After all the reading I’ve read, my favorite one that opened my mind up was about ” feminist politics where we stand” by bell hooks. This made me think about the knowledge I had already known and think deeper. There was a saying that she said about feminism becoming a definition she hopes will come to a regular definition word people use every day. I can agree with bell hook because there are people who support this idea, but in reality, they don’t actually know what it means. This reading helps me out with the information about feminists, and im pretty sure it will help all the men out there as well. I suggest people read so that they can better understand the meaning of feminism.

in this book, ” beyond the gender binary” by Alok Vaid- Menon, he speaks about gender fluidity, the challenges the community faces, and what it would mean to get passed those challenges. gender has always been a big topic but has grown over the years. although the subject of gender identity is growing, there is a lack of understanding about it. Alok states that ” a lot more airtime is given to other people’s views of us rather than our own experiences”, when instead it should be reversed. this is important because over the years more restrictions have been placed on their community at the local, state, and federal levels. by doing this it would stop covering up the truth about the hardships and put them one step closer to ending the discrimination faced by the gender-nonconforming people. and instead live as people with no fear of losing their jobs, homes, or everyday privileges just for expressing who they are”, that it’s all states, ” I do not have the luxury of being. I am only seen as doing”, that it’s all an act and that at the end of the day they go back to being a man or woman. going beyond the gender binary norm wouldn’t mean being tolerated but rather accepted. it would mean safety, understanding, acknowledgment, and being seen as another human beings expressing themselves and who they really are.

my gender as a woman goes against the binary norm will be burning in public, taking out my wedgie in public, cursing a lot in public, speaking my mind, etc,. these are something things that people will not normally see women do these things in public. they expected women to be kind and be ladylike all the time. now how my gender fits the binary norm will be wearing girl clothing, puting on make up, laughing with my mouth covering my hands, shaving my legs, doing my nail etc., all these thing are so called what women are supposed to be dressing or doing. this how it used to be in the older generation, so i don’t know how it will be now in today’s socitey.

I have always thought that privileged was only about people who can afford the expensive stuff. but then I went to Mexico to see my family for the first time. my parents made sure that I didn’t bring any nice things to Mexico. when my parent told me that I was wondering about on my way there on the plane. when I arrive that’s when I started to notice why my parents told me that. my cousin was so happy about my coming to visit them. when I was looking around the house I started to notice things that didn’t have half of the things I had in my house. for instance, they didn’t have a lot of future or even doors for privacy. I also notice my cousin’s clothing. my clothing was from brand and didn’t have rips or dirt on them. my cousins were starting at what I was wearing and they told me that they wish they had nice clothes like mine. I felt like when I was there I notice things that never crossed my mind. there I would be considered privileged and made me think to be more apshiaded of the things I have.

I’ve experienced oppression when it came to sex. my family has this thing that women can’t go anywhere unless a man goes with them in case anything bad happens. well since I have an older brother they make him go with me wherever I go. so when it came to something I wanted to be independent. my parents will tell me I can’t go anywhere unless he goes. I never understood that. why do I as women have to go with a man being either my brother or cousin to every place I go? that whole tradition my family has should be let go. they need to realize that women are capable of taking care of themselves. another thing I experience was when the men of the house expects the women to do the usual womanly stuff. which are cleaning, cooking, and listing to everything that has to say. that’s another tradition men need to let go of.

the reading and the video combined helpt me understand privilege in more depth. anything that considers having something someone else doesn’t have is considered a privilege and we need to understand that we are all privileged in many ways we think we aren’t. reading Marilyn also helps me understand a word that I didn’t know which was oppression. im glad that I had the chance to understand the reading and open my mind to think bigger.

to my definition “feminist politics where we stand” means that men and women aren’t standing together because it’s more about who’s sexist than feminism. before I read this reading I already had an idea of feminism. I’ve been taught by my family members that feminism is all about how men see women as tools and that women should be doing what “women are supposed to be doing in the house.” we’ve been trying to educate men and women to know more about feminism and how this is something important for the generation to come. women have been seen as tools that need to stay home and shouldn’t have a say in the world. because to them our opinion doesn’t matter. in “feminist politics where we stand” there was a quote that stated ” malles as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy, from the assumption that they are superior to females and should rule of us.” this quote I agree with because if men came to their sense they would know that women could outsmart them with an idea or decision making. they have a fear of losing their masculinity and letting women have all the control. this reading made me rethink my definition of feminism and sexism. i feel like I was able to learn a little more about it.

To my understanding im not very educated about sex&gender. but this is what I have in mind of what sex&gender mean based on my knowledge. the definition of sex& gender, it means that you are able to be whoever you want to be. We shouldn’t be afraid to express ourselves that makes us happy no matter what our sex&gender become. this generation that is rising up isn’t afraid of becoming someone they always wanted to be. this generation doesn’t care what the world has to say to them. our gender&sex means so much to us that we are able to express ourselves by switching up our clothing and doing things we’ve never done before. The article “sex&gender” taught me a lot of information that I didn’t know. this reading made me think outside of the box and not everything that’s on the internet or a family member tells me something or if a doctor tells me it’s going to be automatically true. people in this generation have a different definition of things and how they want to be seen, whether it’s being their gender or their sex.