This weeks readings and video informed me a great deal about how abortion is seen in society today and how it has been a decision in the hands of others who aren’t even women but white men in power. In my opinion, the article “Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows” written by Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward was a very informative piece of writing that obviously teaches you about the initial theory on abortion and making it legal in fifty states however, it also informs you on what’s going on in current society and the supreme court today. I think the leaked document about Roe v. Wade being drafted by Samuel Alito was shocking. It’s in a way unbelievable to me that men are making decisions for women and their bodies without any experience of being a woman at all. I think people like Samuel Alito make abortion personal, they make their own personal opinions on abortion allow them to dictate their actions and how they feel towards it. It’s kind of like persuading others to feel how you feel or think how you think because you think you know better or more than everybody else. But, in my opinion, that’s not the case. Alito stated in the article, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from the bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.” I found this quote to be a bit shocking, the fact the Alito believes that the abortion debate has deepened division throughout our society is weird to me. Why does how we view abortion and how we go about it for the past decade or longer deepened division in our world? It doesn’t make sense to me. Why are men in power given so much leeway to make decisions for women and their bodies based on what they feel is right or ethical?. I learned from the readings this week what exactly is going on in the Supreme Court regarding abortion and the draft, the different types of abortions a woman can have (I didn’t know there was various types, I didn’t even know a miscarriage can count as an abortion), and how woman struggle in states where they make it harder for you to get an abortion or get funding for an abortion when you don’t have the money. The quote by bell hooks spoke to me, her idea that one is not an advocate of feminist politics if they are anti-abortion. I think that alone speaks a thousand words to what is happening in society today with the Supreme Court; most of these people in power are not advocates of feminist politics, they don’t truly support women because if they did they wouldn’t be anti-abortion, they wouldn’t be fighting tooth and nail for a law to be overturned. They would respect women, their bodies, and their decisions in which they choose to have a child or not. The thirteen minute documentary “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa” opened to my eyes on how hard it is for women to get abortions due to their different situations and the rules and regulations on funding for abortions based off of a questionnaire. It’s sad to me that these women get funding based on their situations, they don’t have the privilege of just automatically getting the funding or just using their insurance and walking into a clinic like Planned Parenthood. I think we often take for granted the privilege in certain states like New York where you can get an abortion no questions asked and if you don’t have insurance, clinics like Planned Parenthood can get you insurance right on the spot to pay for whatever services you may need that day or in the future. 

I chose this Ricardo Levins Morales piece “Environmental Justice” because it is based around such an important crucial topic of the environmental justice movement. As we know, there is still a constant battle to push for more environmentally friendly ways in which we can salvage our planet from the damage that has already been done. Ricardo Levins Morales was born into the anti-colonial movement in his native Puerto Rico and was later drawn into activism in Chicago when he moved with his family in 1967. Morales uses his art as a form of political medicine to support individuals, groups, or organizations that suffer from some sort of oppression or several different types of oppressions at once. This piece really spoke to me because not only the quote within the art is powerful but what the art is dissecting and representing the cause and effects of constantly polluting and destroying the planet. In this piece, there is a strong and powerful tidal wave caused by environmental destruction, native people including women, men, families, and young children standing up to this wave to fight for their land and overall, their planet. I think Morales’s overall message from this piece “Environmental Justice” is the fact that we need to speak up, stand out, and take action of the environmental justice movement, a social movement that seeks to address and address the inequitable distribution of environmental hazards among the poor and minorities.

The reading, “12 Reasons It Should Be Illegal for Doctors Not to Treat Trans People” written by Diana Tourjee is not only a crucial article for people to read but an informative one as well. Tourjee focuses on the unethical and inhumane actions being done towards transgendered individuals in the society just because they want to be able to go to the doctors when they feel sick. What surprised me throughout this reading was the whole thing if I’m being honest; I’ve been aware of the fact that trangendered individuals throughout history have had it hard but even saying that is an understatement to the obstacles and challenges they have gone through and continue to go through in society today. The fact that the HHS decided to determine if they wanted to effectively allow federally funded healthcare providers and insurers to legally deny care to transgender people is a representation of the ideology that trangendered people till this day are still not recognized, respected, and not seen as equal. 

The reading, “A Birth Story” written by Dana-Ain Davis, Cheyenne Varner, and LeConte J. Dill focuses on the birth story about a woman named Leconte J. Dill. Leconte wanted to share her story because she understands the power of reconstituting oneself after having experienced racism, in this case, obstetrics racism. Leconte is a forty year old, black, professional woman who had IVF; once Leconte became pregnant she started planning her life and birth ahead of time for the arrival of their baby girl. LeConte and her husband set up a birth support team that included two doulas and arrangements were made for nurse midwives to be at the hospital when LeConte planned to give birth. LeConte wanted a smooth, special, and memorable experience for her, her husband, and her baby girl during her birthing experience at the hospital. During LeConte’s pregnancy she was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia; therefore, her OB-GYN team wanted her to induce labor. During LeConte’s time at the hospital, she and her husband had several experiences that they viewed as radical caring and obstetric racism. LeConte experienced a nurse jabbing her arm over and over trying to find a vein, an anesthesiologist giving her too much epidural and making her dizzy, people pressuring her into having a c-section, and even moving her to a different story with no one to help besides her own husband. What surprised me while reading this article was how LeConte even experienced something like this at the most sensitive, important, and special part of her life along with her family’s. The idea that she left the hospital disconsolate, uncomfortable, and damaged from her experiences is a prime example of the continuous racism that leads society and will affect different aspects of society in obstructive ways. 

In the film, “Period. End of Sentence.” featured by Netflix was not only informative but a moving documentary that truly dives deep into not only the continuous stigma of menstruation but the way women in India have paved a new way for that stigma to begin to break down. What surprised me in this documentary was the fact that men in India did not know what a period was or what a pad was used for. The idea that these men have wives and children who are girls yet they do not know what a period is and that women get it once a month for the rest of their lives is mind boggling to me. What also shocked me was the fact that women in India were not only shy but ashamed of their periods and the fact that they had to change with cloths just found on places like the side of the road. The format in which these stories were shared; documentary and interview style helped me truly open my eyes to how not only women in India but in other third world countries as well are facing such medical oppression simply by not having the privacy to change while on their period in peace, the idea that they feel shy and ashamed of even having their periods, and the essential materials needed like pads or tampons are not available or even a thing in these countries. 

Personally, all both the reading materials and documentary all connect with the fact that people of all types; gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicicty, and even disability all face medical oppression in some way shape or form. Whether you are being denied the right to see a doctor because of how you identify yourself, whether you are being a black woman being faced in obstetric racism, or whether you’re a young girl living in a third world country with no access to support or help with their own bodies and the things they go through; you are being medically oppressed in some way shape or form.

After reading and watching the film I define activism to be an individual or a group of people who fight and promote for what they believe in while trying to create change whether it is socially, politically, economically, or environmentally. Activism promotes reform for the greater good and the benefit of people throughout society as a whole. The documentary I watched named “Knock Down The House” is about four female candidates that enter the 2018 race for Congress. The film focuses on four powerful women who aim to not only create change but pave a way for future generations of women to, if not follow their lead, also create positive change throughout the world that can benefit everybody. One specific female candidate the documentary focused on was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is an American politician and activist. Throughout the documentary, AOC is shown throughout her fight to win the 2018 race for Congress, the film focuses on not only who she is as a person but what she stands for, fights for, and wants to create change for. The activism I see throughout the film from AOC is her fight for Medicare for all, public safety, and more elevation in public schools and more advanced public education. A way I have engaged in activism is by protesting with other people my age throughout Manhattan for the Black Lives Matter protests, another way I have engaged in activism specifically around gender justice when a woman was being harassed outside of a bar because of the way she was dressed by another woman. Instead of also talking down to the woman who was “provocatively” dressed I stood up for her and expressed how women shouldn’t bash other women let alone judge them based on the fact of what they wear outside. Lastly, another way I have engaged in activism is by sticking up for a girl while I was waiting to go into my class, some random boys were joking and trying to clown her over the fact that she was a tomboy and dressed more like a boy then a girl. This really rubbed me the wrong way because I rarely ever dress like a “girl” as I love to shop in the men’s/boys section and wear baggy clothes and Jordan’s. I proceeded to use my voice and speak up for her because I feel as though she felt outnumbered and couldn’t speak up for herself. Some ways I feel as though I can engage in activism around gender justice is by joining and being a part of groups that support standing up for gender justice and being a part of protests that fight for men or women. 

Throughout the chapter, “The Power of Identity Politics” from Alicia Garza’s 2020 book goes into detail regarding the explanation of identity politics, how it was created, and why it is present throughout society. After reading the chapter, I’ve learned that identity politics is both simple and complex due to identity politics being demonized by American conservatives. The term “identity politics” comes from the last period of the civil rights and is used as a way to describe the experiences of people who are not white, heterosexual, cisgender men. Identity politics is a way of describing what it means to live outside exactly as what has been defined as the “norm” in the United States. As we know, throughout the United States, whiteness and white culture has been the main domain of America, meaning that white culture is the control and the norm which everything else is compared to. In the chapter Garza states, “Identity politics was developed by Black feminists who refused to be defined personally or politically by a set of standards that were not their own.” This describes who created identity politics; Black feminists created this because they wanted to focus on their own oppression which is embodied in the concept of identity polticis. Black feminists want to be identified by their own identities not based off the norm identity of America which is predominantly white. Black feminists wanted to seperate their racial identity and depict their worldview based on their experiences and history that promotes their own specific interests and concerns without regard to the interest or concerns of a larger political group.

Throughout the reading, “Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina” by Alechia Williams goes into depth about Williams’ own experience as a Latina and Black woman with a darker complexion. Williams describes her experiences throughout school to be uncomfortable, biased, and stereotypical as people judged her based off her dark skin, unknowingly aware that she is also mixed with Spanish. Williams states, “I’m learning to embrace every aspect of my identity and not let small minds put me in a box that just doesn’t fit. I’m Latina. I’m Black. Also, I’m human. No one can take that from me.” This powerful statement by Williams single-handedly depicts how she does not see herself as one type of identity but as multiple; therefore, the ideology that people have to put others in a box based off their skin tone, race, or background is improper and just simply incorrect. I learned throughout this reading that in the end Williams would rather be seen as just a human being rather than being put in a box that others labeled her as. I think this goes back to identity politics because in the end the people who are not a part of the control group; the people who are not white and do not come from white culture do not want to be intertwined with white culture but want to be seen, heard, and grouped as they are. 

A specific topic I would like to examine more throughout the remainder of the semester in class is the stories of women of color and how they have navigated their lives and identities throughout society. (If that makes sense).