Naming Oppressions - Frye, Moraga, Anzaldua, Cameron, Valerio
What is oppression?
the word oppression is hollowed out when claims to oppression are met by i'm oppressed, too. it loses value. It's like the work can't get done (pg 6, Frye)
we need to mark the specificity of the oppression
oppression needs to be thinking about THE SYSTEM that pushes and presses: the government and stuff
if oppression is structural, then let's think HOW: double-bind: the idea of women's sexual identity locking them into ALL bad options; the "punishment" comes. "You can't win. You are caught in a bind, caught between ystematically related pressures" (Frye 7)
Who has it the "hardest"==let's make an oppression competition
La Guera: calls attention to cultural values of whiteness/light-skinned; calls attention to colorism and the ways certain things (but not all) could be "easier"
we're thinking about the politics of passing; "the more effectively we could pass in the white world, the better guaranteed our future" (Moraga 23)
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oppressions might get "layered" instead of ranked: "We're both getting beaten any way you look at it" (Moraga 25); the problems is in-fighting and fighting folks on your team!
"i smile at the arrogance of this: that it begins and ends with us" ""But one voice is not enough [...]" (29)
each woman calls herself a feminist, but draws her feminism from the culture in which she grew--if the work is liberation from all, it is also culturally formed/informed; if we're ignoring what's being done in other culture's we're ignoring the bigger work
Kate Rushin's "The Bridge Poem:
Rushin is tired of being the person who has to do the LABOR of connecting things
"I am tired of reminding you to breath" she has to be the brain for everyon around her; breathing should come naturally,
we also need to think about self-preservation and self-rewarding; it's survival and protection; women of color prioritizing self
the poem as poem allows us to emphasize certain lines: mic drop moments
poems feel like they open up more than critical, essayistic prose; it's more multivaylent
poems allow analogies and comparative work with metaphors and similies--it gets us to the bigger picture
poems trend towards emotional intensity
"sole Black friend" the politics and violence of tokenism
From Moraga's intro: "a life dedicat