The Four "I" of Oppression

 The Four "I" of Oppression 

Definitions: 

Oppression - the systematic subjugation of a social group by another social group with access to institutional or systemic power. Individuals belonging to the dominant group have access to privilege and benefit at the expense of individuals in the subordinate group. It can manifest itself in four overlapping and interdependent ways: Ideoligical, Interpersonal, Institutional, Internalized (TREC). 

mi·cro·ag·gres·sion

noun

1. a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentionaldiscrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority.

   "students posed with dry-erase boards documenting their experiences with microaggressions on campus"

   • indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group.

     "they are not subject to daily acts of microaggression"

According to Malbroux, two primary modes of socialization are gender and race, both of these shape who we are before we are even born. A great example she gives is how we plan the color of a baby's nursery before birth, if the baby is a girl, well then the room must be pink or if we have a boy well then of course we will paint it  blue with trucks. Ideolgy is our inner thoughts on how we perceive someone based on what we have been told. One who steps out of these standard behaviors is something other than "normal". Because society truly believes that a girl should be pretty and wear pink, whereas boys should be manly and not cry. It has been instilled in us that men are stronger, braver, better at math science and technology and that these professions should be held by men. If we think of something, anything, a football professional, CEO, teacher, nurse, in our heads we form a picture of what that person looks like, and to me that is what ideological racism is. 

Institutional oppression is how institutions reinforce and manifest ideological racism, this can be seen in education, housing, healthcare, state funding, and laws to name a few, but really it is in all aspects of our lives. An example Malbroux gives is how neighborhoods are comprised and designed, which can be a form of segregation excluding people of color. Another example describes how state funding, when based on property values and taxes, is unequal and a lot less funding goes to those schools who are predominately black or hispanic. In another article in Health magazine, they wrote that black women are four times more likely than white women to experience a pregnancy related death. Research found that inadequate access to prenatal health care contributed to rise in maternal mortality.  

Interpersonal oppression is one that we may all have felt before. If you have ever felt like you were being treated differently because of an aspect of who you are then you have experienced this form of oppression. In Johnson's writing, he mentioned how a teacher may call on a boy student over a girl because we live in a society that privileges maleness. Now I have never noticed this myself but I am interested to see if it's true. Malbroux gives an example that I am sure many can relate to, it is feeling excluded at a lunch table. Now I have witnessed a few times at the school I work at, a student will comes to the nurse's office and ask to eat lunch with me because they don't have someone to sit with. School can be a difficult place for kids and this form of oppression can be seen everyday in this environment and it is certainly sad to watch. For me, I hope that as the school nurse, I can be that safe place for student who feel that internalized oppression of being "less than" the others.  

This author Luna Malbroux argues that just because you treat everyone equal doesn't mean that racism doesn't exist. Racism is found in almost every aspect of todays world and it impacts everyone in it. We should all be more cognizant of the systems of racism like agism, ablism, sexism and how they impact people all around us. 

In the news today
An interview with Brittany Watts, an Ohio women finally acquitted of felony charge after a miscarriage at home. What I would like you to pay attention to is the fact that this women went to the hospital 2 times in the previous days leading up to the miscarriage after being told from her OBGYN that her pregnancy was non-viable, she sat each time for 8-11 hours without being seen or explained to. Honestly, you can't help but ask yourself, is this because of the color of her skin? I can't imagine myself walking into Women & Infants, being told the baby has a faint heart beat, but won't make it, but please just sit in the waiting room for 10 hours until the doctor can see you. 

Privilege, Power, and Difference

    In the book Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson, he wrote that “a great deal of trouble surrounds issues of difference in this society, trouble relating to gender and race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, social class” are among some of these issues. He goes on to say that, "all of these issues cause enormous amounts of injustice and unnecessary suffering.” He further explains how each and every one of us are connected one way or another in this nation wide problem and the purpose of his book is to provide us with a new way of thinking in regard to these issues which he hopes will then help us move away from our traditional views or some may argue, oblivion. In his text he focuses on gender, race, social class, and sexual orientation because these topics have the most impact on the greatest number of people and thus cause the most suffering and greatest harm. Among these topics, social class is slightly different from the others because of its ability to change whereas the other topics are more or less fixed at birth. A nice visual he shares in his book is the diversity wheel, and the interesting thing about the wheel is how it doesn’t actually tell much about who you are or your uniqueness, but it does say alot about how other people will perceive you. His point is, shifting just a few parts of the diversity wheel diversity wheel would change someone's life dramatically because these few characteristics carry more weight in our society than does our heart and soul. Well that is a tough one to swallow, and unfortunately we see this racial divide in everyday life. I feel that the color of our skin should hold little meaning on how others judge us, and it is sad that we are still making race such an important part of our existence.

     

    In the chapter “We’re In Trouble,” the author discusses the concept of privilege. He states, “privilege is always a problem for the people who don’t have it and for the people who do, because privilege is always in relation to others.” I found this quote eye opening because what he is saying is that in order to recognize what privileges you have, you must look at the privileges that are withheld from others and that to me seems to make a lot of sense and quite frankly I have never looked at it like that before and some things I have taken for granted I should be more thankful for. An example Johnson references from McIntosh’s writings are of the two types of privileges, unearned entitlements and conferred dominance. According to McInotsh, unearned entitlements are things like safety and belonging, which all people should be granted, but when these entitlements become restricted to certain groups then it becomes an unearned advantage. The examples Johnson gives of what privilege looks like in everyday life as it relates to race, gender, and sexualtity are quite eye opening. An example I found interesting is that 90 percent of those who use illegal drugs are white, but less than half of the people in prison on drug-use charges are white. It simply means that whites are less likely than blacks to be arrested or even less likely to be pulled over in the first place.

     

    The last talking point I want to leave you with is from the chapter Privilege as Paradox, Johnson states that white people will compare themselves to other white people since being white in this society is valued and therefore they will deny having these privileges, but when they find themselves ranked low in social class they may tend to compare themselves to people of color or to women so that they feel as though they still are superior to someone. 

 This author Allan Johnson argues that the main problem with society today is that there is a lot of unneeded suffering and injustice related to issues of difference and that we need to be more aware of how we are connected to this. Instead of individuals saying that they are not racist and therefore cannot be the cause of the issue, they need to instead say how can we help minority groups have the same entitlements as white people.

Gender Equality

Introduction

 

My husband and I with our daughter, Lily.  She made her grand entrance to her quincenera upon this beautiful horse earlier this year.   

I love sitting by the water in the summer time and taking sunset pics.

I grow hundreds of dahlias, this is one of my favs!

My girls at Disney, we love family vacations!

The grinch, Ruby and Josie. Ruby watches The Grinch movie year round. 

Here is Lily in her princess dress at her quincenera. 

This celebration is very big in the Guatemalan culture.