Gender Oppression In The United States

In the United States our society has created a system of gender oppression by placing masculinity and femininity into an exclusive category. Therefore, it is important that we think about gender through the lens of multiple systems of oppression to gain a sense of view of our societal norms. For example, when babies are born doctors determine their sexual identities through the presence of a penis or a vagina. Children who are born with a penis are considered male and those with a vagina are considered female. However, many of these innocent babies grow up to adopt other gender identities based on external forces, which can contradict societal expectations. Boys typically grow up playing with trucks and girls are expected to play with their

People who are wealthy are privileged with the luxurious of being able to afford expensive objects and live a life of no worries. While those who are poor are marginalized by not having access to basic needs like food and education. The poor have to work hard labor in order to have the necessities to survive. When they are not educated it is impossible for them to ever get out of poverty. This poverty leads to crimes and violence in communities, which are forgotten by our government. This systemic oppression is simultaneously occurring, while gender privilege is promoted. This is referred to as intersectionality, which is the interconnected idea of social organizations overlapping systems of discrimination. For example, a man can have certain privileges for his masculinity, but marginalized for his social class. According to Bethany M. and Michael Kimmel, sexual orientation is the system by which the marginalized are underestimated. That is gay, common laborers or handicapped men are not seen as men in the mainstream talk of their marginalization. It is their manliness that is the wellspring of their benefit and is particularly focused as the grounds or prohibition from benefit. Even if disabled men are not able to express their masculinity like healthy men do, they have a will to overcome this problem. They find ways to express their masculinity by over exaggerating the masculine qualities they still have. This is then accommodated by our society to provide them with their disabled rights and needs. The systemic oppression of being poor can be overwritten by the privilege of attaining masculine qualities, which can help people overcome their