State 's Control Over Sexuality

In Power and Social Change, Richard Healy and Sandra Hinson explore the term power in social change between the world and people. The topic about power was interesting because there are two distinct perspective of power. The most common view of power is power-over. The less common view is power-within. In organizing for social justice, it is important to realize that using power-within will lead to successful achievement to instigate compliance of demands listed by the minorities. Furthermore, there are three criteria of power implement in organizing for social justice, which are direct political involvement, organizational infrastructure, and ideology with worldview. Each criterion plays an important role to the success of establishing a

Given the definition of oppression as a system of interrelated barriers and forces which “mold”, “immobilize”, and “reduce” a certain group of people, and affect their subordination to another group (Frye 4), Frye lists out five premises in order to be considered oppressed. First of all, the group of people must be restricted. In other words, there must be limitations or barriers on them. For example, women make 78 cents for every dollar earned by men (Kessler 1). Second, “those restrictions surely cause harm, which must outweigh any potential benefits oppressed groups experience as a result of those same restrictions” (Gillingham 1). For

Typically, a government or political organization that is in power places these restrictions formally or covertly on oppressed groups so that they may be exploited and less able to compete with other social groups. The oppressed individual or group is devalued, exploited and deprived of privileges by the individual or group which has more power" (Barker, 2003).

Privilege and oppression provides a framework for understanding how institutional structures and ideologies shapes individual experiences. Privilege and oppression also explains “how power operates in society” which led to the formation of “a dominant group and a marginalized group” (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 72-73). “Oppression can be defined as prejudice and discrimination directed toward a group and perpetuated by the ideologies and practices of multiple social institutions” (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 73). While, privilege refers to the “benefits, advantages, and power that accrue to members of a dominant group as a result of the oppression of marginalized group”,

Oppression exists at varying levels and the way in which we choose to view it can have a significant impact on our ability to break down the barriers that continue to oppress disenfranchised groups. Much like the analogy of a caged bird facing both individual cage wires as well as the confining cage as a whole, examining the microscopic and macroscopic levels of oppression is essential in furthering our understanding of social justice. Long-term and persisting injustices towards subordinate social groups can also lead to internalized oppression, creating a complex system of disempowerment and self-loathing. As members of society committed to social change, it is important that we continue to educate ourselves on the issues of oppression and oppressed groups while ensuring we act at allies and advocates in our efforts to tackle these barriers.

This chapter focuses on anti-oppression and anti-discrimination practice. We will be looking at what is meant by these terms and the law which underpins them. We will explore the different ways people are affected by oppression and how to combat it. Evaluate society’s stereotypical images of groups of people in society and the principles of positive action and anti-oppression.

In our Society, we deal with many form of oppression in our daily lives. Unfortunately, different groups of people are more oppressed than others. Oppression is the unjust treatment of a group of people. I believe, our government is a major culprit as they are responsible for oppressing most of society. This involves many groups, such as single mothers, the working class, African Americans, gays and lesbians. In my paper, my personal views will be addressed incorporating ideas from several readings pertaining to different forms of oppression. A summarization of each article will be provided as well.

I believe some societies seek to control human sexuality because it often challenges the norms of society. In today’s society we accept a lot of different sexual orientations that was not approved back then. One example is gay marriage. It was always illegal for two people of the same sex to get married, it went against many people’s beliefs, relating to the bible, but now of June 26, 2015 gay marriage has been legalized. Another example is women’s rights. Stereotypes about women caused society not willing to accept women to vote. While there are some societies that do not see sex or race and believe that everyone is human and deserve equal

When working to determine the causes of oppression, one must first establish a definition of the word. Oppression can be perceived as being a broad, which can lead to disempowerment of the term. For the purposes of this paper, oppression is defined through the lens of both institutional and internalized oppression. Institutional oppression is define as the occurrence of established laws, customs, and practices systematically reflecting and producing inequities based on one’s membership in targeted social identity groups (Cheney, 2012). In regards to institutional oppression, oppressive consequences such as classism, prejudice and discrimination are typically attributed to institutional laws, customs, or practices. Internalized oppression is internalized oppression is the

A world of system designed to keep people in unjust and unequal positions is held in place by several interrelated expression of "power over": political power, economic power, physical force, and ideological power (Bishop, 1994: 36). So, we can say power is defined as a possession of control, authority or influence over others. In terms of power of dominant groups over subordinate groups, we define power as domination of one group of people over another in major important spheres of life. Power inequities have been in existence throughout the history of humanity and the ways of manifestation evolved from extreme overt oppression to subtle, covert oppression. Three major forms of power inequalities discussed in this paper are

“Five Faces of Oppression” by Iris M. Young tries to create an idea that we can critique the reality and stages of oppression of different groups. She argues that oppression is structural in the sense that injustices arise from systematic everyday activities, and not from policies or how people act. Since oppression is systematically reproduced and thus ingrained into culture, politics and economics, therefore it cannot be simply removed from our society. She separates the condition of oppression into five different forms: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Young states that exploitation is where oppression occurs in the transfer of one social group’s products of labor to benefit the wealthier class. She also argues that women are also exploited to through this from of

The legal regulation of sex work has become a key issue for many governments in an attempt to tackle the many issues and harms of the industry, many partially or fully decriminalising the industry. Sex work is an intensely complex issue, and even the concept of sex work as a ‘job’ is a contentious issue. Some feminist academics perceive sex work as inherently violent regardless of any regulations and therefore should not be legalised at all. However this in an idealistic notion as inaction and further criminalisation would only exacerbate the existing harms of the sex industry. The next issue to contend with is the partial or full legalisation of sex work, the partial legalisation of sex work, results in a two tiered system of sex work, resulting in higher levels of illegal sex work, as sex workers attempt to avoid the rigorous health testing, identity checks and bureaucratic tape. The only way to ensure all sex workers are working in a safe and autonomous capacity is the full legalisation of sex work. Further sex work should be regulated in a similar manner to other industries, with full transparency and accountability in order to prevent moral bias and social control models from taking hold. The New Zealand licensing regulations and Australia’s own state laws are good examples of advancements towards the ideal, whilst international comparisons such as Sweden or the U.S. exemplify the negative impacts of partial decriminalisation and social control. While sex work

The doctrine of human rights were created to protect every single human regardless of race, gender, sex, nationality, sexual orientation and other differences. It is based on human dignity and the belief that no one has the right to take this away from another human being. The doctrine states that every ‘man’ has inalienable rights of equality, but is this true? Are human rights universal? Whether human rights are universal has been debated for decades. There have been individuals and even countries that oppose the idea that human rights are for everybody. This argument shall be investigated in this essay, by: exploring definitions and history on human rights, debating on whether it is universal while providing examples and background

Max Weber is renowned as one of the founding fathers to modern sociology. He defined power as being, ‘the ability of an individual or group to achieve their own goals or aims when others are trying to prevent them from realizing them’ (Weber 1925b/1978:926). His concept of power unfolds continuously as he breaks down power into two categories, coercive and authoritative. Coercive power is where an individual exercises power through the use of force. This is in contrast to authoritative where power is seen as legitimate. Legitimate because those exercising power do so

One major link includes the fight between an oppressed group and their persecutors. Whether it’s the proletariat and the bourgeois in “The Communist Manifesto,” or the inequality of genders in “The Second Sex,” or the flight of the African Americans in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In all of these texts we are shown how easy it is for one group to abuse their power and create unfair rules and regulations only imposed on the more inferior members of society. Each group of oppressor thrives off of alienating, and subjugating their inferiors.