White Privilege, Oppression, And Class struggles

Audre Lorde is pretty upset about the un-acknowledgement of privilege, which can be frustrating especially if you feel like society is punishing you for your race, class, gender, and orientation. All of which affect Audre Lorde a 49 year old black lesbian mother of two. What seems to bother her most as well as many men and women is the homophobia amongst society in general and racial groups. It’s never fun to be discriminated against and especially not for no good reason at all. Acceptance is something that should be reflected in all societies and groups, and one of the issues Lorde brings up is a lot of people who fit into the mythical norm don’t seem to appreciate, understand, and acknowledge the struggles someone who isn’t white, financially stable, non-straight, and someone of a different religion has to go through every day.

Peggy McIntosh brings up the issue of white privilege. She brings up a good point, something I had never really thought about before. A lot of whites are taught not to really recognize or understand their own privilege. You can acknowledge that someone else might be less fortunate then you. You can understand or see the struggle maybe some non-white ethnicities and groups go through. However you don’t see that off the bat, you’ve got some pretty good advantages. They don’t see that cause and effect reality. If someone is being oppressed then someone else is coming out on top. Most whites though just see the being oppressed part and not really think about the privilege that comes with it. McIntosh also points out that the word ‘privilege’ can be misleading to a lot of people. Some think white privilege doesn’t exist because privilege is usually something you earn, but being white is something you are born in to. This confuses those who don’t understand that privilege isn’t necessarily something you earn but it can be something associated with you because it’s what society says is the “norm”. It’s a hard concept to explain but I believe McIntosh did a good job of exploring the themes and definitions of white privilege.

Marilyn Frye brings up another societal problem: oppression. Nobody likes to be oppressed. To be stepped on for whatever reason the oppressors deem you not fit to stand with them, it sucks. After the thousands of years humans have been around you would like we could learn to not hurt other people. I would argue that women are the largest oppressed group in the world. Half the population on Earth is women, and yet it seems almost every country and culture oppresses women in some manner. Some more than others, but severity isn’t the issue it’s the fact it exist. Frye goes into great detail about oppression and uses one of my favorite examples: the cage. If you haven’t be oppressed (granted everyone gets shunned, discriminated, or excluded in some for or another) but large scale oppression feels like being in a birdcage. You are trapped, you can’t move, you don’t want to be in the cage, and you’re punished for trying to escape. Another good example she uses is the road. If traffic is stopped up and lets say you are on a two lane road. Traffic on your side isn’t moving. You want to go around the barriers but society says you have to stay in that lane. You will receive punishment for trying to anything else. Go in the other lane: ticket. Go around on the right side: ticket. You want to get ahead but you are trapped. That is what I gathered oppression feels like.