Systematic Oppressions

The mistreatment of people within a social identity group that is supported and enforced by both society and institutions is the core of what systematic oppressions are. Marginalized communities face many overwhelming barriers such as the criminal justice system, sexism, racism and even in education. We must dismantle these institutions even though they are so deeply rooted in our history.

Reparations Still Not Paid

March, 14 2021

Oct 1, 2021

May 6, Apr 25, 2022

Sept 22, 2021

March 14, 2021

As a feminist, we have to look at systematic oppressions and how they affect not just the individual, but people as a whole. In 375, we read the autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody. We follow her life as a young girl growing up in rural Mississippi who becomes a young women right at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement. Moody recognizes the oppressions herself and other Black people must face in Jim Crow America. At one point, she says she hates both white people and Black people: white people for committing atrocities and Black folks who couldn't stand up. I think it's important to see where our own people have pitfalls and then work to overcome them with their brothers and sisters. Being able to realize both your own inwardness, and your communities' allow you to better look outward.

While we have come a long way from the Jim Crow Era, many Black people and other people of color still are facing systematic oppressions, for example, the government. Being able to work together, recognize problems, and solve them together is what makes feminism feminism in my opinion.

Inequalities and InstitutionS: Poster and Reflection

May 6, 2022

This was the poster and reflection essay for my final project in my SOCI 457 class that focused on Inequalities in Institutions.

For the poster, I decided to focus on Hart-Celler Act and how it ties in with Immigration and Transnational Adoption. This fits within the category of Systematic Oppressions because there are many people of color who are not able to adopt opposed to white people who are almost always allowed. Also, it shows that foreign children are more accepted than their adult counterparts.

Finally, for my reflection paper, I was asked to connect it to my other undergraduate studies, which of course, is a lot to do with WGS. Being able to research the system more in depth was really beneficial, especially as a WGS major who needs to know these types of things.

April 25, 2022

Performing the Border Response

Oct 1, 2021

On the US-Mexico Border in Texas, Mexican women cross the border to work and then cross back to live. In the film, it shows how physical and gendered geographies of borderlands affect women in the the world of capitalism. In one part of the film, they say life on the border teaches [one] to cope with contradictions” and to deal with it regardless of how it feels (7:53-7:57). For example, it follows both women who work in the maquiladoras and prostitutes. Traditionally, Mexican women stay home and their husbands are the bread winners, but here at the border, they can work. They are able to have their own wages which is a fight against gender oppression in itself, but then at he same time are stripped of everything and just become bodies to make products and please men.

This film is a great example of Transnational Feminisms as well as the gender oppression these women have to deal with. Using a feminist lens to critique how physical and gendered geographies of borderlands affect women in the world of capitalism is important, especially as we continue to move into a world where we can barely afford to live on a single family income.

Oppression Into Opportunity

Sept 22, 2021

I feel like the goal of life should be to make life worth living. When people aren't stressed about having to pay bills or put food on the table, they are able to do more things that bring them joy. I chose this essay because because it shows how institutions such as schools and governments can be oppressive. I feel that students are largely ignored when we try to speak up, even though many of our elders tell us that we are "the change." StrikeU was able to help a lot of students, mainly of color, be able to succeed in their education because the other parts of their lives were well taken care of.

Being able to recognize oppression and have the power to overcome it, I feel, is the main goal of feminism. I would say that these two communities are marginalized because they face oppressions of capitalism which directly harm those who cannot afford necessities to make their lives better.