PSYC336 Exam 1: Privilege and Oppression + Gender Related Identity Development

Intersectionality and Gendered Racism

Intersectionality: Simultaneously considering the meaning and consequences of multiple categories of identity, difference, and disadvantage.

• Identities don’t exist independently 

• Identities inform one another 

• Identities are fluid (the way we describe our identities tend to change over time) 

• Identities are embedded in systems of power and inequality 

Gendered Racism

• Sexist beliefs about women 

• Racist beliefs about people of color 

• Sexism x Racism creates different stereotypes for Black women (“aggressive”), Latina Women (“spicy”), and Asian Women (“submissive”) 

Jones & Day (2018): Four Profiles

1. Intersectional Engaged: Race & gender viewed similarly and moderately important. Focus on resilience and overcoming double jeopardy 

2. Race Progressive: Higher levels of race centrality than gender centrality. Focus on resilience and oppression within own racial community. 

3. Intersectional Aware: Highest levels of racial & gender centrality. Focus on resilience and overcoming injustice, nurturing own community. 

4. Gender Expressive: Higher levels of gender centrality than racial centrality. Focus on strengths of being a woman. 

Takeaway: It is important to understand the nuances in groups who share intersectional identities 

Privilege and Oppression

Privilege and Oppression: Processes that obtain and reserve cultural resources for higgh status group memebers

• resources = Access to opportunities or experiences that can make a significant difference in quality of life such as…

  • Education

  • Safe and affordable housing

  • High-paying jobs

• Those who hold privilege changes based on current social/political context

Oppression

Oppression: The systemic and pervasive nature of social inequality in social institutions & individual consciousness

• Oppression is a process that occurs through…

  • Force

  • Deprivation

  • Covertness, (un)intentional policies and systems

Cycle of Oppression:

• Stereotype ⬇

• Prejudice ⬇

• Discrimination ⬇

• Institutionalization ⬇

• Internalization ⤴🔃

Privilege

Privilege: Cultural, legal, social, and institutional advantages that are unearned, and extended to a group based on their social group membership

• Often more difficult to recognize and discuss

• If we have an oppressed group, there is a privileged group that is benefitting

• Members of privileged groups are thought to be the “norm” — thus members of non-privileged groups are seen as the “other” (e.g. Cisgender men vs. people of other gender identities)

Examples of Male Privilege

•I am not taught to fear walking alone after dark in average public spaces.

•If I have children and pursue a career, no one will think I’m selfish for not staying at home.

•If I have sex with a lot of people, it won’t make me an object of contempt.

•Every major religion is led primarily by people of  my own sex. Even God, in most major religions, is usually pictured as being male.

•If I am heterosexual, it’s incredibly unlikely that I’ll ever be beaten up by a spouse or lover.

•Random strangers do not walk up to me on the street and tell me to “smile.”

•Magazines, television, movies, and all of media are filled with images of women intended to appeal to me sexually.

Examples of Racial Privilege

• I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.

• I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

• I can turn on the television and see people of my race widely represented.

• When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

• I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

Straight Privilege

4 Pathways to Feminist Identity Development

• Education

  • Formal or informal education that includes reading feminist texts or studying feminist topics

• Social Relationships & Gender-based Injustice

  • Meaningful relationships with women, feminists or people involved in social change movements

  • Observing, describing, or understanding an experience as due to inequality between different genders

• Violence

  • Observing or experiencing violence against women or understanding this violence as systemic

• Activism & Emotions

  • Participation in organizational or non organizational activism prior to identifying as a feminist

  • Having emotional reactions to women’s or girls’ experiences

Self-defining as a Feminist

Feminist Identity is Associated with:

• Lower levels of heterosexism

• Greater psychological well-being

• Lower body surveillance and body shame

• Increased willingness to engage in feminist activism

• Increased willingness to intervene in everyday sexist events

• Increased sexual satisfaction

• Friendships across difference

Why Might People Reject the “Feminist” Label?

• Negative Stereotypes and Stigma

  • “Man-Hating” Imagery

  • Personal Appeal and Social Cost

  • Media Caricatures

• Belief that Equality Has Already been Achieved

  • Post-Feminist Outlook

  • Perception of a Level Playing Field

• Cultural, Religious, and Traditional Values

  • Preserving Roles

  • Concerns Over Relational Shifts

• Perceived Alienation and Lack of Inclusion

  • Intersectionality Gaps

  • Perceptions Among Young Men

Other Labels

White Feminism: Closely linked with capitalism and white supremacy

• Instead of dismantling systems of oppression, it’s about succeeding with them

“choice feminism”

• emphasizes individualism and consumerism

• lacks political consciousness

Womanist Identity

Womanist Identity: A “Black” feminist or feminist of color committed to the survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically for health.

Key Tenets:

• Centralizes race, gender, class, and sexuality as central markers of women’s lived experiences

• Promotes liberation, self-determination, and the humanity of all people

• Holistic

• Acknowledges strengths, ways of coping, and thriving

• Collectivistic and community-oriented

Mujerista Identity

Mujerismois: “…a system of thought, or worldview, that centers Latina women’s concrete experiences, sources of knowledge, and survival strategies”

Key Tenets:

• Central for wholeness and well-being are self-definition, self-empowerment, and critical awareness

• Affirms multiplicity of aspects of identity without negating or canceling out the diverse parts of the self

• Focus on location, biculturalism/ transculturation, and transnational issues