The suffrage, labor rights and equal right amendment related because they all seek the same thing. Rights for women and working class people. The three seek justice for those who are in a vulnerable state and exploited. Labor rights are also issues of gender justice because most often the workers who create the garments and pieces for trade are women and some men who are paid entirely too little to be able to have a decent quality of life and work under dangerous conditions. Making it a matter of human rights. There are many ways that these historical issues are still prevalent today in the workplace. A lot of workers still are not equally paid based on gender and women are still working to be respected like a member of society. I also think it was funny that one of the people mentioned in the article who’s name is Shafly was against ERA because it would eventually lead to a future of gender-neutral bathrooms and women being drafted into the military” because we have gender neutral bathrooms now and what’s so bad about that. Guess that lady isn’t too happy with today’s state. In today’s climate woman are still being denied promotions and even pay raises or training opportunity that is given to people of another  because of gender identity or sexual orientation even though they are  are equally qualified and eligible, still being held to a much different  standards, and going through hardships because they don’t act or present them selves in a way that is conformative  to traditional concepts  of femininity or too masculine So in many ways we van say that alot of things have not changed from the 1920’s til now but in others we have seen huge progression. I think we are in a better position now to get something like the ERA passed and we just need to continue to do the work. These historical issues do not have to be something that continues to be a condition in todays times in this country or any other country and we can put things in place to help woman in other countries as well with trade laws but to be honest this country has always just cared for one thing and that’s money and with a capitalistic mentality we will have a long way to go. Human rights are for everyone regardless of gender or where they were born and the only way for liberation is liberation with everyone and we need to get out “house” in order so to speak to be able to do that. The people that lost their lives in those fires happened because the factory design was in place to save money, not people. 

“Hmm, are women maybe human beings?” that single line from the waves of feminism discussion is enough for me because it encompasses what feminism is. The simple understanding that women are human and have just as much writing to live in liberty and have autonomy over themselves and their life. Historically woman have been made to seem as possessions so we need permission of our husbands to get our tubes tied or permission front from the state to have an abortion. Fighting for permission to vote as if we first need to seek council to have rights that this country claims everyone to have and in the article guilty pleasures we delve deeper into the male gaze of sexual desires and that raises some questions for me because  I have spoken with  people that are activist for sex work and one of their points is that they to not want the work demonized and the article says the culture influences how men view and treat women so I’m a bit confused, I guess in this part of the course would be how we would go about dismantling patriarchal views even within ourselves. The article waves of feminism brought up some important points to process and also noted that the making of those terms can also be divisive but important to understand that until we do the work to understand intersectionality in feminism that feminism will not mean liberation for all women. 

The Film I watched was “Knock down the house” and it seems to me that activism defines itself in that film as providing representation and a voice for working class people and real problems that face us today. The film I watched was Alexandria Ocasio, Cori Bush and Paula Jeans swearinen’s decision and experience in running for congress as a working class woman or coming from a working class family. Against a primary, that is not what is usually heard of or against people that are benefiting from exploiting the working class families. The activism I saw was a grassroots organization deciding to take a step in gaining representation in congress and trying to understand people in their communities and their needs and doing their best to gain access to a space that they will be able to speak for their communities. I saw the people identifying with them because they are not the “other” the wealthy or corporate giants. They are normal people like them attempting to make a change from within the system and are compassionate and eager to be that voice. Despite people underestimating them for being women and making them seem inexperienced or unable to provide strong representation. Activism is action in support of social justice change and engaged in fighting issues. My experience with activism  is before working  as a case manager a lot of my earlier career life was spent working in “El Puente” a organization in williamsburg for social justice their mission in every work that they do  is to “inspire leaders for peace and justice” which meant their  whole framework and structures were centered around civic engagement. We were dedicated to children that entered our doors, the importance of community and giving them a safe space where they felt belonging  and we often encouraged our members together to identify a community issue and discuss ways to engage, whether that meant environmental justice or immigration justice, educational justice. We asked our members to critically think about what our community needs were and ways we can be active in supporting each other to engage them.  The members in our organization were a part of quite a few protests and we have been to DC and when hurricane maria happened the williamsburg community came together to send supplies to puerto rico etc. The primary way we did our activism was through the arts, dance, painting or murals in the community. It was a life changing experience and I learned a lot of my core understanding of working with young people through that journey. In my opinion, ways to effectively engage in activism and gender justice in my life I believe is to support the young people I work with and amplify their voices and experiences. So they understand that their voices are important and they are important in our community. Using any platform I have to amplify them and keep educating myself and  listening to folks’ experiences. While taking a stand for human rights and women rights.

It is important to recognize patriarchy as a system and not individual identity because we need to examine the social norms and beliefs that reinforce the spaces for oppression to continuously happen.  It’s like giving tainted water to a community to drink and then when individuals become sick instead of blaming the water  just treating the individual without fixing the water source. Naturally people will continue to get sick because they are consuming something toxic to them. In order to fix things the “water needs to be clean to drink” and in the same ways that we will go through a process to  clean the water source, we will find out if the pipe system is the problem or filtration etc, we need to also as a society examine what behaviors and norms contribute to the toxicity that is patriarchy and the ways it oppresses woman and hurts men. On an individual level patriarchy can be a man withholding his emotions because crying isn’t for men. On an interpersonal level patriarchy is men telling other men or boys “wow you lost to a girl” as if losing to a girl is worse or more shameful then losing at all. Institutionally patriarchy  is regulating and policing how girls dress in schools and the Texas law against abortions beyond that influencing women to be submissive and the child rearers. Finally structural and cultural is relying on these expectations and a basis for respect. Like women need to be submissive and subordinate in order to gain protection from men against other men.In my personal life  I myself have both been hurt by and benefited from patriarchy.Growing up i went through a lot of shaming for expressing my masculinity.  In most spaces I’ve gotten resistance and some level of ostracized for the way I express my gender identity while still identifying as a woman. Men have threatened me and tried to force submission in my  interactions and the list goes on and on  but in other spaces  I have benefited from patriarchy and experienced a form of privilege when I was in certain spaces for example while with a feminine presenting person men have asked things like “oh that’s yours?” or “Tell your girl to chill” while giving me more respect and objectifying other women. I think it’s important to understand all aspects of patriarchy and how it influences individuals and work to unpack that within ourselves as well.

Alok beyond the gender binary Alok expresses to us  how gender assignments create a specific type of restraint and narrative for how that person should behave and beyond that  idea, what they should  like or wear, and even down to how they express themselves, if they are allowed to cry or allowed to play football and if it does not fall within that bracket then this punishment of nonconformity creates an unbreakable connection between gender and shame. Growing up I had a lot of adults tell me who to be and how to do it. In the reading Alok speaks against these familiar arguments and gives a deeper understanding in gender expression.  For myself I identify and she/her I am a cis- woman who is queer and I dress masculine presenting meaning i shop in the men’s section of stores and pick up heavy things and do things for myself and behave in a way most people would find masculine. People consistently assume that I want to “be a man” or want to transition but the truth is I express my gender differently than what is asked for as a woman. I can wear baggy clothes ,hats  and sneakers and would never wear a dress but I am comfortable defining myself as she/her/they .  In retrospect there are other aspects of myself that I guess can be considered me prescribing to gender norms and falling into binaries. I like to cook all types of food and am extremely maternal. One of my love languages is service so I do things for the people I love. I cannot build anything worth a damn and know nothing about cars. My partner who is more feminine presenting can change her oil and car battery very easily . I believe what it means to move beyond the gender binary is thinking less about how you’re “supposed” to behave and dress and exist and finding out what that means for yourself and not being worried about what that means for other people. Normalizing human emotions and how we express them as long as it isn’t harming anyone or ourselves.  What that meant for me as a child is playing sports and wearing the blue power ranger gloves and big puffer jackets and hating when my mom made me wear dresses with the itchy nets and shiny shoes. I appreciate this type of reading because it challenges systems that we have built our society around and gives different perspectives.