This week’s reading and documentaries gave us more insight about what abortion is, the multiple procedures and methods used to get them done, the multiple regulations it has, etc. It was also possible to observe the perspective of the people who choose to do an abortion and the multiple reason they have to do it. Besides seeing the perspective of women who get abortions, we were also able to see the perspective of some pro-life people.

When I found out about the leaked document, I was a concerned and worried. I thought that it was done just to put another obstacle on women’s path since doing that is completely unnecessary and doesn’t have any other purpose than mocking women and establishing more control towards them. To be honest, I don’t understand how abortion could not be a constitutional right since pregnancy it’s something very personal and it directly affects the women’s health, development, lifestyle, etc. Therefore, terminating a pregnancy should be a private decision where no one else interfers and it still should be protected by the 14th amendment. I wasn’t aware of the racism behind abortion regulation laws. It definetly makes a lot of sense that the rich white men wanted to continue to abuse people for their personal gain. It’s extremely sad that after thinking that we made a significant progress legalizing abortion, we could be going 50 years backwards putting in risk the health of thousands of women.

This week I learned about the terrible start of abortion regulations. It is sad to see that it wasn’t done even for religious reasons, they literally wanted to own black women’s sexuality and bodies, just so they can bring more people into the world to continue to serve them, it’s extremely dehumanizing. I also gained more understanding of Roe v Wade and how is it so important to women’s abortion rights. Regardless of the terrible situation we are in, it gives me a little bit of hope seeing an initiative like the one of Rebecca Gompert, which is benefiting women in the United States and other countries around the world. It’s amazing that she’s making abortion much more accessible and it’s being delivered in creative ways like with robots and drones. The content of this week reminded me of the multiple abortion methods and also reminded me of the importance of keeping abrtion legal.

I feel like sometimes we get very caught in our own world and forget to think about what other people could be going through, to be honest I feel like that was happening to me. Watching the “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa” video and the “Abortion Divide” documentary, allowed me to get a grip of reality and think about what other people are going through, and why keeping abortion legal it’s necessary for women’s health. Getting an abortion it’s not an easy decision to make, and it’s important to be thoughtful before bringing a human into this far from perfect world,. People sometimes suffer when they decide to get an abortion since they could become kind of attached to the embryo and the idea of what it could become, but one not always has the resources to give them a live worth living. Having a child It’s also something so personal and lifechanging, it’s incredibly disrespectful that some random pro-life people are trying to influence your decision, it’s extremely insensitive. Getting an abortion it’s far from selfish because it’s not easy at all to live in this world, and even less when you belong to a minority and the system is built for your failure. I couldn’t agree more with the words of Bell Hooks “If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females of reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice and be feminist. A woman can insist she would never choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the right of women to choose and still be an advocate of feminist politics”. Women should be able to have the option of getting a safe, free, and legal abortion because they are human beings who have the right to decide for their futures.

I chose the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso because I feel that it’s an excellent example of artistic activism. This huge painting reflects the suffering of the Spanish citizens during the Spanish Civil War. The bombing by the german aviation over the town name Guernica was what inspired Picasso to create this painting. In it, we can see fear reflected in multiple faces because of the violence. There is a mother with her child who seems panicked, animals who also are freaking out about the situation, etc. The multiple tones of gray express sadness, sorrow, pain, hopelessness, and many other negative emotions. Also, this painting is huge, the measures are 11 ft 6 in x 25 ft 6 in, which I think brings more intensity to the emotions conveyed. I think this is artistic activism because it brought politics to the fine art world and Guernica expresses many of the terrible feelings experienced by the victims of the war. Another fact of the painting is that it was at the MoMA from 1939 until 1981, initially to collect funds for people affected by the war, but then Picasso refused to give it back to Spain until Democracy was achieved in the country again. The painting currently is at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain

This week’s readings and documentary were very shocking because I was able to have a little insight and learn about the personal experiences of a black mother who experienced obstetric racism, women in India, and transgender people who have been victims of discrimination in the United States healthcare system.

Firstly, it was surprising to see the attitudes of Indian women towards menstruation. There was a lack of knowledge on the topic, most people thought that the blood that comes from women is dirty and that women in their period are dirty as well. In the documentary, it also was mentioned that, when a woman is on her period, she can’t go to the temple, which I think is terrible because menstruation it’s something natural and normal. It was also surprising to see that those women didn’t even have pads, but they have to use fabric to contain the blood. All women should have access to menstrual products because menstruation it’s something they have to deal with every month a huge part of their lives. Without products, blood makes women feel extremely uncomfortable and can even stop them from doing their daily tasks. It is completely unfair that women in very poor areas don’t have access to menstrual products and are not educated about their own bodies.

Secondly, reading about LeConte’s birth story made me realize how serious of a problem obstetric racism is. The number of times the nurse poked to try to insert the IV knowing that she was hurting the patient was almost as if it was intentional. It also feels as if the nurse was treating her as an object, expecting that she wouldn’t feel the pain, it’s horrible. Giving birth seems extremely painful and exhausting, the fact that they made this woman walk while pushing her newborn in the mobile crib, it’s disrespectful and definitely degrading.

Lastly, the testimonies of the transgender people who were discriminated against by their health providers are shocking and awful. It is unacceptable and even disgusting how people use religion to justify discrimination. I don’t understand how a human being can be denied the right to healthcare because of their gender identity. I came into the article thinking that they were talking specifically about transitions and sex change, but it completely surprised me how transgender people face discrimination in healthcare in every other area.

The readings and the film are connected since they talk about discrimination toward minorities in the healthcare system. Black women experiencing obstetrician racism, women living in an underdeveloped country without access to menstrual products and being taught that they should be ashamed of a normal function of their bodies, and trans people are being discriminated against and prevented their access to healthcare. Everything is connected because a racist, sexist, capitalist, and patriarchal system neglects the needs of those who aren’t part of that exclusive group.

The format in which the stories were shared was great since I feel that it allowed me to understand the stories better and from a more personal point of view. The documentary let us see exactly how and where these women live, see their behavior, and listen to their experiences. The illustrations of the birth story allowed me to feel and imagine more about what was going on, and the poem felt like she was letting me into her mind and heart. The format of the article regarding transgender discrimination in the health care system was good because I was able to read about their experiences and how important the topic was to them.

This week’s readings were very helpful to have a broader understanding of the term “identity politics”. Garza’s quote “identity politics is the radical notion that your world view is shaped by your experiences and history and that those experiences will vary in relationship to the power a group or an individual has in the economy, society, or democracy.” gives a clear explanation on how identity politics it’s to base your politics on who you are as a person and the issues that affect you personally. Supporting causes that are relevant to you and fighting for your own liberation instead of somebody else’s. The United States politics are meant to benefit white, cis-hetero, males, everyone else who isn’t part of that privileged group has to adapt to this political system that isn’t meant for their success. Identity politics creates political space for the minorities to have conversations about their issues and create an agenda in order to fight those issues. As Garza said, now the majority of the United States population are not white heterosexual males, so we can hope that in the future every single person, no matter their race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. can enjoy their rights. However, I’m scared because I don’t know how are we going to fight capitalism, without capitalism going down, it will be very complicated to empower minorities.

Some topics that I would enjoy learning about are the origin of gender roles, I am curious about how were they created and their evolution in our society. I am also curious about the witch trials, actually, I didn’t know about that at all until the last couple of years. I would like to learn about that and how are they related to sexism and gender violence.

By the quote “We might use our position at the bottom to make a clear leap into revolutionary action. If black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all
the systems of oppression.” the author means that since black women experience multiple kinds of historic oppression, their liberation would benefit both of the minorities they belong to. Black women are very disadvantaged in a society where a racist and structural system exists. They experience discrimination because of their sex, and are expected to serve men, be in charge of children, do the house chores, experience sexualization, objectification, etc. Even though there is a movement against sexism, and feminism, the majority of women in this movement are white women, and even though they also experience sexism, they are not stigmatized because of their race, as black women are. Also, feminists are not very concerned about race issues, but these are extremely relevant for black women. The Civil Rights movement and other anti-racist movements look for the end of racism, but once again, the priority are not the issues that affect black women but they are very relevant to them. Black women are also victims of a capitalist system since the majority of them are of the lower classes and are exploited so the richest people become even richer. Therefore, if black feminists are able to cause a revolution, it would not be a win exclusively for black women, but also for every woman and every black person.

What the Combahee River collective means by “identity politics” is recognizing the parts of ourselves that make us oppressed like sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc., and using them to support a social justice cause that combats that oppression, and try to change the politics around it. This is represented in Paris is Burning because people that identify as people of color and part of the LGBTQ+ community, took pride in their marginalized position and created the “ball culture”. In the balls, there are multiple categories where people can participate, and often they are about the high social classes. Many queer people of color participate in these categories, dressing, and acting as accurately as possible as a white person that actually dresses and acts like that in the real world. I think this is identity politics because to a certain extent the balls are a protest saying “We also can play your role but you took away our opportunities” to the oppressors. Race and gender are extremely related to capitalism because it is a system in which the higher classes exploit the lower classes to their benefit. Those lower classes are more often women and people of color and capitalism doesn’t give them equal opportunities and exploits them.