Unmasking Patriarchy

    The authors of "Unmasking Patriarchy: Analyzing texts to identify oppression with high school students", Fayette Colon and Frankee Grove, argue that educating students on the cycle of gender oppression is the key to unmasking the patriarchy.

    "As (a teacher) often told students, to dismantle oppressive systems we need to name the oppression." This quote directly relates to Johnson's stance from a previous article that was read for class. The reason why I bring up this quote is because I agree completely and I think that by educating students on oppression in all forms we are taking an important first step. However, I cannot express enough how frustrating it is as a woman to repeatedly take classes about being an educator and to learn about fighting racism over and over again and to be given so many resources and perspectives on how to start making changes but not once have I been given an article about gender oppression. Now this is not to diminish the severity of racism in our country by any means because it is an extremely pressing matter that we should work on fighting every day. However, as a woman it is disappointing that the extent of any discussions I have had on sexism has had to do with the pay difference and gender stereotypes but not once have we gone in depth about how to work towards fighting it. I would actually argue that gender oppression is much more internalized within our society than any type of oppression because it standard across all cultures and countries. There was a point that was made (possibly in an article that was read for this class) that said black africans will never experience the same racism as black African Americans but I can pretty much guarantee that they will experience similar sexism and gender oppression. Even in my precollege education women's history month is not taken nearly as seriously as black history month. In black history month you are seen as racist if you do not incorporate black history into your lessons no matter what class you are in but during women's history month it is seen as a time to "celebrate women" rather than a time to educate on the oppression that we face. I bring all of this up to say that although we need to name it, naming it is not enough. 

    "When other girls call her a 'ho,' that is internalized oppression...The girls have been oppressed and then they internalized that and projected it onto other women." This quote immediately made me think of the Four I's video from the beginning of the semester. I think this is an important quote to bring up because I think that gender stereotypes and impression are much more internalized than any other type of oppression which is some ways could make it stronger since it's more hidden it's harder to identify and fight. Women have grown to hate other women and men will judge everything a woman does. We don't talk enough about the fact that when a woman is seen as too intelligent she is a show off, if she chooses to be a stay at home mom she's not doing enough, if a woman shows too much skin she's a slut but if she doesn't show enough she's a prude. Gender stereotypes also exist and effect men but women simply cannot win because both genders are attacking women and I may even go as far to say that women attack women more. If you have the time and have yet to see it, I highly suggest watching this monologue from the Barbie Movie. Even I have strong internalized oppression and if I were educated more on the oppression cycle I think I would have been more prepared to stand up for myself in the real world and to try to fight that oppression. But as a result of this lack of education when a professor decided to cross a line with me and multiple other women in a class two years ago I questioned what people would say about me. Was I asking for him to put his hands on my waist because I was wearing leggings and a crop top? Was it too tempting for him? If I was uncomfortable why didn't I just tell him? Did he really cross a line if it wasn't below my waist or on my chest? I almost did not stand up for myself because I knew people would ask these questions and I would be lying if I said I did not question the same things even though myself and other women documented for over twenty years had been made uncomfortable by this man but no one felt that they could do anything about it.

       Finally, the article brings up the discussion of Latino machismo, which is the Latin cultural belief that males should be the dominant gender. This made me think about how I have a large percentage of students who are Latino and this may be something that is believed in their household. I also have many Muslim and Islamic students who believe that women are the inferior gender (which one student has said to my face). I would like to pose a question for anyone to answer if you have any advice on how to address this in education. It feels like a tough subject area since it is a cultural belief. I do not want to tell a student that their culture is sexist and wrong but I also want to create a healthy classroom environment when gender equality is required. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.