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Sexism and how it is viewed in society
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Personal privilege is a topic that I have truly never thought about before this year. Privilege is taken for granted everyday, and people never think about how it affects their life. I grew up in New York City in a small, five floor walk up apartment. I am a white, heterosexual female and although I believed my life to be somewhat challenging, I learned that I have many privileges that have gone unrecognized. A primary reason my understanding of privilege has changed was due to the event that I attended. I listened to the presenter, Toshia Shaw a survivor of sex trafficking, tell her story and bring awareness to the topic of sex trafficking which genuinely allowed me to reflect on my privilege. The readings, guest speakers, and activities in class have allowed me to deepen my knowledge of personal privilege revolving around many topics; including sexism, heterosexism, ageism, racism, transgender oppression, and religious oppression. …show more content…
There are many branches of sexism, which support the key ideas of the topic. The book “Readings for Diversity and Social Justice” by Maurianne Adams, explains how gender roles, gender socialization, and gender identity are the three concepts which contribute to sexism in our society. Gender roles have been socially constructed and have allowed people to believe what it means to be “feminine” and “masculine”. Society has made it seem as if women and men must follow strict standards, including that men are tough and women are caretakers. I have experienced being forced into society’s expectations of gender roles many times in my life, including my father telling me not to burp because it is “not lady like”, or getting told to “sit like a girl” by my eight grade teacher. These gender roles are taught through the concept of gender
Today in the United States of America people are both privileged and oppressed based on their diversity markers and social locations. These advantages and disadvantages are put in place by the people whom are in power, or otherwise known as the government and other leading officials. This is a major issue in today’s society that often tends to be masked by the many other issues within the country as well as by the privileged people. Many people who experience privilege tend to believe that privilege and oppression do not exist and that everyone has equal opportunity, but that is not the case privilege and oppression does exist and it can be seen every day in society. After a careful review of Dena Samuel’s “Matrix Model of Oppression and Privilege” I identified myself as rather privileged due to my social and diversity locations on her model.
As a female, I have certainly been adversely affected by sexism. I trust that females are adversely affected by sexism ordinary because of what we see, particularly in the media. Consistently, we are overwhelmed with messages in regards to weight, good looks and being the "perfect, impeccable, women." Although messages that are pitched at us are not sensibly genuine and some of the time about difficult to achieve, despite everything they impact us. Looking at TV, most of the advertisements that play are either about losing weight, foods low in fat, or attractive, petite models strutting their stuff around the TV screen. This relates a great deal to what Abra Fortune Chernik says in her piece called "The Body Politic." Chernik (2010) which quotes
Sexism is much like racism in a sense that it is the unequal treatment of individuals based on an ascribed characteristic; in this case, their gender. Sexism is directly related to patriarchy, the system in which males dominate females in most spheres of life (Thompson 300-301.)
Both authors have recognized the fundamental structures behind privilege –specifically white privilege in America. Their purpose and that of many civil right activists of our era is to bring awareness to those who are in positions of privilege to bring change that fosters the spirit of inclusion, reform and progression into America’s social and mainstream environments.
It is important to understand how privilege affects others because it allows you to see how other people can be affected in different situations on a daily basis. It allows you to picture yourself in their perspectives and to better understand how a person’s ethnic background, sexual orientation, and social class can mean the difference in how others treat them.
In the beginning of the year I entered this class with a very sheltered and ignorant view of current and past events. Through time and sociological evolution I have begun to see things in a different light. The development of my ability, to look at something or some kind of situation, lets me use the sociological terms in such a manner to relate them to micro and macro problems in society. This started with the assigned readings of the class; the aim was to decipher the messages the authors were presenting. The goal was then to dig deeper and use my experiences to help myself understand the concepts throughout the course. "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited." Plutarch (46-120 CE--common era) I was no longer supposed to retain knowledge on a factual basis but to observe the problems and challenge my own thoughts, values, and beliefs. Challenging these aspects lights the fire that creates the ability to use working sociological terms in my analyses. Through my analyses of the authors in the course I developed questions about the particular readings that we were assigned. The questions I present from these authors are on the basis of learning and seeing the macro picture from micro events. The authors that we read from were: Allan G. Johnson, James W. Loewen, Jonathan Kozol, David Nibert, Arnold Arluke, Clinton R. Sanders, and Elie Wiesel. From each one of these authors we are able to relate a theme of sociology to what is happening in their books, which results in the discussion questions.
As a member of the dominant race in America, I know that I possess certain unearned privileges that allow me to be more successful overall. I was raised with the mindset that racism doesn't affect me because I am white. The U.S. education system taught me about my racial and ethnic history, but it is likely that my classmates of different races could not say the same. I learned about racism in school but not to view whites as privileged or degrading towards subordinate groups. My group was never seen at fault for oppression or took any responsibility for it. Myself, nor my peers, were ever seen or viewed as unfairly advantaged or privileged. I grew up under the impression that any person could achieve what they wanted if they simply worked hard
Gender roles are often used in our own society to tie people to a certain representation for what is socially acceptable. These roles perpetuate gender inequalities because they often make the female end of the spectrum worth less than the male. One example is equating masculinity with strength and femininity with weakness. Because of this sayings such as “You run like a girl” become negative. Gender roles create a system where people are set to a different standard based off gender alone. In trying to follow what is socially acceptable based on gender people are forced into roles. There is a lower percentage of women in science than men because girls are taught at a young age that being smart isn’t feminine. These roles harm boys too, teaching them that they have to be hyper-masculine to be considered
Privilege is a certain advantage given to one group of people to benefit them at the expense of the disadvantaged group. Popular examples include privileges regarding race, gender, sexual preference, class, and ability. McIntosh explains the concept of privilege as being in possession of an “invisible backpack of unearned assets” that one can “count on cashing in each day,” while remaining ignorant of having the backpack in the first place. While one person may carry around a backpack full of these tools, another person is walking around with nothing in their backpack. The tools provided by privilege are utilized every day to guide the advantaged group in their journey, but the advantaged group is not even aware of the backpack’s strength. On the contrary, the disadvantaged group without backpacks observe their advantaged counterparts skate through life with all these resources to aid them while they trek through the obstacles of life empty-handed.
Through reading this paper you will learn about the key points from the article, A Social Worker’s Reflection on Power, Privilege, and Oppression written by Michael S. Spencer and the article White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. Then the paper will include my personal beliefs on the topic of privilege and even some of my own personal privilege that are in my knapsack and that have helped me along my way in life. Finally, There will also be a point in the paper where I will have the ability to informed you about how privilege affect people and how they can positively affect people who do not receive them. Privileges impacts many groups of people in many different ways. They can be effected by
1. (a) Privilege is defined as a favor or right granted to some people, but not to everyone.
Author and feminist Alix Kates Shulman said once: “Sexism goes so deep that at first it’s hard to see, you think it’s just reality” (McEneany). That quote sums up perfectly the way our society runs. There is no class teaching children how to act according the their gender. Yet little boys and little girls learn at a very young age what is expected of them. They get ideas about their gender roles from their parents, their school teachers and subconsciously from the toys they play with and the television shows they watch.
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
Money can give people a lot opportunities and privilege. Financially privileged people have no trouble getting materialistic things such as big houses, expensive cars, and jewelry. Being privileged can also provide better scholastic education as well as respect. On the other hand, a lack of money, as a person might guess, limits opportunity and lower a person’s status on the privilege pole. In order for an underprivileged person to have all of those things, they have to work hard to get to get the luxuries of nice houses, cars, and jewelry. As far as education goes, the underprivileged might not go to the best schools but they get an education that will prove to be more valuable in life; they learn to earn respect, appreciate what they have and how to survive with just the necessities and what’s really important in life. So when a person looks at each group and tries to decided with one gets the most out of life, they will see that underprivileged individuals get so much more out of life than a person who came up in affluence and privilege.
It is there and always will be. It does not matter the race, gender, or lifestyle. I do not believe I understood it correctly with the authors approach in the book. Therefore, the TED Talk really helped me not see privilege as positive or negative, it just is. Justin Ford did an excellent job delivering a more clear explanation of privilege for me. In every culture and with every group of people I believe it exists. If you have humans you will have privilege of some nature. I do believe that you can be privileged and unprivileged at the same time. This is where it gets complicated and I now see it differently. In the previous chapter I probably acted defensive because I did feel or see that you can have privilege and be unprivileged also. This chapter and especially the video clarified this and neutralized my attitude. I am still not sure why we use that word when it tends to polarize people and actually emphasize what we are trying to diminish.