Matt Johnston
MacKinnon's Difference and Dominance: On Sexual Discrimination when read through the lens of Young's Five Faces of Oppression shows us how oppression is faced in the eyes of MacKinnon and how the approach of dealing with that oppression is faulty. It is clear in MacKinnon's work that the forms of oppression through sex discrimination are numerous, including cultural imperialism, where the "normal" form of the human skeleton is that of the male and specialized classes are taken in order to learn about the female. Another form of oppression is that of marginalization and exploitation in the workforce, where women are not allowed to serve the military the same way as men, they are not allowed to work certain jobs such as prison guard, and are subtly excluded form jobs because of worries of child rearing and care. Many of these forms of oppression are faced as what Young calls the Structural Concept, where there isn't a specific person deliberately putting tyranny on the oppressed but the oppression comes in the form of indoctrinated social norms that exclude people by there definitions. This social norm that excludes females from freedoms of expression and creative capacity should be met with what MacKinnon calls Dominance, making it clear that women need equality through the social powers rather then focusing on the differences of male and female.
I think the most important point you make here is that large scale oppression is not an action by a specific person towards another individual, but rather the result of a system. In an oppressive social construct, every action within the system contributes to the oppression of the marginalized group, even if the individual actions by themselves could be justified. You mention that the way to counteract female exclusion is through "dominance", but I wonder how exactly dominance can be used to make it clear that women need equality. Many people that partake in oppressive systems would agree that men and women should be treated equally, but the oppressive systems are so engrained in our society that they seem impossible to change. Focusing on the differences between men and women may be detrimental, but without a tangible alternate option, it is difficult to know how to approach discussing these groups.
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