KaioKen5

PS: you can find them hanging on an end cap in the beauty or self hygiene aisle!

We started this discussion of labor by watching a video about plasma donations. In the video, we see a man working a presumably minimum wage job at Wendy’s and donating plasma in order to make ends meet. In the video, it states that people earn 30-40 dollars per donation. The man in the video like many other plasma donators has a family is doing this because he needs to support them. The one thing that was sad about this man was that he was hiding that fact that he was donating plasma from his family. This was definitely sad to see and to think that his plasma donation is probably going to someone who is way more fortunate than he is. This was definitely an eye opener and a different way to look at labor and what bodies are subjected to different forms of labor. In many cases, lower income and uneducated individuals are often the ones who are donating their bodies. The reward for this is little to nothing and most of the time these marginalized groups are not made better off after donating. The use of marginalized bodies is similar to the use of women and their bodies. Cooper & Waldby argue that women contribute towards maternal things but are often not given their reproductive rights. The article also talks about emotional labor and how in relationships, women are more likely to put more emotional work into the relationship compared to men. This goes back to societal norms of women being more caring, soft and nurturing, while men are supposed to be aggressive and stoic. Because of this, all things associated with women are seen to be less important and the labor put in goes unappreciated. In addition to learning about different bodies and labor, we discussed representation and how it plays a role in how certain individuals are perceived. As we know, without representation, there is room for error and for people to create false assumptions. This was exactly the case with Jazz Jennings and her Clean & Clear. In the ad, she is advertised as hyper-feminine. Also, Jazz is a very privileged trans individual and this sheds a false light on the trans experience. Many trans people have a hard time finding support and financial stability when going through their process. Jazz on the other hand had the help of her family and an entire reality show and other endorsements to give her a platform. Portraying Jazz’s story sends the idea that being trans is easy and effortless. This image is not helpful to those who may not be educated and make them believe that this is the reality of being trans.

In this unit we took a deeper look into transgender and disabled bodies and how they relate and are important to feminist theory. We start this unit with an article by Susan Stryker. In this article, Stryker seeks to define transgender studies and analyze some of the issues within the transgender community. Stryker defines transgender studies as anything that “disrupts, denaturalizes, rearticulates, and makes visible the normative linkages we generally assume to exist between the biological specificity of the sexually differentiated human body”. Essentially what she means is transgender studies can be seen as anything that doesn’t fit in the society norms or gender binaries. Also, in this article, Stryker talks about how intersectionality plays a role in transgender studies. As we have already learned in previous units, interlocking systems of oppression are very prevalent, and people cannot pick and choose which identity they want to represent. Stryker talks about this in relation to transgender studies. She states that class, race and even your location can make things harder as a transgender person.  In speaking about race and transgender studies, we also read another article by Marquis Bey. Bey discusses the difference between black feminism and black trans feminism. Some key components I picked up from this article was that inherently things are much harder when adding race into the picture. Transgender studies and movements already face backlash, but as Bey talks about in the article, black trans feminism is often overlooked. Bey also talks about how black feminism and black trans feminism is often put to the side by black men and instead black movements tend to focus solely on black men’s rights or just black people in general. Moving on, we discussed disability and pain and how that relates to feminist theory. Looking at disability studies in relation to feminism is quite interesting because it poses the question of who is really disabled. In class discussions we talked about how young, seemingly abled body women are not normally considered to be disabled. We watched a video were one woman visited multiple doctors and eventually had to go blind before they took her seriously and accurately diagnosed her. Also, in the video, we saw that many times, she was not taken seriously unless she was with her boyfriend. This is an issue because many women have gone untreated or misdiagnosed because of people who do not take their disabilities seriously. In some cases, people are just given medication in order for them to leave the doctor. Garland-Thompson discusses this in her article. She discusses how in many cases people feel that something is wrong with you if you have a disability and through the use of medication, you become normal again. I think this is a horrible and ignorant especially for people in the medical field to have this outlook towards disabled people. In the last article we read, we discuss the idea of the body mind and pain. The idea of body mind and that you cannot separate the two. The two have to coexist in some type of way because they inherently affect each other. We also discussed pain and how society views certain bodies as being more tolerant to pain. This is normally very racialized and inaccurate. The example we discussed in class was the idea of slave bodies and black women’s bodies. Dating back to slavery, black women were seen are being very strong and being able to labor and give birth. Because of this, there has been this stereotype that black women are inherently stronger and are able to deal with pain more than other races. This creates an issue because when black women are actually in pain, many times, they aren’t taken seriously. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit because we discussed some ideas that wouldn’t normally strike me as being a part of feminism theory. It was definitely eye opening to see how all these ideas come together and affect different bodies.

This unit was a very interesting one to analyze and learn about. We discussed transnational feminism and how it has an impact on women and girls across the globe. This unit was very refreshing to talk about because normally feminism focuses on women in America or more developed countries. I think it is important to see how other women in different parts of the world are affected. In Mohanty’s reading, she dives into the issues of globalization and capitalism. Mohanty talks about how globalization has affected women in other countries because we are not seeing things from their point of view. Instead, we look at things through a western, more modern lens. I think this is a significant point because this is something that the western world does quite often, especially in the United States. It is easy for us to look at others and feel like we need to make them be more like us because we feel that we have the best way of life. In America, many people feel the need to “save” individuals in other countries. I think what Mohanty wants us to do is to understand that not everyone’s struggles can be fixed with a cookie cutter westernized solution. Some things are unique and will require a new way to solve the issues and make progress. The next thing that I thought was interesting was Switzer’s analysis of The Girl Effect. First, I would just say that the videos by the Nike Foundation kind of give an example of how western culture tries to “fix” or “save” other cultures. The videos are basically advocating for girls to get an education and depicts this slippery slope effect of a girl getting her education, helping her country and overall helping the whole world. This puts a lot of pressure on girls in order to take control of their lives. This is very unrealistic because as we know, people with limited resources do not start on the same playing field and are disproportionately at a disadvantage. Switzer also talks about the durable and disposable girl. The durable girl is in my opinion a westernized character. She is the girl who gets her education, finds a husband, has kids and lives a good life. The disposable girl on the other hand struggles, possibly becomes pregnant at a young age and has little education. She is often overlooked and is inherently disposable to society. Looking at the two also creates an issue. Both the durable and disposable girls are hypersexualized. The durable girl is only expected to find a husband and bear children; this is seen as her only purpose. Likewise, the disposable girl is sexualized at a young age and can never really escape the stigma. Also, when looking at the durable girl, it makes it seem as though, a woman can only be with a man in order for her to a woman (heteronormativity). Lastly, we discussed Narayan piece and she basically states the same thing, but she focuses more on the U.S. She states that a lot of time in America, we tend to believe the worst about other countries and tend to want to “save them”. I think overall this unit was great to look deeper into western society and how we can fight for equality as women, but still oppress women in other countries knowingly and unknowingly.

It’s no secret that in many urban cities, gentrification is starting to become more prevalent. From one perspective you can say that gentrification is a good thing because inner cities and areas that need renovation are getting the help they need. But then from another perspective, once these renovations are made, the residents living there are pushed out by people who desire the newer, more chic area. The old residents are then pushed out into areas that are seen to be less desirable and normally they stay in those areas. This in a sense creates a border between the less desirable areas/ghettos and the newer urban rich areas. In Anzaldua’s article, she talks about borders and how they can take many different forms. Of course, we have physical borders but there are also mental borders that sometimes can cause more divide than physical borders. With gentrification I definitely feel that this is the case. The thought of being pushed out your home or neighborhood because newer, richer and younger people are moving has to take a psychological tole on people, especially minorities. Most people living in these neighborhoods are already struggling as is and then having to move around and disrupt their whole life can be detrimental. Also, the notion that one side of town is ghetto and the other is the “rich folks’ area” sends a message that you must stay in your place. It also sends a message that one group of people are superior because of class and socioeconomic status. Hall talks about this in the article about how the island of Hawaii was divided. The island was divided based off race and different areas were more or less expensive based on the type of people who lived there. This is a common theme that takes place in gentrification. The newly upgraded areas see a price increase in order push out certain groups and attract the target audience. Until reading the Naber article, I hadn’t really thought about how names can be used to discriminate against people. Naber discusses how certain names can be assigned to certain stereotypes and people judge based off names. The article also discusses how people try to avoid the use of these names because they know the stigma behind them. This can directly relate to gentrification because in many cases, landlords or housing authorities discriminate against renters/buyers based off their names. There are statistics that show that people with more African American or Latino sounding names get fewer callbacks in regard to apartments and houses. Also, stats show that these people are more likely to be shown units in less appealing neighborhoods. I know personally, in my family, people try to give their kids names that are pretty standard. There’s an underlying idea in the black community that if your child has a “ghetto” name then they will not succeed in life or be able to get a job. I think is just another was for society to try to divide people and keep people in check. Overall, gentrification can be analyzed in many different ways because it is so problematic but one of the biggest issues I see is the creation of mental and physical borders of people. We live in a society where we are already very much divided in every aspect of life, so I think it’s sad that we have to be divided in the places we live.

I think for many people on college campuses today, we deal with a lot of different things all at once. But even though as college students we all have that in common, we are still very individualized and face things that others wouldn’t understand. I would say for black students on predominantly white campuses, we face issues of intersectionality on a constant basis. One of the common themes from the Combahee River Collective is that one cannot separate their identities. These different identities come together and make you the person that you are. I see this a lot on campuses, because people are coming from all different backgrounds, races, religions and economic classes. I think on campuses, we judge each other and form our own opinions of people without knowing the various struggles a person may face based off their identity. For example, one may judge that someone is rich based of the clothes they wear or how they carry themselves. Adair talks about this in her article. She says the poverty is written on the body and that you are judge based of appearance. I definitely think this a thing that is common in college. And I believe this is why there is so much pressure on college students to conform because of the fear of being judged by your peers. I see this a lot as a black student at a predominantly white institution. Black students don’t necessarily feel a sense of belonging and try many things to fit in. One could include trying to showcase one identity over the other. This creates confusion and as Crenshaw discusses, people need to be able to see all their identities as one. A person shouldn’t have to choose one or the other in order to be accepted and be seen as worthy. I know speaking for myself, I personally have been confused on whether or not I wanted to showcase my blackness or me feminist side and it’s always a very hard choice for me. After reading the article in this unit, I feel more empowered and not have to choose anymore. I understand now that all of my identities coming together make me the person I am and if I was to leave one of my identities out, then I wouldn’t truly be showing the real me.

Over the years, holidays and special occasions have shifted a great deal from being about family, love and quality time into being more commercialized and competitive. With Valentine’s Day coming right around the corner, I’ve begun to explore how this holiday is not different and might actually be one of the worst. Let’s just start by saying, Valentine’s Day is probably one of my favorite holidays because you are able to show that special someone how much you love and appreciate. But for me a cis gender woman, this is easy to say. For others who are not cis gender, this holiday might cause fear because they may be afraid to go out in public with their significant other. Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays where you are kind of forced to express your gender, sex and ultimately your sexuality. It’s another social construct. As Judith Butler talks about in her article, if you act in the way that society wants you to, then you are fine, but once you step outside societal norms, you could easily be faced with discrimination and/or violence. Butler also talks about how gender is a performative act. I feel that Valentine’s Day is a perfect example of this. For example, men are expected to buy flowers, chocolate and oversized teddy bears for their wives, girlfriends or daughters.  Men are also expected to make the dinner reservations, open the doors, pull out the chairs and pay the bill. Women on the other hand are expected to dress up, fix their hair and makeup (usually some red lipstick is included) and be eye candy for the night. These repetitive acts eventually get old, but I feel that people are too afraid to challenge the status quo, so year after year it continues. The problem arises, when the performative acts differ or when the parties involved differ. For example, if a gay or lesbian couple decides to celebrate Valentines, then they have to figure out which role they want to play. Who wants to pay for dinner? Who wants to dress up? These are dilemmas faced every day for these couples. Also, there is a factor of scrutiny from the public eye. Dean Spade talks about the idea of making non-cis people feel like something is wrong with them. Spade talks about how people change their sex in order to fit into the societal norms and be more accepted. I’ve personally seen this happen first hand during Valentine’s Day. I had a friend who was in a lesbian relationship and her partner would dress more masculine presenting and she would wear a dress and heels, because this was more accepting out in public. And even though, they are expressing their sexuality, they still are performing the way society wants. So overall, I feel that Valentine’s Day in modern times has lost its true purpose which is for people to show their love for their significant other. If that isn’t something that everyone can do comfortably then maybe the holiday shouldn’t be something that is celebrated.

So recently, Senator Kamala Harris announced that she will be running for the presidential office in 2020. Some people are already coming out to discredit Harris by bringing up her past actions as a prosecutor. But for many women, especially women of color, her campaign is already being seen as a victory. A victory for the feminist movement and feminism as a whole. Despite her past and some of the shady laws that she helped put into place, I do feel that her campaign will be a win for feminism. Thus far presidents have all been males and as Ahmed states “feminism needs to be everywhere.” (Intro, pg 4) I believe a major part of feminist theory is women opening and branching out into different avenues. This creates a path for other women to come along and for the feminist movement to continue to progress. Another reason I feel Kamala’s race will be a win for women is because I believe she will bring to the forefront women’s rights and issues. Even if she doesn’t win the election, I think just bringing those issues to life and getting the conversation started will spark some change for women. I especially think that in today’s world “in which human is defined as man, we have to fight for women as women”. (Intro, pg 15) Essentially what that means, is we as women have to fight for our own rights and privileges and stop expecting others to do it for us. With all that being said, I’m very excited for the future and what will come of her campaign. If she does become the candidate to run, I will definitely be paying close attention to the media and debates and how she is portrayed. More than likely because she is a woman, she will be displayed as a feminist killjoy. The media will try to focus on any negative she has done and ignore any good that she plans to do. This will be especially true if she speaks out against issues facing women. Also adding in the fact that Kamala is a woman if color will be interesting to see the intersectionality of how she gets treated during the campaign. Bell Hooks talked about how society tries to silence black women and make them feel as those their ideas and words are inferior. So Kamala is also giving a voice to the community if black women who are censored and unheard everyday in America. Bell Hooks also speaks about feminism being accessible to all and everyone being able to understand what is happening. I think with this upcoming election and the use of social media and some many other outlets, women of all different backgrounds will be able to truly gain an understanding of the candidates and there politics and be able to make informed decisions when going to the polls to vote. Overall, I’m still on the fence about Kamala because I’m not sure if I can agree with some of her past practices, but from a feminist stand point, I think she is making a huge step for intersectionality in feminism. Many past waves of feminism only included white women who sometimes didn’t use their platform to benefit other women especially women of color. I believe with Kamala, she will do a better job of advocating for ALL women.