assingment 4

Women Studies is important to everyday life. Feminism is an issue that we come across everyday. Feminism is about women equality and the rights that women should be granted. This class explains feminism, equality, race, gender, nationality, different situations, violence and many more. This class goes through a story, with me in it, and there are many reasons as to why the class flowed the way that it did. I will be explaining the story of our class through a description/argument of the class story, putting myself into the story, and discussing three readings from the course.
This class started with an introduction to women, art and culture. The class addressed themselves as a subject in history. We were asked to see what events have occurred in our lives, our memories of history, the historical importance, etc. This was a start to the class because women studies has to do with history and how things occurred the way that they did. After this assignment, we were introduced to art. We discussed how to interpret art. With this discussion, we were assigned to go to museums to look at art and how it relates to women and feminism. This was the first assignment because Katie King wanted us to be able to make our own interpretations of feminism and art and how they relate. What do the students call art? How does it relate to feminism? These questions were asked when the students were completing the assignment. We were also asked to give assumptions that we had about certain things in the assignment and how we were wrong. It taught us to think outside of the box and to make our own assumptions and to relate them to feminism. This taught us how to un-learn assumptions and not to make any assumptions and stereotypes. After the first assignment, we were assigned to read Fight Like a Girl which explained feminism and the different stereotypes that people think of when feminism is brought up. I think that this was the first reading assignment because we had all made our own assumptions and Katie King wanted us to see that many people do the same thing and create stereotypes about feminism. Next we learned what the true definition of feminism is. We discussed the many stereotypes that people assume when feminism is brought up.
Our next topic was art activism during which we had our second assignment which was to create a feminist event and come up with our own definition of feminism. Our event was about the different stereotypes that people place upon feminism and how they aren’t what feminism is really about. Our group noticed that we had all made some assumptions coming into this class about feminism and women. It was interesting to learn that everyone is making these same assumptions and that it isn’t true. After that day, everyone in our discussion group learned what the true meaning of feminism is. Art activism is about power, which lead us into our next assignment.
After talking about what feminism is, we started talking about women violence and the different types of violence. In this discussion, we came to the matrix of domination. The matrix of domination is basically that whoever is not in the unmarked categories experiences violence and discrimination. We learned that the unmarked categories were white, Christian, Us citizen, English language, male, etc. We talked about different situations where people are not in these unmarked categories and result in violence and discrimination. Our third assignment was about the matrix of domination. Reading Kindred explained a lot about the marked, unmarked categories and the matrix of domination. For this assignment, we had to place ourselves into the matrix of domination and analyze if we were in the marked or unmarked categories of society and how we were affected by the category that we were placed in. Throughout the semester we did many free writes in the lecture section to see what needs to be improved in our writing, what we liked the most, and ways that we can make our next paper more efficient.
There was a reason to learn the things that we did in the specific order that we did. We first made our own assumptions about feminism through our first assignment. This was first because we had to make our own assumptions and then see that they were not always correct. We then learned the real definition of feminism and made our own definitions of feminism. This was the second main thing because we first made our assumptions and then were taught what it really was. After this assignment was when we were taught to un-learn things. We learned this after we learned the definition of feminism because we had made assumptions and then realized that we were wrong so we noticed that many people do what we did and so we have to un-learn our assumptions because they are not always true. After learning the definition of feminism, we started learning about violence, power and the matrix of domination. We learned that people who are in the unmarked categories have the most power. People who are in the marked categories are discriminated against and go through violence. Then we had to place ourselves into the marked and unmarked categories and prove that the matrix of domination is true. This was the third assignment because after learning about feminism, which is basically about equal rights, we learned that nowhere has equal rights because of the matrix of domination.
When first learning about assumptions and feminism, I had many assumptions of my own. I thought that feminism was about lesbians wanting to get equality. Every time I would think of a feminist, I would see a butcher woman who was very rude and hated the world. With this class, I learned that all of my assumptions about feminism were wrong through my first assignment. When we came up with our own definitions of feminism, our group definition was, “Feminism is the movement whose goal is to make the social, political and economic rights for women equal to those of men; eliminating gender barriers, and overall pro-woman but not anti-male. They are not saying that men as individuals are the problem; the problem is the unquestioned power they receive because of their sex. Women’s worth in the world has to lead to a system that creates inequalities based on perceived gender differences.” Our group came up with this definition by giving different definitions from each individual person and then combing them. I also learned that I am in many unmarked categories but yet I am in some marked categories as well which determines my power in different situations.
The story that the class went through, I fit in because of many reasons and many ways. The main thing is that I am a female and this course was mostly about women and it pertains to a lot of my life because of my gender as well. It is very interesting because before this class, I never saw myself as a feminist because I had so many assumptions of what feminism is and who feminists are. After the first and second assignment, I realized that I am indeed a feminist because the main thing that I believe in is equality, especially since I am Persian and Persian women don’t have any freedom and are not equal to men. The first assignment I learned a lot from because I learned how to walk into a museum or an exhibit and say “This is feminist”. Our second assignment made me open my eyes and realize that there are many events that pertain to feminism. I never thought that different events, TV shows, magazine articles, etc could relate to feminism. I never saw it that way before this class. The third assignment was about art activism and power. We related marked and unmarked categories to our lives. I also never saw life in this way. It never occurred to me that there are these marked and unmarked categories that make you powerless or powerful. This related to me because I am in both marked and unmarked categories and it was interesting to see what the result of each situation was because of the category that I was in. I think that I had a major part in the third assignment because I was powerless in both race and gender, which are the two biggest categories that determine power. It was interesting to relate my life to the other two people who where in the unmarked categories. The discussion section was very good for our assignments because we had a variety of male and female as well as a variety of race. There were rarely two people who had the same standpoints and views on a topic because they were in the same marked or unmarked categories. We all had a different viewpoint which allowed each one of us to look at everyone else’s perspective and to understand where each person is coming from as well as seeing how their situation would relate to us.
The first book that inspired me was Megan Seely’s Fight Like a Girl. This novel opens up with a list of stereotypes under the word Feminist. This is really funny because when we did our event for assignment two, these were all of the same stereotypes that we had and we all believed in. It opened my eyes and made me realize that it is really foolish and immature to make stereotypes about something when I don’t really know about the subject. Also there is a section at the bottom of page 11 that starts with, “Women have the Feminist Movement to Thank for if…” This section also opened up my eyes and showed me that although I believe that women still are not equal to men; there are many things that we are able to do that means equality. For example we can vote, read, and drive without a male chaperon. It also made me realize that Iran really has no equality because women are not allowed to do any of the three that I stated. Also there is another section that says, “Spotlight on Feminism”. This section gives some quotes that many people have said. One of the quotes that meant something to me was, “I think I have always been a feminist, even before I knew what the term meant.” This quote is interesting because it is true and many people are this way. After this course, I realized that I have always been a feminist even though I never knew what the term meant and I had so many assumptions about it. This book tied in with the course because it was all about feminism and the different stereotypes that people have on feminism.
Another novel that had a great impact on my life was Octivia Butler’s Kindred. This novel was about the matrix of domination and power based on sex as well as race. I always mainly saw power as race but this novel was on both. In this novel, at first, Rufus believes in equality and is very accepting of his friends. Later on he becomes a slave owner and everything changes because he believes that since he has been granted that power then he should use it. Also it has to do with power because Dana is a young African American lady and all she did was try to help Rufus in the beginning but she ends up getting a gun pointed to her head because she was black and Rufus was white. It shows that even though a black lady was trying to help a white boy, there still is the matrix of domination because she was almost killed. This novel ties in with the class because we talked about matrix of domination, art activism, and power. This novel relates to those three subjects and shows examples of each. I learned a lot from this novel because I didn’t realize that these power differences exist, but Kindred made me realize that because of race and sex, there are power differences.
The third novel that had an impact on my life was Bell Hooks’s Feminism is For Everybody. This novel helped with our second assignment with trying to come up with our own definition of feminism. Hooks gives a definition of feminism which is, “purpose of feminism is to bring an end to sexism and the exploitation and oppression that come from it.” This helped me because it made me see someone else’s definition of feminism. We all had our own definitions but none of us saw it in this point of view. It allowed me to think feminism in another perspective, especially the way that Hook’s sees it with sexism. It helped with the second assignment because we had to come up with our own definition of feminism.
This class has been a journey through many things that I never would have addressed or thought about if it wasn’t for the assignments, readings, and discussions in both the lecture and discussion group. The class was overall about feminism, but it was put into perspective through museums, events, power, marked and unmarked categories and many more. I really enjoyed and learned a lot from this class. This class has allowed me to open up my mind and think things through a different perspective and not so straight forward.

Assignment 4

Chris Maltbie

5.10.2008

WMST250:0107

Assignment 4

Epic Feminism

When I consider this course, Women’s Studies 250, Women, Art, and Culture, as a book, I cannot help but feel that it is, indeed, an epic novel. In many ways, this course has taken me on a long, sometimes enthralling and sometimes confusing, constantly informative, journey through feminism. In this paper, I will discuss the various sections that comprise this epic narrative of feminism.

The first part of this journey culminated in the completion of Assignment #1, a paper about personal assumptions about feminism and the revelations that came from breaking these assumptions down. Like any good epic, this section of the course got us started with a sudden jolt/surprise (think Lord of the Rings), and kicked us right out the door, into a world that many of us did not know or understand at all. In being sent blindly out into Washington D.C. to discover how and what I felt about feminism, I was forced to thoroughly evaluate my own views and come to grips with how I felt about the movement as a whole.

At the same time that I was evaluating feminism, we were assigned to read some parts of Freeland’s But is it Art? This book challenged me to consider what constitutes art. Although there had been many times in my life where I had wondered what art was, whether something was art or not, and who could say for sure, Freeland’s book helped to quantify art by objectively looking at it in several areas. These specific areas, such as analyzing how the value of art may or may not affect its qualification as “art” or to what degree art created by females displays feminism (intentionally or unintentionally), are introduced by the author in order to help the reader sculpt their own opinion of art. This reading was in many ways the literary accomplice to the experiences that were found in the museums of Washington D.C. for assignment #1. In both instances, at least for me, I entered without having any real clue what the subject matter (feminism and art) was.

By the end of the first section of the course, marked by the completion of Assignment #1, I had taken the very limited amount of knowledge I had entered with and greatly refined it (almost grinding it down to nothing), before expanding it into my own personal definition of feminism. It is in this way that I consider the first section of the course my “push-out into the world” of feminism. At this point of the course, I felt that feminism was the act of accepting that men and women are different, but equal; the two sexes would never be the same, but one would never be better that the other. For the first time, I was aware of the vast world of feminism around me, although I did not know all of the things that inhabited it.

The second section of the course, in my opinion, was about exploring and discovering some of the habitats in the world of art and feminism. This section of the course focused on things going on within the world of feminism, primarily through art. Additionally, we learned about activism on the whole. Classes on topics such as shadow projects and the manipulation of billboards to deliver a message introduced me to the types of things that people were doing within movement to make a difference.

While working on this section of the course, I feel as if my definition of feminism continued to grow as more material from the course was packed into it. Assignment #2 helped to sculpt this definition tremendously, as I got the chance to join up with a group of other characters on my epic journey. Instead of wandering through the world of feminism alone, I was accompanied with a team to help influence my decisions. While working on this assignment, our group came up with a long-winded definition that was very different than the definition I came up with on my own during Assignment #1. In a nutshell, we defined feminism as the movement against the unchallenged notion of men as superiors, although not in an anti-male sense; it was the structures that allowed this notion to go unquestioned that were the target. This assignment also marked my formal introduction to the feminist movement, not just the world of feminism, as we created a feminism event.

Coinciding with Assignment #2 was the beginning of Seely’s Fight Like a Girl. The first chapter of this book works to identify the misconceptions about feminism in society and the structures within society, namely patriarchy, that allow this sort of thing to go on. The appendices, meanwhile, lay out a basic guideline of how to run a feminist event on your own, in hopes of empowering those with a voice. Overall, after being shoved into the world of feminism by Assignment #1, I felt that Assignment #2 was about getting a bit involved in the day to day activities in the world of feminism and obtaining a better idea of the world around me.

If the second section of this course was about my surroundings in the world of feminism, the third section was about the inhabitants in the world of feminism and their experiences. This section of the course chose to emphasize feminism through other people’s eyes. By giving students access to the experiences that other people have had with feminism, sexism, and oppression, this section of the course greatly helped to both inform me why feminism is so important, as well as how I am impacted by feminism and the things that make the movement necessary (structures of power).

One of the most important parts of the third section of this course was the reading of Butler’s Kindred. Kindred was especially powerful because it used science fiction as leverage to drive its points home. Butler was able to completely ditch the normal conventions of non-fiction due to her genre of choice; since Butler did not have to conform to normal tactics, she was able to tailor a story that very specifically pinpointed the topics of sexism and racism. In Kindred, Butler uses time travel to give her characters a sense of parity in the way they are oppressed and clearly defines structures of power. Although Dana had some experience with oppression in her time, when she was sent back to the plantation, she learned what it was like to be completely powerless. With structures of sexism and racism weighing down on her, she had absolutely no power in the past. Kevin, meanwhile, had no experience with this type of oppression. As a white male, Kevin was atop the structures of power, and therefore did not have to suffer. Although he did worry about Dana, Kevin could never totally understand what it is like to be completely powerless (A point that Dana makes to him at one point in the book).

On the whole, Kindred was quite shocking. In conjunction with Assignment #3, Kindred made me consider positions of power as I never had before. Like Kevin, I have never had to feel the total weight of a structure weighing down on me; although I have had occasional run-ins with power figures, I have never known what it is like to feel completely helpless. Over the course of writing Assignment #3, I came to understand why so many people have the feelings they do about racism, sexism, and positions of power in general. This helped immensely in making me understand the people who inhabit the world of feminism on my epic journey through it.

Additionally, in keeping with the theme of other people’s experiences with feminism, this section of the course featured some other people’s views of feminism. One of the first readings for this section of the course was Bell Hook’s Feminism is for Everybody. In discussion, we talked about her definition of feminism, which stated that the purpose of feminism is to bring an end to sexism and the exploitation and oppression that come from it. This further helped me to understand how other people see feminism and was a great point of comparison for my own definition that was refined in Assignment #2.

The final stretch of this epic course is where we are right now; now that I have been introduced to the world, gotten equated with the surroundings, and met the people in it, I finally have a real sense of what is going on. I am now able to pull together the different areas of the course to formulate a final definition of feminism as I see it. Feminism is a movement to refine the structures of power that surround us. There are no individual targets of feminism necessarily, but rather a firmly entrenched set of beliefs that allow oppression and sexism to carry on unquestioned. Although there cannot yet be a true “happily-ever-after” for this epic story, reassurance can nevertheless be found in the power and consistency of the feminist movement that has grown and continues to gain support from newcomers such as myself. In my opinion, this is where the full strength of the movement lies; there are a countless reasons to start supporting feminism and no reasons to stop.

Assignment #4

Our course Women’s Studies 250: Women, Art, and Culture incorporates many different
aspects of art and feminism, from art in museums to art activism, and to the structures of
power. Now that the course is over, I see what the “story” of it is, and how I fit into the story.
Also, the readings we have been assigned during the semester have had an impact on me and
are related to the course and to different parts of my life.

The purpose of WMST250: Women, Art, and Culture is to bring a clear understanding of the relationship between feminism and art and to learn how to write analytically and collaboratively. The course was constructed in a particular way to get a better understanding of this relationship as the semester went along. Our very first assignment set the mood for the rest of the semester, where we visited different museums in Washington, D.C. We went to different institutions to see if we could figure out the relationship between the art work and feminism and see what surprised us along the way. I feel that this assignment was constructed to get us out into Washington, D.C. and to go to museums that we normally would not have gone to otherwise. It made us think outside of the box and realize what assumptions we previously had and to address them accordingly. After that assignment, we started to read Seely’s Fight Like a Girl which first introduced us to the idea of feminism and the stereotypes that go along with it. I feel that this reading was assigned after our first project so that we could see what we had previously felt and thought about feminism. I know that I had many wrong assumptions about feminism and art, and I think that this was a great strategy to get us thinking about them.

As we moved on from the aspect of feminism and art and into art activism, we had a group project of making a brochure about a specific feminism “event” for the public. In this project we had to come up with our own definition of feminism, which was very broad and incorporated a lot of different elements. Art activism is also included in Women’s Studies because it deals with the issue of power, which we have learned a lot about this semester. This was the introduction into our next section of our course which was about power based on one’s race, gender, sexuality, religion, geographic location, and many more. This section was such a large portion of the course, so it only makes sense that it was put in this order. We became more familiarized with marked and unmarked categories after reading Kindred and when doing assignment #3 with our partner. The entire course was meant to relate to our lives and to better inform us, and that was the point of the third assignment. We had to think about how power, marked, and unmarked categories are present in our everyday life, and also how to work collaboratively with a partner. Along the way we did free-writes in class which helped us think about and analyze our work about what we liked, did not like, needed to be improved, and so on. I think that little things like free-writes has helped up think more in depth about our assignments, which has ultimately led us up to this assignment. I think Professor King constructed the course to flow from one section into the other. We started out with the whole point of the course, feminism and art, when we went to the museums. Then we focused on another form of art, which is art activism and advertising. Art activism and advertisements deal with power, which is what led us into the final section of power and marked and unmarked categories.

The course is essentially a “story” in which I fit in. Since I am a female, this course pertains to my gender and relates to a lot of my life. I never considered myself a feminist because I was not exactly clear as to what they were. After the first section of the course I realized that I am in fact a feminist. I have learned that feminism is not about women having all of the power, but having equality among both sexes. Our first assignment required us to go to museums, which I would not have gone to otherwise. I had so many assumptions, and I learned a lot from visiting the museums and how to tell if an entire museum is feminist or not. The brochure and “event” was also a form of feminism, which I did not realize at first. I did not think that advertisements or events could be relevant in a Women’s Studies class. I also did not see how unmarked and marked categories fit in with the course, but now I see that it is because of the issue of power. Not until now did I realize that all of our assignments is basically related to having power. I understand that when it comes to power, I am at an interesting standpoint. I am white, but yet I am a female. Which in terms of the structure of power, I have power but yet I also subordinate.

I think that because I was in such a diverse discussion section, that everyone had a major part in the “story” that is our class. I think my contributions to the class was mainly in the later part of the course, when talking about the marked and unmarked categories of race and gender. I was only one of two people who belonged to both categories, and I think it was good for others to see someone who was considered to have power because of their race and yet subordinate because of their gender. I think that everyone had a large contribution to the discussion section because we consisted of four different races, and five including our TA so we all learned about each other. It was also helped for me to learn and understand different viewpoints other than my own from my follow classmates in my discussion section.

One of the readings that truly opened my eyes was Seely’s Fight Like a Girl. I previously had negative views about feminists and this book is what made me realize that I am a feminist as well. Fight Like a Girl gave me a better understanding of what feminism is, and that they are not radicals, lesbians, and anti-male females. It is stereotypes like those that give feminists such a bad reputation. I remember in the introduction there was the word “FEMINIST” and underneath was a list of stereotypes, all of which I used to believe. Now I think of words such as equality and independence to describe feminists. One part of the book that hit me hard was the section that said “Women have the feminist movement to thank if…” because I never realized that all of those things were accomplished by feminist movements. I felt bad for thinking so negatively of them considering I have a lot more freedom and choices today because of them. It has such a big connection to my life because I am a female and I am faced with a lot of setbacks, yet after reading Fight Like a Girl, I know how to do exactly that, which is to engage in activism.

Another book from the course that had an impact on me was Kindred. This book ties in well with the last part of the course and the issue of power. I usually just thought of power as a male and female thing, but race is also a big factor in the amount of power you have. This was shown in Kindred, because as a young boy Rufus essentially had more power based off of his gender and race, but still accepted Alice and Nigel as his friends. But after receiving his inheritance and becoming a slave owner and realizing all of the power he now has, he believed that it was okay for him to have control and punish others. Rufus and his father, Weylin, do not realize that they have power in such an unjust society, and they believe they deserve every bit of control they receive. I found this book to be very depressing, especially because it is a glimpse back into the history of this country. The story of Dana and Kevin can relate back to my life in a sense considering I am in an interracial relationship as well. Dana and Kevin see things differently because they are different races, and that sometimes applies to my boyfriend and I as well. This book helped introduce me to the idea of marked and unmarked categories. I had never really thought about the idea of marked and unmarked categories before, but it is true and they do exist.

We also did a few readings during our discussion section. One article that we did discuss was “In Virginia, a Small Town’s Racial Lessons.” This article meant a lot to me because it is so close to home, and racial equality in this country is something I really want. This article relates back to the third section of our course, with the issue of race and power. This article discusses how racial tension is still clearly present in the small town of Farmville, Virginia, and monthly meetings have been made to try to resolve the tension. These issues date back to 1959 when a public school was shut down to avoid integration. The whites went to nice academies and the blacks had to fend for themselves. This relates back to the issue of marked and unmarked categories which I have learned about this semester. I have learned from this reading that although I live in a fantasy world where all races get along, that it is not like that in the reality.

Overall, this course was really helpful to me and I have learned a lot more than I expected to. I did not think that this class would change my views, but it truly has. I did not always see the connection to the course while doing the assignments, especially the second and third assignment. However, since doing this fourth assignment, I now see the relation between all of them. I have learned that this course was specifically designed into three sections, which led one to the other. All in all, I enjoyed this class and got a lot out of it.

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.