Internalized Oppression — The big barrier to change
Continuing with this blog series aimed at understanding and realizing the barriers to social change and social equity, the past two posts discussed how patriarchal elements and toxic masculinity have become normalized in modern culture. In this particular post, I will try to take a nuanced look at a very important barrier, which is internalized oppression — and explore internalized sexism and internalized misogyny at the same time.
So, what is internalized oppression? Internalized oppression, according to social justice theory, occurs whenever an oppressed group adopts the methods of an oppressor group against itself. Essentially, it occurs when a group perceives an inequality of value with respect to another group and wishes to be like the more highly valued group.
Effectively, this acts as a self-hindrance to change. This can happen among immigrants with internalized xenophobia, racism against their own group, internalized homophobia (also known as internalized heterosexism) and of course internalized sexism — which will be the key focus of the blog. However, their effects are not limited to just stopping societal progress. Of course, the effects of these are tangible. Additionally, it leads to self-hatred, self-negation, as well as an unintentional hatred for the community the self belongs to.
Let’s pivot back to internalized sexism. Internalized sexism takes the form of sexist behaviours and attitudes enacted by women toward themselves or other women and girls. We’ve seen it, we know it. Usually, we call these women aunties, the woman who prods and suppresses other women’s voices. Why is it there? Women should encourage each other to achieve their best and push each other forward, right?
As a male author, let me clarify — I am not or cannot speak for all women, nor can I speak for a topic where it is their experiences that matter. However, this is an all too real phenomenon that I’ve seen numerous times in my own life. People don’t even realize it’s there, but it’s there all the same. Misogyny may creep into feminists who are not consciously aware of it. And the reason for that comes back to the culture and media. As a feminist, I would like to think I see everyone equally, as would any other feminist. Even when someone is a feminist, they may project sexist ideas, against other women, or even upon themselves, if they have internalized cultural elements of misogyny and sexism.
Almost every aspect of our lives — including the media — is geared towards degrading women, subtly or not so subtly. Even if they contradict your beliefs, the ideas get ingrained into our heads slowly. This sets an unhealthy precedent and makes it difficult to look at other women without tearing them down.
Internalized misogyny can take on many forms — from almost harmless to extremely dangerous. Putting down women based on their clothes and reactions to their physical appearance, judging women over their looks, and general views that harm the feminist movement, slut-shaming are just a few of the examples. Dolly Singh, one of the most popular female Indian YouTubers, gives her own take on a few of its forms in the video above. Sadly, most people do not even realize that they’re doing something sexist, or that they are pulling down other women.
As a result of internalized misogyny, the person on the other side feels very low in self-esteem, and may even normalize it. After all, the comment was made by a member of their social group. This holds true for all forms of self-community aggressions. In the case of self-misogyny, however, it imbibes into the culture, with the media and societal culture adding fuel to the fire. If not all women stand up for all women, it becomes harder to bring about the cultural progress we are hoping to see in society.
At the end of the day, it all starts with self-awareness and recognizing when you’re being sexist. I focused primarily on women in this post because it dealt with internalized sexism, but it goes without saying that men are responsible for normalizing sexist cultures as well. Self-awareness of your words, actions, and how they are interpreted is key. By standing by other women and fighting subtle sexist comments on a daily basis, we can teach not-so-aware men and women the appropriate boundaries to be considerate.
