Comparing The Oppression Of Women And A Metaphorical Birdcage, By Marilyn Frye

Sexism is the idea that one gender, predominantly female, is secondary to the other. Now, sexist thinking is the thoughts or actions that a person develops from believing a gender is superior to the other. This often leads to the idea of gender roles which Suzanna Kessler in “The Medical Construction of Gender” on page six explains as the “cultural expectations of one's behavior as “appropriate” for a female or male.” If a person does engage in sexist thinking, they may believe that phrases like, “Girls cry all the time and are way too emotional”, a real phrase a male has said to me, are justified to speak. Andrea Smith, the author of “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy”, helps explain why our society thinks this way by explaining on page 72 that “In order to colonize peoples whose societies are not based on social hierarchy, colonizers must

Nikky Xiong Feminist Philosophy Nancy Bauer Oct 12th, 2015 The Interpretation of Oppression Women and men are born equal. However, females are receiving unequal judgement and unfair treatment in the society, and thus Marilyn Frye brings up the notion of “oppression”, claiming that women are oppressed. Throughout the essay, I will first give the definition of Frye’s oppression and then list 5 critical qualifications to be considered oppressed. After that, I will explain my appreciation on Frye’s perspective on elaborating oppression using the “bird cage” analogy. I will support Frye’s “double-bind” argument for sexism followed by flaws in the argument. Furthermore, I will point out some social group are mistakenly placed inside or outside the parameters of oppression, once the theory of oppression extends over other marginal groups.

In "Oppression" by Marilyn Frye, Frye discussed how a bird cage symbolizes the systematic oppression of women. Frye explains that if you look at a single wire in a bird cage you cannot understand why the bird, is unable to simply fly around the wire and be free. But, when you step back and look at the cage as a whole system of interlocking wires you realize that the bird has no chance of escaping because of all the barriers put in their way (Frye). This is exactly the same case for women. When somebody tries to see the oppression of women. they look only at one problem women face, refusing to step back and see there is no one cause for their oppression. If instead they looked at all the barriers women face at once, they would finally see that women have no way of escaping oppression without continuous efforts of every person involved in the oppression, including the woman being oppressed and the sexist men doing the oppressing.

The fight against sexism is not a new fight. Women have been fighting for equal rights, as well as fighting for their lives, culture, and values to be just as important as men's. On August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote; but this was only the beginning. From then to now, the role of women in society has significantly changed due to women standing up for their rights at protests and rallies, as well as on social media. While “The Good Wife’s Guide” focused on the promotion of the traditional gender role of women and defined appropriate emotions for women, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, represents the start of the resistance of the traditional gender role of women that we see in society today.

Over the last several decades, great strides have been made when it comes to eliminating sexism and progressing towards gender equality. However, sexism is still ingrained in our everyday culture. This is evident in the fact that in 2017 women earn about 80 cents to a man’s dollar and are less likely to be promoted within the workplace. It’s an unfortunate fact the most women will experience some form of sexism throughout their lives. In this paper, I will address my personal experiences with both hostile and benevolent sexism, how the two forms of sexism differ, and how these experiences have affected me.

The “Mythical Norm” Leading To Oppression Through Privilege Iqbal Dhillon - 213516604 York University SOSC 1350- Gender and the Law Julie Dowsett Wednesday, October 22, 2014 Word Count: 1,191 Introduction: This essay will critically analyze the various forms of oppression that are set out through Audrey Lorde’s concept

Sexism: A Two Way Street When we hear the word sexism most minds automatically associate feminine oppression. I began to wonder why that was. Webster defines sexism as “prejudice based on sex; especially: discrimination against women.” After reading this I had to know why that was.

I decided to write a letter to the Attorney General of Georgia, Chris Carr, discussing what the oppression of women is like and backing it up with evidence on difference of wages, rape statistics and the daily reports of harassment on women in Georgia alone. I introduced the article by

Before the second segment begins, where a modern case study is applied to Marilyn Frye’s theory of oppression; it seems necessary to briefly mention a few ways that Frye believes that oppression can be surfaced unknowingly between men and women. The first example touches on the simple actions that men do for women such as opening a door, “The arresting of vision at a microscopic level yields such common confusion as that about the male door-opening ritual. This ritual, which is remarkably widespread across classes and races, puzzles many people, some of whom do and some of whom do not find it offensive. Look at the scene of the two people approaching a door. The male steps slightly ahead and opens the door. The male holds the door open while the female glides through. Then the male goes through. The door closes after them” (12). This particular quote receives a lot of backlash, as many people feel that this act is simply a helpful gesture between a man and a woman. This type of gesture is often times defined as chivalry. Frye argues that these “chivalrous” gestures are condoned oppressive behaviors, “The gallant gestures have no practical meaning. Their meaning is symbolic. The door-opening and similar services provided are services which really are needed by people who are for one reason or another incapacitated – unwell, burdened with parcels, etc. So the message is that women are incapable. The detachment of the acts from the concrete realities of what women need and do

“#AllLivesMatter”. “#NotAllMen”. “Why isn’t there a White History Month?” “Yes, women of colour are beautiful, but I think what you mean to say is all women are beautiful.” “But isn’t a woman telling a man to ‘sit down and shut up’, sexist?” Discernibly, these retorts all demonstrate that it is possible to experience some kind of reverse subjugation, right? Well no, not exactly. So, is reverse sexism possible? Is reverse racism possible? With a focus on systemic oppression in this essay, I attempt to answer these questions while defending the position that reverse racism and reverse sexism do not exist. I will discuss how reverse oppression – be it reverse racism, or female privilege – cannot exist because the very nature of oppression

While sexism is no longer as overt a practice as in the past, it is arguably just as pervasive. bell hooks’ life as an academic has been spent trying to breakdown the existent sexist barriers, which have prohibited women from achieving equality with men.

The target area of my prejudice reduction strategy is benevolent sexism. Unlike hostile sexism, in which is antagonistic and overtly purports the idea that men are more competent than women and belonging in leadership, benevolent sexism often appears chivalrous and well-intentioned. Benevolent sexism is, as the saying goes, “an iron

There are public figures showing sexist and disrespectful attitudes towards women presenting it as acceptable. (Source A)Donald Trump is a prime example of a very well known public figure who has terrible views on women’s rights. He often makes sexist comments towards his female colleagues when getting in heated debates. He has been recorded on numerous occasions as publicly degrading women. Disgusting things as this have been said by our President who not only represents us as women but as a whole country.

Overall, I feel that instead of letting people say sexist remarks, stand up for yourself, do something about. We also need to remember that sexism can be towards males as well. Sexism is happening all over the world and we need to put a stop to

Sexism, is a prejudice plain and simple. One of the earliest forms of violence directed toward women was the Witch Hunt Trials of the Middle Ages. Bishops debated whether a woman was really human at all. If her nose were too long, she had red hair, a humped back, or if she was exceptionally beautiful, she was thought to be a witch and was burned at the stake. There was an estimated nine million women burned during the Witch Trials. During the “Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960’s, feminist theorists explained that oppression of women was widespread in nearly all human society, and spoke of sexism instead of male chauvinism. Male chauvinists were usually individual men who expressed the belief that they were superior to women” (Napikoski). By the mid 20th century sexism was established and began to appear in advertising. Between the 1970’s and 1990’s women began to feel more equal to men until the 1980’s where they were portrayed as sex symbols on national television (The Origin and History of SEXISM). There are two main types of sexism, benevolent and hostile, and their definitions are opposite from one another. Hostile sexism is what most people perceive as sexism today as it seems sexism is occurring more and more often and is, notably, more vulgar. It is the notion that women are inferior or not as worthy; a belief that males are intrinsically superior. For many years women have been degraded and looked down upon with the idea that their place is in the kitchen with