Race, Gender, Class And Oppression Throughout History

Race, gender, class, and sexual ideologies and practices have been locked to institutional power, privilege, and oppression throughout history. More specifically so when focusing on the time period between the 1600s and 1990s. This statement has been proven true several times in various instances; from the discrimination of “fallen women,” or prostitutes to the discrimination against African Americans and other minority groups (the term minority referring to race, class, gender identity, religion; essentially any group that differentiates itself from the majority). The purpose of this paper is to provide an intersectional discussion of the ways these different identities are connected to mistreatment during the time period of the 1600s to the late 1900s.

Several articles assigned in class provide examples of how different groups of people have been oppressed in society because of their race, gender, class and sexual ideologies. In an article by Judy Yung named “The Social Awakening of Chinese Woman” She explains that in the late 1800s and early 1900s century Chinese-American women were oppressed by Chinese males, as the majority of Chinese women in 19th century California were indentured prostitutes, kidnapped, lured, or purchased from poor parents in China and resold in America for high profits to brothels and other underground organizations which were run by Chinese men. Yung states, “Approximately 85 percent of Chinese women in San Francisco were prostitutes in 1860, and 71 percent in 1870" (Yung 259). Chinese women were oppressed because of their sex and social class, they weren’t considered women, but were considered a profitable item. Chinese women who were brought into America often were manipulated and persuaded because ...

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...y and masculinity. At the same time, he is civilized when he falls in love with Jane who is the white women who he meets on the island.

Discrimination based on race, gender, class, and culture has been reoccurring since the beginning stages of mankind. Discrimination can derive from several different factors, whether sexual identity, race, gender, social-class as this paper demonstrated. The purpose of the paper was to discuss how discrimination was locked to institutional power between 1600s and 1990s, but even today discrimination is very prevalent and will continue to be, as the criminal justice system and the war on drugs acts as a form of discrimination towards people of color. Discrimination based on race, sexual ideologies and practices, and social class seem to still be very prevalent, while discrimination based on gender seems to have left the publics view.