The Four I's of Opression

     In the video "The Four I's of Oppression," Luna Malbroux argues that it is not enough to treat everyone equally in order to fight oppression when we are born into a society that has four forms of oppression embedded into our every day life. The four I's are ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized.

    The first talking point I would like to bring up is based on ideological oppression. Malbroux points to how from the womb parents are already making decisions for their child based on the ideologies of the child's gender, such as what color their room will be, pink or blue. I have seen gender ideologies affect many people in my life including myself. Just recently I was talking to my grandfather about what my plans were after college, and he suggested that my teaching career would not last long because once I have children I will have to become a stay at home mom. This shocked me because it is not as common to hear someone say that to a young woman as it would have been say 50 years ago. On the flip side, I have witnessed my boyfriend struggle to express his emotions and cry because he was raised on the ideology that boys do not cry. If it is not obvious, most of ideological oppression stems from stereotypes. 

    The next point I would like to make is that ideological oppression can lead to internalized oppression. Many people may not even realize they have internalized oppression until it is pointed out because stereotypes can be so commonly stated that they become a part of who we are without thinking about it. A very sad example of this is that on the first day of my first teaching job I introduced myself to a third grade class and asked them if they had any questions for me. A girl raised her hand and says "how come your hair is so pretty and mines not? And how come you're so pretty and I'm not?" Before I could even respond another student jumped in and very loudly said "because you're black and she's white." The student who made this statement was also a black female. I was in complete disbelief and shock especially when the student who asked the original question agreed with the second girl. Needless to say my undergraduate training did not prepare me for that moment. It is sad to think that the ideology of the white beauty standard has created internalized oppression in such young girls. 

    My final point is one that was the most striking to me. When I first watched the video I struggled with coming up with examples of institutional oppression (which in itself points to my privilege). However, the second time I watched the video the example of movies stuck out to me and I instantly realized that this is how I am accidentally contributing to oppression. As a white female, I am not sure that I have ever chosen to watch an all black film, which I am ashamed to admit. I have sought out movies where there are leads in multiple races (even though this does not happen often) but I have not done the same for an all black film. To be honest, my thought process is normally that there aren't enough actors/actresses I know to convince me to see the movie but that is a problem of oppression in itself. Because the institution sets up more white actors and actresses for fame, less actors of color are widely known. But as someone who also has a psych degree, I couldn't help but wonder if there was another reason that white people do not see all black films as often. My first thought was that white people do not see themselves in films with all black stars so it does not appeal to them as much but if that were true the same would be true for a black audience who chooses not to watch an all white film, which to my knowledge has never significantly occurred. However upon my research, I stumbled on an article in the Washington Post by Justin Moyer. Moyer states "white audience will perceive the films as 'not for them,' but White audiences perceive romantic films with minorities as 'not for them' because they seldom see minorities in race-neutral roles." This immediately made me think of how years ago I would have never been interested in watching a romance movie with an LGBTQ couple because as a straight woman I didn't feel like I could relate to it. However, as I went into high school and college and the film and tv representation of LGBTQ characters and couples increased I gained more interesting in watching movies that featured such couples. Exposure is what drew me to the movie not whether or not I saw myself in the roles, because my sexuality has not changed, only my exposure level. 

    I would like to connect this to last weeks reading by Alan Johnson. Johnson draws to the fact that we are all a part of the problem and this video has just proven to me that even I am part of the problem. As much as I would like to deny it, and as much as I do everything I can to fight being part of the problem the way our society is built has created oppression that I unknowingly contribute to. However, this is why it is so important to continuously explore this topic. The more you learn about oppression and privilege the more you learn about yourself and the more you learn to identify where you contribute to the problem. Even something as simple as pointing out movie culture can create a change in someone.