Blog 1: feminism

Beverly Andrea Gonzalez

Blog 1: feminism 

Prompt 1: To me feminism means a lot of things…in general  feminism to me is the equality of all women in all aspects of society. When I think of the word feminist, the first definition that comes to my mind is Chimamanda Ngozi’s definition, “a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of sexes.” The reason this is the first quote I think of is because this is the generalization of the concept of feminism. However, feminism goes beyond that definition. Another quote that helps me define feminism is Barbara Smith’s definition, “feminism is the political theory and practice that struggles to free all woman”. The reason why I connect Smith’s definition to feminism is because the movement is about the freedom of all woman and intersectionality plays a big role in that. Feminism advocates for woman with different stories, different backgrounds and different experiences. But most importantly what does not define feminism to me is woman advocating for woman’s rights who are men haters, bra-burners, ugly problematic women. The feminist movement Is so much more than that… 

Prompt 2: One of the topics that has been addressed in the feminist movement over the last 171 years that personally resonates to me is the right to a higher education. I come from a hispanic family which is culturally machista. Machismo is also known as having a strong sense of manliness, where women aren’t really known to be self-driven and independent. However, even though I come from a family with a machista background, growing up my dad always expressed how I needed to pursue a career and succeed in everything I did. Both my mother and my father stressed to me that I can never depend on a man to provide for me my whole life, so I needed to put my future in my own hands. My parents always pushed me to receive a higher education and attend college, to follow my dreams and succeed in what I did. However, as I previously mentioned I grew up in a hispanic family where machismo is very real… Growing up I witnessed many of my cousins not go to college and instead devote their lives to learn how to be a good stay at home woman even if that was not the future they aspired to have. Therefore the woman’s rights movement to make college education accessible for women resonates to my life immensely because I have witnessed my own family members being denied the right to a higher education by their own family. This topic also directly resonates with me because I am a huge advocate that everyone should pursue higher education. Learning about the women’s rights movement has really pushed me to be more grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had in my life, specifically the right to an education. 

Prompt 3: A woman who I believe has made a contribution to feminist society is Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter and a communist advocate. Kahlo’s work contributed to history through her paintings which portrayed important topics such as the identity of a woman. I specifically chose Frida Kahlo because she expresses feminism through her art work. Kahlo was often judged by the way she dressed and the way she presented herself in society. However, though her paintings Frida Kahlo went against societal norms and embraced the manly features she was often judged for such as her uni-brow and the excess facial hair that was and still is often seen as “manly” and “ugly”. Despite of what society had to say about her, she advocated self-love as a woman. The way Frida Kahlo portrays woman through her paintings really resonates with me, specifically because I am a Hispanic woman of color living in a country with a white-dominated society. Growing up I always compared myself to Caucasian girls, I wanted to be blonde and thin. However, when I was introduced to Frida Kahlo my thoughts on how I viewed myself took a radical change. Through her art I learned how to love myself and love my culture. I learned how to love my darker skin and love my curly hair and I no longer saw them as flaws. I aspire everyday to be the kind of feminist  that Frida Kahlo once was, a feminist who not only advocated for woman’s rights but also advocated for the love one one’s culture and identity of a hispanic woman.