Essentialism is the idea that sex, gender and race are biologically determining and natural. The film “Out in the Night” shows how the system of privileged and inequality functions when a group of African American, lesbian women get attacked by a white male. The dominant group of people maintains power through ideology and cultural beliefs that are embedded in our culture such as, laws, rules and regulations. The women are from an impoverished are in Newark, NJ, in which drugs, gangs and robberies are very common. Being the minority in a predominantly white, cisgender male society, the women grew up defensive. After going to the West Village and getting arrested for an attack, the media, police, and justice system used their race, class, and …show more content…
The prosecutor for the case claimed the attacker was unprovoked. The New York Police Department labeled the women as a gang. The media, police and justice system treated these women based on their intersectionality. Their gender, race and sexual identity were a dominant part by everyone who told the story. In courts’ verdict was that Terrain, Brown, Hill and Johnson were guilty. They were all considered as state property for the entirety of their sentence. While in prison, they couldn’t wear female boxers or shorts under their pants, which satisfies the gender norm for women. All of their time ranged from three to eleven years. They all tried to repeal their cases. Terrain did two years. Brown took a plea after two years. Renatta got out after three and a half years and lost custody of her son while in prison. she regained custody eight months after being released. The reason the jury convicted them for gang assault charges, is because the judge on the case explained that gang is like an orchestra, everyone is involved as an accessory. There was evidence withheld by the court and the media. That the police radioed that there was no blood in the stabbing and it wasn’t an action of a gang. The wound that was pictured by the news was not from the stabbing, but from exploratory surgery from a hernia found while in the hospital. In fact, the actual stab wound was very small and not …show more content…
It is seen through the media, government and ideologies. The institutionalism of racism has created the dominance of white people in the government and media. Within the government, they create laws and policies that favor the majority of people and have not created equality for minority groups. In the media, there majority of television shows and movies are cast by white cisgender people. as seen in the film, the new casters who inform the world of news, is represented by white individuals who give their one-sided opinion in regards to issues. Another factor of the people who have the opportunity to have opportunities within the media are people of the upper class. For example, the controversies our society had about Caitlin Jenner were rectified by her ability to tell her story on television. The speakers who came into class to discuss being transgender agreed that the story of Caitlin isn’t an accurate portrayal of the transition. Also, the fact that not one person of color was nominated for an academy award, showed controversy over how different the opportunities are between white and black people. they were able to speak their truth at the show, because of their fame and fortune and made the academy hear them and their concerns. If in the film, the Women could have told their story from their perspective without the court being skewed, they may not have been sent to
Rosario was very sad because she knew that Carlitos was suffering very much. There is a scene where Carlitos is talking to his mom and Rosario ask: “what do you need Carlitos?” and he answer “I need you.” This scene clearly shows up the child’s pain of being separated from his mother. But also the pain of the mother because she is not with his child. (Riggen)
Attending a predominantly white school, white people were very interested, or rather over interested, in the so-called black culture. Being in a space that had minority black people, oppression was felt on the highest level. Anything that may have remotely involved the black skin, was downplayed and undermined, and more cases than one, my voice was silenced. From this experience, I started realising that wherever I may go, the female black body was not correctly or remotely represented positively in the media and in general society. For many years, as a regular television watcher, I began to realise that the media and entertainment industry did not put black women in power or inspiration, but women who are needy, sexual objects or women who play second best to men. In my educational systems, I have not been exposed to black lectures or teachers enough, and I realised that we were not being correctly and rightfully represented. As a black body, I am aware that I occupy space in a white environment, and that much of what I do is under the scope of white supremacy. Much of the experiences I have at my university are very much related to my racial profiling, and my level of intelligence is marked according to how I look eternally. Daily, I am constantly reminded that I am black as if it is something to be ashamed of social elite environment. In the article written by Dill and Zambara,
During the twentieth century, people of color and women, suffered from various inequalities. W.E.B. Du Bois’ and Charlotte Perkins Gilman (formerly known as Charlotte Perkins Stetson), mention some of the concepts that illustrate the gender and racial divide during this time. In their books, The Soul of Black Folk and The Yellow Wallpaper, Du Bois’ and Gilman illustrate and explain issues of oppression, dismissal, and duality that are relevant to issues of race and gender.
She also continues to consider herself a transracial black woman, regardless if she meets the qualifications set by society or not. Her story has become such a big deal in the media because, for once, it’s not about a minority coming into this country and leaving their culture at the door. It’s about a White woman that was born with the luxury of having a choice and yet still chose to take on the tribulations of African Americans. The fact that this woman’s story is so mind-boggling for many Americans just proves that white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior and dominate society, still
For example, “Transgender face huge mostly unaddressed discrimination in education, employment, healthcare, and public benefit”. Transgender children end up in foster care or homeless. They can’t go to adult homeless shelter because they get turned down due to their identity. Youth face harassment and violence in schools that leads them to dropping out and difficult for them to pursue higher education because how society reacts around them. They face discrimination in work places because of their transition. It’s difficult for them to reach out for resources because they face discrimination or there’s not enough resources to help them find someone who will. Secondly, “During the Stonewall rebellion, sexual and gender outsiders were tired of being abused by cops, arrested for cross-dressing, beaten, raped for going to clubs/bar.” People of color and gendered outsiders were tired of being targets. They didn’t want cops to be abusing their powers and wanted legal protections. Transgender people faced discrimination where it makes it harder for them to get jobs, welfare, SSI, disability, etc. This relates back to the long battle for same sex marriage where recently it’s legal in the
Today, especially with the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, it is easy to believe that the fight for queer rights is something of the past, something that America as a whole moved beyond because we have achieved these rights. For example, the conclusion to Stonewall Uprising creates a sort of historical separation that allows anyone and everyone to believe that the United States and all the people within it have moved past homophobia, transphobia, and queerphobia. However, this is absolutely not a reality for many queer and trans people today, especially poor and/or incarcerated queer and trans people of color. The conclusion to Sarah Lamble’s “Retelling Racialized Violence, Remaking White Innocence” brings to light the issues affecting
Discrimination has always been prominent in mainstream society. Judgments are quickly formed based on one’s race, class, or gender. The idea that an individual’s self-worth is measured by their ethnicity or sexual preference has impacted the lives of many Americans. During the early colonial period, a social hierarchy was established with white landowners at the top and African-American slaves at the bottom. As equality movements have transpired, victims of discrimination have varied. In the late 1980’s when Paris is Burning was filmed, gay rights were still controversial in society. The lack of acceptance in conventional society created hardships in the lives of transgender women and gay men.
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level.
In Tina Grillo’s essay, Anti-Essentialism and Intersectionality, her claim is that when speaking about essentialism, and the experience of being an oppressed woman, “race and class can never be just ‘subtracted’ […]. The attempt to subtract race and class elevates white, middle-class experience into the norm, making it the prototypical experience” (19). In traditional feminism, feminist would approach a woman’s oppression by defining the essence of what it meant to be a woman. In order to create that definition, they had to look at a woman who didn’t suffer from any other oppressions whatsoever, other than simply being a woman. What that entailed was subtracting the essence of a woman’s race and class, which unfortunately meant taking any woman
This is due to what we have been spoon fed by the media, I don 't agree or like how people of color and gender are stereotyped but this article made me much more aware of how the media still has such an enormous impact on our racial decision. Whites were portrayed in a positive way just due to color and were provided so much more then blacks, such as schooling, reading, treatment and so much
One of the main critiques of essentialism in my opinion is from constructionism. They have a totally different perception of gender they argue that gender is produced and shaped by an individual’s natural and social surroundings. As Butler quotes Beauvoir ‘one is not born a woman, but, rather becomes one’ (Butler, 1999: 12). When I was younger, I wasn’t a completely girly baby it was what happened in my life and the way my parents and other people acted around me and towards me is what shaped my gender. When I was younger I was given feminine toys to play with, my clothes would be pink and I would always get told off for getting messy or making a mess with my food. This was different for my brother he was given more masculine toys always wore blue and if my brother made a mess no fuss was made. This made me feel that my gender is female. I have feminine biology but I think that, as a child, I wouldn’t have had such a big understanding about biological differences between men and women. So it was my social surrounding that had to play a major part in creating and shaping my gender and my understanding towards it. This critique is very important in the modern debate of gender because it takes into account the social environment which is n...
Society is filled with outcasts. Everywhere one looks, there is someone who is different and has been labeled as an outcast by the others around them. People fear disturbance of their regular lives, so they do their best to keep them free of people who could do just that. An example of this in our society is shown in people of color. Whites label people who do not look the same as them as and treat them as if they are less important as they are. The white people in our society, many times unconsciously, degrade people of color because they fear the intuition that they could cause in their everyday lives. Society creates outcasts when people are different from the “norm.”
In a world where the media and popular culture can either have a positive impact on us or take a toll on how situations and individuals are portrayed – one of which is social norms – by marginalizing a coalition of people based on race, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, gender etc. It has been evident that the media for a long time has fostered the dominance of social norms by constantly displaying subordinated groups like women, minorities, the LGBTQ community and the working class with less importance in our society or by classifying these groups with stereotypes and demeaning expectations. I would like to address the ways by which the intersection of race,
In today’s world, men and women are perceived equally by the society. In the past, authority and control define men while women are given the characteristic of helplessness. Men are able to get hold of high positions while women usually are subservient to them. In movies, we would usually see women portray roles that are degrading due to the stereotypical notions they associate with this gender group. Moulin Rouge, a movie set during the 1900s narrates the story of a courtesan woman, Satine, as she undergoes hardships to earn money, experiences love but unfortunately, due to her irrational choices, faces tragic consequences at the end. Satine is a symbol of how women are being treated by the society during the era before post-feminism, where men have superiority over women. As the plot develops, Satine transforms from a worthless prostitute to someone who is courageous and willing to face her fears in order to attain her aspirations. Psychoanalyst theory and feminist analysis are apparent throughout the film. The male gaze, fantasy and feminism are three topics that will be covered in depth in this essay through relating it to the movie.
In 2011, The Heinz Foundation commission a study entitled, Portrayal and Perception and it found that media bias existed and concluded that a disproportionate amount of Pittsburgh news coverage of African American men and boys focused on crime. The information retrieved from the study is less about sexuality or crime but that a bias toward a race and or a culture exist in such a pervasive manner that influences behavior on a number of different levels. It’s impossible to ignore the connection between the media and societal bias, it can’t be overlooked or minimized. It’s no secret that within the queer community that biases exist that can be quite difficult for a non-white male to overcome. By acknowledging the struggle within the gay community is to admit decades of exclusionary practices that prohibit gay blacks from being socially accepted within a small segment of society that affords openness and acceptance of ones sexuality. However, to a larger more dynamic struggle with race and gender related issues in our society goes unanswered because we refuse to admit that a problem exist. It would go a long way in tackling the problems, it we would simply admit that something is amiss. Being a champion for fairness and diversity in this complex universe takes real courage considering that the atmosphere is dominated by white males. Whether gay, queer or straight these striking similar community is similar in this