What do you need to know about in order to contextualize and discuss your subject? Meaning, what academic subjects does your project relate to? Through research at the library and on the web, identify the different facets of your project, including whether it concerns contemporary news/events, race, gender, sexuality, history, important countries (the US, India, China, etc.), social status/class, media (which media? film, broadcast tv, streaming shows, social media) and any other salient factors.

The hypersexualization of black women’s bodies has been a subject fought through the years since the 1600s when slave women and children were put on display due to their large buttocks, lips, and hips. Since then, the image of black women in the United states and all over the world has been coveted for their sex appeal, while simultaniously being mocked and ridiculed through history. According to Connie Johnson’s research, “images of minority women are distorted to fit the dominant group’s ideals and cultural relevance, which affect the identity of minority women.”(5). Johnson’s research on this subject focuses mainly on magazines, where black women were seen as being representative of only 4.7% of images. These images, though low, have a huge impact on black girls who are being fed this white washed image of those of their race throughout their lives. Featurism was very obviously applied in these select few women, as select black features deemed as unattractive such as large noses and kinky-curly hair were ostracized. The featurism and hypersexualization of certain features are still shown today, where social media plays a big part in it. Things such as “blackfishing”, a term made up by black twitter to represent white women who use select black features as a dressing tool for likes and attention, are still in use today. White influencers on social media are known to get lip injections to plump their lips up, melatonin injections to make their skin darker, and surgery in order to give the appearance of rounder buttocks. This sends the message that black women are only accepted in this society if body parts that are hypersexualized by men and women alike are present. This also gives the impression that while black women are looked down upon for having these features, women of other racial groups will be praised and given more opportunities because of these same features. 

During this semester, I’ve learned a lot about feminism. I gained a lot of insight on what feminism actually is, instead of what society makes it out to be. I also read a lot of material that I enjoyed, and bought books that were recommended, to read in the future. The three posts/reading reviews that I have done that impacted me the most are blog posts 8, 11, and 13. Blog post 8 because it changed my outlook on feminism. The media always showed feminism as white women, whose agendas are for solely themselves. But this post showed me that there are people that want white feminists to be held accountable for their racism. Blog Post 11 impacted me because it enlightened me on the fact that gender is a performance. Everything we do, for the most part, is formed from societal practice and standards. Blog Post 13 introduced me to a book that changed my whole outlook in life. It showed me that people have it way worse than I do, and I should be grateful. It also emphasized the fact that people need help, especially children. Overall, these readings and others, have significantly impacted my life for the better.

The Tony Morrison book that I chose to read, is The Bluest Eye. The book starts with sisters Claudia and Frieda, who live in Ohio, with their parents. It is set at the end of the Great Depression, and the parents are working really hard to stay financially stable. They end up taking in a boy named Henry Washington, and a girl named Pecola, whose father tried to burn down their house. Pecola has a lot of self-hate and thinks that being white is the only beautiful. She believes that if she had blue eyes, she would be loved and have an easier life. When Pecola moves back in with her family, she goes through a lot of trauma. Her father is a drunk, and her mother doesn’t show too much emotion, and they end up physically fighting a lot. The book shows us that the parents have been through a lot of trauma in their lives. Her mother is disabled and has the same ideologies as Pecola, that love is reserved for the beautiful, and she’s ugly. Her father was abandoned by his parents and was raised by his great aunt. At one point, he ran away to find his father but was rejected by him. All in all, he has lost interest in life. Pecolas brother, Sammy, runs away all of the time, and Pecola is constantly teased by boys and former friends. She even gets called a “nasty little black bi***” by a woman. *SPOILER* Farther in the book, her father gets home and rapes her. She became unconscious, and when her mother finds her on the floor, she doesn’t believe what Pecola says happened to her and beats her. Later, it is found out by her parents that she is pregnant, and they actually want her to keep it. They use their saving to plant flowers and say that if the flowers live, the baby will live. Well, the flowers did not bloom, and the baby dies from being born too early. Her father ended up raping her for the second time, runs away, and dies. Pecola started to deteriorate mentally, and believes that she has “the bluest eyes”. A couple of connections to Playing in the Dark that I can make is the fact that she clearly stated the ethnicity of the character in her book. In her essay, she makes the point that in American literature, authors tend to omit the race of characters and leave out the important factor that is race, in historically based literature.

Material Feminism is feminism that focuses on the material conditions of the social world. According to the idea of material feminism, gender is a social construct, and gender roles are forced onto women. The goals, are to make it the social norm for women to be treated the same as men, economically and socially. The main strive is to target and focus on social change, rather than a change in the capitalist system. It also acknowledges that certain races and ethnicities are pressured to remain in their lower-income status, and the privileged remain privileged. The newest aspect added to this class is the focus on social changes, rather than systematic changes.

Judith Butler is talking about her belief that gender is a performance. She says that the performances of women are compelled and enforced by historical social practice. It was passed down from generation to generation because our actions are seen, reproduced, and internalized. Causing them to be repeated over and over again in a female and male separation.

The culture wars are a conflict between social groups, and the fight for dominance for their beliefs, values, etc. They have to do with feminism because there are a lot of cultural values that go against certain parts of it. For example, abortion rights and the idea that women are under men when it comes to every aspect of life.

To disidentify with something means that you don’t have any personal association with something or an experience. One time in my life that disidentified with something, is when I was in middle school, and some kids got caught stealing from a store. I was not apart of their group, but I was in the store, so I disidentified with them.

“We are challenging white feminists to be accountable for their racism because at the base we still want to believe that they really want freedom for all of us.”

I chose this passage because it stood out to me. This passage summarizes the whole text and an important factor in the feminist movement. Something called “intersectionality” is an explanation that all women have individualistic experiences when it comes to sexism. For example, the wage gap affects all women. But it more so affects women of color, adding on to their experience of sexism.

In order to use a Hypothesis to annotate a text, you have to first create an account. Then you have to click on the latest chat, click on visit annotations in context and read the article. Once you finish reading, highlight a passage, press the annotation button and write your annotation.

The women that led the women’s liberation movement were influenced greatly by the civil rights movement. The women were inspired by African Americans who came together to end discrimination and racist beliefs. They began to make organized protests, fashioned after the civil rights movement. They invented the word sexism, after the word racism, to show similar discriminatory ways a race and sex receive.