Oppression by Marilyn Frye

http://www.unbeknownst.org/oppress.htm

I only showed the first page of the article, more is on the website.



I only showed the first page of the article, more is on the website.

That is an incredibly smart article. Sometimes, even seasoned feminists mistake circumstances as falling under oppression and Marilyn Frye here expresses that this is not always the case. She informs that women are oppressed because of the binds and forces that constrain them and that suffering, nearly universal in this day and age, is not the same thing as being oppressed. She beautifully illustrates this example:

If a rich white playboy who lives off income from his investments in South Africa diamond minds should break a leg in a skiing accident at Aspen and wait in pain in a blizzard for hours before he is rescued, we may assume that in that period he suffers. But the suffering comes to an end; his leg is repaired by the best surgeon money can buy and he is soon recuperating in a lavish suite, sipping Chivas Regal. Nothing in this picture suggests a structure of barriers and forces. He is a member of several oppressor groups and does not suddenly become oppressed because he is injured and in pain. Even if the accident was caused by someone's malicious negligence, and hence someone can be blamed for it and morally faulted, that person still has not been an agent of oppression.

She continues to write on how traffic signs, though lame, are not oppressive and how whites are not oppressed by de facto laws prohibiting them from entering black neighborhoods although blacks are for the reverse. It is beautiful, and the main website that links to this article seems to have a pretty fair library for those interested in reading more feminist literature.

If you want to write anything on a link, article, or story, just email WARR (warrosu@gmail.com) the writing or even what you want to be written on and we'll see about doing it. Keep strong, people.

Peace,