Oppression and Socialization

Jonah Gokova writes that the "antisexist organization for men in Zimbabwe, encourages men to respond to gender equality in our society" (421). I think that this is a great idea and that we should encourage men in the US to do the same thing. When he talks about his daughter, they raised her to be able to see the equality in their relationship so he as the father figure does the dishes, diapers, making the beds and the cooking. She is starting to notice and ask important questions such as "why do you both wear pants but not dresses?" (422) I think this is important because you see that she sees no difference in the jobs they do so why wouldn't they dress the same as well? Another good point that Gokova makes is that men are not supposed to openly cry or admit weakness in the presence of a women. I find this interesting because this is what my father used to tell my brother and my mother would come back and tell him that it was okay to cry. Men take on the more typical role of being strong and dominate but they do have feelings like women, just they are taught not to express them. I think it might be easier to communicate with men if they did open up a little and share their feelings.

Johnson talks about patriarchy and why men always assume that means "dealing with men". Also about oppression and why men think or say the most sexist things that come to mind. The example Johnson uses is Ray Barone in Everyone Loves Raymond. He says stupid, sexist and immature things all the time but Debra puts up with him because she loves him. Why? We don't really know, but if the situation was reversed do you think that Ray would actually stick around? We are shaped by socialization and the path of resistance which to me means that because men being immature is the social norm all women accept it.

Fyre talks about oppression to women in different ways the Johnson. One good example she uses is the oppression of women who are or are not sexually active. If they are then they have to deal with the ridicule of names like whore or slut. If they aren't then they are harassed by people who ask why they are so uptight or man-hater or even bitch. Another example, would be the barrier for being married, single or raise children alone, together or no children period. The pressures that society puts us in make it hard to see the real decision that we want and makes it harder to deal with the situations. Oppressed can be in other ways like financially, discriminatory, racially or sexually. There are many ways one can be oppressed in society but it can be hard to see when your not looking for them.