I absolutely loved this week’s readings. As a person of color, I loved the reading “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh. In the reading, Peggy Mclntosh goes into depth about white privilege, the privilege she acknowledges she has, as well as the truth of how anyone who is not white has to endure on a daily basis. The second reading, “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye talks about the fight women have to constantly be in because of society. It is a struggle being a woman and a person of color in a society that judges both, and the readings this way made me feel understood and was speaking the things I personally think are true. 

I have learned about Peggy Mclntosh before, in my sociology class, I had taken. She is a famous influential individual in society. She understood that white privilege is present in society and decided to document the times throughout her daily routine she experiences white privilege. In the reading, we see a lot of times she experienced white privilege. Some of these documented times that touched me personally were numbers 4,10 and 3. Number 4 says, “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.” I can not count the number of times I have been followed around a store while I was shopping. It makes me extremely offended, upset, and embarrassing that I was experiencing this. How do I look like I’m going to shoplift? Because I’m Hispanic? Number 10 says, “Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.” I use to work as much as I could when I was younger, I had two jobs at one point. When I would go to banks to deposit money (cash or checks), I would be looked at suspiciously. I can see the question on their faces “how do I have so much money?” Lastly, number 3 says, “I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.” I have just experienced this number this past weekend. My family was throwing a party for my grandparents as they are celebrating their 49th-year anniversary. My grandparents own their own house on Staten Island and are nice people. Our neighbors left and right have a great relationship with my grandparents were invited to the party. We ordered mariachis for the party, and the police arrived at the house with their lights flashing. The police came not once, not twice… four times! A neighbor was un-neutral to us and unpleasant because we were celebrating with our culture! They tried stopping us from celebrating because we are people of color. When the police would arrive our neighbors who were invited had to speak to the police rather than us. That in itself is wrong. It made me feel inferior. I am happy that Peggy Mclntosh raises awareness of white privilege. She raises awareness that people choose to not recognize white privilege just like people choose to not recognize male privilege. 

In  “Oppression” Marilyn Frye explains the oppression that women experience. Society makes us act a certain way to fit its standards, we are constantly being judged. In the reading, Marilyn Frye describes oppressed woman as a bird in a cage, where the bird is barricaded by all these “wires” surrounding it. Just as the snapshot my classmate Heatherlee shows, a woman is trapped in a small cage where a man in a suit is holding the cage. To me, this image spoke volumes, because women are oppressed by society personally, emotionally, and professionally. Women are oppressed personally/emotionally because if we decide to wear a nice dress that fits to shape our bodies we are labeled by society as “slut” or “easy” but if we wear baggy clothes now we are labeled as “lazy” or “unfeminine.” We never win! I have personally experienced this and it is so frustrating that as women we are constantly being judged. Women are also oppressed professionally because women are not treated the same as men. Men get a better range of higher pay and/or higher status. Overall both readings spoke out to the frustrations I personally feel as a woman and a person of color. We go through a lot that men and white people do not have to experience.

It’s quite fascinating how people are being treated in societies according to their race or color of skin. It’s rather unfair that we subject individuals to such unscrupulous division that breeds contempt among others, it’s relatively unhealthy in my opinion to even associate ones self with people based on preferences align based on skin color or race. Some countries in the world have been located as places of high abuse of colored people and the United States isn’t any different. It will take a lot to understand that society has given us the stratifications that exist sometimes directly or indirectly such as neighborhoods have been classified as for strictly blacks, Latinos, Mexicans, Chinese and others classified strictly for whites. This division has ate its way into every aspect of our societies where it have caused more harm and damage because to an extent where we would have to start treating one another according to our skin color and at large restrictions come about naturally in such scenarios. Certain social amenities like hospitals that should even provide health care for all would even be limited to some particular skin color and others rejected although they may all even be legal citizens, certain sides of stadiums have been allocated to only blacks and other sides to only whites even though they may all be on the same team. This then draws my attention to the distaste and dissatisfaction I get when I have to live my life freely as a Black person, previously history recollects the abuse Black people have been subjected to which led to a global concern that initiated the “black lives matter” ideology which transcends way over the stretch of America to every aspect of the world. This are some common things that would be raised should we still treating people in regards to differences in their skin color. It is natural that white people in the States happen to enjoy their rights and privileges without any harassment than black people, blacks have been tagged as drug lords and addicts and should be treated unfairly while the whites are to be respected, blacks are made to accept a nature that tarnishes their image while the whites are praised and this are some of the reasons I strongly believe we should come together and mitigate such occurrences from societies for we need each other and regardless we are one people who need one another to survive in the world.

In oppression, It’s also relatively strange how we treat people based on gender or sex. To me, it’s unhealthy and quite not necessary to socially construct the roles of people based on the earlier aligned social constructs. This could lead to an abuse of the fundamental human rights of individuals or curtail certain privileges that one could enjoy which is literally unfair and one shouldn’t be treated that way. Most at times societies enjoy to place priority on certain things to justify why one is being given such a role to play and the other vice versa, on some series of interest hard-work or manual work which requires a lot of energy and muscle is believed to a mans job and feminine take care of less tedious work like house chores among others. It’s also believed that men have higher IQs or brain capabilities and as such should be leaders of societies among others while women should live in their shadows. To me, although it could make a lot of sense that stratification isn’t needed, it’s bogus and shouldn’t be tolerated, it’s heartbreaking to limit people’s ability to do certain things simply because they belong to a particular group of gender or sex. It would only be thoughtful of people if opportunities are rather given to people to showcase their capabilities than to judge them from the onset, it would be better to accept that others could fail and others could succeed despite their gender or sex and as such everyone deserves the same role and opportunity to avoid any form of oppression.

This week’s reading was very interesting. I had the opportunity to learn more about white privilege. Nowadays, White privilege is so misunderstood. It’s right up there with cultural appropriation and “Black Lives Matter” among things people keep getting wrong. Contrary to popular belief, White privilege doesn’t mean all white people are rich. It doesn’t guarantee they will have bigger bank accounts than others though, on average, they do. Now, what is white privilege? White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. White privilege does not mean that you don’t struggle in life but it does mean that you do not struggle in life because of your skin color. 

Nowadays white people don’t recognize it which is the sad part. In our society when you are Black or Latino or Asian American, in many ways, you’re always, in a sense, your brothers and sisters’ keeper. White people are never called an asset or disgrace to their race because their actions are seen as their own. Nobody else’s actions reflect poorly or positively on them. Although some White people take every discussion of racism personally and end up defending the indefensible, when non-White people talk about racism, they’re usually talking about the system and specific individuals, not White people collectively. That sort of blanket racism is a specialty fostered by White privilege. If White men commit 20 murders in one day, it doesn’t affect how people see White men in general. If one murder is committed by a Black man, every Black man becomes a suspect and a target. We have seen it happening again and again over the years. I am not supporting any crime here, it was just an example.

White privilege means not having to fear the police. For example, When a White person sees the flashing lights of a police car behind them, they might worry about getting a ticket and how to get out of it. They probably don’t give a second thought to possibly losing their lives. That’s the first thing many Black people in the same situation think about. If they panic and act irrationally, it’s because they are frightened for their lives and tired of constantly feeling that way. Every time another unarmed Black person is shot by the police, someone, usually White, asks why they didn’t just obey the orders of the cop and acquiesce to being demeaned and dehumanized. That they just don’t get it is a prime example of White privilege. If you don’t have to live your life feeling like a target because of the color of your skin, you probably can’t truly understand why Black people react the way they do when staring down the barrel of a police gun.

In Oppression, Marilyn Frye compares the oppression of women to a bird being kept in a cage. Reading this brought back so many memories from where I can from (South Asia) where women have limited freedom. It’s like women are living in a birdcage. Men expect their women to do everything for them just like their mother. This needs to change, period. I just can’t believe even in 2021 so many women are going through this in so many different parts of the world. I hope we educate ourselves and give women the freedom that they deserve just like all men. We all are human beings and we all are equal. 

One of my classmates, Sandra Mohammed, shared her story that she was talking with her mom about how it is still challenging for a woman to be seen as an equal to a man in the workplace. Sandra also discussed with her mom how as a woman of color, if a white woman with a Bachelor’s degree and I applied for the same job with equal experience, She as a black woman would need a Master’s degree to get the job. I thought it was very powerful and is very true. It’s just not fair how women/men of color are struggling to get jobs while having the same qualifications as white people. I hope and pray that it changes very quickly and that way our world will get better. 

My classmate Fawzina Zack shared an image of during the protest against France’s law, banning hijabs underage Muslim girls from wearing their hijabs in public. I believe that the government shouldn’t interfere in people’s beliefs. Muslim girls can make their own decision about wearing Hijabs. There should not be any law about what Muslims can and cannot wear.

This week’s readings “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh and “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye were very interesting. Oppression can always be narrowed back down to early history where white males were ‘superior’. They had power over women, as women were stay-at-home wives up until recent history, and they also had power over people of color, as unfortunately, they were slaves to these white males. Throughout the years, history may have changed, people were freed and new laws were made, but there’s one thing that never changed, white male supremacy. 

Oppression is very systematic. It all narrows down to history and the white man supremacy. This is why we now see how the white man unconsciously oppresses women at the workplace, etc. Peggy elaborated on this in their writing “White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack”, when stating that white privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special maps, passports, clothes tools, etc. In simple terms, White privilege isn’t visually seen, other than the person being white, but there’s no visual to it, it’s just always there to come in handy whenever it’s needed. The sense of supremacy has been taught throughout the generations leading up to this point. Throughout the years there have been laws that prevent such things to happen, however, they have been systematically placed to look like they are helping, however when you dig just a little bit deeper, you realize they were never there to help you. A great example of this is the Grandfather’s Clause Law back in the early 1890s. This law allowed people of color voting rights, only if their grandfather was allowed to vote. Knowing history we know that for this time, the grandfathers in question were slaves at the time and did not have the right to vote. This prevents nearly every person of color the right to vote, even though the system made it seem like they were trying to give them voting rights. The same thing happens today, unconsciously or not, there’s a system in place that makes it look like there’s equality all around, however, actions and other factors prove otherwise. 

With the topic of white supremacy in mind, a classmate, Kevin Kimble, has a great post that relates to it and the way both I explained this and Peggy did in their writing. In short, Kevin’s post says that being white doesn’t mean you don’t have struggles and difficulties in your life, it simply means that the color of your skin isn’t one of the factors making it harder. This ties back to what I was previously explaining about how even unconsciously the white privilege isn’t acknowledged. It’s simply being carried with you and comes in handy when needed, but because it’s there, you’ll never experience the other side of the coin. 

            Just as men do not acknowledge that there are male privileges, seemingly, many white people do acknowledge or realize that there is white privilege. “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, and bank checks”, as stated by Peggy McIntosh. The advantages or privileges males and/ or white people have at their expense, to some is unknown. They are oblivious to the fact that this is what is going on. Many educative platforms, schools especially rarely teach students these about these matters, and if they do, it is not discussed correctly, or monitored accurately. It takes a very matured and strong person to recognize and admit that they enjoy male or white privilege. This week’s readings enhance on sensitive topics. The author through her journey of acknowledging her white privilege lists several services that could be rendered to her but refused to other races. She states, she could rent or purchase housing in an area which she can afford and live in”. The author went ahead to point that, if she wanted, she could get a publisher for her piece on white privilege. All these ongoing acts contributes to why the United States is not so a free country as believed, or as fair. A particular race enjoys wealth and privilege whilst others don’t. 

            There are many different situations that help define oppression; “a bird in a cage (a woman forced to stay home, even when she though she prefers to go out and have fun with her friends)”, “a gender non-conforming person fearing for their safety when in public”. When the topic about women being oppressed is brought up, there is always an argument about men is also being oppressed. The oppression of men is mostly based on their masculinity, retrieving, or diverting what oppression truly means. People often mistake miserable for oppression. Oppression is known to restrict a person from going beyond a given capacity or limit. Females lose their jobs, friends, family, respect etc when they refuse to condone oppressed activities/ situations. Marilyn Frye gives a perfect example in her book “Oppression”. She states, “if she is heterosexually active, a woman is open to censure and punishment for being lose” …. “If she refrains from heterosexual activity, she is fairly constantly harassed by men who try to persuade her into it and pressure her to “relax” and “let her hair down” (Frye 11).  No matter the circumstance or action taken, women are never seen as victims but as instigators. We are always expected to do what we are being told. “You are caught in a bind, caught between systematically related pressures”. Oppression is a prolonged and unjust cruelty people continue to endure usually due to lack of authority. Individuals are unable to express themselves freely. 

As a POC, I must say these readings were a little tough for me. In White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, the author discussed her journey into understanding what White privilege is and how it is prevalent in her everyday life. She writes “As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage. “ An unconsciousness acknowledgment of the privilege that isn’t spoken out loud about or written down on paper Well at least not currently. Every day I wake up, I’m reminded in various ways that I’m running a race in which I’m partially equipped to compete. Whether that be my neighbor’s shock or discontent when they say my face in our middle-class neighborhood or when I walk into an office space and realize I’m the only black male on-site. However, I had never considered what that quiet pressure of oppression might be like for another group of people who are currently being oppressed.

In Oppression, Marilyn Frye compares the oppression of women to a bird being kept in a cage. Sure the cage might be pretty and basic needs are provided for, but the motion and mobility of the birds inside are restricted. The lives of women have already been shaped and reduced by a system designed to benefit men. Frye writes “On the other hand, anything but the sunniest countenance exposes us to being perceived as a mean, bitter, angry or dangerous.” But women are supposed to be proud of their gilded cages and are deemed problematic when they question the system and the merit of the bars of society that lock them in. 

I’d like to say I am aware of the odds that are stacked against women and that I haven’t consciously been involved in anything that perpetuated their ongoing oppression. However, I hadn’t thought about the oppression being in the form of a system designed to keep men at an advantage over women. Their irony of a black man, living through the oppression of a system designed to benefit another race, missing out on the same system being designed to benefit men was not lost to me. Mcintosh wrote, “I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth.” 

I can only imagine what it must be like for women of color to navigate this ‘system’. I thought back on Feminist Politics and how the author mentioned that women of color fighting for women’s rights were not necessarily in the same boat as white women fighting for the same rights. How this created a double standard of living for the reformist feminists. I now wonder if this same thing happened as black people fought for civil rights; that black women were only partially supported since men’s rights would come first. 

    After reading  “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, these two enlightening texts gave me a deeper understanding on how privilege and oppression are two different terms yet in a way relate to one another. Oppression targets and discriminates against groups of people personally, interpersonally, institutionally and culturally. It also serves as a systemic barrier that works to position those from different social identity groups or of a dominant group such as white people and males on a higher pedal stall with the ability to access benefits, advantages, and favors which gives them a greater chance to fulfill their needs throughout society and in life. Those who are not as privileged are rather limited and exploited from the law, education, employment and health care. These social identity groups are less fortunate and underestimated due to their race such as black people and also their sex such as females. Both of these texts addressed racist and sexist behaviors that combined with social injustice, stereotypes and institutional power are formed by inequality and mistreatment of that individual. 

    Frye gave an interesting analogy of a bird in a cage that described the complexity of the oppressed who are confined and shaped by social structures and gender inequality which has been in existence since way back in history till this day. The author stated “It is perfectly obvious that the bird is surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers, no one of which would be the least hindrance to its flight, but which, by their relations to each other, are as confining as the solid walls of a dungeon” (Frye 12).  I believe what was meant by the author is that oppressed individuals are unable to live their lives freely through the powers of society. As mentioned earlier women are target groups of oppression because of what they wear, do or say and how it affects their gender roles and the reflection of themselves living among a patriarchal society. As a female I feel like what is worn is for myself, not to get attention from others who try to imply their own interpretation of me because society says so. 

    McIntosh also made an interesting point stating “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (McIntosh 1). This means that even oppressors from a dominant group are also struggling with this system because they are granted with unearned privileges and see it as being normal whereas not many colored people are able to relate to and share those similar opportunities. For many target groups whether one is female or black they have to work hard to get their way since they are faced with obstacles that differentiate them from the rest. 

Today I am proud to see a society where oppressed individuals are starting to take form as we see all different types of black owned businesses that are becoming successful in support of their culture and race that struggled to get where they are during these times. Entrepreneurship in this form is important in strengthening the community’s wealth and way of living so they are no longer held back by systemic racial and or gender oppression. I enjoyed Junie’s snapshot because it depicted how white privileged individuals get all the credit and feel like they are the ones being left out because they are blinded by the inequality and discrimination black people have been going through. I feel like society has to continue to change their ways drastically toward oppressed groups and recognize how much it takes a toll on their lives getting mistreated and ruled out for the complexion of their skin. 

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”. 

I was speaking to my boyfriend earlier today about some of the same topics in these articles by McIntosh and and Frye. Being a young interracial couple living in America is means for many conversations about these things. I am a white woman and he is a black man and it is important to converse about what it means to be both of these things. Today we were talking about men who are deemed “mamas boys” and it led me to talk about how men overall expect women to take care of them in the way a mother might, like with cleaning and cooking. He was quick to say that he takes care of me too and didn’t understand my point. I told him I never said he didn’t but it’s important in this society to understand the expectations and the engrained things in us. I was expected to cook and clean as a child and he wasn’t, largely because he a man. His perspective quickly shifted and he understood the larger context I was trying to explain.

I thought the article by McIntosh was interesting and the list as well that she had about the ways in which she recognizes her privilege. I think the ways in which white people use their privilege should be talked about by white people more, and the guilt that comes along with is isn’t helpful at all. We often talk about things like driving and when we get our permits who would more often drive and he said that I should because black men are more often pulled over. It was something that I had never thought about before and he told me if anything were to happen we would be let off easier. I really understood my privilege in that instance because I never considered being fearful for my life with being pulled over. Like she said in the article white people are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege but I also think that’s not enough of an excuse anymore. It’s important that people take on the role of recognizing their privileges in society and doing the work in listening and changing society in whatever way they can.