Feminism And Oppression: Why Women Are Oppressed Women

Marilyn Frye and Julie Scelfo stand near a coffee pot in a break room at Vermont University. Their lunches spin in the microwaves on the counter.

Marilyn: The word "oppression" is being stretched to meaninglessness. Feminism claims that women are oppressed and that statement is frequently met with the claim that men are oppressed too. But if ever we deny that any person or group is oppressed, we seem to imply that we think they never suffer and have no feelings.

Julie: I trust when you talk about oppression you are discussing equal rights among all the genders including those who don't fit into what you might consider to be the norm.

Marilyn: What do you mean?

Julie: Growing up we are typically taught that only two genders exist when in fact gender identity depends on a variety of factors, including anatomy, chromosomes, hormones and feelings. Today, people all over are embracing the idea that when it comes to classifying gender, there should be more than just the two options. I met a student, in fact, by the name of Rocko Gieselman who helped put a new perspective on gender. Rocko was born female and certainly appears feminine but doesn’t follow along under the terms of male or female. Rocko chooses to express their gender in a different way.

Marilyn: In this instant I am lumping all oppressed people together.

Oppressed people live their lives in a confined way and are forced to fall in line by barriers that are placed down systematically.

Julie: I understand, for example among the difficulties faced by transgender students there is this inability to use bathrooms marked “men” or “women” for fear of a confrontation. Ms. Brauer heard about one distraught transgender freshman whose professor, while calling roll, first read the student's feminine legal name, then announced the students prefered name.

Marilyn: What is being done to help

that?

Julie: The university here as well as several others are beginning to allow students to select their own new first name, as well as a chosen pronouns. The system records these details in the campus wide information so that professors have the correct terminology at their fingertips.

Marilyn: That’s amazing!