by a man on the street. When they depend on themselves they are arrested and charged for it. The man who sexually assault them did not get arrested or changed for it. Also, They are called a ” Gang Of Killer Lesbians” by the media.

In this film, I see the role of racism in how these 4 African American lesbians are treated. Even thought they are innocent, still social media called them gang killers. This shows how our society targeted people by their color.

In this week’s assignment I watch the film Anita. The film featured Professor Anita Hill who experience sexual harassment by Judge Clarence Thomas. The film shows documented footage of Professor Anita Hill giving her testimony to an all white male senate judiciary board. The senate judiciary did not treat the issue with delicacy or professionalism, instead they made a show of Anita’s testimony and seemed to interrogate her. They questioned her character, moral, motive and even went as far as to question her sexual history. The trail, as it seemed, was not fair and easy to watch. Anita explained the emotional trauma she had to endure from giving her testimony and due to the publicly she was receiving. Though things were tough in the courtroom, Anita did have public and media support. The topic of sexual harassment in the workplace at the time was common. However, it was not as common to publicly speak against it. Although Anita did not intend to receive public attention, in fact her story was leaked to the media, it was important she did. Sexaul harassment within the workforce was pervalant and Anita speaking about her experience was perfect for many women, and men, across America. 

Anita’s story is an important topic because of the intersectionality of her experience. Initially, Anita experience sexual harassment from Judge Thomas, however I do not believe the harassment stopped there. When Anita was giving her testimony to the all white male senate board they made a show of her situation. Giving repetitive and inappropriate questions. Despite friends and family giving testimony about Anita’s good character and heart. Countless people who have encountered professor Hill speak about the impressions she leaves them with. The judge’s body language seemed uncomfortable as well as their facial expressions. Anita faced racial discrimination and well as the sexist attitudes of many of the judges on the senate board. On the other hand, Judge Thomas’ experience was the complete opposite. The judges seemed remorseful and Thomas denied all of Anita’s claims upon the start of the testimony. 

Despite Anita facing all the adversity with the senate judiciary board and sexual harassment in the workplace she continued to remain a public figure. She became a voice for the voiceless, she sacrificed herself for the good of women around America. Anita continued to speak about her experience across America as well as releasing a book along the way. Anita Hill became a necessary public figure that was appreciated by many people. 

In the film “Out in the night” it shows how a group of 4 lesbian african-american young women were sexually and violently threatened by a man. This incident happened in a neighborhood in New York City. The only thing these young women did was to defend themselves. Unfortunately, this didn’t end up good because they were injuries on both sides. That man ended up getting stabbed by one of them but as a result of self-defense. When the police arrived the young group of African-american were charged for serious crimes including gang assault and attempted murder. All this was really unfair because they were only trying to defend themselves.

In this film we can see the incompetence of the police when they’re doing their job because how is it possible that they blame an innocent group of young women who were just defending themselves instead of the man who was harassing them. He’s the only one that should’ve been imprisoned with serious charges. He was only being racist to them and was most likely homophobic because when he realized they were lesbians that’s when he started to get violent against them. A police officer’s job is to make sure everyone is and feels safe, they are the ones who are supposed to protect us, the citizens but unfortunately this is not how things work. This type of situation wasn’t viewed good at all, especially all over social media. They really transmitted this news as “Attack of the killer lesbian”. Their trial became racialized because of the way they started to get known as. Everyone literally wanted to make the young women look guilty as if they wanted to get raped intentionally. Everything was being put up against them and they had no choice but to plead guilty.

I watched the film called “Out in the Night” which reflects the story of four young Black lesbians who experience sexual harassment on the street which happened in West Greenwich Village, Manhattan. When they act in self-defense, they are wrongfully blamed, detained, and imprisoned. The man that sexually threatened the women with brutality didn’t get accused while the four women were viewed as gang-related violence. The police haven’t keep in mind that these women were threatened with sexual violence, to only be arrested for defending themselves from a hate crime that was captured on video surveillance cameras in which their rights were disrupted like it was never there. 

Crenshaw’s talks about how women’s violation is something the society is not aware of or doesn’t care about. And her words connects to the story above how women are facing unfairness when it comes to gender which is a huge problem.

Anita Hill’s story is unfortunately not unfamiliar. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony regarding her sexual assault at the hands of the now Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh still feels raw and recent. However, when Hill spoke to the Senate regarding Justice Clarence Thomas, misogyny ran rampant in government (this was not long before Clinton and Lewinsky), and sexual misconduct was not in the day-to-day vocabulary of Americans.

The voicemail left on Anita Hill’s WORK answering machine by Justice Thomas’ wife 20 odd years after her initial testimony is hard to listen to. The imagination, time and effort that would go into falsifying the allegations made is the first thing that comes to my mind. Who would go to the trouble, and put their own name and reputation at risk? It was truly crushing to open with such blatant victim-blaming from one woman towards another. The voicemail itself makes me feel as if Thomas’ wife is full of hate, hate that could be better directed towards her husband for his actions.

The questions asked of Hill that we hear in “Anita: Speaking Truth to Power” are mind-boggling to say the least. One of the first we hear asked of her is to recount the most embarrassing situation she found herself in with Thomas. When she later mentions that both living through the events and recounting them are equally as painful, no one bats an eyelash. Senator Howell Heflin goes as far as to ask her if she is a “scorned woman.” Victims are often made out to be something they are not, which is in the wrong. They are not seeking to be sexually harassed. So why do we constantly ask them such pointed questions?

What forms of gendered violence are represented in this film? What do we learn about this violence and its impacts?

I want to speak about ,,Out in the night” there are violence problems of racism and homosexuality. Black and lesbian people are oppressed. There we can variety of violence: killing, beating, raping , abusing, arresting and etc. There we can see that media and court are not just. There are new and old generation who fight in order to live in a calm area. They just want to live as normal persons, but they can not do this. There are a lot of persons who attack them. When I have seen this movie, I remind movie where people were oppressed because of their sexual orientation. I mean that there were problems of toilet and working places.

I want to say that they are minority of our society. People do not have a enough information about them. They think that they are sick or profligates. I think that everyone is equal and everyone has own life. We do not have right to oppress them. Today it is a really caustic problem in our lives. A lot of person are killed.

Based on the film(s) you watched, using Crenshaw’s framework of intersectionality, what do you see as the  the role of racism, or other structures of oppression like homophobia, in these stories of misogynistic violence?

According to the Films, there were a lot of problems of racism and homophobia. There we can see that black people have a huge problems; they are oppressed. They are under the stress from childhood. People do not have a normal life style. Bulling, killing, beating and etc. are parts of their lives. There are people who hate black race, and they try to destroy it. In the movie, I can see that black lesbian people have a huge problems because that they are lesbian. They do not have that have problems they want to say that it is a normal. There was a lesbian black woman who said own history, where she was oppressed by man and also she says story about her friends who was killed. Unfortunately, media and court always are not just. There is speaking about fight in Manhattan where 4 person were unfairly punished. Also there is information about Gangs of Lesbian.

I think that this movie ,, Out in the night” is a really good source to get information about black lesbian people’s problems. They were target of bulling, killing, harassing.

I think that people afraid of different things. The above mentioned violence is a really good example of this.

The film “Out in the Night” follows the story of 4 young Black lesbians who experience sexual harassment on street which happened in West Greenwich Village, Manhatten. When they act in self-defense, they are wrongfully accused, arrested, charged, and incarcerated. The man that sexually threatned the women with volience did not get charged accused the 4 women of gang related violence, dismissing the fact these women were threatened with sexual violence, to only stand accused for protecting themselves from a hate crime that was captured on video surveillance cameras in which their rights were violated.

This film gives good reason and evidence to how people of color have been, and still are targeted for the most ridiculous and hidden laws that are only applied when its a person of color. This unethical and obvious radical behavior from the officers that were sworn in to protect the citizen if this country safe has inforced aggressive measures to the neighborhoods of color. Being under constant attack from law enforcement can create a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

Crenshaw’s concept of “Intersectionality” is a term used in the 20th century by “American Black Feminist” such as Cooper, Julia and Stewart, Maria and others just to name a few. Crenshaw wrote “here have been African American women who have articulated the need to think and talk about race through a lens that looks at gender, or think and talk about feminism through a lens that looks at race”. 1989 in her paper written for the University of Chicago Legal Forum.

I believe its important that we look through the lens of race to view the differences of involvement in women of color ,who are not priviledged as the white women. Laws are enforced on people of color that are petty laws and end up dead due to obvious rasism. Certains laws are not enforced in white neighborhoods which clearly paints a picture here of white surpremacy and racism.

These 4 women that were attacked, and charges were reversed to criminals when the truth is the 4 women being the victims. This behavior from city officals is negligence of the police department in investigating the case properly which was handled with and stereotyping with bias to the victims.