Bell Hooks define feminism as: “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” and this is a great definition because most people think of feminist as people who think of me as the enemy just because mass media and how they portray feminist. Bell Hooks makes a point that caught my attention she stated that it is not just men who have this stigma that males are masculine while females should be fragile and subordinate to men, it is some females too that believe in this. Bell definition states the real problem of the movement, which is sexism, by her explaining that it is a movement to end just that is directly confronting it then media twisting words to make it appear as females do it just because they are anti-male. After reading “Feminist Politics Where We Stand” I understand the misconception that Bell Hooks is breaking down and stating such as when women adding to the oppression by being sexist to one another, women should lift one another instead of having sexist thoughts and actions that only Benefits Patriarchy. 

Before reading “Sex & Gender 101” I was always confused about the difference between gender and sex. This article did an excellent job and cleared up what is the difference and I understand the difference more in depth now. In the past what I knew as sex is the genitals a person is born with while gender is what you identify yourself as, but I can see now that it is much deeper than that. From my understanding of the reading males have XY chromosomes and females have XX chromosomes but there is also some that have 46, XX Intersex, 46, XY Intersex, True Gonadal, Complex or Undetermined Intersex, so basically biological sex is universal so wherever you go they will have similar body development. This information was new to me as I did not know some people could have extra sex chromosomes with case like complex or undermined intersex. Now gender is culturally constructed that changes with time and society, there are three categorized gender assignments, gender identity, and gender expression. Gender assignment means the person is either boy/man or girl/women based on the external genitalia. Gender identity is how a person thinks of themselves such as cisgender, transgender, or genderqueer, or non-binary, or gender non-conforming. Gender expression is how one expresses themselves through clothes, makeup, hairstyle, etc. There is also sexual orientation, which is who a person sexually attracted to. Ashamed to say that this article went into depth on things I did not have much knowledge on since it was not really accustomed to speaking about it in my family and during my years in high school everyone was experimenting while some feared what others might think, so it was something people have always been afraid to share about. I really enjoy reading on such topics because it gives me more knowledge on subject, I may lack in.