Lynette Dixon
Iris Young categorizes oppression into five “faces”:
1) Exploitation is the abuse of the
labor of one group to benefit another group. This power dynamic creates a class
structure with strict class distinctions
2) Marginalization is the exclusion of
those deemed to be “other”, those that the labor system ignores or has no use
for.
3) Cultural Imperialism is the tendency
of the dominant group to render the “others” as powerless, inferior, and/or
deviant.
4) Powerlessness is a result of the exploitation
of the marginalized and causes a “lack of decision making power in one’s life”
(58)
5) Violence is the systematic means of
intimidating and harassing the group that is othered,. In my opinion, this is
also the means through which the other status is maintained.
These “faces of oppression” are present in MacKinnon’s discussion of sex
discrimination. In Young’s discussion of cultural imperialism, she mentions Du
Bois and his idea of double consciousness. This is the idea that a person, often
one of the other, does not only understand and operate from their own cultural perspective,
but is also coerced into understanding and acting through the culture of those
who are dominant. MacKinnon delves into this further into this idea as she
discusses the fact women must measure up to the male standard if they wish to
be equal to them. This means that women have to play the role of both a man and
a woman simultaneously, being burdened to take on and display only the desired
traits of each. Thus, a woman must navigate both spaces and figure out how to
be the male standard while still being a woman. There are grave consequences
for us if we fail to strike this nearly impossible balancing. As such, this point
is also wrapped up with marginalization and violence. Women are a marginalized
group in that there is often not a space for them in the labor force if we fail
to have mastered the double consciousness required of us. I also see violence
as a facet of oppression that is connected to this. Not only do I see it as a
type of violence that such a duality of consciousness and self is required, but
if we cannot fully strike that violence, and sometimes even if we do, we are
subject to physical, emotional, and psychological violences in the workplace.
Lynette, I congratulate you on your analysis of the MacKinnon and Young articles! I will admit, I did have a hard time understanding MacKinnon’s argument, yet you managed to understand her and incorporate her points into Young’s rubric of oppression. Similar to what we discussed in class, you explained that because women are judged on a male standard, they must play the role of both man and woman. This ultimately leads to marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence.
ReplyDeleteI like how you initiated your analysis by listing the five faces of oppression and briefly explaining them. As a reader, it gave me a nice introduction to what you were going to discuss in your paragraph. Additionally, I liked how you used MacKinnon’s examples (DuBois’s idea of double consciousness, workplace violence, etc.) to strengthen your argument. Nice work!