Sunday, September 9, 2012

Talking Points #2

Oppression
Marilyn Frye

Argument:

In Oppression, by Marilyn Frye, the author argues that in order to see the oppression of women, we cannot look at it in a microscopic view. Rather we must look at it as a whole. When we look at the big picture, we are able to “see the elements of the situation as systematically related in larger schemes,” whereas, we would be able to pinpoint the factors that result in the similar outcomes that lead to women’s oppression (178). For example, men are taught to never show weakness, because they must be tough no matter the situation. They are made fun of if they do not hold up to that expectation which causes them to suffer. But Frye argues that this is not oppression. For instance, take the “the male door-opening ritual”. Men may be able to say that it is oppressive because if they do not hold open the door for their lady, they will be looked at as jerks and not chivalrous. In order to not be labeled as something they’re not, they hold the door in order for them to say they did something helpful. Frye on the other hand argues that, “the door-opening pretends to be a helpful service, but the helpfulness is false” (177). “The door-opening and similar services provided are services which really are needed by people who are…incapacitated…so the message is that women are incapable” (177).  Women would much rather welcome help with the laundry or with the kids, for example.With that, Men claim to suffer from oppression as much as women do, even if the degree of suffering is far less severe and incomparable and because of that, “ the word “oppression” is being stretched to meaningless” (174). To further her argument Frye then uses a birdcage to exemplify why with oppression it is better to look at things in a macroscopic view:

 “If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires…You could look at that one wire, up and down the length of it, and be unable to see why a bird would not just fly around the wire anytime it wanted to go somewhere… It is only when you step back, stop looking at the wires one by one, microscopically, and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere” (176).

Although, Frye uses such powerful examples, she claims not to want to prove that women are oppressed or that men are not oppressed, but instead she wants to make sure people understand what they are saying when they use the word oppress to describe a situation. 

 


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