Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Internalized Oppression through language



As Mr. Robertson ended his lecture by concluding "Language is power"... what is not included in the quote is the whole truth, which is, "language is power if you are a man." From a young age, peers, parents, and teachers demonstrate just how different stereotypical expectations are between boys and girls. The saying "girls should reach high, but not too high" is fully internalized by second grade. Girls stories focus on the sense of community, the pronoun we, and ending with a lesson, while boys write about competition, conflict, and the pronoun I. This fuels the fire to the stereotype that women must maintain the house while their husband is working. From formative to professional storytelling gender impedes the communication between humans. Communication allows for humans as a population to collaborate and shares ideas. As we all know woman are just as intellectually capable as men so, stereotypes are blocking what they have to say, as feminine parts of speech and emotion both impact how they are perceived. While even at the highest level there are stereotypes.

Looking at how young women are taught to act throughout language oppresses women from a young age. Through sayings like, "that's not ladylike" and "boys will be boys" are clear examples of how society forces young girls to abide by their rules and code of ethics to carry themselves. And young girls hear this repeatedly until they internalize what society says and eventually think, I am inferior, and can not be as great as a man. This is the harsh society that language has created for women puts them down when in reality they are equal.

I thought of the movie The Breakfast Club, 1985, by John Hughes, Allison Reynolds says, "Well if you say you haven't, you're a prude. If you say you have you're a slut. It's a trap. You want to but you can't, and when you do you wish you didn't, right?" This quote explains how society is different growing up as a woman, rather than a man because no matter what you are treated negatively by our society. Language traps women on both sides if you have had sex or not, for you are judged either way. When Mr. Robertson talked about sex and how women and men are treated differently around the topic; as a man is a stud if he has sex with a lot of women when a woman is a slut if she has sex with a lot of men.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What do you think about this issue?

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.