Oppression, Privilege, and Intersectionality

I hate being told that I cannot do something because of my looks, age, or any other physical attribute. Society is continuously placing limits on people and making them feel trapped or limited. Being limited is not the same thing as being oppressed, but when two pressures are being placed on someone, they may just be pushing on the limits of oppression. Oppression is the exercise of power that is burdensome, cruel, or used unjustly. In Marilyn Frye’s entry, she talks about what oppression is, how it is misused in the world today, and gives an analogy of what it is like to be oppressed- specifically, an oppressed woman.

Frye pinpoints that oppression is seen through experiences and the flaws that are brought forth by the pressures of society on an individual. I know women have a lot of pressure from society, as do men in this day and age, but allowing the pressures to dictate how a woman lives is when the line should be drawn. Men say that they are oppressed, but Frye wanted to focus on the aspects of women and how the little things that women do can dictate how the world views them: the way they dress or talk or the decisions they make. I can agree with what Frye says about women having pressures from all angles, and these pressures cause limits. They may not seem big, but if a female questions if she should wear a certain outfit due to the fear of being catcalled, then due to oppression, the female’s choice becomes difficult.

I enjoyed the analogy Frye gives about a birdcage, and how focusing on one aspect of a problem does not show the entire problem. Frye says, “It is perfectly obvious that the bird is surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers, no one of which would be the least hindrance to its flight, but which, by their relations to each other, are as confining as the solid walls of a dungeon” (Frye, p. 12). This analogy not only states that people need to take a step back before they approach a problem, but that people need to be prepared of how much is going on within the problem. Being a female, I do not enjoy feeling like I am stuck in a cage because of the pressures that try to keep me enclosed. I say try because Frye continues to state that people feel enclosed due to their internal choices. I refuse to let society oppress me, and place limits on me.

Privilege is seen as a favored state that implies power. The most popular known privilege is “white privilege.” Peggy McIntosh goes in depth about how white privilege is avoided to be taught, makes a list of what privileges she encounters because she is white, and ends with how society is oblivious to these behaviors. When McIntosh presents privilege, she introduces male privilege first, and then proceeds to introduce how whites are privileged over minorities. Since white people view our race as “average” and “ideal,” I think it is intriguing that McIntosh chooses to point out what her privileges are and chooses to admit that these are daily things that should be a privilege to all people. Every day, I know I do not leave my house in fear because I am scared that I am going to be in danger due to my skin color, but this is not the case for all people. Since this is not the case, white people do not know how these minorities feel, and we, as white privileged people, do not even realize the discrimination that is around us because we are ignorant in this knowledge- we simply do not know. I find it impossible to not want to know more on these issues that encase our society, and how someone could not use their “arbitrarily-awarded power to reconstruct power systems” (McIntosh).

I feel like people get offended over everything in this day and age: age, race, class, and even sex. Audre Lorde points out these differences in her insert, and makes very valid points on what actually separates us as a society. She states, “Certainly there are very real differences between us of race, age, and sex. But it is not those differences between us that are separating us. It is rather our refusal to recognize those differences” (Lorde, p. 1). I like how we are ending the week with this reading because I believe it wraps Frye and McIntosh’s writings up in one writing. Lorde points out how women specifically point out other women’s privileges, how minority writers are taken advantage of, and how our future should be altered by the actions society takes. I enjoy her writing. I enjoy the fact that Lorde takes different approaches to each topic, but lets her reader know who she is as an individual and where she stands without offending those that read. Like I said, I believe Lorde wraps up this week’s texts very well, and I enjoyed all of the reads.

Frye, Marilyn. “Oppression.” N.p.: Wadsworth, 2000. 10–16. Print.

McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Lorde, Audre. Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference. Apr. 1980.