Tyranny In The Barbershop, By Audre Lorde

Imagine a world in which men could act feminine and women could act masculine without being judged. Now try and identify why this may never happen. Men and women are both taught at an early age what they can and cannot do because of what gender they were born as; they are markedly similar in this aspect. There is a known gender stereotype for girls and boys, and the parents of these children enable these stereotypes from the day that they are born. girls are given pink clothes, and boys are given blue clothes. These colors set the rules of how they must behave for the rest of their lives, this idea is known as The Girl and Guy code. It is all black and white thinking, or in the case pink and blue. There is no in-between because once you stray from the code it is immediately recognized and looked down upon. Although the girl and guy code are almost polar opposites, they go hand in hand with one another because they are both used among society as a way to create a better image in front of others. The Woman looks better in the eyes of other women if she is more lady-like, and a man looks better in front of men if he is more manly; both genders deal with a heavy set of homosocial ideals.

The concept of mythical norm was introduced by a feminist writer, Audre Lorde, who critically analyzed the dominant power mechanism in society that operates through a deeply ingrained idea of a normalized and naturalized male identity. This normative identity is both an image and ideal that stands out as a symbol of societal norms and privileges that are institutionalized in the law. More specifically, Lorde wrote,

The fourth chapter of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”is about the identity development in adolescence. It is said that when black children are growing up, they engage in many of the white culture’s beliefs and values as it is all around them. It is not until a little later where they begin to recognize the impact of racism. This can happen around the early stages of adulthood. It might even happen around the junior high age. Gender also comes into play around this time as well. A black girl wouldn't be acknowledged for her beauty in a white setting as she is not in the society's standard for beautiful. Since the black girls aren’t considered beautiful, they begin to feel devalued. The black youth are beginning

In the “Prelude: The Barbershop,” Ashanti Young details of his hardship of being denied from subcultural groups that he wants to identify with. As an educated black man, he’s denied from the “ghetto” black neighborhood because of how “superior” or how “white” he talks compared to his fellow blacks. On the other hand, he faces prejudice when pursuing an education because of black skin tone he was born with. Young cites from Quincy Mills using Eric as an example in a black barbershop. Young describes that “Eric’s insufficient heterosexual performance cast him” outside the boundaries of blackness because his demeanor and speech” (par. 10). Because Eric’s sexual performance was not masculine enough to fit the standards of men. According to Young, ghetto black neighborhoods tend to believe the strict guidelines of the gender roles, and because Eric was not appealing to them, or having “insufficient heterosexual performance,” he was shunned from society and isolated. Most didn’t want to interact with him and Eric had a harder time socializing with others. Just as Young, Eric was denied from his cultural black group and essentially, most of society. A person who devalues the stereotypes and expectations of gender, are treated with violence and discrimination in the barbershop. Although it is an awkward situation to face, this social cognition must be changed. Society shouldn’t shun a certain gender performance because it doesn’t fit their beliefs or agenda. Traditional people shouldn’t judge or treat non-gender conformities any different, even though they may be different. As a union, society should put their differences aside and fight for positive

One example of tyranny is the Boston Massacre because the British soldiers were sent to the colonies and there was a group of men that were protesting the new taxes on glass, paper, paint, and lead. The British opened fire, killing five men. This is wrong because the group of men were protesting against the British government, advocating that the money was not directed to the people, but rather to Britain’s parliamentary government. The British acted violently against the protest, demonstrating oppression and abusing their

When a person grows up, they are in constant search of their identity, of who they are. Yet, the identity of a person is too complex for anyone to form assumptions about it because it involves more than one factor. The assumptions themselves may be insulting to others who has experienced the truth of their marginalized group. According to the poem Nikki-Rose by Nikki Giovanni, “I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me” (73). People can never enter the minds of others, they can only speculate from what they have seen or heard. Giovanni states that she does not want anyone to write about her, which shows that she believes they will not receive correct information. People may have honest

In American culture in the 1950s, men were the predominant head of the household and women were expected to cook, care for their kids, and clean. This is an excellent example of gender roles, and how they control certain aspects of life. Gender roles are, according to multiple sources, the way people behave, what they do or say to express being a female or male. (“Gender Identity”; Blackstone; "Understanding Gender") They are forced upon an individual from the day they are born even in the most trivial of terms of putting baby boys in blue clothes and baby girls in pink. Throughout that person’s life from then on, they will face cultural expectations every day to act according to their sex. Gender roles can often be confusing and hurtful,many stores are moving away from assigning products to a specific gender, but not only can gender roles affect a person’s behavior, it can play a huge role in transgenderism.

This oppression shows a lack of acceptance towards people of different sexualities and in turn displays inequality towards these

In “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” Audre Lorde discusses the idea that as long as movements seeking to dismantle oppressive structures limit their tools to those created by the oppressive structure itself, actual reform will be out of reach. By using these tools, regardless of intention, one is still wielding an axis of oppression, and therefore reinforcing its supremacy.

As James Madison said, “If tyranny and oppression came to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. ” Tyranny is the use of harsh absolute power in the hands of one, few, or many people. The Constitution guarded against tyranny by instituting the Separation of Powers, Federalism, and Checks and Balances. The first main idea is the Separation of Powers.

Candance West and Don Zimmerman are the authors of “Doing Gneder” that was published in ‘Gender Society; on 1987. The point that the authors were trying to get accros in “Doing Gender” was that people fullfille their ‘gender’ just like any other rutine that people do in their life. It is hard for people to avoind ‘doing gneder’ becae it is almost a never ending activity. We do gender each and everyday to where we are onlivion to it. We step into our gender unknowingly while we are interacting and socializing. Children learn frm a ver yound age how to do gender. From a young age girls care about things like lip glass. The little girls associate wearing lip gloss with looking prettier. We make sure that they know how to be a ‘boy’ and ‘girl’. Gender is not at all who we are and it is not our identity. Gender is a mask that we put on when we face others. We don’t act in public like we act when we are alone. Just as stated in “Doing Gender” by Creative Sociololy, “It Is a product of social interaction… production…..A social construction. “ We do gender to avoind being judged by others. A man takin on the characteristics of a femal and vise versa is risky. As stated in the article “Doing Gender”, “…behave outside the boundres…risk…judge harshly…” Society treats the individuals who break the statues quote unfairly becase they are challenginf the system. There is a raise of unequal distribution of power by every person who participates in doing gender. Whne you compare men and

In pre-ap english, I interviewed Jacquelyn who is a freshman at Macarthur High School in Lawton, Oklahoma. In our society, we are often subjected to gender roles. Gender roles is the act of assigning certain emotions or behaviors to men or woman. In response to finding out what gender roles actually are, Jacquelyn does not agree with the idea of them and states that people should “be able to do what they want.” Gender roles often prevent us from being the person we want to be. For example, if a guy were to wear makeup there are people who would judge him harshly and possibly even outcast him, simply because they believe women are the only ones who can wear makeup. Same thing goes for women, like if a girl wanted to play football many would

This shows that people are expecting her to behave a particular way based off of her gender. It is also implied that women are expected to be perfect at all times and make the world a better place: “To-day the young girl is not only taught to dance gracefully, to enter a room correctly, and to conduct herself with ease and charm at the dinner table, but she is taught to develop her natural talents and abilities os that the world will be left a little better for her

Before considering oppression in general, we must first note that people and institutions who hold power oftentimes use this power to oppress others.

The task of this is essay is not so much to find the bona fide implications of the word “equality”, but rather to clarify its meaning towards individuals. It will seek to analyse how oppression and discrimination are related to inequality and will gradually develop into exploring how an individual’s sexual orientation can lead to social exclusion. Towards the end, the essay will