CRJ #2

The bootstrap myth is concerned with economic success. If you work hard you prosper and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. If you cannot provide for your family and don’t work hard or are not able to provide for their family, then they will not prosper. Many people disagree with the bootstrap myth and are not socially accepted.

Internalizing oppression means that someone is having an issue, but refuses to bring it to the surface. They keep the anger and frustration inside and don’t allow a venting. By doing this one can encourage or justify hostility against another group. Marilyn Frye talks of how women can be oppressed by networks of force and barriers that expose one to penalty, whether or not they are heterosexual, have children, are married etc. By being oppressed the person seems to live in a box and is confined by all of the previously mentioned notions.

Homophobia is the irrational fear and hatred of those who love and sexually desire those of the same sex. Sexism is a system that shoes privilege and inequality based on gender. Compulsory heterosexuality is the assumption men and women are attracted to each other emotionally and sexually. It also believes that heterosexuality is normal and universal.

Lesbian is a word that carries threat of loss of power and privilege according to Pharr. It can mean that the person has been abandoned and cut from society. Some people associate lesbians as women who believe they don’t need a man to survive and prosper or even against men. Heterosexual women can see lesbians as women who stand in contradiction to the sacrifices the rest of the female population has made to conform to compulsory heterosexuality. Lesbians are established as a threat to the status quo. Lesbianism threatens all women because they step out of the box, out of the norm. There is no way a woman can defend herself in regards to her sexuality, there is no clear cut definition or specific look a lesbian has- therefore it makes it impossible to defend ones self. Lesbianism and feminism can be tied together because a lesbian is a woman who steps out of the box and a feminist steps out of the box. They both want more rights and privileges and are able to live normal lives with the same types of rights that the “normal” American has.

I’ve never really paid attention to the advantages given to me being a white woman. Being a woman and being involved in sports hasn’t given me much of an advantage. The only advantage I can think of being involved in sports is that I played co-ed sports so I had the advantage in being in a competitive atmosphere. I went to a private school until 10^th grade and I never really experienced privilege of any sort. They treated us all the same. It’s easier to show someone else’s disadvantage than you’re over privilege. This is what it means to me, not necessarily to the author. When you put down someone else to show their disadvantage you are giving yourself a bit more of a boost. But if you were to accept the fact that you are over privileged, its still giving yourself a boost, but its negative in the sense that you are saying you are better than someone else. As opposed to saying someone is less than you. There is a status issue when it comes to privilege for example how you will be treated in court.