By helping to organize the IWC, women’s liberation activists had the oppor-tunity to re-create their political intimacy with Southeast Asian women forlarger numbers of women who did not have the privilege or opportunity totravel to Asia and other parts of the world
This is really awesome!
went to school for 21 years and never heard about Third World people,about women, about lesbians and gays. I had no idea that there is a history of Asians in this country,a history of resistance and struggle, a history of culture and art. We have been censored out! Mypeople are invisible. Maybe we get a paragraph in American history books about being railroadworkers or about being interned during World War II. Maybe not
I grew up in CA and went to the public schools here, so thankfully I've never felt caught off guard by history I learned at the college level, however, I have friends from the South who had this exact experience (not learning about major US history topics that dealt with race and oppression, not having sex ed in schools). It's CRAZY to me that any school is able to operate in that way.
Themost general statement of our politics at the present time would bethat we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual,heterosexual, and class oppression, and see as our particular taskthe development of integrated analysis and practice based upon thefact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking.
This reading is so cool as Black feminism (and other feminisms like LGBT, Latina, etc) are all so different and really do require this type of explanation into how and why all these feminisms differ.
We refer to them colloquially as mommy manuals,even though they are marketed to parents in general, because they usuallyassume the reader is female.
"Mommy manuals" is such a funny way of putting this. I definitely see a connection in this sentence to the annotation I made on the other article from this week. There's so many people and books and podcasts and whatnot that want to tell people how they should parent and what kind of mother they should be, when in reality many of those people probably don't understand how complicated motherhood is.
like a goblin goody-goodyas he sneers from his booksthat suggest women shouldwholly sink themselves,douse themselves in the milk
This part is super interesting. I feel like this chunk kind of speaks on the judgement that comes with motherhood as well as the unreasonably high expectations mothers are held to.
“Conchita,” he wrote, “please forgive me for boring or bothering you but3 weeks ago I wrote you a letter and I am not certain if you received it or not for I havenot received any kind of response nor has the letter been returned. . . . I beg you . . . toplease respond . . . or say anything . . . [even] if it is true that you do not want to haveat least a friendship with me.”
This is so precious, the hopeless romantic in me absolutely LOVED reading this.
bitter resentment and raw-edgednerves, and blissful gratification and tendernes
I really love that the author is being completely vulnerable about her raw feelings towards motherhood. Often times it seems like there is so much judgement directed towards mothers if they have anything relatively negative to say about motherhood, so this line feels really empowering and freeing to me. I have so much respect for the author for including this.
Is rape my fault?Why do I get blamed for how I appear?orCan’tyou men controlyoursacredthrust?(Oh,but that’sright!You men haveun-controllableURGES and what I WEAR weakensyourrestraint............................................)Whenyou say thatI can’tdressthe way I wantto,a way that makesme feel confidentas an individualand a woman
This hits so hard given the recent conversations about rape apologists and people who find ways to justify rape (most of the time saying that women "deserve it" or "ask for it" given the clothing they wore that day).
"Gay Awareness Week."Movies, lectures, concerts and paneldiscussions were all designed to promotecommunication and awareness betweengay and non-gay people.
It's really cool and encouraging to read about the origin of gay pride style events! Given that there was and still is so much blind hatred, this is really nice to read.
whitemen don’ never see Black anybodies without some violent itch start up
This is so sad. I really like how straight forward this is, it points out just how ridiculous racism is and that there will truly never be any legitimate justification behind racist behaviors (because there is no scenario in which someone should see a minority person and automatically get hostile, unless that person is choosing a life of ignorance and hate).
it depressing how many young lesbians now feel that, because they donot perform or feel invested in conventional femininity, they can no longerbe women. And so they shift from identifying as lesbian women to straightmen. Compulsory heterosexuality all over again.”
This was a really interesting quote to read. I can not personally speak to this experience and I have never heard this thought process, so it's really eye opening to see just how harmful lesbian stereotyping can be.
During these croubloustimes her fourteen months old baby got sick.In her extremityMarthaagaintelephonedco her guardian for moneyas shecould geeno one to attend her child excepta negro doctor who, upon hear-ing of the notice in the newspaper,left the case. Mr. Hill refused co payManha any of her mone
It's extremely upsetting that racial stereotyping/hierarchies ran so deep that it impacted an individual's right to basic healthcare (though this still seems to be an issue today).
AMERICANIZATION THROUGH HOMEMAKING
This is a really funny heading to me. It's very clear that there was a certain way you should and shouldn't live life as an immigrant family in the United States. The fact that there is a way to "Americanize" homemaking is pretty ridiculous and further goes to show the extents to which white washing went in this time period.
kept showingup in new clothes, new names; then leaving
This line is pretty emotionally revealing.. It's interesting to read something from the perspective of a "bad" daughter. What makes her a bad daughter? Is she actually a bad person or was she labeled as "bad" because she was unwilling to fulfill a certain role that society/family expectations have for her?
Melodie George-Moore is a medicine woman for the Hupa people,mother, and teacher. Lois Risling is a Hupa elder, trained medicine woman,and educator.
It's so cool to read about the different roles women have in different cultures. Oftentimes women seem to play very integral roles in their cultural communities and it's amazing to see how well versed they are in a variety of areas.
Suicide Lane” after three girls killed themselves over a seven-day period.
This is so sad... It's amazing how suicide and mental health have been such a prevalent issue amongst young people since the 1910s and we still see so much denial of the validity of mental health support.
Being young, she tries codream anotherlife into existence,one in which her horizon isn't lim-ited to the maid's uniformand a white woman's dirty house. In thisother life,she wouldnot be required to take all the shit that no oneelsewouldacceptand pretend cobe graceful.
This is so devastating to read and is so true to the experience of WOC. It's really sad and disheartening to think that not only adult women had to face these realities, but that young girls did as well and that at such a young age they were so painfully aware of what their place in society was and would hope that one day that would not be the case.
Fertility hot on my heels like a Fury,and I at that young age in such a blind hurryto embrace the opposite of what was chaste.That's where you came in-You jellies,You douches, in white pliable tubeslike the family toothpaste. And You:cylindrical plastic applicator, squirtinga plume of contraceptive gooon a bathroom wallthat first night I fumbled with you.
This paragraph is so personal to the female experience and almost feels very nostalgic as it reminds us of what it was like to be confronted by puberty for the first time. I love how it is described as a "blind hurry" as this is such an accurate description and I think it really encapsulates how confusing it can be to suddenly transition from a girl to a woman without any warning.
Many ofthese laws were geared to ensuring that men would live up to their responsi-bilities as husbands and fathers, and that women would not forsake theirduties as wives and mothers, according to middle- class ideals
I think this quote is really interesting. While there were standards applied to both men and women in marriages it feels as though the standards applied to women were actually more forcibly applied by society than the standards for men. I think this does a nice job at showing the impacts of gender roles in society as well as the double standard that men often adopt.
Their songsrose out of wet laborand the woman smell of birth.
I really love this. I think this sentence is so well written and beautifully encapsulates the unique experience that women share.
Collecting information doesn’t require tests, and sharing that information doesn’t require grades.
Refreshing to hear this