C’mon.. Who are we to judge?
Have you ever been bullied in your life, or been made fun of repeatedly to the point where it breaks you down from the inside? Many people in this world have experienced this type of abuse from narrow-minded people who wont let certain people live their lives their own way. These type of victims range from young children to grown adults, and have been going on for hundreds of years. Once you take into account for how much bad judgement there is around this world towards the gays, lesbians and transgenders, now imagine being in their shoes and living life like one everyday.
People usually think heroes are only in cartoons, movies, and comics, but after learning about Marsha P. Johnson in my philosophy class, I now look up to her as a hero myself. Marsha P. Johnson was a very interesting, yet revolutionary activist, a drag queen, a prostitute, a struggling actress, and was well known in Downtown NYC for being herself. Johnson had a very unique lifestyle which was embodied by her middle initial P, which stood for “Pay it no Mind,” which was also the title for the infamous documentary which has her friends tell stories about Johnson and how she was a hero, and idol, to everyone’s eyes.
In class, I have learned two types of bodies. One type was an activist / protesting body, and the other was called a docile body. A docile body is a body of a person, who is trained to act or think a certain way, and to be obedient of what type of values were taught into that person’s brain and to not be as open-minded to a point where they would think of other values or ways to which they are not accustomed to. While an activist body is one who has it in them to be resistant, a rebel, or someone who thinks out of the norm of society and tries to make a standpoint for who they are, or what meaning they have to give / offer to society. An example of an activist body would perfectly be Marsha P. Johnson. Johnson would be well-known in the streets of downtown NYC as a transgender who wears the most bright, extravagant outfits, and can not be easily mistaken. In class, we all came up with ideas that make up an activist or protesting body, and one trait that I retained very well was that an activist / protesting body is also known to break uniform appearance. Johnson clearly broke the normal appearance of one you would see walking the streets of New York City.
According to this article , “Homophobia includes the fear heterosexuals have of any homosexual feelings within themselves, any overt mannerisms or actions that would suggest homosexuality, and the resulting desire to suppress or stamp out homosexuality.” Marsha P. Johnson quickly faced this problem of homophobia everyday in New York with every little judgement she experiences. Johnson’s bravery to encourage people to be themselves made her a hero not only to my eyes, but to everyone who shares the same mindset as her.
