One reaction that I can’t help but point out is that I did find both of these readings very extreme and rigid. Going back to our first reading, Bell Hooks talks about her definition of Feminism not being about tit for that, women getting what men have. That it’s about dismantling sexism. Example: I know that there are all different kinds of men and some of them are oppressed as men within the male system. So, I felt turned off by the extreme thinking in this week’s readings. It struck me as unrealistic and un-imaginative.Why does that matter? Because coming at problems with an extreme outlook does not leave room for variation and nuance. In order to come up with the kind of solution a colossal problem like this, we need to be extremely creative. We need to look at the macro and the micro and all that lies between.

All that said, I did get a lot from these readings, they were challenging me and really getting me to think and care. I bounced back and forth in my mind while reading them. It is clear that there are people who are living at all scales of disadvantage and the systems of oppression are kept invisible. In the reading by Peggy McIntosh she states, “Whites are taught to think of their lives at morally neutral, normative, and average.” That is such a simple and clear example of how white people are kept protected within this invisible system that cages others.