reading this two text opened my eyes a little. I had an idea of what oppression was from our last few readings but reading about someone’s experience hits different. when she explains how it is for a black and lesbian women in the 80s its a hard world because just then some things were still not acceptable for black people let alone lesbian. same with the text by Allan G. Johnson when its explained how patriarchy is a system and not a single person kind of problem . I mean yes sometimes we like to believe that a single men who’s misogynistic is “the ” problem but its bigger than that . it’s the system that taught this “man” that acting the way he does its okay.
Allen G. Johnson says “In general, a system is any collection of interrelated parts or elements that we can think of as a whole” I was taught that men are this perfect humans that we have to worship just like we worship our god, and that us women have to follow along and listen. just now I learned that this system its different parts of a whole car in a sense. our personal acts and believes makes a part of it, the way we think and act puts a part into that, the institutional part of it that consist of laws and whatnot. the cultural one where we were taught since we were children how male and women are supposed to act a certain way and if that’s not the case we would be judge by those around us.
Your statement where you say how you were taught that men are these perfect beings really resonated with me because growing up everything that we were taught to do in my household, as women, was set to please a man and be good enough for a man. My mother always taught us to be clean and well-prepared for a man. We needed to learn how to cook and wash clothes so we could keep a man because no man will stay with a woman who doesn’t do what she needs to do for him. That way of thinking makes you conditioned to the idea that women are basically made for men’s personal satisfaction and to live your life thinking you even need a man is just horrifying. Women are not really taught to be strong women and are told that it is okay to be alone. There is too much talk in families about weddings and having families and being a great wife and mother, as if that is all women are good for.