During the 1960s Pat Mainardi wrote “The Politics of Housework” which address the misconception of gender during her time and her view on why patriarchal system continued. From the article my understanding of liberated women is a woman who has freed herself from labels that society had put upon women to justify men’s actions. A liberated women is a representation of all the oppression and prejudice women have faces especially during the 60s. Women often have this image of a stay-at-home spouse that must do everything in the house such as cook, clean, and even take care of the men in the house. Pat Mainardi states” man’s accomplishments have always depended on getting help from other people, mostly women “which is true because many males depend on their mothers, sisters, and wives. Liberated women are important for women’s liberation because they make the movement, they set change, without those women we would not know what is needed to change the stereotype people have on women. It is a learning experience, but I believe as time goes by, we make more of a change when the women who have been liberated can be part of the women’s liberation. These two pieces of articles show that “the personal is political” because in both articles women are being spoken about the need they have in intimacy and in their relationship and household. “The personal is political” is a phrase use during the 1960s and 1970s to express to any power relations not just government or elective officials. This is shown in the articles when women must compromise to either fake an organism to not hurt their partners feelings or when they have wanted to slip the house chores with their partner but must show them how to do these things but end up doing it themselves because it would faster than having their partner do it. Political for this reason because it will either be discussed to decide or have it expected of them because of society. Overall, both articles speak on topics many do not have knowledge about but must be talked about because it is part of women liberation history. 

Activism has really changed over the years and has impacted so many lives. One being all of us because for us to have voice was because the people who made a change back then. Much like Act up the women suffrage movement voice out their wants for change for us women. One thing in the video “Untold Stories of Black Women in the Suffrage Movement:” was how some big names like Susan b. Anthony stood for such a big cause like the women suffrage movement but didn’t see no wrong in the discrimination African Americans were facing. I guess I truly don’t understand how she supported one movement but not the other, she is a big figure but once again this brings up the point where people only help and want change for something that benefits themselves. Susan b. Anthony was making a change but also adding to the discrimination African American were getting because she refused to have them vote before women specifically white.  

After reading and watching the film I would define activism as being part of a movement that you strongly support and strive to make a change and difference. The film I watched was United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, it was a film in which it followed the AIDS activist movement. The film has many members of the ACT UP speaking on what it was like during the movement and the unfair treatment people with aids were receiving. The documentary itself was highly informative, it highlighted the extreme levels that activists would go through to voice out their change. The first activism I seen was the demonstration they had outside the FDA building; they had successfully shut down the FDA for a day. They are demands were for the FDA to provide more drugs quickly and fairly, the FDA was ignoring all the deaths that had to do with the aids epidemic and ACT Up refused to be quiet. The activism that ACT UP demonstrated in St. Patrick’s Cathedral to some was eye-opening because not only were ACT Up there because they disagreed with John Joseph O’Connor the cardinal opinion of against safe sex, but there was also people who even though were not part of the aids movement but was part of the women right movement for the church opinion on abortions fighting the same battle of those who are in power that do not care for those that have no power. Ashamed to say I do not think I have engaged in activism as much as I would like, I have concerns and interest in some movements but do not know where or even how does it work now and days. Some people post on twitter and other places about their opinion because that is how you support a movement now and days, but I am not tech savvy and do not have twitter or somewhere online to join a community. I do in fact engage when gender justice comes up, as of right now I just share my opinion to that closes to me. In the near future I think realistically I can engage in activism around gender justice by educating myself more on where I can show up and meet new people that can introduce me to more people that are interested in the same movement. By doing this I can open myself up to more people and learn from others what I do not know and be open to different opinions. Overall, this week’s activist has encouraged me to investigate movements that I am interested in and learn about them more.  

It is important to recognize patriarchy as a system instead of placing the blame on one group because it will cause more problems instead of understanding the fundamental causes of systemic patriarchy. We cannot simply place the blame of oppression merely on one individual, when we make up the society that causes it in some way. The way society shapes us, we shape society and allow privilege as well as oppression to happen not knowingly, but it is important to state that we all participate in the system that makes up society. More importantly if we do not try to change the norms to benefit us instead of pointing hands at one another the system will never change. Harry Brod arguments make up valid point that you cannot give up your privilege just because you want to be on the outside of it, no matter what your still in the system because that’s how society works in needs one for the other to work, only difference is if you are in the system to make a change. The levels of oppression influence one another because it is the way society is built, such as cultural/structural is what your considered “right,” “normal,” or “beautiful” this changes our interpersonal actions because one tries to do what society thinks is right and look how society think is beautiful and criticize those that do not follow the status quo. One’s interpersonal actions changes personal feelings and thoughts and may not be intentional, but they have the want of changing for what the “norms” are. Institutional patriarchy is rules and polices that do not benefit most, for example in Texas where women cannot get an abortion once a heartbeat is heard which is as early as 6 months, women legally have no right to decide on what they want to do with their body. Patriarchy can work in an interpersonal way because it impacts language, actions, and behaviors, for example in many religious families’ women cannot raise their tone at their husbands but they are allowed to tell them what to wear, where to go, and how to behave. An example of cultural and structural is having to change your appearance because society does not consider you “beautiful” or because you are surrounded by people who tell you what they think is right and not being able to think for yourself. The actions of cultural/structure lead to personal thought and feelings because you are told not to speak on what you feel like is right and you are only hearing what society thinks is right, so you are constantly having a battle with your thoughts. Overall patriarchy works on each level and each level influences one another.  

In my personal experience, I have been privileged in many things, one being the most obvious in having a roof over my head and being able to have food over my table. After watching the video, it is very eye opening to see that many might not be as privileged as yourself and in a way that exercise helps one acknowledge to be grateful for what you have. I think the education I have is an example of a privilege, being able to receive help with my tuition and having support from your school with housing or meals when a student needs it. A privilege many heterosexuals have is people do not constantly ask us why we made our choice to be public about our sexual orientation. I feel like the basic decency that everyone deserves is being able to be checked by a doctor and not have it based on whether they have health insurance or not. I for example feel like that is a privilege a lot of people do not have, the opportunity to be attended to by a doctor. Overall, it is hard to look at your own privileged and identify it until you hear that many do not have it.  

I rarely consider that I am oppressed or have even difficulty thinking of examples when it comes to sharing. I am Mexican- American and I feel like my nationally sometimes rub the people the wrong way, especially when it is whites. Before working as a medical assistant in my current office I used to work at an urgent care, and it was my first job out of school, so I was super excited to my distaste and was treated horribly by an administrator. It had me second guessing my career goal because during my time there I thought everyone was like that I did have a lot of conversation with other medical assistants there, so I was basing it on that. Later, after I quit because of her lack of respect I found out that it was because I was Mexican, this was the first time I had ever live through something like that. I thought back to the many discriminations my parents had to go through because they were immigrants and did not speak the language. Immigrants and many children of immigrants are oppressed because they belong to a group that labels them as illegal and aliens. 

After reading and watching the video, it helped me define the concepts of privilege and oppression because I was able to visualize it with the examples and exercise provided. Even though I knew most of the privileged a white person gets I focused so much on that, that I did not realize the I am privileged as well. Marilyn Frye definition of oppression added to my knowledge of what I already knew of oppression, in fact what she stated about how it is misused and sometimes not innocently is why she decided to clear that she did not want to undertake that woman are oppressed but that men are not but in fact wants to be clear about what is meant when we say women are oppressed (pg. 11). These readings and video did not change on what I know of oppression, but it did change my thoughts on what I considered to be privileged and being able to acknowledge it.