Oppression By Marilyn Frye Analysis

Are we, women, just a mere prop to strengthen men’s power and pride? Are women only existing in this world to serve and satisfy men? Back in the day when men are dominating the government and our society, women are just left in their houses. Society sees them as a puppet, a person who is only capable of doing household chores or even a mere baby maker. Freedom is non-existent to a woman’s life and they are treated like criminals who are sentenced to life imprisonment or like a bird whose wings are broken and trapped inside a cage. With this, some of their rights were being violated and those rights are slowly starting to perish. Pan’s Labyrinth is one of Guillermo Del Toro’s greatest masterpiece and it shows the reality about how unfair and cruel society can treat women. This movie depicts that society can do a lot of things that can hurt a woman’s dignity but it also showed us what a true woman is and what are they really capable of doing.

Frye states that oppression is a system of restrictions and limitations that reduce, demean, immobilize, and purposefully shape an individual to belong to a certain plan or idea, creating a subordination to another group (such as women vs. men). When Frye talks about the birdcage analogy she is using it to explain oppression and the barriers or limitations it puts on a person. Frye also mentions that a person can be miserable without being oppressed and that it is consistent to deny that a person or group is oppressed without denying that they have feelings or that they suffer. Oppression is more abstract than being physically miserable, almost that it is a way of living. We talk about being miserable and suffering somewhat interchangeably

The Declaration of Sentiments, a document written by activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucrietia Mott, discusses injustices towards woman and the rights that have been withheld from them, such as voting and denied admittance into colleges. Stanton and Mott want readers, primarily men, to understand, to take action, and to fight against the opression that has been put on women of all ages, race and religion in the United States. Without the help of Stanton and Mott, womens rights may have been an overlooked issue yesterday and today, therefore, their message is incontestably crucial.

In the developing western world, women have always been considered the weak link of the society. For centuries they have been treated as less intelligent and less important than men, and therefore, subordinate to men. Since, as a general rule, men are physically stronger than women are, such domination wasn’t hard to achieve. For hundreds of years, this mindset has impacted humanity’s understanding of equality and has left its mark on the way our society functions to this day. For the western world over the past few hundred years, and sadly to this day still having its impact on the general public, white males have been considered the most righteous, intelligent, moral, and thus, supreme to the rest of society. However, the issue of gender inequality must be talked about and equality must be encouraged. There are two great pieces of work, the novel Salvage

In nearly all historical societies, sexism was prevalent. Power struggles between genders mostly ended in men being the dominant force in society, leaving women on a lower rung of the social ladder. However, this does not always mean that women have a harder existence in society. Scott Russell Sanders faces a moral dilemma in “The Men We Carry in Our Minds.” In the beginning, Sanders feels that women have a harder time in society today than men do. As the story progresses, he begins to understand why he thinks in the manner that he does. Sanders does an excellent job of showing how his thinking changes as the text progresses. He does this through his brilliant use of interior monologue and personal anecdotes.

Throughout the 16th century Reformation through the Enlightenment in the 18th century, was a period of time that saw both change and continuation in European society. One of the biggest examples of this was the role of women and how they should function in European society. Women in this era faced a large amount of hardships and obstacles from great leaders and philosophers such as Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant, who were both against the equality of women to men at this time. From the time period of the 16th century Reformation all the way up to the Enlightenment in the 18th century, the women of Europe were viewed as fragile and unworkable women whose main priority and purpose should only be being a housewife. As time progressed, women

This essay illustrates how biased our country is. Although we have multiple amendments that legally make minorities equivalent to males, females are still treated as if they’re completely irrelevant. Boys look and treat girls of all ages like they are objects or property. Males tend to believe they are stronger and more powerful than the women. Although men do tend to be stronger, women could be just as powerful if they took a stand or a little change was made. This essay will explain how sexist dress codes, shaming young girls for our country’s high teen pregnancy rate, sexual harassment, domestic violence show the spiteful feelings towards females.

Women in America claim that they are still oppressed, women in America claim they still don’t have the same rights as men, and women in America claim that they are discriminated against, but is this true? Are women still in the 1950 's where they didn’t have the right to vote and own land? No, if anything women are "privileged"! Ever since 1920 women have had all rights every other American citizen is granted. Women in America have more job opportunities and equal pay (as opposed to other countries), they have certain rights to their children that men do not have, and they are not discriminated against in court and law as much as men. Therefore, women in America are not oppressed and need to stop claiming they are.

I very much agree with Frye’s concept of oppression. She started by mentioning three words: “Mold. Immobilize. Reduce.” She discussed how barriers are set in place to assure women are acting the same. The double-bind explains how women are ridiculed over little things, if they are considered to be “out of the

Gender inequality is not a new topic. Throughout history, women have faced significant sexist discrimination starting with being denied basic rights enjoyed by men. In many societies, women have been categorized as inferior to men. Greek poet, Homer, consistently highlighted this ‘women are inferior’ theme throughout his writings of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Even though this degradation of women has currently been brought to light in the 21st century, it continues to remain a serious issue. Women are still subjected to falling short of equal status with men on a daily basis.

For centuries, women have been exploited by the society. Events of women being prohibited from doing things like voting or working and being forced to behave the way it is considered to be socially acceptable have been jotted down in history. Until today women are still viewed as the weaker sex. In some countries, women are regarded less than human and are treated like slaves. Khaled Hosseini goes into the oppression of women in his novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. In the story, the women are oppressed by the society. This is narrated through the delivery of the main antagonist’s id, the gender inequality in enforcing laws and the marginalization of women.

I believe that it is safe to say that women have been for many years, and still is dealing with oppressions from men that were created by men. Women have been for years considered as weak and fragile, and that their place belongs in the home cooking, cleaning, taking care of their husbands and children, and to sexually please their husbands. (Wallace & Roberson, 7th edition) wrote, “In early times, women were looked on as property and as a method of ensuring that a man’s heritage and line continued.” (Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspective, pg. 221). As stated earlier, patriarchy is a system and it is still widely practiced. With this system in place, many men unfortunately believe that is it ok to treat women as properties.

I believe there is a very relevant contemporary political issue in comparison with Frye’s essay. She states that the over-use and misunderstanding of the word oppression take's away from its value and therefore the importance of its recognition is lost. I believe that this is paralleled with the words racism and sexism.

In her book The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir makes some strong claims about the social construction of women. She also offers attempts to explain women’s experience of subordination and the understanding of men and women dichotomy.

Article 14 of the Constitution of India stipulates that “the state not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. Protection prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion race, caste, sex or place of birth.” Therefore this law should imply that all Indian women have and can practice the same rights as men. However these laws, while legally set in stone, are not socially acknowledged much of the time.