Oppression by Marilyn Frye

Charlotte Harlow

Professor Richardson

PHI/WGS 297

Blog Assignment One

           

            In Marilyn Frye’s piece “Oppression,” she defines oppression throughout her narration:

The experience of oppressed people is that the living of one’s life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction. It is the experience of being caged in: all avenues, in every direction, are blocked or booby trapped. (Frye 85)

I believe this quote really stands out from the rest of Frye’s writing because it forces the readers to realize that not everyone who thinks they’re being oppressed really is. This definition gives insight into what it actually means to be oppressed. It sets the stage for how she goes on to explain oppression of women. It’s important to know the difference because a person, for example, may face an obstacle that can clearly be overcome at some point, but not when they confront it, and they may feel like it’s oppressing them and give a false definition of what being oppressed really is. If a lot of people are only temporarily restricted from what they want to do and feel that they’re being oppressed it takes away some of the seriousness from persons that actually are being oppressed. In a sense, it makes it seem as if oppression is more common than it actually is, thereby making the issue less serious. Women, who are actually oppressed in everyday life, deserve their issue to be treated as a seriously pressing matter, because it is. The way Frye defines oppression in this quote really helps to eliminate persons who are using this term in the wrong way.

            I thought it was interesting how Frye used the term “caged in” in her quote and then went on to use a bird cage as an example. She talked about how, when you look at a bird cage up close, you don’t understand how the bird is unable to escape until you take a step back and look at the bigger picture and see what’s really going on; the bird can’t simply just fly around the bars of the cage. The same for women—people often think that women are just being weak and not sticking up for themselves to get the power that they deserve, but in reality they’re trapped in the cage with the bird with nowhere to go, and that’s what being oppressed really is. It’s not facing an obstacle that can easily be crossed; it’s prolonged suffering that gives you no direction to move in. I believe this analogy revealed the importance of oppression because it’s giving a visualization of how trapped and immobile women, in this day and age, really are.

Oppression can obviously be defined in more ways than one, which can raise some oppositions to Frye’s definition. If a person defines oppression in a different way, they may feel that what they’re going through is actually oppression as well. This can lead to problems with Frye’s claim because it broadens the spectrum of oppressed people, which tears down her claim because it makes it less centered around women and more centered around whatever that definition entails, giving people a reason to argue with what she believes.

Women being oppressed is not a new concept. Frye says that, “The experience of oppressed people…are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction.” I believe that in order to get rid of oppression, we must begin to tear down and break up this system holding oppression together. All in all, the way Frye defines oppression is really powerful and I believe it really spoke to her readers and got her point across on what women are going through on a daily basis.