Privilege, oppression, and intersectionality are words that have taken over the media over the past few years and, more importantly, the lives of innocent individuals. Privilege is a term regularly used to describe race, sex, and class disparities as it gives a particular category of people a natural advantage over another disadvantaging party. Because privilege is present amongst so many topics, it also relates to intersectionality as it impacts a wide variety of social groups and plays a role in many social issues. In the article written by Peggy McIntosh, privilege is used in terms of race as the author elaborates heavily on white privilege. White privilege can be described as the automatic advantage placed upon white people primarily because the structure of our institutions was designed for their benefit and the detriment of people of color. McIntosh brings up an essential point regarding taboos as, most often, those in positions of privilege are extremely comfortable and typically oblivious to their advantage. Therefore, those benefiting from such injustice try not to discuss their privilege, leading to the taboo culture surrounding such an unjust issue. McIntosh raises an excellent point contributing to this idea. She basically says white people do not acknowledge their privilege the same way males do not acknowledge theirs. When they do, why would that be something they want to be taken away from them? Anyone would want a head start; however, not enough people are compassionate about those they simultaneously disadvantage. Throughout the article, the metaphorical image of a knapsack is furthered as it symbolizes the heavy baggage people of color must carry to complete the same journey their white counterparts so effortlessly conquered.

Marilyn Frye elaborates on oppression on a slightly different level in a separate article as she breaks down the word oppression to examine its true meaning and effects. Frye brings the root word of oppression, “press,” to the reader’s attention as she describes it as reducing something in bulk. Thus, explaining the pressing matter of oppression on several levels, including race, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, and gender, especially since no human is exempt from social structures. Marilyn Frye also uses imagery and metaphorical language to further her claim as she compares a caged bird to the lives of the oppressed. Similar to white privilege, there are also two roles in oppression. There is the oppressor and the oppressed alongside a structure of systems weaponized and run by the oppressors. And once again, those in positions of power who are socially capable of doing the oppressing do not have much to complain about, which leads to a further lack of compassion and understanding for those in the position of the oppressed. Considering the roles can and will never be reversed, this article furthers the point that Black people will never amount to the mass power white people have, like the relationship between men and women and the wealthy and the poor. Both articles subconsciously support the fact that reverse racism does not exist simply because the roles will never be reversed, and the damage is already done.

Krysten’s snapshot takes a lighter tone on forces of oppression that are experienced by women but more specifically, women of color. Both excerpts, “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, speak on experiences that women may experience due to oppressive forces such as men having a societal advantage and socio-economic status but McIntosh speaks on the differences that race has despite women sharing the same oppressions. My approach on Krysten’s snapshot is that it can be related to both excerpts in the sense that white women have the ability to adjust themselves in order to make life much more tolerable, safe, and welcoming of them. On the other hand, women of color often have to shrink themselves and adjust or assimilate to what is socially acceptable to the white western norms, in order to facilitate their life experiences. It depicts the difference between what a white woman can get away with and what a woman of color cannot get away with, despite the hair style, in this case, being a part of their culture. White women have the privilege, the opportunity to reap the benefits of what it means to be white. As McIntosh expresses, “My skin color was an asset for any move I was educated to want to make. I could think of myself as belonging in major ways, and of making social systems work for me.”, supporting the argument that white women can in fact make changes that will benefit them. It also supports the argument that women of color do not have the luxury of speaking up for their own comfort and expecting benefits with such ease. I think this also leads to a level of insensitivity from society which again creates that barrier that exists within race, despite sharing oppressors and oppressions.

Now this is not to dismiss the oppression that all women experience, but making space for others to speak up and receive, rather than simply hope for, the same benefits is necessary. Just as Frye states, “Women are oppressed, as women… But men are not oppressed as men.”. I think it takes a level of noticing that men and women who benefit from oppressive factors need to be called out on their actions, such as cultural appropriation, so that they are conscious of what they have done. I also think this division between women is interesting because these norms and standards are set in place not just by western culture but by men as well, men who actively seek to remain in power. In Krysten’s snapshot, @symone_bee receives a comment from @avocadobaby stating, “That looks… unprofessional” and we can question why it would look unprofessional for @symone_bee but “so good” on @emily_rose, and again this is due to the standard set in most workplaces which are set up by men. Part of owning up to one’s actions includes educating oneself just like McIntosh does in expressing her privilege and all ways being white has benefitted her.

White privilege is the result of white people teaching one another to remain unaware of their privilege in order to deny its existence and avoid confronting the problem. Even when privilege is acknowledged, it is often used for one’s own benefit against the oppressed group more often than not. Historically privilege has been denied or accepted and used to harm others. This same concept goes for Male privilege. Unacknowledged privilege may be the result of not having the proper education on the subject or not being introduced to the concept of unearned privilege, but men are very much aware of their privilege historically and currently. Privilege’s existence is argued when individuals claim that it isn’t widespread but a handful of bad apples committing acts of racism or sexism. Despite racism and sexism being widespread issues that are perpetuated by people in power majority of the time, they refuse to admit to this simply because it would either force the oppressor to confront the accompanied guilt and or evenly distribute the social or economic power until they are no longer benefiting from said privileges. Instead, remaining ignorant (whether they honestly are or not) allows these structures to be reinforced and unchanged. Often if people are confronted with their privilege they will try to distance themselves from the group associated with the privilege, either by claiming it isn’t “all of them” or listing out financial and social struggles they have encountered throughout life. However individual struggles do not equate to being systematically oppressed in the same nature that a certain race or sex is oppressed. A common deflection is to try to downplay the issue of sexism and racism by saying that it was only individual experiences instead of a collective experience. Those with privilege, white or male or both need to do more than talk about it. Peggy McIntosh in their article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack talks about this,

“Disapproving of the systems won’t be enough to change them. I was taught to think that racism could end if white individuals hanged their attitudes.”  More needs to be done than feigning anger over privilege on social media platforms if they truly want to deconstruct or destroy the systems that give them the advantages in life that they were unfairly awarded because of something they were born with others were not. 

As a black woman I would love to have as many allies as there seems to be but the oppression I experience has molded me into critically thinking about who is a real ally and who is only using my social issues as an accessory. Being oppressed racially and because I am a woman requires me to analyze people’s approach to both feminism and Black Lives Matter. Over the past two years I did witness a huge wave of support for the movement, but I also witnessed how our deaths were aestheticized on the internet, almost as if BLM was becoming less of a movement and more of a “Hey I’m one of the good ones” badge for people to put in their bios, on their jackets, or wear our movement on their wrists, and that being the peak of their activism. The same goes for men who are self proclaimed feminists. As someone who was raised to have heavy distrust in men because of harm done to the women who raised me and the potential harm I could run into, I have found myself often wondering what were their motives for becoming a feminist and if it was only due to it being ‘trendy’ and beneficial to them or because they truly cared about women. I’ve encountered men who only respect women they are attracted to but claim to respect women, and this being a collective experience among my groups resulted in me coming to the conclusion that a good majority of those with white/male privilege despite saying that they are trying to dismantle it don’t actually mean it. Majority of the progress made and work is done by the oppressed. Junie mentioned in their response post that “Society tends to label black people, as criminals, drug dealers,  being a different color means not having the same rights as a white person, and that most people live on edge based on the fact that they don’t know if they will leave another because of the colored And they always have to pretend to be something they are not to be able to survive.” I can most definitely relate, being profiled in any business I enter was and is a lifelong experience. I would have to almost always present myself as someone of a higher class to avoid even worse treatment, and this idea was practiced throughout the entirety of my family. Dress nice when going to the hospital and they will treat you better, don’t go to the back of the store for long to avoid suspicion and accusations, speak a certain way when interacting with non black people. Behaviorally we were conditioned to present ourselves in a way that would apparently lessen our probability of being accused and murdered. However none of my non black friends ever had to worry about this, or grow up seeing people who looked like them getting turned into t-shirts and having their deaths immortalized on the internet.

GWS

9/22/21

Oppression 

“Privilege is the special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available to a particular person or group”. The experience of oppressed people is that the living of one’s life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable” as stated Marylyn Frye in Feminist Perspectives on women and men. 

I believe that there are different factors which contribute to oppression.  It is a wide spectrum and cannot be limited to one experience.  

I also have my own experience with oppression.  Growing up as a woman, I always heard people around me talking about how a woman should conduct herself.  I am from a religious background where there were strict rules in my church concerning women and how they should adorn themselves in public.  These rules include, no wearing of jewelry, pants or makeup, just to name a few.  There were no regulations for men other than no intimate relationship before marriage.  While rules are important to every organization to maintain proper behavior, some would find these to be oppressive.  For example, I remember one Sunday not long after I was baptised, my mom was at church and it was raining heavily, I did not attend church that Sunday. After the service, my mom called and asked me to bring an umbrella to the church for her. Before I got baptised, I was used to wearing shorts so I decided to wear shorts to bring the umbrella, not remembering that the church does not allow it.  When I arrived at the church there were people standing outside who came from the service.  One of them asked me why I wore shorts on the street since I now became a christian.  I felt like I was targeted, and that they in their position should understand that I was a child and also a new convert in the church, therefore the way they came at me was discouraging and uncalled for. 

Another place where oppression is found a lot is in the workplace.  My mother sometimes comes home and shares her experience at work during the day.  I would at times ask her how she handled it because it seems very nerve wracking.  She explained to me that these are some of the things that I will aslo face when I am on the job, because there will be people from different backgrounds and races who will not always agree with me.  However, I should not allow a person’s opinion of me to determine my performance, purpose and position in my job.  It is also found on the street, everyday there is another circular video on social media of people being treated unjustly.  These behaviours can affect a person negatively to a point where it causes anxiety or mental trauma.  Everyone experiences some form of intimidation at some point in their life, but whatever the cause of the situation that makes a person intimidate another, it should not be tolerated. 

9/23/2021

Gws 100-170W

Professor Waychoff 

Responding to Vanessa Lopez 

I agree with Vanessa Lopez’s picture. Her picture clearly indicates that the caucasian does not understand his privilege. Most often when we say Black lives matter, we are not saying that everyone lives are not important, but because African Americans are the ones being targeted we say Black lives matter. In my opinion caucasians try to take the focus of our problems to say all lives matter. In addition I feel like it is an offensive statement. It basically means that they don’t care about what is going on with us so they make it everyone else’s problem. This is a slogan and a social movement in response to racism and violence perpetrated against black people. When people, especially white people make these comments it shows that they are careless and insensitive. In addition they do not know their privilege as a caucasian man or a woman. If we are still using Black lives matter it clearly indicates that blacks are being killed, targeted and singled out all because of the color of their skin. 

l agree with Jenny’s snapshot where she showed a picture comparing the consequences that a black to what a white man face in reality. The picture is the perfect example of white privilege because a black man can commit the same crime as a white man and get 25 to life while a white man only face 2 years, just because of privilege.

It’s so obvious that white privilege still exists till this day. Based on Peggy McIntosh, “Whether I used checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.” This quote grasped my attention because I feel like I had so many debates about this topic in the past. To exemplify, a black man driving in the most expensive car on regular speed is most likely to get pulled over by the police than the white man who have the same exact car but is going over the speed limit. Also, a black man going into an expensive store is looked at funny but the white man looks like it’s the norm, things like this is what we call white privilege. Another example that I have that is mind blowing have to be what black individuals have to do while filling out job applications. An individual that is black is most likely to get an interview when they select “other” or “rather not specify” on a application that is asking them if they’re hispanic, black or caucasian.

Based on Peggy McIntosh, “If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.” This exemplify one of the many “qualities” of white privilege. If a white man gets pulled over he’ll know it isn’t for his race, but if a black man gets pulled over society shows him that it’s because of his race, and he’s taught to “place both hands on the steering wheel because of fear of being killed for reaching for his license and registration. A black man is taught to FEAR the police, while a white man don’t have to be taught about the police because of white privilege of course.

Lastly, Peggy McIntosh said something that opened my eyes, “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, no invisible systems conferring dominance of my group.” I agree with this 100%. some people feel like just because a person is white, that person is considered a racist individual, even though they’re privileged.

9/23/2021

Gws 100-170W

Professor Waychoff 

                                                      White Privilege

What is white privilege? What is a privilege?

A privilege is when someone has the advantage of doing certain things. In my definition privilege is when someone has a special right that people rarely have. Now white privilege is when white people have more advantages than  African americans. In this case they are privileged because of the color of their skin. An example of this is back in the days when we had segregation. Many caucasians had the privilege to attend beautiful schools, drink at very clean water fountains, and the best restaurants built from the ground up. Meanwhile, African Americans were not given this privilege. They would always have a dirty water fountain, and very small cluttered restaurants etc… Another example of white privilege is when caucasians get treated very well by the police, while blacks get slammed to the ground, shot, tasered, and stomped on. In addition African Americans would spend years in jail while a white person would spend only a couple of years for the same crime. 

Another example of a privilege is light skin privilege. Light Skinned and dark skins have been talked about the most for years now. Like white or caucasian people, light skin women are privileged as well for being a lighter complexion. For instance many light skins receive compliments on their body and their features while dark skin women would be called too dark and too ugly. This is something that African Americans experience too. We were not considered beautiful. Therefore we would never be in magazines. Instead slim caucasian women with a small nose will be called beautiful and often be put on the cover of a magazine. Finally there was a youtube video that was going viral that many youtubers did a couple of months ago. The name of the video is called “ Smash or pass”. It’s where a bunch of males and females line up and they say whether or not they would sleep with them or pass them. In some of these videos most of the men were very disrespectful to the dark skin women. They would even ask them questions like “ why are you so black” which  made the women very uncomfortable. Meanwhile they would barely pass or say anything negative to the light skinned women. 

I really like Safiya’s demonstration of white privilege and racial inequities. It’s a shame that black children have to be exposed to violence against their own people so early on. It’s even worse when the parent deems it necessarily for their safety. Young black men and women get brutality murdered by the police for unjust causes at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, at the same age that children of color are taught about the many ways their lives could be endangered, white boys and girls are taught about “the birds and the bees”. That dichotomy is extremely jarring but it can be perfectly explained by Peggy McIntosh’s, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” where they speak about how, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.” It is things like these that let white kids stay innocent and in many ways, oblivious to their privileges up until adulthood and for many, their entire lives. White people inherit these privileges as soon they are born, unlike POC’s who’s skin color poses disadvantages that aren’t deserved. Human rights are about making sure that things are not only equal, but fair as well.

I agree on Vanessa Lopez snapshot because the picture really show people that how they think that all lives matter thing doesn’t really prove anything that what have colored people skin had went through. I remember the time when people started saying all lives matter when George Floyd died the Black Live Movement when people started to protest of how he had died from policeman handcuffed him and pinned to the ground by the knee. Many people flighted for his equal rights and they aren’t trying to ask for special treatment overall they are trying to rights to keep them safe and make things fair. But things went a bit too far so much stores got robbed and things were taken. While for the white people they don’t have to ask for freedom while have them and could do anything they wanted and for example when a white person try to rob or kill nothing would happen to them which makes things so unequal and they can get away with many thing’s. While a Black person did something or they didn’t do they get accuse of doing it. As a community we should be able to help each other out instead of being racist in general school, working, and having fun in the park and so there is a place for everyone. While I read the white privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack tells me about women of color ”After I realize the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.” As a women it tells us that no matter how hard and the same hours we work and we would always be payed less than men. While being a women I felt like this world is not as good as we think we face many things like rape, getting judge of how we wear, need to sit correctly and the way we sit. How we have to wear dress and soft too. I remember the time where random guy/strangers ask me to have a drink but I was so uncomfortable and I had to distract him so much I was close to home but didn’t want him to know where I live so I make him go that was he touch my body and hold my hands super tight I had to do something I was scared that I would have died this day because of what he done to me he also asked for sex and dragged me and I got scared. I never go home that late till that day even though I didn’t even went home late it was only 7 and that person was so random appear out of no where. And my parents got me pepper spray because of this situation that happened and I escaped because these people appear he let go of me i started to run for my life. I experience it so that is why I am scared when I go outside by myself I was so careful.