GWS 101 blog

Jo Reger described her experience as a participant in a 2011 slut walk in Northampton, Massachusetts. A slut walk is a march that is meant to protest sexual violence and celebrate sexual empowerment. This was sparked by a comment made by a police officer who said that women who do not want to be victimized should not dress like sluts. This sparked a movement to empower and own women’s sexually through ending “slut shaming” and “sexual profiling.” This movement was renamed to “stomp and holler” after women of color had trouble with reclaiming the word slut. The stress was a result of a history of oppression, rape, and sexual exploitation.

The author pointed out a discrepancy with age and race when attending the march. The differences between present second and third wave feminists was described to a mother-daughter relationship, where the daughter did not want to listen to the mother’s advice or stories. Each separated from the other as a way of retaining their own identity. Younger participants screamed themselves hoarse and dressed with “provocative” clothing such as having bras as outerwear and visible garters. A statement to be able to public display themselves as sexual without fear of backlash.When a girl of 8/9 was seen in attendance, the author wished that she would not be exposed to such open sexuality. Then realized that there was an over focus on preventing girls from being exposed to depictions of sexuality that would continue the cycle of oppression.

Healthcare and LGBTQAI identities

Introduction Post-

The topic I am choosing to research is the negative treatment and stigma around sex work. 

Sex work is not limited to prostitution, although prostitution is a huge part of the sex work community. Other forms of sex work include adult films, pornography, stripping, camming, dominatrix, phone sex operating, and more. 

Historically, illegal and legal sex workers alike have not been treated fairly because of the jobs they do. Especially female and trans sex workers have been treated horribly and abused because of their work. It is seen as a shameful job to have, regardless of it being in high demand. It is common for people to disrespect sex workers, while still demanding their supply.

I’m interested in this topic because it hit’s home for me- and that’s all I will say. 

7th Post: GWS Reflection

I wanted to take a class that was out of my element. I wanted something that I was unfamiliar with, but that would interest me at the same time. This class has done that for me, but I can’t really see myself taking another course like this. Not that this class was boring, because it wasn’t. I don’t regret taking this course because it had taught me a lot. It has educated me in many topics that I didn’t even know existed. One major thing that I learned this semester was the basics of feminism. I never really understood what it really was until I took this course. My view of the world has changed a lot. I’ve learned that there are many different ways that people perceive things, but that there’s nothing we can do to change that. We can only make things better and try to fight it as much as we can. Well, that’s my personal opinion.

This class was my favorite one this year. All of the discussions, the laughter, and the realizations are priceless. I also wanted to take this class to educate others that haven’t received this education like I have, like my friends or boyfriend. I’ve learned that feminism is not just for women, its for everyone. It benefits women especially, but men too. I’ve also learned that not everyone completely benefits from the mainstream definition of feminism: “To make women equal to men.” There are men and women who live in poverty, and those women wouldn’t want to equal to those men.

Another huge concept I’ve learned that I can share is the waves of feminism. The first wave was women’s suffrage by being able to vote. The second wave was women being able to live out of the house, and go get a job like other men. The third wave of feminism is equal pay, slut shaming, and rape culture. I’m also proud to say that I convinced my boyfriend that he is a feminist. He actually said two weeks ago, “I am a first and second wave feminist.”

This class has also helped me realize just how messed up the world is, especially politics, and the legal system. It is set up so that the “failed” can fail even more, and the “superiors” just keep on rising up. For example, with the prison to pipeline system. Black students are getting the short end of the stick by doing the same things other students do, but getting into worse trouble because of it.

Thursday, April 7th UIC hosted a series screening and dialogue of Her Story. Her Story is a web series that follows the lives of two transwomen in L.A. at intersects the worlds of gayness, dating, addiction, all the while bringing in day to day pleasures and struggle of trans life. The series was wonderfully written and produced. I felt that it was intersectional and witty.

The discussion was very  much the highlight of the event for me. Seeing how the chemistry unfolded off screen was something that made the show that much more appealing. Jen Rishards, Angelica Ross, and Fawzia Mirza all gave such rounded and inclusive answers. They talked about the origins of the show and how the show was writing from real stories, produced by a lgbtq crew, and overall drew on the community. When asked about the way that the themes were chosen, Jen said when they never sat down with the idea of putting certain things into the show, “when we recognize the gasps, we fill them.”

As a queer Chicana, it made me eternally happy to see of color women playing important role. This intersection is something that when creating the content like this can often be marginalized. The idea that a white character was replaced by Fawzia because she was valued so much is interesting. Although I am happy that she was included I wonder whether the characters were written as mostly white to begin with?

On Tuesday, I went to listen to Alicia Garza, one of the co-creators of Black Lives Matter, speak about the movement and her involvement in it. She started off by stressing that “hashtags don’t start movements, people do.” Meaning that even though her and her sisters started the hashtag, does not mean they started the movement. Which is why they refer to themselves as “co-creators” to the movement. She made sure to let us know that the movement is much older than any of us. While the movement of black freedom has been going on for a while, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter came about from a love letter written by Alicia. She wrote the letter after George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin’s murderer, was found not guilty on all charges. Alicia said she wrote the letter in a time when black people needed love the most.

Alicia Garza and her sisters wanted to create a space where black people can resist state violence and anti-blackness. They wanted a space where black people can be free. However, the media takes it as the opposite. They are often called terrorists, police killers, ect., and are linked to any protest involving black people. While listening to Alicia, I found some specific things very interesting.

For starters, I loved the way she calls herself a co-creator. I learned how far back this movement goes, and even though the hashtag is newer, the things they are saying are not. The reaction to black freedom movements are not new either. The names they’re called and the way they’re portrayed in the media is just a way to discredit the movements. As Alicia said, they were born from a love letter but the right wants to make it seem they’re out here wildin’. One of my favorite things Alicia said was “demanding a better way to protect our communities isn’t anti-police, it’s pro-people.”

·Another thing I learned was about the usage of the term “black-on-black crime.” Alicia said that that term was created by a social worker to show how black communities are dysfunctional. When in reality, no one cares more about our communities than black people. We often call each other out to keep one another in place. It’s something I see, hear, and even do all the time but I never noticed exactly the bigger picture behind it. Also, Alicia pointed out that there is crime in every community, but only in black communities is there a special name for it. Which is why she prefers the term “inner-communal crime.”

“Street Harassment: Current and Promising Avenues for Researchers and Activists.”

For the 4th blog post, I chose Laura Logan’s piece about street harassment. This reading outlined the issue of street harassment. It attempted to define it, give relevant statistics, analyze its effect on women, and overall contribute to a better understanding of the problem.  

I felt that it was relevant because of an experience over the weekend. I was out with a friend, and he began to start yelling “you’re beautiful” at any woman he passed. I told him that it could be construed as street harassment, but he didn’t fully understand why, and thought he was doing something with good intention and helping boost self esteem for people. If anything, it potentially lowers it by making women feel that their worth, and what makes them noticed, is their outward beauty. 

The Feminine Mystique - by Betty Friedan

Summary 

We have done many readings in this class which I found very interesting. Although there is one in particular which caught my attention the most, which was The Feminine Mystique reading we did by Betty Friedan. Friedan talks about the expected roles of women during post World War II (1963). She discusses how the role of women during this time was to find a husband and raise a family along with the pressure of looking like ideal women with blonde hair and a thin figure. It also mentions how many women dropped out of college and stopped pursuing their own dream in order to have a family and be more ‘feminine.’

Many women were dealing with the psychological stress of not enjoying their suburban housewife role. They wanted something more than just that and society’s expectations made them feel guilty about it. The suffered the frustrations of living in a single income household. Women often wanted to go out there and get a job themselves but since society didn’t find that fit for them they were forced to live a life in which they often felt very unsatisfied. Friedan describes the unhappiness of the women during this time as “the problem that has no name.” Women during this time were taught to believe that wanting things like a career, education, independence and etc. were not feminine. She talks about how she interviewed women who had issues with their marriage, children, family and communities. She realized after interviewing many women that the many women in America who had conformed to the society’s ideal role for a women, had said things like “I feel empty somehow…incomplete (pg 274).” This shows how many women were starting to realize that just being a housewife was not good enough for them. They wanted to explore what was out there for them in terms of their individuality.  

Response

I made a personal connection to this reading because I cannot imagine what I would do if I was ‘forced’ to live a life in which all I could describe myself as is a housewife. While it would be great to have a family one day, I feel like there is so much I still want to achieve in life. I want to travel, meet people, learn as much as I can before I decided to settle down. And even when I decide to have a family, I will still continue with my career and help out financially. I feel that women need this sense of independence when it comes to protecting their individuality. Women need education as it only makes them stronger. It will help them get a career and support their family. When they have something that they can proudly call theirs, they will be happier in their marriage and be able to raise their children better and teach them new things everyday. I hope that from this reading everyone can learn that this ideal image of women during the post World War II time was not healthy because women felt the psychological stress of not being able to do anything more than just be a wife or a mother. They wanted something more, which lead to them being very unhappy. So I hope we can all learn from this and know that it is important for every person men and women to have an education, career and independence which will only make them better human beings. 

Body Positivity, Body Image and Body Peace

A four part series of Youtube videos by Annie Elainey explains her struggle with body dysmorphic disorder, her recovery process, intersectional body positivity and finally, finding body peace. In the first video Annie talks about her first experience with self-consciousness about her body at age 10 when her dad told her he would one day get her a nose job. She mentions the fact that girls as young as 5 years old are already experiencing body image issues. Annie goes on to talk about the causes of body dysmorphic disorder, body shaming, beauty as status and her recovery process. She says an important part of that process was unlearning and relearning damaging behaviors to her body image. Annie also encourages education through research, recording of that research, using social media and using Youtube to watch films. 

In the second video Annie says that she prefers the word antagonism instead of phobia because saying words like homophobia or transphobia suggests it is a serious mental illness when in reality it is not. Her recovery process consisted of getting rid of her scale, retraining her brain to notice and interrupt negative thoughts and use of meditation. An important idea she mentions is the idea that beauty is perceptive and everyone has a different idea of beauty. In the third video Annie talks about how many other issues such as fat-antagonism, body autonomy, racist double standards, ableism, ageism, gender inequality fall under issues of body positivity. Body positivity is respect for one’s own body and other people’s bodies. In the last video Annie emphasizes the idea that it is important to start with ending hate for your body. Loving yourself and feeling beautiful comes later but ending hate is the firsts step. Body peace is seeing oneself and other people’s bodies and feeling peaceful. She says that true peace is knowing our value isn’t in our bodies because they are just outer shells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46-kGMPqDbc&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clGYSF_WYBs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9xirR8fhzk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRvq2NGr0ag&feature=youtu.be

In the four videos that I watched, annieelainey talks about how she learned to advocate body positivity after she had personal experiences with feeling unhappy with her body. She said how she never really cared about what she looked like until her father told her he wanted to save up money to give her a nose job. This caused a spiraling, downhill effect where she began to hate the way she looked. She said that she would look at her belly, and think that other people thought she was pregnant.She thought people were disgusted by her all the time.

Eventually, she had a breakthrough with one of her teachers where she realized that she needed to stop hating her body. She tried things like telling herself she was beautiful for ever comment that was negative. She distanced herself from the media, unsubscribed to magazines, distanced herself from hateful people, and threw out her scale. She said that after a while, she began to feel happy again. She tried different things, went to parties, and began to advocate body positivity on the internet. She also takes a stand for transgender individuals, colored individuals, handicapped individuals, stating how it is incredible how Hollywood would employ straight or able people for roles that portray a transgender, or disabled person.

Before watching these videos, there were so many things that I did not know about body hatred. I just assumed it y they looked, and in a way, that’s not wrong. However, there is so much more to that.

I learned how terrible body dis morphia is. It makes a person obsessed their physical appearance, check themselves in the mirror all the time, makes them avoid social situations, and makes them constantly change their appearance, even if it doesn’t satisfy them. I never knew so many things went into body dis morphia disorder. Living in this day and age, where everything is recorded, uploaded, and submitted online, must be horrible for people with body dis morphia disorder. 

I also never knew how much hatred was focused on these people. The fact that annieelainey’s youtube account was deleted by fatagonists is incredible. I never even knew that fatagonists existed. I would think that a person that is telling others to love themselves, and to be hapy about themselves, would be welcomed by the rest of the world. However, I learned in the videos that there is so much hatred for different people of any kind. Sometime’s it’s not even hatred, but ignorance, that also does horrible damage to people. The way that Hollywood shuns actors and actresses that are disabled for that portray a disabled person almost seems like a slap in the face

Group 3

GWS  101

T R 2-3:15pm

Between The Lines: On Culture, Class, and Homophobia

The Other Heritage (Dijana)

The topic I chose to discuss is directly derived from the shared experience of Rosario Morales in “This Bridge Called My Back”. Morales talks about the voluntary separation between different groups of colored women, but more specifically, the separation of Latina and Black women in her neighborhood. Morales points out her mother’s own feelings toward the separation of the two races as a way to make her daughter seem “more white”. She anecdotes one of many instances in a grocery store: “I walk in straight and white into the store and say good morning in my see how white how upper class how refined and kind voice all crisp with consonants bristling with syllables… que hay de criticar will I do will I pass… not see me here beneath my skin” (130). As a child, she was taught to fear black men when they walked down the street, she was taught that black was not beautiful. But as she was taught to discriminate against her colored sisters, she herself was discriminated against by the people her mother pushed her to be more like. White mothers were teaching their daughters to fear Latino men when they walked down the street, and that Brown was not beautiful. She was at a divide, and she “forgot the other heritage”. She forgot that the pain she felt was similar to theirs. She forgot that she was treated as much of a sub-human as they were. She forgot that Black was not to fear. What were to fear were the people who shouted that any color other than white is not beautiful. Her story is, to me, its own theme in the book, because it is one of the many roots of systematic racism. White patriarch does not only divide two distinct groups of people from each other; it creates a jumble of populations pinned against populations. Whites are taught to look down on those who are not like them. The next closest race is taught to do the same, and the next until it creates a pyramid of racism and a difficult journey to remember the other heritage. Women of color, while they still like to fight for their own specific cultures, also like to stand by other populations of women of color. They find they have more in common with each other than not, and feel that that they have a duty to help each other out of the discriminative rut they are put into.

Black v. White Lesbianism (Krutika)

In “In Between The Lines: On Culture, Class, and Homophobia”, Beverly and Barbara, two black feminist women, were asked questions regarding lesbian separatism and the effects of feminism on colored and white lesbians during the 1980s. Black lesbian women were more likely to experience discrimination because they “didn’t have white skin or class privilege to fall back on (Moraga et al, 125)”. White lesbians have had to only deal with being homosexual in straight America, while black lesbian women and lesbian women of color were dealing with straight, white America. This has caused Black lesbian women to be less open about their sexuality compared to white lesbians. Another big difference between the classes of lesbian women being addressed was views on men. Because of their “class privilege”, many white lesbians refused to sympathize with white men on anything and chose to lead separatist lifestyles. They believed they could only achieve self-sufficiency without the accompaniment of men. Black lesbian women and women of color, on the other hand, sympathized with men of their cultures because both genders were common targets for oppression. This has led to white women feeling like black women and women of color were too “male-identified” because they did, in fact, sympathize with their men. Barbara and Beverly admit, “They express anger at us for not seeing the light (Moraga et. al, 121-122)”. They felt that white, separatist women could not look past the idea that black and colored lesbian women were giving their men too much of the benefit of the doubt. They didn’t come together just because both races of women were lesbians. These were mainly lesbian separatist groups that thought that oppression and sexism was caused by men only therefore they would isolate themselves from associating with men. Some believed if men no longer were in charge and didn’t have so much power over things, racism would not be an issue. Compared to the 1980s, I feel that gender oppression issues and racism also along with issues regarding sexuality have improved a lot although they still do exist. People have become more open and sensitive or sympathetic when they come across situations that pertain to these intersectional topics. The reading also mentions how feminism and lesbianism go hand in hand and helped break the silence and secrecy. Educating people about these topics that are a part of so many people’s lives helps them to understand and sympathize toward people who struggle with being accepted by society because of their sexuality.

Chicana Lesbian Feminists (Adilene and Leslie)

The fact that Mirtha Quinones refers to herself as a “Latina lesbian feminist” shows how she separates herself from the other women of her class- she limits the amount of women who may relate her because of her specificity. She admits that she feels like a failure for not being able to relate with the white feminist and, therefore, must look for a unit with her Latina sisters. Something that often happens in our Latin community is that we do not speak up for ourselves among other races. The Latina lesbian feminist is oppressed, not only by other cultures and classes, but by her own culture. While the colored woman often acts for her male counterpart (as opposed to the white woman who feels she needs to rise above her male counterpart), she is silenced by the men of her community. She does not fit the mold of an authentic Latina wife- she cannot be equal to her men and she cannot reject her men romantically. The Latina lesbian feminist desperately wants to fight for the rights of her people, but how can she, when she is not considered a woman by the men in her life? She is left in between. The Latina lesbian feminist goes beyond getting accepted for sexual preference and instead stands on the abolishment of oppression. This particular group focuses on the need to be accepted as a Latina in the New World, as well as to be aware of others similar to her in surrounding areas- a struggle that is systematic all over America and even within the Latino community- a community set in traditional stereotypes of homophobic, patriarchal values.

  Bisexualism in Today’s World (Jessica and Ofelia)

According to Cheryl Clarke, in “In Between The Lines: Culture, Class, and Homophobia”, women who label themselves as bisexual sometimes feel safer than being identified as a lesbian because society will not judge them as harshly if they were to classify themselves only as lesbian. Clarke strongly believes that bisexual women have it easier when she writes “Bisexual is a safer label than lesbianism, for it posits the possibility of a relationship with a man, regardless of how infrequent or non-existent the female bisexual’s relationship with men might be” (130). In other words, Clarke believes that lesbian women have it tougher than bisexual women because they are only interested in their own gender, meaning society judges them the hardest since they are not interested in men or what society perceives as “normal”.

Although Clarke stated that it’s safer for women to identify themselves bisexual, that’s not always true. There are many real life examples of bisexual women who struggle to explain their sexual attraction to others because they fear the judgment from others. In some cases, it is much more complicated for a bisexual woman to express her sexual orientation because she is not fully accepted by others, nor is she understood. Bisexual women are seen as “confused” or not sure of what they want because of their interest in two very different genders. Real life examples of bisexual women argue with Clarke “People Think You’re Either a Cheater or a Swinger’: Bisexual Women Reveal the Frustrations of Being Attracted to Men and Women in Secret Confessions” by Annabel Fenwick Elliot. Bisexual women share that they wish they weren’t bisexual because it is hard to explain their sexuality to others. One woman states, “I hate being bisexual, I’d rather be fully straight or fully lesbian. It’s way harder to make people understand the in-between” (2016). The quote above states one of the biggest struggles that bisexual women go through when they express their sexual attraction. It is complicated for them to fully express their interests without being questioned or judged. A great example of a fictional character that could relate to this type of judgment would be “Piper Chapman” from the show Orange is the New Black (OITNB). In the show, Piper is engaged to her male fiancé, yet she is also interested in a woman. While she is interested in both genders, she does refuse to be open about it due to fear of discrimination. Piper’s situation is one that others can relate to, as she is and is afraid to express bisexual orientation.

Another very common struggle for bisexual women is the lack of trust by their partners because of their broad sexual orientation. Many partners fear being cheated on by their bisexual partner due to their possible desires for something they cannot necessarily fulfill.  

Bisexual women play a significant role to feminism and intersectional feminism because all woman should have the freedom to express who they are or who they want to be.

White-Washing Cultural Identity (Rahel)

“White-Wash” means to prevent people from learning the truth. For instance, people will say you are better (whiter) because you resemble us (white people). Thus, you are higher than original culture. So the reading is all about what class assumptions are made about “black people” by white feminists and its experience. They classify them based on their income level, stability of life, educational privilege and standard of living. One concrete example is, if they see black people earning money, taking care of their family and sending their kids to college, they are considered middle class. In one of the readings, Barbara mentions that in order for people to understand what our background is and to classify us, “they need to have a lot of comprehension about what Black life is all about.” Gender oppression relates to how men and women are always compared to the “middle/high class white society” mindset. This mindset places high value on heterosexual norms as well as “regular” culture gender norms. When a person is white-washed he or she is oppressed.

Homophobia in the Black Community (Ray)

In this section, what homophobia in the black community is mainly about is black women are becoming sensitive or sympathetic to the women’s movement. The reason that black women are so homophobic is that attraction repulsion thing, which causes them to speak out vociferously against lesbianism, if they don’t they may have to deal with their own deep feelings for women. Black women are more vulnerable to homophobic attack because they don’t have white skin privilege or class privilege to fall back on if somebody wants to start a smear campaign against them. This topic relates to gender oppression because black women are having a hard time sticking to the idea of gender norms. Just like how it is talked about in the black community how people are having a hard time sticking to gender norms, it is shown threw other races. Through the 80’s and 90’s people of the same gender were getting together. My cousin Leia, she is a bisexual and she has a girlfriend and she is only 19 years old.   The view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity is intersectional feminism and it relates to my topic because black women experience oppression almost every day. The advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men is feminism and my topic relates to feminism because the main idea of homophobia in the black community is women being sensitive to the women’s movement.

Works Cited

MailOnline, Annabel Fenwick Elliott for. “‘People Think You’re Either a Cheater or a Swinger’: Bisexual Women Reveal the Frustrations of Being Attracted to Men AND Women in Secret Confessions.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 26 June 2015. Web. 21 Feb.   2016.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3137474/Bisexual-women-reveal-frustrations-attracted-men-women-secret-confessions.html