In this week’s reading “Oppression”, Frye discusses the idea of the double bind in gender. This double bind refers to “Situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure or deprivation”. Frye uses this principle to apply to the gender and dilemma women face today. We all live in a society where it is neither acceptable for women to be sexually active or for them to be sexually inactive and labeled a “man-hater, bitch or upright”. If a woman is heterosexually active, she is so open to different condemnation from people and sometimes can be called different names like a “Whore, loose or unprincipled”. Women are always criticized and oppressed no matter the choice they make and choose whether right or wrong. Just like Frye said, “The punishment comes in the form of criticism, snide, and embarrassing remarks, being treated as an easy lay by men, and scorn from her more restrained female friends”. Also, if a woman abstains from heterosexual activity, she still gets harassed by men and pushed into it. “She is also subject to the presumption that she likes sex”. So even if a woman is heterosexually active or nonactive, she is still seen as someone wanting to be raped and can never win in the world of men. This absence of choice spread thoroughly into women’s day-to-day life that even small things like how they choose to dress, or talk are condemned or looked down on. Frye also addresses the fact that men do face issues but then differentiates the issues by using the words “birdcage”. Someone from our class by the name Heatherlee explains this through their snapshot. In their post, we see a picture of a birdcage with a woman locked inside and pleading for her freedom. It explains how women are caged in our society with less dignity, fundamental rights, and freedom to do what they feel is right for them. It also explains how women are been restricted from doing certain things, making certain choices and decisions. Every woman suffers from oppression and been oppressed sometimes feels like being caged and this can restrict their mobility.
According to Frye, men are the ones who generally benefit from women’s oppression. Like she said, “The boundary that sets apart women’s sphere is maintained and promoted by men generally for the benefit of men”. She also said that men are seen as superior and have the right to sexual access to any woman. No matter the class or race of any man, they have a wider range of pay and higher status work unlike women because “being a woman is a major factor to not having a better job, being a woman selects one as a likely victim of sexual assault or harassment, and as any women of any race or economic class, being a woman is significantly attached to whatever disadvantages and deprivation she suffers be they great or small”.
On the other hand, the article White privilege: “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh talks about the power of white privilege and the benefits been given to white people. “As a white person, they are told to see racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage and puts whites at an advantage. Being a white person gives them assets to whatever they want unlike non-whites who have to struggle to get those privileges too. She said, “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day and white privilege is also like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks”. Been a white set one aside for different opportunities and protection. As a white, you are being “protected from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence” unlike non-white who has less of those privileges. Also, according to Peggy “white people are taught to think that racism could end if white individuals hanged their attitudes and having a white skin in the United States opens many doors for white people only”.
