Assignment #3b

Ronak Patel

Akash Garg

WMST250: Section 0107

Ana Perez

April 22, 2008

 

The Two Sided Stories of Society

            According to the Merriam-Webster World Dictionary, the word power is defined as “possession of control, authority, or influence over others” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  Power is illustrated in various forms throughout our everyday lives, involving race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, language, geographical location, etc.  When talking about power nowadays, one must also introduce the terms “marked” and “unmarked” categories, which depict the invisible and unspoken hierarchy of power within our society.  A person who belongs in the marked category is perceived as being somewhat powerless and secondary to those who belong in the unmarked category, who are seen to be the norm or generic.  Although it may seem a bit confusing, these fundamental concepts are illustrated in our lives numerous times everyday.

            Personally, marked categories are easily observed in my life, being of Indian descent.  Although it is believed that the society we live in today has overcome the issue of race and skin color, there a plenty of obstacles I face everyday because I am brown.  One very controversial obstacle is job and internship selections.  Over this past summer, I heavily pursued an internship opportunity in my area, the New York-New Jersey area.  I was very well qualified for many of the opportunities, graduating from high school with an outstanding GPA, having over 300 hours of community service, having many extra-curriculur activities, and also having past job experience.  One company, which I will keep anonymous, expressed much interest in me and called me for an interview, which I did very well in.  In addition, it turned out that my white friend from high school, Mike, who had an average GPA, a few hours of community service, no extra-curriculurs, and no prior work experience, also applied for the spot in the company.  I remember talking to him after his interview and he specifically told me that he was very nervous and did not do very well.  However, a few days later, the company called him and offered him the job, and on the other hand, they didn’t even call me to tell me that the position was offered to someone else.  I waited and waited and finally called them about a week and a half later.  All they could say was “there must have been a misunderstanding, we are truly sorry”.  I felt like I was being oppressed, because of the fact that I am of Indian descent and my friend Mike, who is part of the unmarked category in this case, is a white male.  After talking about it, even Mike couldn’t understand it; he wondered how he got the job over me even though he was extremely under qualified compared to me, and his interview did not go well either.  Not only does race play an issue in this experience, but so does geographic location.  I would be willing to bet that if we were in India applying for the same job, perhaps I’d have a slight edge over Mike, solely based on race, for the job opportunity.  In this scenario, I, being Indian, would be part of the unmarked category, and my buddy Mike would be part of the marked category, giving me an advantage in this case.  Therefore, the two underlying categories range from race as well as geographic location.

            Another personal experience, which dubs me into a marked category, is the places I lived and where I grew up.  Although I have been living in the state of New Jersey my whole life, I have lived in two very different parts of New Jersey.  For people who do not know much about the state, the state is very divided; North Jersey tends to be very urban, city-like and busy, while South Jersey tends to be a quieter, suburban, shallower place.  For the first fourteen years of my life, I lived in the city of Newark, in North Jersey, in a predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood.  Once again, I was marked, being of Indian descent, and the unmarked category consisted of the Blacks and Hispanics.  In addition, by living in a low socioeconomic neighborhood, it was difficult to do many things and once again, people made assumptions about my family, such as low income, illegal immigrants, bad people,  etc.  Clearly, according ot the matrix of dominance, we were oppressed and part of the marked category.  In addition, later, when I moved to the rich suburbs of Princeton, New Jersey, in the southern part of the state, we faced a new dilemma.  Once again, I was a part of the marked category, being of Indian descent, surrounded by predominantly White folks, who obviously belonged to the unmarked category.  Many times, I felt I was being judged or people did not want to converse with me because I was not the “white, rich jock kid of the neighborhood”.  Of course, it leveled out later and I soon became part of the norm, unmarked category, but for the first few years, it was especially difficult adjusting to a new place and being part of yet another marked category.

            Another place where I feel race is an obstacle is at our nation’s airports.  Believe it or not, my family and I have been through numerous “random” security checks, while we literally see white passengers walk by.  Again, we are part of the marked category, being people of color, while the non-colored people are part of the unmarked category.  In addition, sex plays a key role.  Statistically, colored men are often stopped and screened more often than colored women, which puts me in the marked category of sex.  The officers conducting the “random” searches are obviously in a position of power, which we, citizens of the country, must abide by.  This is a perfect example of our society’s power and how it is influenced.  For example, one can say that because the 9/11 attackers were brown (Middle Eastern), all brown people are terrorists and therefore must be searched extensively.  According to the matrix, it is sadly true that the officers do have the power do to this.  This is a clear example of how our privileges are the effects of systematic structures in which others, people of South Asian descent, are oppressed.  Clearly, millions of colored folks around the country are sadly oppressed by this stereotype.  I believe that this is a major set back to society.

            Another aspect of my life where I am part of the marked category according to the matrix of dominance is being a member of Sigma Beta Rho, a national multicultural fraternity that is located on numerous campuses, including the University of Maryland, College Park.  Let’s face it; everyone has their perceptions and stereotypes of a frat brother, probably among the lines of a guy who gets drunk all the time, rapes drunk girls, parties way too much, doesn’t care about schoolwork, and is rich and living a good life.  These are widely believed by many, and because the majority of people are not in Greek life, this puts me into the marked category yet again.  Those who belong to the unmarked category in this case are those who are not involved in Greek life.  The fact of the matter is although many fraternities and sororities may display this image, numerous Greek lettered organizations are not like the perceived stereotype.  The fraternity has changed my life; I have numerous hours of community service because of it, it is helping me find an internship, and in addition, I am conducting fundraisers on two campuses because of the fraternity.  It has really put me into a position of power and has helped me to better myself overall, contrary to popular belief.  Still, no mater what I say, the majority of people will think I am a low, bad person because I am a frat brother.  However, the matrix of dominance can shift and I could possibly be part of the majority.  For example, there are a number of schools in the United States where Greek life is so big that over 50% of the student body participates in Greek life, as opposed to the University of Maryland’s roughly 12-15% participation.  There, I would actually be part of the unmarked category, being a part of Greek life, and the folks not involved would be part of the marked category.  Again, geographic location plays a large role in determining the categories and where one falls according to the matrix of dominance.

            Although there are many ways of how I am oppressed due to others’ privileges, I am also privileged and part of the unmarked categories in numerous ways.  The most obvious and perhaps important one that most people will address first is the fact that I am an American citizen.  There is a reknown belief that the good old United States is the best country in the world, their people are the richest people in the world, and we are all model citizens.  I have observed this many times.  This past summer, when my family went to Mexico on a vacation, this was seen almost every minute of our trip.  Middle-class Mexican workers flocked to us trying to sell goods, asking usif we needed rides, spare change, drinks, etc.  We were basically treated like royalty, even at the hotel.  After looking back at this with the matrix of dominance in mind, I realize that those poor Mexican workers are really being oppressed because of our (our meaning Americans) privileges.  The matrix of dominance explains that there are two sides to every story.  For example, if we are the wealthiest country and have the most money, another country, such as Mexico, will be a lot less better off and be poorer and perhaps suffer because of our privilege of being rich.  It is difficult to observe situations in this manner, but the fact is that this is the way it should be viewed.  This is the way Bell Hooks exclaims it as well.  Although we are extremely privileged to be Americans and are very powerful, sadly, people are oppressed because of the benefits we reap.

            Another privilege I reap at the expense of others is being a college student.  Obviously, with a college degree, I will have an enhanced opportunity to find a better job and thus be better off in life.  But once again, with respect to the matrix of dominance, not everyone can afford or go to college.  These people have a huge disadvantage compared to us.  Later, we will take all the good jobs and they will be left with mediocre ones, thus being oppressed at the expense of our privileges.  Sadly, not everyone can go to college, which gives light to marked and unmarked categories.  Us college students fall in the unmarked, while the people who cannot go to college fall in the marked categories.  It seems prevalent that the college students possess power in this scenario, while the people who do not go to college seem subordinate and powerless.

            Perhaps the most defining and obvious aspect of power is gender.  Being male, I am part of the unmarked category, while being female (wo-man) places ne in the marked category.  As much as today’s society denies it, there is a clear difference in privileges between men and women.  It seems as if being a woman puts you at a disadvantage in many areas.  Unfortunately, It is harder to get higher level jobs as women, it is more difficult for women to be respected, and it is more difficult for women to be appreciated.  We can see this everyday.  One can just look at the coming election; millions of Americans feel that they are not ready for Hillary Clinton to become the nation’s next president based on the sole fact that she is a woman.  Personally, I have asked many people who are male why they dislike Hillary as president, and right away, their response is “because she is a woman”.  These ignorant people do not take into account any of her beliefs, principles, or policies, which puts her at a huge disadvantage because she is a woman.  If everything was the same about her except if she was a male, I’d be willing to bet that she would get many more votes for the Presidency.  The people of America have the power to vote, and because Hillary is a female, they oppress her and do not even listen to what she has to say.  In addition, women ae put at a disadvantage at the workplace.  As much as companies like to deny it, it will be difficult for one to find a women in the construction industry, a woman as a CEO of a huge company, etc.  Unfortunately, they are oppressed because all the males are reaping the benefits.  Again, according to the matrix of dominance, there is two sides to every story.  This power struggle does not seem to come to an end anytime soon and can unfortunately last for a very long itme, which can be seen as good for men, but bad for women.

            Another huge and very important illustration of power through the matrix of dominance is socioeconomic class.  This determines where you live, how much money you make and spend, your lifestyle, what you eat, who you talk with, what cars you drive, etc.  It is a huge pillar of one’s life.  I have been very fortunate to live in a wealthy community in Princeton for the better part of my life.  This makes me part of the unmarked category, having money and living a good lifestyle.  However, millions of people are part of the marked category, people of the lower class who do not have much money.  In this case, money is the sole decider of what category one belongs to.  For example, right off the bat, it is quite evident that one needs to be part of the unmarked category to live in my neighborhood in Princeton.  There, everyone drives a beautiful car, has a large home, lots of land, green grass, and a perfect lifestyle.  However, a 30 minute drive to downtown Trenton depicts the people who have been oppressed because of us.  These people live in tiny one-bedroom apartment complexes, barely have any money, look gaunt, and are socially and economically depressed.  Unfortunately, we are living a lavish and rich lifestyle and therefore possess much power at the expense of these peoples’ lives.

            Throughout my lifetime thus far, I have had many personal experiences, which illustrate power, and they depict how society views its people.  Aside from the matrix of dominance and the concepts of marked and unmarked categories, the fact of the matter is that everyone is somehow different in their own unique way and unfortunately, today’s society uses these unique differences among us as ways to either hold us back in the social ladder or bring us up in the social ladder.  Many of the experiences I talked about explain how I am either looked down upon and oppressed (ie being an Indian), or how I am privileged and looked up upon (ie being an American).  It seems demeaning and inhumane to look down upon someone and consider them powerless because they are the opposite of you.  This brings up a controversial issue of how some people, especially in society today, are convinced that they are the best and others are inferior.  This view of narrow-mindedness needs to be terminated to better not only our society we live in, but also our world.  In all honesty, we should respect our differences, it makes each f us unique.  There should be no awkward reactions to things that are out of the ordinary.  Marked and unmarked categories should not be taken into account today.  Everyone is different, and we as a modern world should respect that.

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This is a series of explained experiences from one person, Ronak Patel, a young  man of Indian descent.  However, because people have different experiences, it is good to look at various people’s experiences and perceptions.  Keeping this in mind, we will now move on and look at Akash Garg’s experiences, a teenager of Indian descent.

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            In our society today, people’s lives are determined by how much power they have. This power is influenced by a myriad of things. Additionally, there are two categories that also help determine how much power we can have. These categories are ‘marked’ and ‘unmarked’. People who fall into the marked category are considered to be weaker than those in the unmarked category. They are seen as subordinate and are usually people who are different than the majority in some way. People who fall into the unmarked category are stronger than those in the marked category. They are the people who are considered ‘normal’ because they are the majority. Things that determine whether a person falls into the ‘marked’ or ‘unmarked’ categories are a person’s race, gender, class, sexuality, language, religion, nationality, and age.

            I have grown up and come to the realization that I am a part of both categories. First and most obvious is the fact that I have brown skin because I am Indian. Being Indian puts me in the marked category in the issue of race. The unmarked race is being white because the majority of people, especially in the U.S., are white. Additionally, my religion also puts me in the marked category because I am Hindu and not Christian which is the most common religion in the U.S. Apart from these two things, I am a part of the unmarked category on every other issue. I am a male, which in our society is the unmarked category. Even looking at the words male and female or man and woman it is easy to see that being a male or a man is unmarked compared to being a female or a woman. I am also part of the middle to upper class in our society and am heterosexual. I am now 18 years old and am classified as a young adult and I also speak fluent English. All of these things are part of the unmarked category here in the U.S.

            However, saying “here in the U.S.” is an important part of the idea of marked and unmarked categories. This idea is relative to geographic location and the specific situation at hand. For example, with the issue of race, in the U.S. being white means that you are part of the unmarked category because the majority of people are white. In Africa, being white would make you part of the marked category because the majority of people there are black. The whole idea of marked and unmarked is dependent on the specific situation you are looking at and the perspective from which you are looking.

            Another important point is that yes the marked category is usually seen as subordinate to the unmarked category but this is not always so. It depends on the specific situation. For example being an Indian family and going to the airport is quite an experience after the attacks on 9/11. Since then, every time my family has gone to the airport some of us get put through extensive, extra security measures. This past summer, on our trip to India, my mom, dad, and older brother were all taken aside at the security checkpoint and were thoroughly searched and questioned. They were all hand frisked and their carry-on baggage completely emptied and my mom was even asked to remove some of her clothing. In this situation, my family was placed into the marked category because of the color of our skin. My family’s forced compliance with the extra searches and questioning is an example of how little power we had in the airport. This situation is also a perfect example of outside forces in our everyday lives that limit our power as individuals. In this case, it was airport security acting as the outside force. However, looking at the situation from a different point of view allows you to see that this situation is also an example of when the marked category has more power than the unmarked. This idea has to do with the fear that my family instilled on the airport security personnel. The fact that we were able to scare airport security so much is a kind of power in itself. We might not have had the power to resist because there was no other way to get on the plane to go to where they wanted to go, but we certainly had enough power to scare airport security.

            An example of where race puts me into the unmarked category deals with my girlfriend. My family along with most Indian immigrant families is extremely traditional. In India, a person my age would not even consider having a girlfriend or boyfriend of any kind whereas, here in the U.S. it is perfectly normal and common for people my age to have girlfriends and boyfriends. In this way, from my family’s point of view I am already part of the marked category because I have a girlfriend. However, from the American perspective, having a girlfriend puts me into the unmarked category. Race becomes a factor in this example because after being in the U.S. for over twenty five years, American traditions have become more acceptable to my family. They accept the fact that I have a girlfriend, but very much prefer that my girlfriend be Indian. To them, having an Indian girlfriend would put me into the unmarked category. If I did not have an Indian girlfriend they would not accept her as readily and they would not be as happy with her. I do have an Indian girlfriend, and am therefore in the unmarked category not only in my family’s eyes but other people’s eyes as well. An interracial relationship is always marked. It may not always be marked in a bad way, but it is still always a little surprising to see an interracial relationship. This example just proves how important it is to look at the specific situation and the perspective with which you look at the situation. For me, having a girlfriend puts me in both the marked and unmarked categories depending on how you look at the situation.

            Apart from race, social class is another big factor that determines whether you are in the marked or unmarked category. I have grown up in the middle to upper class all my life. The neighborhood I now live in contains other families like mine who are a little bit better off than others. Being in the middle to upper social class, I have been placed in both the marked and unmarked categories. In the neighborhood I live in and the school I went to, the other people were like me. Before college, I went to the same school for thirteen years and grew up around the same people all my life. They were all part of the middle to upper social class like I am so being a little bit better off than others was normal for me as I grew up. In this sense, I was a part of the unmarked category. I never felt any power from being in this unmarked category. It was all I really knew, and I did not really feel better than anyone else because of it. However, over the years I have made friends with other people, people not in the same social class as me, and when they come to visit me in my neighborhood or my school, everything is so different to them. They are shocked to see big houses, long driveways, and gated communities. When this happens, I feel marked because of how different I am from them. I also feel marked because I feel a little guilty. I do not want to make a friend of mine feel like he or she is beneath me just because of the place I live in is different than the place he or she lives in. I definitely felt like I had less power than my friend because I was in the marked category. Everyone is marked or unmarked in some way or from some point of view.

            Age is another factor that determines whether someone is in the marked or unmarked category. In general the unmarked category for age is being an adult and the marked category is being a child or an old person. As a young child I always felt marked and detached from my parents and other older people. There was a time when every time I would walk into this one store that my mom always went to I would be followed by one of the workers. I never knew at the time why she always followed me around but I later realized that it was because I was young and she thought I would end up breaking something in the store. Every time it happened I felt powerless because there was nothing I could do. Being so young, there was nothing I could say or do to an adult to make her stop doing what she was doing. In this case being in the marked category did mean that I had very limited power over a person in the unmarked category. Age is a factor that clearly shows how the unmarked category can dominate the marked category. The same is true for older people. A friend of mine’s grandmother who went to an amusement park and got a senior citizen discount explained how it hurt her that just because of her age she got a discount. She felt clearly marked and powerless because of her age. Powerless because she felt that the people younger than her, the people in the unmarked category, forced their help onto her regardless of whether she wanted it or not. In these two examples, the unmarked category blatantly had more power than the marked category and abused it.

            Another thing that ‘marks’ people is the language they speak. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. For example, my parents are Indian immigrants and they have a bit of an accent. They also frequently speak in their native language, Hindi. When we go to the airport, they sometimes talk to each other or to my brothers and I in Hindi and it is another thing that ‘marks’ us in the eyes of airport staff. It is another reason why they are picked for additional searches and questioning when going through a security checkpoint. On the flip side, one time when we walked into a Dunkin Donuts, the workers heard my parents talking in Hindi and when they took our order spoke Hindi to my parents. We ended up getting a 25% discount because my parents spoke the same language as the workers. In this way, my family was marked compared to the other unmarked customers. Both scenarios are wrong, people should not be ‘marked’ or singled out because of the language they speak whether it be in a good way or a bad way. Showing favoritism to a group of people because they speak the same language of you is just another way of separating people and pushing them farther apart from others.

             In the end, I feel that the idea of marked and unmarked categories is wrong. Everyone is supposed to be treated equally regardless of race, gender, class, sexuality, language, religion, nationality, or age. Having these marked and unmarked categories is just another way to separate people. All it does is give one group more power in the world than the other. Unfortunately, it is inevitable. There will always be a majority and a minority on every issue because people simply aren’t all the same. However, I still feel that something can be done. In each of my personal examples, the marked category was always treated differently because they were marked. This is exactly what we should not do. We should not treat people differently because they are different regardless of whether it helps them or hurts them. It is not right because as the American Constitution says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Chocolate City

The documentary “Chocolate City” began with the sound of bongos, and people rapping “black on black, now it’s black on white.” The point of the rap was to show how much the demographics of Southeast D.C. have changed over the past couple of years. A program called Hoped VI was implemented in the city, which destroyed public housing and brought in mixed economies, which essentially ran out the lower class. The director of the movie showed the neighborhood of Arthur Capper, which featured run-down apartments, some of which did not even have any doors or windows. The director of the movie interviewed people from this community, who voiced their opinions about how invisible they feel. One lady, who was filmed multiple times throughout the movie, expressed how she felt all the government cared about was money, and that they wanted the poor black people to move out in order to bring in white upper-class people.
The people of Arthur Capper talked about how they were forced out of their homes, and were told that they were allowed to move back in soon. One woman, however, had been out of her home for three years, and it didn’t look like they had done anything to her apartment. One instance, the kids of Arthur Capper wrote up a petition and went around the whole neighborhood in order to keep the Recreational Center, which they were able to do. The adults realized that if the kids could do it, that they could too. The movie director created her own play write, where she impersonated the people of the city, with the purpose of letting others know their struggle. I had no idea that this was even going on in D.C., even though I live so close. I feel horrible for them and can’t ever imagine that happening to me.

assignment 3

Cassie O’Donnell
WMST250
ASSIGNMENT 3-B
Ana’s Section

The Analysis of Everyday Life

The Matrix of Domination is a theory that explains issues of oppression that deal with class, race, and gender. Although they are recognized as different social classifications, they are all in ways interconnected.
Being a young, white, female coming from an upper/middle class family, power is located in many different places throughout my everyday life. I view power on one hand, as a positive thing, an advantage, opportunity, choices/decisions, and especially privilege, and on the other hand, power can be negative, limited, constraint, and especially oppression. Although I realize that I may be oppressed in some circumstances, I find myself very privileged as well. Ways in which I feel that I am privileged is by race, class, gender, health, religion, education, ect.
Race: I feel that I am privileged by my race because I am white. Many whites have an opportunity to get a good education, a good job, health care, etc. I find that many other races are faced with daily struggles such as trying to get a good education and get a good job. It seems to come easier for the white race rather than other races. I don’t agree with this idea; however I find myself being favored due to the color of my skin.
Class: Because I am classified as middle/upper class citizen, I am given many opportunities that others in a lower social class do not have. For instance, education is easier for my family to afford rather than others. Many lower-class families do not have well paying jobs, which makes it difficult for them to support their families, let alone pay for their children’s education. Because many families cannot afford to put their children through college, the child often works to pay for their own education. This is something I never had to worry about. My father pays for my college education, which allows me to solely focus on school. I don’t think I could handle working through college; I would be too stressed out. You find that many students drop out because they can no longer afford to put themselves through school. Without a good college education, their chances of getting a well paying job are small. Sadly, they will probably end up taking a low-paying job just to get by, which will never allow them to get ahead.
Health insurance and medical care is also a benefit of being a middle/upper class citizen. This is something that many lower-class families are not given which makes it difficult for them to be seen by a doctor if sick or any other emergency. My family lives comfortably and we still wouldn’t be able to afford doctor visits without insurance, the price is too outrageous. I couldn’t imagine not being able to take my child to the doctors when he/she is sick so they can get the proper medical attention. I would be devastated.
Coming from a middle/upper class family also allows me to enjoy luxurious things. I live in a nice community, where there is little crime. I live in a nice home. I have nice clothing, and am able to do extra things such as dinning out, shopping, movies, vacationing, etc. Vacationing is a tradition in my family. We vacation at least once or twice a year. I just visited Jamaica this winter. I found it surprising that other families don’t vacation regularly. I never really realized that vacationing is a privilege, not everyone can afford it.
Gender: Being a female (especially white) allows me to have many options. Career-wise, I can explore alternate career paths. I can choose between staying home with my children or working outside of the home. Many men don’t have this option because they aren’t considered "masculine" if they decide to partake in the woman’s "role" and be the stay-at-home "mom". Men are portrayed as the breadwinner. Most men are not okay with their wives supporting their family. I also find that this is an opportunity that many white women get. While other women of different races such as African American are limited to their career options. One reason is due to the high divorce rate in African American marriages. Many women are single mothers raising their children. Lower-class women are willing to accept the most hazardous and demeaning jobs our economy has to offer because they have no other options.
Giving birth is another advantage of being a female. This is something that sets us apart from men, making us very unique. Women are often given maternity leave, which takes a lot of stress off the mother. Public policies often offer opportunities for mothers to bond with their children.
Women are also allowed to express themselves more freely rather than men. Women are also not ashamed to ask for advice from others, while men are more exposed to the dangers of self-reliance.
Religion: My family practices the Catholic faith. Being religious allows me to have something to believe in. Religion gives me guidelines to follow during my day to day life. I feel that I practice good morals and values through my religion. I am constantly thinking about how I can better myself so I can have a happy after life. Religion also gives me hope and faith that I can break through the hardships of everyday life.
American Citizen: Being an American Citizen is a great advantage. It allows us to be free, independent, and have choices. For instance, many countries control how many children couples are allowed to have, what type of government they abide by, etc. In our country, we are allowed to have our own career choices. Education is available to everyone. We have the right to vote, which allows us to choose our own government. I am able to decide when and where I get married. I can decide how many children I want and whether or not I want to stay home with them. I have the opportunity to work outside of the home and becoming independent. Women no longer need to depend on their husbands. We are given health care and welfare to those who cannot afford to support their families. These are many privileges that we have that many other citizens of other countries do not. People don’t realize what it’s like to not have these options. We tend to take these privileges for granted.
Health: I feel very privileged that I as well as my family is very healthy. Many families are faced with many hardships when it comes to taking care of a family member that is handicapped or dying from a terminal illness. Having to care for a person with disabilities can be very expensive and time consuming. This causes many families to go into debt because their medical bills are so high. This is another reason why families can’t afford to live in their homes, support their family, and send their children to college. I am very fortunate and grateful that this is something that my family does not have to deal with.
Although I find myself being very privileged, I also find myself facing limitations throughout my everyday life through race, class, gender, religion, etc.
Race: Being white can also have some disadvantages. I often feel that I am viewed as racists or hated because of slavery. I find myself being uncomfortable around some African Americans because they are still angry with White’s today. I often feel like I am judged because I am white. People are quick to assume that I live an easy life because of my race, which makes it difficult for me to connect with people of a different race. Another way I find that I am limited when it comes to my race is when it comes to education. I find that many minorities get special treatment such as, college grants, or scholarships because they are minority. I find that in my college the population is predominately minority. I often feel like I am the minority in class.
Class: I find that being upper class has some disadvantages as well. I do not qualify for certain grants or scholarships for college because my father makes good money. I tried to get a loan on my own and I was denied. What if my father decided to stop paying for my college education? How would I continue to go?
My parents tend to pay for everything, which I find to be a disadvantage to me. I’m 21 years old with no credit because my parents want to pay for everything. How would I be able to buy a home when I decided to leave my parent’s home without credit? I often fear moving out of my parents home and going out into the "real" world because I don’t know how I would survive. I have been very sheltered by my parents, and I have never had to do anything on my own. I have never been taught to have any responsibilities. This is a huge setback for me because I am at the age where I want to become more independent.
Religion: I often feel that religion is a big limitation for me. The Catholic religion is very strict and structured. Although I am free and should be allowed to marry whom I wish, my religion says otherwise. If I want to marry, my husband has to be Catholic as well. My current boyfriend is Protestant and in order for us to marry he must convert. If he wishes not to, then our church will not recognize us as "married".
Another example was my best friend’s daughter’s Baptism. The priest did not want to baptize her baby because she was not married to the baby’s father. I don’t feel like that is fair to the baby. She also wanted me to be the godmother but the priest disagreed because I didn’t attend church every Sunday. I was hurt when the priest told me I don’t practice my faith because I don’t attend church regularly. I still practice my faith in other ways such as prayer, my lifestyle, confession, etc. Although I don’t agree with my church 100 percent, I could never leave the church because my family would be devastated. I feel like that is a disadvantage to me because I practice a religion that I at times don’t agree with.
Government: The government can be a privilege however it can also be a disadvantage. Often, the government gets too much power. The Government has most influence on the way we live our lives. For example, they have a set of rules that everyone has to abide by whether they agree or not. They run the way our schools operate. They try to control what happens in our community. Our president ultimately decides what actions we take as a whole Country (ex: the war). I feel that people are often picked on by the government. In many cases I find that other races such as African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, etc. are targeted by the police more so than whites. In that case, I have an advantage over the other races; however, I dislike the fact that the government has so much control over us.
Gender: I often feel limited by being female. I feel that oppression by sex is one of the biggest problems in my life and probably for many other women like me as well. I get the impression that women are viewed as unintelligent, physically weaker, having less power and less prestige then men.
I feel like men view women as an “object” rather than a human being. Women are so concerned about their image that they tend to make that their top priority. I can’t tell you how many articles I have read that has to do with ways women can improve themselves to make them more appealing, sexy, liked, etc. The media portrays women as a sex symbol, and if you’re not sexy, you’re not successful. I can relate to this as well because I am not happy with my image either. I am a size five, yet I still don’t feel sexy because the women I see on T.V. are unrealistically thin. No matter how much I diet and exercise I cannot get down to a size zero.
Women are often limited to what type of career they can choose as well. I find that when I apply for a job as a server or a hostess, the employees tell me that their manager says, “She can have the job as long as she’s hot”. That puts a lot of pressure on me and I’m sure a lot of other women as well.
Women are often faced with the issue of whether or not they should work outside of the home or stay home with their children. On one hand, I feel that I am at a disadvantage if I decide to work outside of the home because I will be missing time with my children. I strongly believe that children’s growth during their younger years is most crucial. Children start off as blank slates, what you write on those slates through teaching and doing is what they will learn. I want to be the one to teach my children family values, morals, religion, respect, etc. I feel that it is my duty as a parent to teach my children those things and I don’t want a day-care provider to do it for me.
On the other hand, many judge women for working outside of the home instead of staying home with the children. Many people today think the old traditionalist way that a woman’s place is at home with her family caring for her children and husband, as well as cooking and cleaning. I find this to be a form of oppression because it is not fair to expect a woman to stay home if that isn’t what she wants to do. I have big dreams of becoming a lawyer, yet people frown upon me. I don’t want to be judged for doing something that brings me success and happiness. I sometimes find others comments to be discouraging and I sometimes second guess myself, however I just strive harder towards my goals.
I often find myself getting easily distracted by the negative notions of power that surrounds me. I allow myself to become setback by the limitations that I struggle with on a daily basis. Doing this project has made me realize that everyone is privileged and oppressed in some way. Overall, I am given many more opportunities in life than disadvantages. I can’t change the way society is, however I can work towards breaking the oppressions and limitations that keep me from growing. Yes, I know I am a young white middle class female with limitations; however I am going to work hard to achieve my goals, and hopefully one day I can break those chains.

ASSIGNMENT #3

America is a society that is revolved around power. How much power one has is how he or she will be treated in life. Power is created by race, gender, class, sexuality, language, religion, nationality, and age. With this matrix of domination, people are left powerful or powerless due to their marked and unmarked categories. Unmarked categories are categories that the society runs on. If someone has a characteristic in an unmarked category then he or she will have some power. If someone has a characteristic in a marked category then he or she will have some power taken away. In race, the unmarked category is white. The marked categories are black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Middle Eastern and many more. With gender, the unmarked category is male. The marked categories are female, transgender, and intersexed. The next category is class. In class, the upper and middle classes are the unmarked categories. The marked category is the working-class and the poor. In sexuality, if someone is heterosexual then they have power because it is an unmarked category. If someone is gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or transgendered then they are in the marked category which gives them less power. The unmarked language in America is English; anyone who speaks any other language is marked. Christianity is unmarked while any other religion is marked. In Nationality, someone who is a US citizen is unmarked, but someone who is anything else is marked. Finally the unmarked age is young adult. The marked age is a child or elder.
Two years ago, I encountered a situation that had to do with how much power I had. My mom and I take a yearly trip, over the summer, to Iran, to visit family and friends. This was after the event of September 11, so the airport was very strict. This had been the first time I had gone after the event of September 11. It first started when we were checking in. We had four bags and three of them had to be searched. They chose the three bags, which ended up being both of my moms and one of mine, and searched them very carefully with an x-ray, a dog, and by hand.
This first situation had to do a lot with the marked and unmarked categories. First we were females so we were marked. If we were men, maybe they wouldn’t have been so strict. This situation is difficult because terrorism is usually done by men so maybe, in this situation; we had an advantage that we were women. Another reason why they wanted to check our bags was because of the marked category of race. We are Middle Eastern and the terrorist attack was done by Middle Easterns, so they felt the need to check our belongings. If we were white, the unmarked race, they would have let us in with no problem. The next factor was that our religion was Muslim. I don’t think that religion was a big factor in this situation because they didn’t know if we were Muslim or Christian. Even if we were Christian but Middle Eastern, they still would have searched us because unless we were wearing something to signify our religion, which we weren’t, they would never know what our religion is unless we told them. Another factor was that my mom is in the marked category for language. She cannot speak English very well; she has a very big accent. The person who checked our baggage in can tell when she was talking to my mom and it gives them another reason to discriminate against her. I think that in this situation, the biggest factor was that my mom was in the marked category of nationality. She is not a US citizen, she has a green card. The fact that she is not a US citizen, for the people who check in our bags is a big factor. Since my mom was Middle Eastern, could not speak English very well, and most of all she was not a US citizen, they decided to check both of her bags and only one of my bags because I was accompanying her.
They only checked one of my bags because I was in more unmarked categories than her. The first thing is that I was in the unmarked category of language. I can speak fluent English, and I have no accent whereas my mom didn’t and couldn’t speak fluent English. If I was in the marked category then most likely they would have searched my baggage as well. The other factor that made them not check both of my bags was that I was in the unmarked category of nationality. I am a US citizen, and since they saw that, they only checked one of my bags. The only big marked category that I was in was my race. Since I am Middle Eastern, it gave them a reason to give them doubt and want to search my bags. If I had not gone with my mom and was in the categories that I am, I probably would not have been searched. And this is true because when I went the year after to Iran by myself, I was not checked on the way there or back.
This shows how race, language, and nationality have a big impact on power. Since my mom was middle eastern, couldn’t speak fluent English, and was not a US Citizen, they decided to search her as well as me because I was with her, but when I went by myself, I was not searched because I could speak English and was a US citizen, although I was Middle Eastern. These different factors encouraged the employees to either check us or not. Although this is discrimination, the workers said that it is random and that we were the number that had to be checked. I thought about it and I knew that they only check us because of our race, language and nationality.
After our bags were checked, we resumed to the gate where we said bye to my dad and had to go under the scanners. When we were walking under, they said that it was random and they chose us to be searched from head to toe. With me, they only took the hand scanners and scanned my body and said I was ok and let me go. They spent nearly an hour searching my mom. They made her take off all of her jewelry and belt. They examined each thing one by one. They took everything out of her purse and searched it carefully. After they had clearly searched her, they made her take off her shoes and socks. They examined everything and made sure that she didn’t have anything on her.
The security there knew that my mom was on a green card and that I was a US citizen. It was weird because I was with her, but all they did was search me with a machine. My mom had many disadvantages in this situation. Since my mom was in a marked category for race and was Middle Eastern, she had a very bad disadvantage. The race was not the factor that made them decide to search her and not me. Since she was in the marked category of nationality, made them want to check her. Since I was a US citizen, they didn’t feel the need to search me.
Everything in this situation had to do with marked and unmarked categories.
Since I was a US citizen, they didn’t search me, whereas my mom was in a marked category and she was searched. If someone is in an unmarked category such as being a US citizen, female, being able to speak English and being white, all give power in this society. If someone is anything other than these unmarked categories then they are marked and therefore have less power which may result in them, in my situation, being searched.
Another situation in which I encountered marked and unmarked categories that have to do with how much power I have was when I went to apply for a job at Models. I never thought that I would encounter marked and unmarked categories applying for a job because there are so many laws against race and gender discrimination. This event occurred two years ago. I was a junior in high school and needed a job. I decided to start my search at Models Sporting Goods across my house. My friends Michael and Kathleen had just gotten a job there and they were sixteen so I figured since I was sixteen also, I would be able to get a job there as well. I went to Models and asked for an application. The manger handed me the application and told me that I needed to be at least eighteen years old to apply. I told him that my friends worked there and they were both sixteen. Then he looked at me and said, “Well we are not hiring.” I was very upset because I witnessed race and sex discrimination. I never thought that it would happen to me.
When evaluating the reasons behind this situation, marked and unmarked categories explain it all. First of all both Michael and Kathleen were white, they were both sixteen, but the only difference that they had was that Kathleen was a female and Michael was a male. In this situation, the first category that I was in was a marked race. I was Middle-Eastern. Since I was Middle-Eastern, the manager did not want to offer me a job. If I was white, I guarantee that he would have been hiring. The other marked category that I was in was that I was female. Again, if I was male and was unmarked, he would have definitely hired me. Everything else, I was in unmarked categories. I was a US citizen, could speak fluent English, and was heterosexual. These factors did not even run through his head because he judged me by my race and gender.
The reason why Kathleen was hired was because they applied together, so if the manger would have told her no, she could have sued him for gender discrimination. Later when I went to visit Kathleen at work, I saw that there was another sixteen year old, white, male in training. Kathleen told me that he came to apply yesterday and the manager hired him on the spot and he started to train him. This was an example of how much less power women have in the work place for no apparent reason. I think that it is very unfair. If we live in America, were people are taught that everyone is equal, then why is someone’s power determined by his or her gender, race, nationality, etc? To verify that my assumptions were true, a week after the man rejected to hire me, Kathleen was fired because she placed a pair of shoes in the wrong isle that it was supposed to be in. When Michael did this same thing, the manager explained to him that he put the shoe in the wrong spot and to move it.
The next situation where I want to recognize marked and unmarked categories is when I went to church with my friend last year whom is Christian. I had spent the night at her house and in the morning she had to go to church. We didn’t have enough time for her to drop me off and then go to church so we decided to both go to her church. I had never been to church before so I was not aware as to what I was supposed to be doing. So we went to church and I sat down next to her. I was very quiet. They sang songs and prayed. I didn’t do much. Everyone there had memorized all of the songs and the prayers. I felt like a total outcast. Everyone there was African American except for me. Throughout the ceremony and after, everyone was starring at me and talking about me.
The reasons as to why I felt so out of place and everyone was starring and talking about me was because of marked and unmarked categories that determine power. Religion was the first factor that had a lot to do with the reason why I was being discriminated against. Since I am not Christian and am Muslim, everyone was discriminating against me because at a Christian church, people can tell who is Christian and who isn’t. They can tell if I was able to sing the songs or had a cross on my neck. If I was Christian, maybe people would not have discriminated against me. Another marked category that I am in is my race. I am Middle Eastern and the unmarked race is white. Although white is the unmarked race in our society, in the church, the unmarked race was African American. If I was Christian and Persian, maybe I wouldn’t have been powerless in this situation because I would have at least been able to sing the songs. If I was both African American and Christian, even if I had never gone to church before, I would have been powerful because of the unmarked categories that I would have been in. With being both African American and Christian, I would have been the same as everyone else there.
In my first situation at the airport, if my partner, Akbar, was in the situation instead of me, he probably would have had a different outcome. First, starting with his race, he is, like me, middle-eastern. Since he is middle-eastern, he is in a marked category and would have been powerless. The next category is his gender. He is in the unmarked category, male. In my situation, although the unmarked category for our society is male, he probably would be better off if he was a female because terrorists are usually men. Since he was a male, they would have given him a harder time. The next category is language. He is in the unmarked category because he can speak fluent English. If he was like my mom and couldn’t speak English, then they would have definitely given him a hard time. The final issue is nationality. He is in the unmarked category of nationality. He is a US citizen. Since he is a US citizen, they wouldn’t have given him as hard of a time as they did to my mom. He was in most of the unmarked categories, except for his race, but race in this case, would have given them a reason to search his bags. Also, even though being male is marked, in this situation, being a female would have given him a greater advantage.
In the situation where he would have been personally searched, he would have had a different outcome then me. Since I am a female, they wouldn’t have thought that I could have been a terrorist. Since Akbar, is a male, he has more potential to be a terrorist, so they would have searched him just as much as they searched my mom. If he was a female then he would have been in all of the categories that I was in, and so he would have had been in the same situation as me. Again, although he is in the unmarked gender category in society, male, in this situation, he would have benefited more from being a female. In this case, we both would have been powerless because I was searched, even though not as much as my mom. He would have been searched too regardless of the unmarked categories that he was in just because of the fact that he is in a marked category of race and in this case gender.
The reason why certain categories may vary depending on the situation is because it depends on what the positive category is in that certain situation. For example, in this situation, being a female, even though it is a marked category, would have given him more power and not caused the workers to search him. Another example would be in College Park, the neighborhood is mostly African Americans so the unmarked category in that area would be African American. It depends on the situation and what race, gender, or nationality rules in that situation.
In my second situation, if Akbar was in the situation, he probably would have had different results. The manager was discriminating against me because of my gender and race. With Akbar, he is in the unmarked category of male, which is what the manager was looking for. If he was marked, like me, he would have been in the same situation that I was in and wouldn’t have gotten the job. If Akbar was in the unmarked race category, white, then he would have definitely been hired because he had both traits that the manger was looking for. Akbar is in the marked race category, but it is very difficult to tell what race he exactly is. He could pass as half white, unmarked, and half something else, marked. If Akbar was in this situation, I think that the manager would have hired him.
In my last situation, Akbar would have had the exact same results as me. The Christian church had an unmarked race category of African Americans. Akbar would have been in the marked race category, Middle Eastern. Even if in society Akbar was in the unmarked category, white, he still would have been powerless in the church because the church’s majority were African American and in that church, they had the most power. His gender would have had nothing to do with power in this situation because there were both males and females in the church. Even though he was in the unmarked category, male, and I was in the marked category, female, in this situation, it wouldn’t have made a difference because there were males and females in the church. The category that made whether he had power or not was religion. In this case, he is in the same marked category as me, Muslim and not Christian. If he would have been in the categories that he was and Christian, then maybe he would have been powerful.
After examining the three situations in which marked and unmarked categories showed how much power one had, I noticed that in all three of these situations, I was powerless. Akbar is powerless in many aspects of the situations as well. He would have had power in the situation at Models because his race was undefined to the manager. The manager would have never known his race if Akbar didn’t reveal it. Power not only comes in how much money someone has or if they are king and queen of a country, it comes where the different qualities that someone has rules the population. Power is everywhere. How much power someone has because of the marked and unmarked categories that they are in, shows how that person lives his or her life. Power is defined by race, gender, religion, nationality, language, class, sexuality, and age. Whether someone is in the unmarked, dominant, category or the marked category determines the power that they are given. How much power that someone is given can be changed in some situations, class, religion, nationality, or sexuality, but in others, race and gender, it remains constant.

Assignment 3B

Chris Maltbie

4.21.2008

Women Art and Culture

Project 3

Before taking WMST250: Women, Art, and Culture, I was very much oblivious to many things that were going on around me, every day. As was discussed in Project’s 1 and 2, I never really took the time to truly consider how much women have been oppressed, and at the same time, just how much of their work has been out there to be seen. Project 3, however, has asked me to do something very different. Instead of just taking notice of oppression and feminist movements, it requires that I analyze my own life, and confront how I have been oppressed and how the establishments that remove me from oppression, hold down others.

When I first read the topic of this assignment, I was quite terrified. After all, not only could I hardly think of how I was ever oppressed, but it was hard for me to quantify the systems of power that encircle all of us. More than anything, I believe this view is the product of where and how I was raised.

I grew up almost entirely in an upper-middle class suburb of Philadelphia and then in a middle-class shore town at the Jersey shore. Although neither of these areas was extremely diverse, they were certainly not racially ignorant. In the shore town I grew up in especially, there was a large and growing Latino population, many of whom I went to school with. Interacting with people of other races and social classes, however, never struck me as odd, which I primarily attribute to my parents.

My mother, my father, and my step-dad all had extremely diverse upbringings. When my mom was in high school, she moved to Salem County in NJ and attended a very dangerous school in which she was always in the minority. My father grew up in a fairly diverse area in Burlington County, New Jersey, and my step-dad was raised in the diverse neighborhoods of New Brunswick, NJ. Additionally, my mom attended Lehigh University, a university that is in a heavily Latino-American community in Pennsylvania. Due to where my various parents were raised, and their abundance of friends from other social, economic, and racial groups, I was never given a sense of parity between one person or another. My dad always reminded us to be thankful for our good fortune, and was true to his word, by giving back to the community by volunteering on the emergency squad for over 20 years, and because of this, I was always extremely thankful. Because of this, I never felt entitled to what I had; instead, I felt that I was very lucky, but that nothing else separated me from less privileged friends.

Furthermore, I grew up with, and was always extremely close to, my mother. I could easily write a small novel on all the things she has taught me, but for the purpose of this assignment, I will restrict myself to discussing her status as a woman, and what it taught me. My mom is without a doubt my greatest inspiration for a multitude of reasons. Not only did she beat breast cancer, despite being told she had 3 months to live, but she was truly a revolutionary woman in a time when women were still looked mostly down upon. After graduating high school, and without enough money to pay for college, my mother became one of an extremely small number of women to join the US Army. Even within the Army, she was quickly promoted, and rose as high as a platoon sergeant and general’s aid, gaining of respect of all of her male subordinates and superiors. She even went on to be one of the first women to complete airborne school, much to the chagrin of one of the sexist officers at the school. After leaving the military, she was able to go to a prestigious engineering school to earn her degree, before starting our family. Even after leaving the workforce for nearly 20 years, in her late-40’s my mom got a job at Boeing and was rapidly promoted to the highest position possible without finishing another Master’s degree, which she is now working on at Penn. Since my mom has been so successful and driven in overcoming adversity her entire life, I grew up viewing women exactly as I would men, and possibly even a little better than I would view men, because of all the things my mother had shown in her life.

It was in this way that I arrived at college. Up until I arrived at the University, discrimination had remained a mystery to me. I was used to everybody accepting everybody without question, seemingly without even observing difference in race and class. It was hard for me to imagine anyone disrespecting or holding women back. After growing up with such an inspiring mother, how could anyone possibly look down on women? Suddenly I was at school, where everybody seemed to notice every difference. Although it was not always in a discriminatory way, people seemed a lot more eager to label themselves and others, and there was a great degree of exclusivity amongst the groups. Coming from an area where discriminating was not only lacking, but the distinction was as well, the views at the university were rather shocking to me. It was not until this very assignment that I really started to assess the situation.

In many ways, I feel that my view is an idealized view. A world in which everyone can be unique, but a negative distinction is never necessary, seems to be nearly utopian. Cultures and expression would not be suppressed, but neither would interaction. At the same time, this assignment shed some light on why this is so hard to achieve. On the one hand, it is a fairly paradoxical society we live in: In order to be so tolerant and indiscriminant, you often need to experience diversity, or be taught by someone who has. This creates a system in which diversity must be very visible to make progress. Perhaps more practical at the present, the other key reason that this type of view is difficult is that not everyone is privileged enough to be able to step back and disregard diversity.

As I have stated, I have been very fortunate to grown up as I have. As a member of nearly every unmarked category, there were very few times that I was discriminated against as I grew up. The more I thought about this assignment, the more it occurred to me that my “position of power” was precisely what was enabling me to mold an ideal outlook on diversity. I hold only minor experience in being discriminated against and therefore cannot fully understand what it is like to be put down. When I consider one of the times when I have been stereotyped and discriminated against, it suddenly becomes much clearer why the majority of the world does not see things the way that I traditionally had.

When I was 17, I went to a local beach town with my girlfriend, my friend, and his girlfriend. After walking around for a while and playing some mini-golf, we got in the car to head back home. I was in a slight rush because my girlfriend had a rapidly approaching curfew, and although her dad was quite fond of me, I didn’t feel like pushing it. Still, despite my rush, I was only traveling about 5 miles over the speed limit, which is hardly abnormal; in fact, 5 miles an hour is usually the minimum speed people travel above the speed limit. Nevertheless, under 5 minutes later I was pulled over. Now, I had never personally been pulled over before, but it is my understanding, based on the accounts of others, that it is standard for a single police officer to pull over a car, especially in a crime-free, upper-class beach town; however, apparently this was not the case for me. Whether it was the fact that I had 4 people in the car or that I was clearly a young-adult, I will never know, but for whatever reason, I was pulled over by 2 police officers, who apparently called for backup. When the first officer approached my vehicle, he asked for my license and registration and then returned to his car. I still don’t completely understand how this could have made him more suspicious, because I had never been pulled over or even remotely been in trouble with the law before. Regardless, the officer returned almost immediately and started questioning me about why I was in the town and about things in my car, which he had taken the liberty of searching through the windows. Shortly thereafter, I was asked to get out of my vehicle and I was berated by questions from the 3 officers. Finally, I was chastised for having my hands in my pockets, which prompted at least one officer to move his hand to his gun, and then told to get back in my car. Despite my clean record and minor offense, I was given a $200 ticket and a rather unpleasant experience.

This incident, which I know would probably be of the smallest significance to many people, was a rather short and isolated, yet still shocking, experience of discrimination. Regardless of the reasons the police had had of suspecting me of some major offense, the memory of the incident reminds me of how it feels to be put down. When I consider this event, I realized how hard it would be to see everyone as equal if there were constant reminders of how some people hold all of the power. Who am I to speak out and resist the established power of the police? Why would I ever both consider us all as equal if they didn’t?

This event showed me how power will always cause rifts and separation of classes. Perhaps now it is best to transition to the conundrum that is power. Although I have already made clear that I have never felt any more powerful than other people, this is most likely due to my position of power. Since I don’t feel the strain of being at the bottom of structures of power (I personally feel that I am probably right in the middle of the overall power structures) it is easy for me to simply not acknowledge that they exist. At the same time, it seems that people at the top of a position of power feel equally uncomfortable as those at the bottom. Although this presumption comes from many places, the most easily supportable is the testimony of family friends who are police officers.

Much in the way that dictators are always said to fear those that they suppress, or in the way that a dominant sports team is always scared of being beaten by the underdog, it seems that people with power (such as police officers) are often fearful themselves. While I’m sure some police officers are bad people, the vast majority, and all that I know personally, are very normal, personable, and nice people. Why then do all of my friends who have encountered them fear and resent them? It is my opinion that positions of power are very much like a see-saw: The people at the ends constantly find themselves flipped and at the bottom, while someone sitting at the fulcrum would never be at the top of bottom, but would remain in the same location. I once asked a police officer who was friends with the family why police were always such jerks when the pulled people over. He was not at all surprised or annoyed by the question, but told me honestly that police never consider themselves in control of a situation; when a police officer approaches a car, he doesn’t know if the driver will be a friendly citizen or a gun-wielding maniac, and unfortunately, this means that the officer must prepare for the latter scenario, always at the expense of the driver. This explanation really struck home, because it got me thinking about all positions of power. In many situations, neither side feels that they hold the power, but perspective always makes them feel as if they are at the disadvantage.

The realizations that I just discussed have helped me to understand where I am placed in “positions of power”. The relative lack of outside pressure, I feel is a result of being directly in the middle of most power structures. While I am white and male, I do not have common white/male views of many things, both because of where I grew up and because of my parents as I have discussed. Although I am upper-middle class, my family has not always been, and we are far from being extremely rich. Although I am heterosexual, I have homosexual friends and see nothing wrong with it. Furthermore, I am able-bodied, but know, and as a premed student hope to help, many disable and ill people. I am a US citizen, but have many immigrant friends, both with and without citizenship. I am Christian, but not protestant or any other major Christian religion; I am instead Quaker, a religion with a very small following around the world. In these ways, I have very diverse views, while not appearing to be very diverse. In many ways, now that I am at a diverse university, I feel that structures of power are constantly at play all around me between social groups, while I sit in the middle, mostly accepted by all groups. This type of experience has allowed me to constantly evaluate and learn from my surroundings, which I am extremely thankful for. Yet I am aware that it is the very structures that allow me to be so observant that suppress others. If being white was not considered unmarked, for example, then I would possibly not be in any position to observe things as I do. As the old idiom goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, and this seems to be the case with “positions of power”. While few people are able to feel truly free of these positions, someone is always put at an advantage while someone else is put at a disadvantage because of it.

In conclusion, I have come to realize that positions of power are ever-present, no matter how much or how little we feel them on an individual level. It seems to me as if everyone, at some point, will feel the strain of being power-deficient. I personally feel that in many, although not all, situations, this feeling is mutual; that is, bother sides feel at a disadvantage. In the remaining cases, stereotypes and poor education on diversity are likely to blame. Although there are no easy ways to bypass a system that constantly puts the majority of parties at odds with each other, perhaps those lucky enough to observe and ponder may be able to grow in number, until finally everyone is in such a position. In this way, one day we will hopefully live without positions of power and suppression and will rather be able to see each other for what we all are: people.