Blog #3 - Lorde, McIntosh, Miles

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, by Audre Lorde is an article that addresses the underlying racist and homophobic views of people not only in society but in the feminist movement. The title of Audre Lorde’s piece is a metaphor that serves to criticize the lack of regard that women in the feminist movement have for the views and experiences of lesbians and women of color. Lorde argues that a major tool of a patriarchal society is the ability of men to “divide and conquer” or emphasize the gender, class, racial and sexual differences among people, in order to create a hierarchy in which white middle and upper class males are in control. The statement, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house,” conveys the idea that women will never be able to transform and overcome our patriarchal society if they create a hierarchy within the women’s movement and ignore the voices of women with different racial and sexual preferences. Lorde uses the term “racist feminism” to describe the inability of women to recognize and embrace the differences among other members of the feminist movement. In order to dismantle a sexist patriarchal society, women need to identify what makes them different and learn from each others experiences to create an “interdependence of mutual, non-dominant, differences”. Only when our differences are recognized can women create a powerful community that is able to combat the oppression that confines all women.

White Privilege and Male Privilege, by Peggy McIntosh is an article that looks at the unearned privilege and conferred dominance of white, male and heterosexual individuals in our society. McIntosh defines unearned privilege as an advantage that a person is born into as opposed to an advantage that is earned through ones achievements. Conferred dominance relates to unearned privilege in that it is the feeling of superiority, or “permission to control”, that people of privilege feel over individuals of a “lower status”. McIntosh shows how individuals with such unearned privileges do not always recognize the advantages that are given so freely to them, but that they always benefit from their birth into a privileged group. In order to illustrate her point, McIntosh sites forty-six examples of white privilege, including “I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.” “If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race.” “I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.” In reading the list of white privileges I was not only embarrassed but disturbed at how little I have actually thought about white privilege and its impact on individuals of other races. McIntosh’s article reminded me of Johnson’s piece, Patriarchy, the System, when she talks about the role that an individual plays in the mistreatment of “unprivileged” groups. She states that racism and sexism does not stem from individual acts of cruelty, but from the “invisible system” that confers dominance, or gives the impression of superiority, to a particular group. McIntosh affirms that the only way to end racism and sexism is to use unearned privileges to combat and break down the privilege system.

The article On the Rag, by Tiya Miles documents the obstacles and failures of her college feminist newspaper, “The Rag”. In reading the piece, I immediately drew parallels between On the Rag and the article, The Woman’s Question by Alice Echols, which documented the history of the second wave of the feminist movement. So I was not surprised when Miles actually brought up Echols article in order to compare the collapse of “The Rag” and the failures of the SNCC and the SDS during the 1960’s. In both cases there were major issues over leadership and a sharp rift between the white and black members of the groups. Like Miles states, most of the problems that “The Rag” faced could have been avoided if the members looked back to the history of the feminist movement and learned from the mistakes of the prior generations.

The path of least resistance I chose was to stand up to my friends who were talking about a fellow student behind their back. I was in Frank Dining hall eating lunch with some of my friends, when a boy walked past our table. After he walked away my friends began to talk negatively about him and call him names. At that point I told them to stop talking about the student and that it wasn’t nice make fun of him behind his back. Surprisingly, I wasn’t met with any opposition. Most of my friends agreed with me, but it seemed like they were just waiting for somebody else to step up and do what was right.

Blog #2 - Frye, Johnson

In her article, Oppression, Marilyn Frye builds up an argument against that claim that men are subjected to the same level of oppression as women are due the expectation that men will remain stoic and refrain from crying during emotional situations. Frye points out that although men are restrained by society’s expectations, they are in no way oppressed in the same way that women are. In her definition of oppression, Marilyn Frye highlights the word "press" in which she explains, “Something pressed is caught between or among forces and barriers which are so related to each other that they jointly restrain, restrict or limit the mobility. To immobilize or reduce.” She describes oppression as a barrier that restricts a group for the benefit of another group. In this case women are being confined to a “women’s sector” in which they are expected to act and live a certain way. Women in society are expected to be quiet, patient and nurturing and any woman who strays from these characteristics are often labeled as unfeminine. The barriers that enclose women are erected and maintained by men to reinforce female’s vulnerability and weakness and make men feel powerful and superior. The women’s sector was created to benefit men and keep women in an inferior position. To look at the “oppression” of men we have to identify the barriers that confine them and determine who is benefiting from the confinement. In society men are subjected to a level of societal pressure in which they are expected to be strong, independent and emotionally callous. But if you look at the barriers closely you will notice that these expectations actually benefit men. These strong characteristics assigned to men keep them in control and maintains their superiority over women, whose barriers make them look weak and dependent. So in other words, the pressure that men face from society was actually created to protect them from looking vulnerable and loosing control over women. Frye clearly defends her point that women and men are subjected to completely different levels of societal pressure. When I first read the opening paragraph, it frustrated me to think the men were trying to convince women that they are oppressed the same way, and I completely agree with what Marilyn Frye discusses in her article. Frye addresses the fundamental differences between the expectations of men and women in society, and she illustrates how these expectations always work to the benefit and empowerment of men.

In the article, Patriarchy, the System, Allan G. Johnson evaluates the problems of a male dominated society by approaching patriarchy as a system of interrelating individuals. Johnson states that the root of all social problems arises from an individual’s decision to choose the path that will be met with the least amount of objection. Johnson illustrates this point by describing the response of a man to a sexist joke. Instead of pointing out the wrong and inappropriate nature of the joke, he will laugh and go along with his friends, in order to avoid any confrontations. I agree very strongly with Johnson’s argument that the problems in society are caused by the individuals resistance to speak out for what they believe in. Most people refrain from speaking their mind because they do not want to be isolated for being different, but the problems that we face in society will never be solved unless people speak out for positive change and work to improve society.

Blog # 1 - Dubois, Truth, Sentiments

The most pervasive idea in Dubois article, Feminism: Old Wave and New Wave, is that “women must lead the way,” in the battle for equality. Dubois illustrates, through the struggles of women’s activists, such a those of Lucretia Mott, that women cannot rely on male politicians and reformers to fight for gender equality. The equality that these activists strive for will only be reached if all women unite and fight for their beliefs. Lucretia Mott dedicated years of her life to the abolitionist movement during the nineteenth century, only to be turned away from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, because the male delegates at the convention were “offended by the thought of women functioning politically as the equals of men.” Reading about the adversity Lucretia Mott faced not only frustrated me to think that such an influential person was looked down upon for being a women, but also made me think about the article “Imagine My Surprise” and in general how women are viewed in today’s society. The women of the Old wave of feminism were the first to question the “programming” described in Ellen Neuborne’s article. Most people were shocked by the ideas that people like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Caddy Stanton were fighting for, because it put into question everything they had ever been taught. Even women during the nineteenth century were apathetic to the arguments raised by feminine activists, and to this day apathy and indifference is one of the major hindrances to the feminist movement. In order to change the way men view women in society, all women need to care enough to identify sexism and fight for change. Dubois piece serves as a timeline that depicts the long and hard struggles that the women of the Old Wave have overcome to gain legal equality. But now it is up to the New Wave of feminist to combat the programming in society, and gain freedom from the “women’s sphere,” or the accepted role of women.

The Declaration of Sentiments, is one of the oldest and most influential pieces of feminist literature. The authors of the Declaration of Sentiments, modeled the document after the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Sentiments was such a brilliant piece of writing because it illustrated to people the struggles that women were facing by relating it to the struggles that the colonists experienced with Great Britain during the Revolution. By modeling the Declaration of Sentiments after such a well known document, women’s rights activist were able to connect with all Americans and show them the level of oppression women were subjected to. Drawing parallels between women’s struggles during the nineteenth century and the colonist hardships a century earlier, helped people to better understand the grievances of women. For example the Declaration of Sentiments focused on the unconstitutionality of women being forced to abide by laws that they did not vote on. This issue directly relates to the idea of no taxation without representation, which the colonists vehemently opposed and which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution.