Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Oppression and Privilege--Kellen Gable

Oppression and privilege go hand in hand in our society. If someone is privileged, there is someone else that is oppressed because of their privilege and vice versa, if someone is oppressed, then someone else is profiting off of that oppression and is privileged. Even if people do not realize they are oppressed or privileged society dictates that they are. I know that a lot of women said that the Women’s March was not needed and that they weren’t oppressed anymore, so why was everyone else making such a big deal about it? Then again, these women were straight, abled (physically and mentally), and white (and more likely than not, Christian and middle to upper class with educations) and they do not have the same issues as say, women of color or poor women or disabled women. They did not understand the point of the Women’s March because they did not realize or did not want to admit that they have some privileges many other women do not (being oppressed because they are women is a totally different argument).

Of course, knowing you have at least some sort of privilege (if you do have any) is the first step, then you have to admit that your privilege is causing others to be oppressed. And you cannot just ignore it either, the privileged have to use their privileges to help the oppressed become equals or society will not progress nor change.

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