Question 1: How do systems of privilege and oppression function in our society? How do we combat these systems?
In the reading “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, by Peggy McIntosh, McIntosh explains white privilege as “…in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group” (McIntosh, 1). A very classic and relevant example would be white privilege vs Black Lives Matter Movement. When a large group of white people gathered at The Capitol on January 6th, initially, they were just coined as a group of ‘peaceful protestors.” While flying the flags of “Proud Boys of America” and “Trump 2021” flags, the protestors started to lose control. Instead of being armed with tear gas and crowd control weapons, many of the Capitol Police just let the protestors walk straight on into the Capitol Buildings which ultimately became known as the Insurrection of January 6th. However, if we flipped the script around, whenever there was news about a BLM movement that was being organized, the local cops would arrive days in advance to put up barricades and show up in full armament they day of the protest. Even though the BLM protestors were more peaceful than the people who showed up at The Capitol, they were met with more hostility. The media would outright call the protestors at the BLM movements “Rioters and Looters” without hesitation, and they called the actual rioters at the January 6th Trump Rally “Peaceful Protestors.” And that, by example, is what white privilege is. Due to the pigment of your skin, it doesn’t mean you won’t face challenges in life, but rather you won’t have to face many of the other challenges in life that other people will have to face due to the color of their skin. We can combat these social privileges and oppression through constant education and push for reformation .
Question 2: What is the concept of intersectionality and why is it important in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies?
Intersectionality is when an idea or message is common and shared amongst other groups, race, movement, gender, etc. This is important for women’s gender, and sexuality studies because they each share a lot of the same goals. Not only that, they also help each other define one another due to the reason that they share a lot of commonality. And according the piece “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand” by Bell Hooks, Hooks defines feminism as, “Feminism is a range of social movements, political movements, and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes.” At the end of the day, all three of these studies are aiming for a common goal, equality and acceptance. And to be able to find commonality amongst one another is a great way to gain supporters and a better understanding.
Question 3: Why is it important to recognize patriarchy as a system and not an individual identity?
It is important to recognize patriarchy as a system instead of an individual identity because patriarchy is oppressive and it spans amongst many other groups, cultures, race, society, etc. It is not just a personal, unique issue a solo individual may have or experience. Once we recognize that patriarchy is a system trained into individuals practically at birth, only then can we start to break the wheels of this oppressive system and begin the change that we need. If we only look at patriarchy as an individualist issue, we will never change the actual issue.
Question 4: How is gender constructed and learned in our society? How do we perform gender?
In our society, gender is trained into us at birth. It can start from some things simply as clothing. Most of the time, for baby’s clothes, if its for male baby the clothing is blue and if its for a female baby the clothing is pink. It can also be taught to us through speech with phrases like “Be strong like a man” and “Run like a woman.” We perform our gender through our actions such as men cannot cry and is supposed to be able to do heavy lifting and women are supposed to show more emotions and be submissive. It is just one of the many ways we perform gender.
Question 5: What is the difference between sex and gender? How are sex and gender conflated (converged and confused) within our culture?
Gender is in reference to our innate sense of being meaning how we express ourselves and perform actions throughout society. It can either match up or be the total opposite of our sex. Sex is what we are biologically assigned at birth based on our physical characteristics (e.g. penis and vagina). Many times, gender and sex get confused because people think if you’re a male you have to behave like a man and like cars and if you’re a female you have to also be amazing at cooking and wear a nice dress. However, you can be male or female but express your gender in a whole other way.
Question 6: What is a double bind? How do double binds function within our society?
A double bind is a situation where a person is faced two hard demands and both of the demands are met with necessary but undesirable actions. An example would be if your romantic partner told you they don’t think that they are the right person to fulfill this romantic role anymore and that you should go find someone else. Double binds happen everyday in our lives! Especially in politics. We see more people pushing for a more diverse body in government to represent us (e.g. race, sex, gender, etc.) and yet, when people do push for a more diverse government body, many politicians and citizens give these said politicians a very hard time to put it in a nice way.
