What needs to change...

I was reading an article this morning for my sociology class from the American Sociological Review. The article is called "Antiblack Discrimination in Public Places," and it gives personal accounts of situations and experiences that African Americans have had that showcase the oppression they face in their everyday lives and how they deal with this discrimination. One section really caught my attention because it reminded me of something that we have talked about before in class (and in the blog!), relating to the oppression of women. The section in the article that I am referring to focused on the personal account of a middle-class African American woman who happens to be a professor at a major all-white university. Here is a chunk of what she said:

"…Because I’m a large black woman, and I don’t wear whatever class status I have, or whatever professional status [I have] in my appearance when I’m in the grocery store, I’m part of the mass of large black women shopping. For most whites, and even for some blacks, that translates into negative status. That means that they are free to treat me the way they treat most poor black people, because they can’t tell by looking at me that I differ from that."

The last sentence is what really caught my attention because, as writer Joe Feagin explains later in the article, when she says "they can’t tell by looking at me that I differ from that," she is talking about her status as a professor. I felt that her statement was strange because she is almost trying to separate herself from her race and from her fellow African Americans by saying that she is different from them and that she basically doesn’t deserve to be lumped into that category.

This reminded me of an earlier discussion we had about the oppression of women and how there is no way that we are ever going to be able to overcome oppression if we keep picking on each other and pointing out our differences. This woman is an African American, whether she realizes it or not. I know that being a professor gives her more status than the "poor black people" that she refers to, but I think she needs to join forces with the poor, rather than try to separate herself from them, in order to combat the oppression that they are all facing because of the color of their skin.

Two thoughts...

Yesterday’s class was amazing. Kate Bornstein made me think of new issues that relate to the idea of gender, and I feel like my mind has been opened even more than it was before. Prior to listening to her speak, I had never heard of anyone who was born a male, had gender reassignment surgery to become a female, but was attracted to women the entire time. This makes complete sense though because as she explained, she never felt like she was in the “right” body. I thought it was interesting how she doesn’t relate herself to one particular gender and how she strongly believes that she is neither of the genders. When she said this, I was curious to know how she would classify herself in the sex portion of a test or survey, where you are only given two choices and you have to pick one — male or female. I know that Kate prefers people to use the pronoun “she” when they refer to her, so maybe this means she would classify herself as a female in one of those pick-and-choose scenarios.

Now on a completely different note…

In my sociology class, we have been talking about gender inequality and today the topic of female genital mutilation came up. A person began talking about how some (if not all) of these mutilations are done to prevent the female from experiencing any sort of sexual pleasure (e.g. clitoridectomy). My professor then brought up the point that this is normal in the cultures that practice it and that females who aren’t circumcised are viewed as dirty by the rest of their community/society. He then asked us if we thought there was any difference between female genital mutilation and various types of plastic surgery that is performed in the United States, such as breast enlargement. I thought that this was an interesting comparison and I don’t know that I would have ever thought to connect the two. Many females in the class said that the two are completely different because choice is involved in plastic surgery. My professor had a good comeback to that comment by saying that in our society, women often don’t have a choice because of the pressure that is placed on them to conform to the "ideal" body image. He also added that, much like genital mutilation, women who get breast enlargements then aren’t able to experience any feeling or pleasure in that part of their body.

How do you feel about these comments? I’m not sure which side of this debate I agree with because we are comparing two different cultural practices and I feel like I have a bias to say that one is worse than the other. Do you think that these two practices are in anyway similar? Would you have ever thought to compare them to one another?

Stereotype Frustration

Yesterday when I was on my way to the dressing room in Target, I noticed a bunch of shirts displayed straight ahead, along the back wall of the men’s section. They were those solid-color t-shirts that have a saying written on them that is usually supposed to be funny. I stopped to read the shirts and was very frustrated by what I saw. The one that struck me the most was a bright green shirt that had a pair of stick people holding hands. You could tell by looking at the stick figures that they were supposed to be a bride and a groom. Underneath the picture, it said “Game Over.” I stood there feeling a little bit shocked for a moment, and I explained to my mom and my older sister the problem that I was having with the shirt.

I do not have any dreams or aspirations to get married because there are many aspects of marriage that I don’t agree with, so that was not the cause of my frustration. I felt that the shirt had the potential to perpetuate many of the gender stereotypes that surround us today, and that something like this could contribute to how males and females are socialized. This shirt, along with other equally terrible shirts, were hanging on the wall for the world to see, including little boys and girls who are still trying to figure out where their places are in our society. It shows them that this is how men view relationships and that their life is basically over when they get married or enter a commitment. It almost makes it seem acceptable to society because the message is printed on a t-shirt for a grown man.

This class has already changed the way that I view the world. I can’t go anywhere without noticing things like t-shirts and connecting them to the way that our society views masculinity, femininity, and gender. I feel much more aware of why things are the way that they are in our society.

Oppression

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the assigned sections in Race, Class, and Gender for next class. There were many interesting points that were brought up about how we all need to view race, class, and gender in relation to one another, rather than as separate entities. I liked seeing how the authors of each of these essays were talking about very specific and different types of oppression, but how when you take a step back and view the essays in relation to one another (like Marilyn Frye’s birdcage!), each of these people share the common problem that they are being excluded, for whatever reason, from the rest of society.

I found the essays about the oppression of women to be particularly intriguing. It was interesting to read about Cherrie Moraga’s definition of the "oppressor’s nightmare." She said, "It is not really difference the oppressor fears so much as similarity. He fears he will discover in himself the same aches, the same longings as those of the people he has shitted on…He fears the hatred, anger, and vengeance of those he has hurt" (33). I thought that this was an interesting idea, and I think I agree that the oppressor does have a tremendous amount of fear. The oppressor points out the differences between him/her and the oppressed person so that those characteristics will stand out more than the similarities, and so that the oppressor will remain the more privileged one in society. Moraga continues, "We women have a similar nightmare, for each of us in some way has been both oppressed and the oppressor. We are afraid to look at how we have failed each other" (33). This reminded me of a discussion we had in class about how women are never going to gain the proper respect from men and from society if we don’t stop picking on ourselves and pointing out each other’s differences. Even if our gender is the only thing that we have in common, that is still a place to start. We are both females and, because of that, we have had similar experiences in life even if our backgrounds are different.

I think that June Jordan summed this point up nicely. She said, "It is not only who you are…but what we can do for each other that will determine the connection" (42). We must stand up for each other, before society will stand up for us.