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.