Discussing Race, Class, & Gender

I recently observed a conversation of a large group of young students that talked about relationships and gender differences, and that was the first time I have realized how much we generalize characteristics given to certain sexes. When I was reading this section of the book I thought about how much these socially constructed roles are internalized and played out by us. It is a difficult step accepting your role in this tricky role play that was created by society.

I thought one of the most interesting sections of the book was the discussion on the civil rights and and black women. As I was reading, I became more frustrated. It was upsetting to read that the issue of gender was a second thought in the fight for race equality. When women attempted to discuss about pushing for agenda for gender equality, their views were ignored. THe ironic thing is, women like Rosa Parks were a major figure of the movement but these same women were asked to wait for their gender equality, because the time called for race equality. Its sad that both equalities could not be fought at the same time.

I thought one of the most interesting sections of the book was the discussion on the civil rights and and black women. As I was reading, I became more frustrated. It was upsetting to read that the issue of gender was a second thought in the fight for race equality. When women attempted to discuss about pushing for agenda for gender equality, their views were ignored. THe ironic thing is, women like Rosa Parks were a major figure of the movement but these same women were asked to wait for their gender equality, because the time called for race equality. Its sad that both equalities could not be fought at the same time.

Although I think most people here are discussing the first half of Gender Talk, I would also like to bring up the second half. I was really interested in the discussion made by black male sociologists and psychologists (around p.134). They draw the link between the "social marginalization" of Black men, and their behaviors, and attitudes towards sex. They describe how important it is for black men to achieve appropriate gender roles. These men often feel their gendered roles are failing they bring other 'male roles' to the forefront and results in impregnating many females and having many sexual conquests. I found this discussion very interesting thought that it described many situations that I didn't understand and are prevalent right now.

I found your post very interesting and would like to make just a few comments on it. First of all, about opressing people within the same race or class or whatever for that matter. I think that often competition is mixed with discrimination and oppression. If we as a society weren't constantly looking to be better than others or to be better than what we currently are, we would never have made so many of the advancements that we have. Without people wanting to be better than others, records would never be broken or possibly never kept. My point is that although we oppress many people, not through just race, class, gender, and sexuality, but a variety of other things too, we also are competitive beings and 'need' to compete. My second point has to do with the gender can wait idea. I know it sounds like it would work, but comparing this idea of Douglas' to intersectionality, it's impossible to remove just one leg and then start on the other. In order to remove any of the inequalities from race, class, gender, and sexuality, we need to 'attack' them all at the same time and not let the push to remove one specific idea fall behind the rest.

I think you bring up a lot of good points. While reading the book it really helped me to understand the struggles that black women face everyday. It's truly sad that we live in such a progressive and rich nation, and many people are still daily oppressed. I would the quote by Fredrick Douglas to be very interesting myself. I believe that you cannot empower or give rights or better a race unless you are bettering all the people in the race. So while people felt race was most important, what they failed to see was they were only focusing on black men, not women. Gender Talk really opened my eyes to see the struggle that they face, the double oppression they go through every day.

I thouught this book was very interesting as well. The quote you posted made me really think about my life and how i view other individuals. I think it is very sad that American's are always worried about other individuals and how they can profit off of them. The oppress can opress others and we all live in this vicous circle of always wanting to be better than the person next to us.

The fact that one can oppress someone that is from the same race shows the complexity of how the systems of oppression work in our society. There have been many times when I, as a black woman had to wonder "Am i getting oppressed because of my race or my gender" and sad to say, it has been both. I believe that we cannot treat race and gender as separate entities because they are intersected and will always feed off of one another.

I also agree with your point that everyone is oppressed in some kind of way. As a person of color I sometimes believe that white people as a whole do not get oppressed. But throughout the course and readings I have learned that race is not the only point of oppression. White people can be oppressed based on their class, gender or sexuality.

I definitely agree with your post. I like Gender talk myself because of its more personalized approach in addressing oppressions, specifically feminism. i was also blown away by the quote: "how could I, so committed to fighting racism and who feels so deeply oppressed myself, be accused of oppressing someone black like me?" (page 44).it just goes to prove that we are all oppressed, however our point of entry differs from one to another based on race, class, gender, sexuality, experiences, upbringing, etc.

I definitely am on the same page as you. Gender talk had some of my favorite selections that we read the entire semester. It is kind of like the Ore work were there are personal narratives presented. It is way easier to learn from reading about real life experiences.