Gender and Sexuality

Gender and Sexuality
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Gender and Sexuality
Marginalization is one of the problems that need immediate interventions bearing the impacts that it indulges society. Some people are marginalized almost in every aspect of today’s society. Such individuals live in the periphery of communities, and they are excluded from active participation in social, political, and economic activities like all the other members of that community. More daunting is the understanding that people are marginalized because of factors that they cannot choose, and neither can they avoid. Gender, sexuality, race, and geographical location of some people have contributed to them being excluded in the necessary discussions. The film Paris Is Burning by Jennie Livingstone is a testament to what it is to be marginalized on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Livingstone’s concerns are mirrored in Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash and ‘Gender’ for a Marxist Dictionary: The Sexual Politics of a Word by Donna Haraway. All the three works above explore aspects of marginalization that have compounded to trigger inequality in contemporary society. This paper employs three works above to analyze the misrepresentation of the LGBTQ community in America. The analysis is vital because it helps in developing strategies of reverting to the ideals of valuing every person no matter his/her uniqueness.
The three artists exploit different aspects of marginalization that the LGBTQ community keeps facing even amidst continued claims of changes. In her work, Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingstone (1990) explores how communities are skewed to marginalize people because of their sexual orientation. The documentary portrays structural ball competitions in which participants adhered to specific themes (Livingstone, 1990). In their walks, the contestants are judged on their ability to execute tasks matching their themes. The documentary is thematically anchored on the understanding that people can execute whatever their talents provide no matter their race, class, or sexuality. In her understanding, Livingstone insists that gays have not been accorded the right resources and opportunities to exploit their abilities. People’s judgment is with the difference that gays manifest that they cannot think that they are humans with similar strengths and weaknesses.
Livingstone’s inputs are mirrored by Donna Haraway in her publication. Donna Haraway delved into the sexual politics of the world and its impacts on segments of the community, including LGBTQ. In Donna’s understanding, marginalization on the grounds of sex or gender has been revitalized into an element of a political bargain. ...