- Patriarchy is taught to us from a young age that there are two sides, and that the individuals who participate chose to do so. Because of this, it complicates the bigger picture of how patriarchy surrounds us and enforces its place in society. As a system, we recognize that what we are fed on a daily basis leaves us to believe that we can only have one perspective on what is right and wrong. An example of this can be seen when a man enforces patriarchy because he works a well paying job to provide for his family and would never accept his wife to get her own source of icome because that would invalidate his masculinity. When we expand our thought process on the matter, we start to understand that the system encompasses our beliefs to controls how we percieve patriarchy. It is easier to combat these views when we realize that it is bigger than the individual who choses to participate. The system being; what we see on the news, throughout social media, in books and magazines and on television. When we become aware of how deeply rooted patriarchy is, we are more inclined to stop pointing fingers at one another and focus on how to create change.
When viewing the levels of oppression, we start at the bottom with personal. These beliefs and feelings can come about in marital relationships, or even job status in the workplace. There are times when people are unconscious about their participation on a personal level because it is “how it was growing up”, but there are also people who strongly believe that there is no other way to feel regarding the system.
The next level is interpersonal, showing us visually and verbally how people participate in patriarchy. This might take place when a man tells a woman she can’t wear the dress she wants because it is too revealing. We also see interpersonal levels of oppression when women cross the street to avoid a man who “seems dangerous”. The woman is assuming she might get hurt and choses to preemptively protect herself based on what her personal level of oppression has taught her.
After interpersonal comes institutional – this is where things get interesting. This is when we discard the idea that individuals dictate patriarchy and oppression. The institutional level replaces the personal feelings, beliefs, and thoughts with rules and pracitices that are intentionaly and unintentionally instilled in society. An example of this is when we recently saw the Texas Heartbeat Act passed, controlling womens reproductive rights in the state of Texas. This is an intentional act passed by our American Government by mainly male republicans who believe it is not right for a woman to chose abortion under any circumstance.
Finally we come to the final level of oppression: structural. This is the normalization of what is right and necessary for society to be based off of. An example of this takes us back to one of our first discussions regarding sex- that many people believe there are only two genders and no room for further discussion. This is the “natural” and “beautiful” concept that we are taught at a young age, and to not change our minds regarding the topic.
2 thoughts on “Olivia Vanora Discussion 5”
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Really good post. One quick note, it was the government of the state of Texas, not the federal government of the country, that passed the heartbeat bill. Also, there are demonstrations planned throughout the world & in NYC on Tuesday the 8th of March – International Women’s Day – if you want to participate in some activism.
Hi I like what you share, it shows us good point. Patriarchy surround us everyday so there is trap everywhere sometimes we don’t even know we practice it . But now we have sense to recognize it so that we won’t fall in it.