Emely De Los Angeles 

GWS 100 MIDTERM 

October 12, 2021 

Question 1: Privilege and oppression work hand in hand in today’s society. I always go back in history to thoroughly explain how privilege and oppression always narrow down to the root of racism and hiechary created with the white cis-gendered men. During the time of slavery the privileged were white rich cis-gender men, and since then, unfortunately not much has changed. These men were the ones with the most privilege, who were looked up to due to the fact that they had the funds to purchase slaves, had the “perfect life” with their wife in the kitchen alongside all their slave workers doing everything else for them. During this time, women weren’t allowed to work, get an education, or do anything else other than being a housewife where they would cook and clean for their families. Also during this time, the oppressed, or those who were treated like nothing were the POC slaves and the women, no matter their race. Because of this, we still like in a society where white men still have that same privilege, just masked in another way so that in legal society it isn’t frowned upon. If we look closely and pay attention to our surroundings, we would see that in the workplace the man would make more income than the women, even if they work the same exact position. It wasn’t until very recent history where we can see some ‘change’ where women were now allowed basic human rights like vote, go to school, and have actual jobs outside of the house. We can also see different unfortunate events where the oppressed still remain oppressed and are many times even wrongfully hurt by what we call authorities. In recent history, we have seen many rules and laws take action to prevent such things from happening and be a more “fair” society, however, those laws are masked to seem superficially appealing but in reality, have done absolutely nothing. Till this day, we see protests all over the country, where women and POC still have to fight for their basic human rights, like a say in what is done with their own reproductive system and protests against police brutality against POC. 

Question 2: Intersectionality is the connection between different categories such as race, class, gender, etc, and how they overlap in systems like discrimination and disadvantage. This concept takes a huge role in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies as these 3 categories can overlap a lot in society in systems where they have been unfortunately discriminated against. In one of the readings so far this semester, “Beyond The Gender Identity” By Alok Vaid, Alok shares a few points that give us a better understanding of how these categories in society have been pinned to be the main source for discrimination. In this reading, Alok explains how Alok explained how the bias and discrimination against this community are not only continuing but also being given a “green light” or the OK for it to be done with no consequence. Throughout the years there have been multiple rules and laws against discrimination with punishments that can lead up to jail time, however when it comes to the topic of women and gender binary that goes out the window and given little to no attention whatsoever. This topic is super important in this study because it not only shows us how these categories have been discriminated against, but it shows different examples of how it’s been done. I believe with the information we have gathered for this topic using the study of intersectionality, we can come together and make a difference in how we are viewed in society. 

Question 3: It is important we understand patriarchy as a system rather than individually because it comes to attack as a system and in the system, we are living by in this society. As mentioned in the reading “Patriarchy, the System, An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us” By Allan G. Johnson, when we think of “Patriarchy” we ALL automatically think of men’s privilege and their oppression of women. Unfortunately with time, the power of men never died down, it actually grew as they would reclaim the power of their ancestors and fight with the current laws established for equality to keep that patriarchy and oppressive side going.  If we take current society, we see how this patriarchy takes a role in things like sports, where it is extremely hard for women in the same exact sport as men to have any recognition or power of some sort and sometimes it’s even frowned upon. A great example of this is the NBA and the WNBA. A man in the NBA, in this case, Stephan Curry from the Golden State Warriors, signed a 4-year contract with the team for $215 Million dollars while in the WBA, Delle Donne, in a similar 4-year contract of $899,480. In this case, we cannot be mad at the individual team manager or those who create contracts but the system itself of patriarchy and how it works only in the favor of a certain category, men. Also, recognizing this as an individual identity will not get us far because we would not be going after the actual problem, we would simply be chasing the messenger. 

Question 4: In our society, the construct of gender is very close-minded. We have been taught that girls should play with barbies and boys should play with cars and have kept it at that for so long to the point where it’s hurting our comprehension of any other construct that can be brought to the table. For example, why has it been so hard for people in the LGBTQ+ community to come out? The fear they carry is not the fear of acceptance, it’s more so the fear of what can be done to them due to how they choose to identify and who they choose to love. In the reading, “Beyond The Gender Binary” By Alok Vaid, Alok explains how the majority of the conversations surrounding the topic of gender non-conforming and non-binary people, are mostly about peoples views and opinions on the topic rather than these people being able to open up about and sharing their personal experiences. This actively shows how even in places where these fold should feel free of pressure due to their identity, they still face the horrible spaces where they still can’t feel safe and comfortable in. It is important we realize that we as a society are far beyond the gender construct of boys and girls and barbies vs cars, and it’s time to understand that it’s ok to identify how you’d like and be comfortable doing what makes you happy without any consequences. 

Question 5: Sex refers to the anatomy and biological aspects of an individual, including sex chromosomes, organs, and external genitalia while gender refers to the social and cultural roles of males and females and what they are expected to do in society. For example, the social construct where men go to war, work, and be strong with little to no feelings, while the woman is at home, cooking and cleaning and being vulnerable. Because of such a construct, we see how there are some people who are way too bothered by men being feminine, painting their nails, or even showing the slightest window of vulnerability. Sex and gender have been confused in society due to how life was performed back in the day. In history, men went to war and were the “man of the house” because they brought home the income and were the strong figure in the house, while the women stayed behind cooking, cleaning, and being nurses for the men at war. Because of so many years living like this, the construct was passed down through generations, leading to the current society where we have finally been slowly able to break apart from this. Because it was passed down for so many years, individuals thought this was the way of life and anything other than that was super wrong when in reality there is nothing wrong with expressing how you feel without having to put labels on it or even make anyone feel any less of themselves for it.

 
Question 6: Double bind is the choice you are given where both options are set up so you are bound to lose. In history, we can see this happen around the time where slaves were “given” the right to vote. However, the only way they could vote was by passing a test and only if their grandfather was able to vote. This action was called the “Grandfathers Klaus” and we can see how double-bind took place at this moment because the only way these individuals would know how to take this exam was if they went to school and got some kind of education. However, given the history, we know they weren’t allowed an education due to being slaves so they were bound to fail this test. Also, we know that for their grandparents to vote, they couldn’t be POC or slaves, so there was no way they would have voted back then, also leading them to fail.  In today’s society, we see this happen, especially to the women gender where they are given the opportunity to do certain things, and work certain jobs, however when done so, they are super frowned upon and talked about in a very poor manner.