It's a fact that our society is built on oppression. Even if we think we have moved away from slavery, for example, oppression still exists in our daily lives. Take for example the $5 shirts you can buy at Walmart. At first you may not consider how they got there or who made them. The truth of the matter is that there are people in Bangladesh who live in sweat shops and are paid 2 cents a day to make those shirts. 112 people died a few years ago in a sweatshop fire because they were not allowed to leave. This seems like something out of the 1800's, but oppression like this still exists, just not to the public's immediate eye.
Similar to this, gender inequality exists as well, which is given power by oppression. Because of the subtle oppression of women, to appear womanly is taboo and unheard of. Women must be feminine, but not too feminine, and men are shunned if they so much as think about putting on makeup. Powell in Confessions of a Recovering Misogynist tries to excuse his actions by saying that he's moving on, that he's checked himself and because he is conscious of his male privilege, he is absolved of the problem. This is not true. Because oppression plays such a large role in our lives, even if we do not see it at first, it is impossible to be absolved of benefiting from privilege. A man will always be afforded certain privileges, Whites will be afforded privileges as well, cisgendered people will, etc. Of course there is a hierarchy, but no matter how hard people try to not benefit from a flawed system, they will nonetheless.
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