In this week’s readings, we can see what being privileged really is. In the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, she talks about how many times we don’t see what being privileged really is, McIntosh focuses on the fact that women’s studies is based on power make women have their rights, but many criticize this fact of being able to seek the rights with which they are being over-privileged when, in itself, they are only looking for a method of equality. She talks about how in her time, the privileged were only white men who, according to her, were the only ones with the power to have rights in their entirety. Many times being privileged is also giving some oppression to certain types of people, which leads us to the same issue of hierarchies, where being privileged is based on the same hierarchies. In my own experiences, I feel that there have been certain things in which I feel privileged, but at the same time it makes me feel sad that not many people are in the same situation as me. I may be able to have food from day to day, every day, but there are people who don’t. Perhaps this type of privilege is not the same as the one discussed in the article, but it is something that gives a better vision of what being privileged can be.

Then we have the reading “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye, who only explains how despite being strong, this has a great meaning to be able to explain how because they are not a color, race or even not liking something in specific they believe with the right to be able to put pressure on anyone. Like what Frye comments, about the fact that from childhood they impose on us the rule that men do not cry and if they cry they already classify them as less masculine, but that is the oppression that exists within society and among those who do not have the same rhythm this. I remember, I’ve had this kind of oppression because I’m of dual race. Since there were times when my Chinese race called me “foreigner” for the simple fact of also being Venezuelan, I remember that this oppression was also present in the Venezuelan race, who called me “Chinese” for the very fact of being it too. The oppression that exists in society, the desire to be able to classify anyone for the simple fact of how the person is or how they behave, is something that has been seen in all these years and is also something that is very difficult to put an end to.

Finally, we have the video for “What is Privilege”, and it’s about everything that we’ve been talking about before, how many of those contestants at the beginning were joking about the type of questions, they laughed at the fact of how they were. But in the end, when they realized what it really was to be privileged and looked around them, they captured the true essence of what it is to be able to have your rights without being discriminated against. Many of them also experienced the same feeling of guilt, seeing how they took a step forward when compared to the situation of the question, and that behind there are many more completely different people, when they thought they were.

I feel that for Alok and for everyone to go beyond the gender binary, it is to be able to be free, without anyone going on the street criticizing why they are like that or why they dress in a certain way, it is the power to be able to represent themselves. As Alok said, there are only pronouns that are for women, for men and for everyone in general, but there is not a pronoun for each different identity category. So looking at it in a deeper way, this should not be right, since even though it is now in the actuality that I have been seeing how they are focusing on showing a little more support towards anyone with a different identity category. It’s hard for me, and it makes me feel sad that there have always been people who didn’t feel good about themselves, who wanted to be able to explore who they were and feel free. But there wasn’t as much gender expression for them to show off and the people who did it just categorized him as confused or annoyed him in the process. Like what Alok narrated, about how he had always shown his true self and they bothered him for this simple fact, but then the bully contacts him and talks about how he bothered him because he felt repressed and was envious of how Alok could show himself without fear.

My gender identity, I feel that what went against the binary norm would be that sometimes my way of acting was different. I come from growing up with 2 older brothers, for that to feel included towards them I got “masculine” tastes (as classified by society). Since I was little, I liked to play soccer, basketball and even fights with my brothers, my parents did not bother that, rather they tried to join in playing with us too. But when I went to school or told someone else, they told me that those games are not right for a girl like me or they were just surprised that I played those things. Even at this age, I like to play “masculine” video games that in their time many people said things like “Why do you play that if you’re a woman” or “you shouldn’t do that”, but those are and were my tastes. Meanwhile, they fit to the binary norm maybe would be Even when I did those things, I liked and like to dress in a “feminine” way or something like that, in addition to the fact that I feel good with my self and with my gender identity. I know that my experiences have not been like others or are not as strong as others, but it is something that when I grew up, they were a not a good experience in their time, now there is a little more acceptance or even people no longer bother that one girl do “boy” things. I feel that it is good to be able to show who we are, what we like and even how we feel so that we can be part of supporting anyone who does not feel good about their gender identity.

In the essay, “Feminist Politics Where We Stand” bell hooks defines feminism as: “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” (Hook, pg.). This means, about how what feminism aims to do is end the injustice that has been created over the years with women. Since, she talks about how feminism is more about being able to have the rights that each person needs, focusing on women because long before when rights were created they said ‘rights for men’ and they did not generalize this phrase to include women. But these, they should be left without rights and not have the gender equality that has been fighting for all this time. They said Feminism it was just an excuse for women not to do housework, not have children, and be lesbians. Which with the passage of time, and with a lot of struggle this has been normalizing but even so, there some changes that happen with the feminism. In the story, Hook also explains how feminism began only as a movement of white women and that after a while, black women joined it in order to liberate any woman regardless of her race. Hook explains, “it made sense that white men were more willing to consider women’s rights when the granting of those rights could serve the interests of maintaining white supremacy” (Hook, ppg 4. 2000), emphasizing the desire for how feminism it was focused only on gender equality, being able to give the rights that by nature are needed by each person regardless of their gender. However, you can see how the mentality of the people who created the laws at that time was, since in itself, men did not want to give women rights just because, but they were trying to find a way that by giving these rights to women they have something in return. explain what you understand this definition to mean. Being honest, I saw feminism as a very radical way of seeking gender equality. As the reading explains at the end, I feel that many times some women today fight ‘feminism’ in the wrong way, since as stipulated, feminism is being able to be equal, and have the same rights as men. But, I have seen that some women do it in the wrong way since they show a not very healthy hatred towards men for no reason, there are times that they say they are feminists just for fashion and not because they seriously feel they want to be part of it, and the fact that they are no longer focused on gender equality, but are more focused on creating a matriarchy. They can have a balance between gender equality and there is no patriarchy or matriarchy. After reading “Sex and Gender” it was something that I was aware of, since it talks about the gender with which each baby is born, and that is why there is the male and the female, what if I did not know is that the intersex existed, which is the crossing of the chromosomes that cannot be stated if it is a girl or a boy. Which I find very curious and at the same time good, since when the baby grows up it can be assigned to a gender or just classified as he wants. What is happening today is that there is more understanding with the different genres and with what people feel they really are. Also, I am aware of how gender orientation may develop further and how different types of orientations have been expanded in a very healthy way.

Hello, my name is Food Taang Zheng (you can call me Food, Taang or Food Taang, everything is fine), my pronouns are She and Her. This is my last semester at BMCC, my major is Psychology and I will continue my studies at CSI as many of my friends are there and they convince me to take the same path. It sounds a bit strong for the very fact that this university is in Staten Island and I barely live in Brooklyn, but I think it’s something I would like to experience. Maybe I’m rushing into this decision, but I feel like it’s something I can do, and I’d like to take this risk. I was born in Venezuela, and I moved to the United States (New York) 5 years ago. I am a mixture of races, since my mother is Venezuelan and my father is Chinese, that is why my name is strange. My name is a very funny story, it all starts with the fact that my dad doesn’t know much about pinyin, so he wanted to name me “fortune” in Chinese which is written in pinyin as Fu, but instead I put Food. Another funny fact about me is that I have two older brothers, who are also called ‘Food’ like me. It’s funny, all of us siblings go to one place and everyone is confused by reading ‘Food’, but something that differentiates us is our middle name, each one has a different one (for example, the older one is Ceng, and the middle one is Ciang, while mine is Taang). The reason I chose to take this class in part was because I was very interested in being able to see and learn more about gender, as well as I would like to know more about the studies that women have done. Since many times they show us more the achievements that men have made, so being able to know a little more about the achievements of women is like something that interested me. In a way, I would like to expand my knowledge a little more and know more about women who made a difference in education, since I have limited knowledge about it. Also, it is like a path that I am exploring to be able to make the decision of what I want to specialize in later. I hope we get along very well and thank you very much.