In The Combahee River Collective Statement, the following quote is stated: “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 beginning part of the quote is referring to how black women were always looked down upon or put at the bottom of society. They are the most oppressed and don’t have the freedom that they deserve and need. If black women were free then that means the systems of oppression would be destroyed because it is the main reason as to why they haven’t gained their freedom. For black women to retrieve their freedom, a lot of change would have to be made including sexism, racism, discrimination, and equal rights as well.

The term “identity politics” is briefly talked about in The Combahee River Collective Statement. According to the text, identity politics is a very “repugnant, dangerous, threatening, and therefore revolutionary” concept due to the fact that black women are worthy of freedom. Identity politics is focusing on the oppression of black women and forming their own identity instead of working to stop other’s oppression. This is seen in Paris is Burning because even though everyone has their own dreams, morals, and individualities, they are still apart of a big community. The characters want to create freedom for one another as a group but are still fighting oppression at the same time.

Race and gender are directly related to capitalism in the sense that capitalism is divided into different social classes. Capitalism is an example of being unequal and putting individuals at certain levels based on a category. The same way that certain races and genders are underprivileged and don’t have equal rights as others may have. There is inequality within all of the categories of race, genders, sex, labor rights, and capitalism. Racial and gender oppression all coincide with capitalism, therefore, there wouldn’t be capitalism without any form of oppression unfortunately.

Reading both “The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi and “The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” by Anne Koedt has given me a deeper understanding of what liberated women are defined as. To begin, it needs to be understood that liberated women and Women’s Liberation are different according to Pat Mainardi. A liberated woman can be defined as a woman who doesn’t label herself like how society labels women and is independent because she gets what she wants and needs by herself. Mainardi defines Women’s Liberation as women who stay at home and do all the housework with no help from their husbands while a liberated woman is free to do what she pleases.

Liberated woman are an important puzzle piece for Women’s Liberation. Liberated women lead the path for other women to become more independent and not live by societies stereotypes of what a “women should and shouldn’t be doing”. Liberated women help make a change and set new expectations for women who are too scared to stand up against this judgmental world we live in. I hope one day all women are liberated.

“The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm” is another example of how even in sexual intercourse, ‘it’s always about the men’. Traditional sexual positions are mostly to please men, not women, therefore, leading to experts wrongly claiming that women who don’t have orgasms are “frigid”. Anne Koedt believes that sexual pleasure should be redefined in order to please both men and women, which I completely agree with. Sex should be about both parties participating, not just one.

Suffrage, labor rights, and the equal rights amendment are all correlated with each other. They all have to deal with people fighting for what they believe is right and help make a change based on the issue. The people fighting for these movements just want to be equal and get what they work hard for.

Labor rights are also issues of gender justice because there are many women who don’t get paid what they should and aren’t tried right in the workplace. Many people have a stereotype of women that they shouldn’t work or “aren’t capable”, when they are just as capable to work as men are. Plenty of women also get harassed or sexually assaulted in their place of work. They shouldn’t have to fear those things because a workplace should be a safe environment for all employees no matter the gender.

These issues are still happening in todays society all the time. Most women won’t get hired at a certain job because employers assume that they won’t be able to do the job, however, this is unfair because you don’t have to be a certain gender to do a specific job that any human being can accomplish. Everyone should get equal pay for equal work.

In the essay, “Feminist Politics Where We Stand”, Bell Hooks definition of feminism is “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” My understanding of this definition is that Hooks wants people to know that feminism is to advocate women’s rights and gain equality. Many people may not know what feminism or being a feminist is and come up with their own interpretation that is usually wrong. There are plenty of feminists who “hate” men and paint a bad picture for the “real” feminists who want to help women achieve and fight for their rights.

Before reading what the accurate definition of “feminism” is, I wasn’t completely too sure what it was and why it was created but I knew it had something to do with us as women. I now know a more in depth meaning of feminism. “It does mean that it would be naive and wrong minded for feminist thinkers to see the movement as simplistically being for women against men.”(bottom of page 8 of introduction). I believe that more individuals should learn more about feminism, why it was created, and why its so important for people to help and stand up for women’s rights. Hooks continues to state that in feminism, the real problem is sexism and she doesn’t want people think that men are the enemy because that is no way the case. “To understand feminism it implies one has to necessarily understand sexism”(Page 1) Hooks believes that in order to get a deeper grasp and understanding of feminism, sexism needs to be understood fairly well. Hooks also talks about how most individuals learn about feminism through social media from “women who are primarily committed to gender equality”.

The reading “Sex and Gender 101” helped me understand what the difference between sex and gender is because many people think that they are the same thing however, they both have their own significant definitions. Sex is based on the anatomy and physiology of a person including sex organs, external genitalia, sex hormones, and sex chromosomes. Gender refers to the cultural roles made by society that male and females are expected to follow based on their sex. Before this reading, I wasn’t aware that gender can be broken down into three different categories: Gender assignment, gender identity, and gender expression. The social norms or characteristics that males are “supposed” to follow would include being strong, messy, not emotional, tough, athletic, etc. Where as females are expected to be submissive, delicate, caretakers, emotional, romantic, etc.

Hello everyone, my name is Nadia Jimenez. This is my last semester at BMCC majoring in psychology and will be going to Queens College hoping to get my bachelors. Me and my family are from Dominican Republic and have been living in Queens for most of my life. My pronouns are she/her. I am taking this course because I am very curious about what I will learn and what everyone’s opinions are on different topics that we go over.