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Theorist Marilyn Frye refers to oppression as a system of relationships of power in which many smaller circumstances go into making structural oppressions based on gender. ... Frye’s concepts relate directly to R. W. ...
Marilyn Frye describes oppression as operating as a larger structure of related parts and inequalities, much like Connell describes the mass operation of less complex and larger, yet skeletal views in our culture about masculinity and femininity that shape our ideas about their role in our society. Frye makes the assertion that the life of the oppressed is shaped and defined by barriers and social forces which are systematically related to each other “in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict and penalize motion” (Frye 22). ... When masculinity and femininity are stripped of their detail and complexity it is easy to see how their interrelation, much like the wires in Frye’s cage, are based on one single truth, “the global dominance of men over women” (Connell 25). ... These theories are so closely related in that the skeletal, larger view allows us to see the most basic fact that men dominate women in our culture much like the macroscopic view of Frye’s “cage” allows us to see a network of barriers which are related and contribute to “the immobilization, reduction, and molding of women” (Frye, 23).
As well as analyzing the structure of oppression in our society, Frye strives to clarify the difference between suffering and oppression and the implications that it has on the oppressed. ... Connell investigates the most naturalized form of femininity and hegemonous masculinity in order to understand the structure of the roles that Frye refers to. ... Basically, the form of masculinity which best naturalizes the subordination of women to men, or Frye’s concept of interrelated oppression is obviously hegemonous masculinity. ... ” Just like Frye’s theory suggests, women cannot avoid having their period, but yet they are under social scrutiny because of it. ... most of which is “organized, financed, and supervised by men” (Connell 28) Another key point where Frye’s concept that oppression can only be understood by looking at the macrolevel way in which women are constantly caught in a double bind can be applied or explained by Connell’s terms is the fact that even emphasized femininity bears harsh consequences in our culture. Men are portrayed to women complaining about having to cuddle, not wanting to deal with the sensitivity of their mate while still wanting and even expecting them to nurture their emotional needs The best example I can think of that illustrates how emphasized femininity is also confined and shaped by the barriers and social forces that Frye refers to is something I saw on a popular television show, Real Time with Bill Maher on Saturday, September 20, 2003.
Approximate Word count = 1974
Approximate Pages = 7.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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