{"id":1109,"date":"2019-12-12T19:10:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T00:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2019-12-12T19:10:20","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T00:10:20","slug":"confronting-our-own-oppression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/vasquez\/confronting-our-own-oppression\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronting Our Own Oppression"},"content":{"rendered":"

In her essay, \u201cLa G\u00fcera,\u201d Cherr\u00ede Moraga delves into the observations and experiences that led to her understanding of oppression and intersectionality. <\/span>Moraga recognizes the privilege she had by being \u201c\u2018la <\/span>g\u00fcera:\u2019 fair-skinned,\u201d meaning that she was \u201cborn with the features of [her] Chicana mother, but the skin of [her] Anglo father\u201d (23). <\/span><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/cherriemoraga.com\/index.php\/about-cherrie-moraga-1<\/p><\/div>\n

Although she faced oppression as a result of her heritage, she recognizes the other privilege she had by being educated. The intersectionality of her identities provided Moraga with opportunities she wouldn\u2019t have had otherwise. But it was not until she understood her sexuality that she began to understand the full extent of the workings of oppression. <\/span>Moraga argues that \u201cdanger lies in ranking the oppressions\u201d and that \u201cwithout an emotional, heartfelt grappling with the source of our own oppression, without naming the enemy within ourselves and outside of us, no authentic, non-hierarchical connection among oppressed groups can take place\u201d (24).<\/span> \u201cLa <\/span>G\u00fcera\u201d explores Moraga\u2019s<\/span> claims that \u201cit wasn\u2019t until [she] acknowledged and confronted [her] own lesbianism\u201d that she began to empathize with her \u201cmother\u2019s oppression–due to being poor, uneducated, and Chicana\u201d (23). Moraga\u2019s lesbianism served as a platform for her understanding of oppression and the silencing of these oppressed groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Moraga teaches us that the divisions in the feminist movement between white women and those of color results in not acknowledging how one can be both oppressed and oppressor. In order to admit one\u2019s role as an oppressor, one must ask \u201csome very frightening questions,\u201d writes Moraga: \u201cHow have I internalized my own oppression? How have I oppressed?\u201d (25). Moraga describes this as the \u201coppressor\u2019s nightmare\u201d because people are \u201cafraid to look at how [they] have failed each other\u201d (27). They are \u201cafraid to see how [they] have taken the values of [their] oppressor into [their] hearts and turned them against [themselves] and one another,\u201d and, most of all, they \u201care afraid to admit how deeply \u2018the man\u2019s\u2019 words have been ingrained in us\u201d (27). Although we may fear recognizing our internalized oppression, Moraga ask readers to acknowledge their privilege and their oppression in order to begin to understand how they are the participants of the oppression faced by other communities. Only then will we be able to combat the divisions within the feminist movement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/p>\n

Moraga, Cherr\u00ede. “La G\u00fcerra.” <\/span>This Bridge Called My Back<\/span><\/i>, edited by Cherr\u00ede Moraga and\u00a0<\/span>Gloria Anzald\u00faa, 4th ed., State U of New York P, 2015, pp. 22-29.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her essay, \u201cLa G\u00fcera,\u201d Cherr\u00ede Moraga delves into the observations and experiences that led to her understanding of oppression and intersectionality. Moraga recognizes the privilege she had by being \u201c\u2018la g\u00fcera:\u2019 fair-skinned,\u201d meaning that she was \u201cborn with the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2257,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vasquez"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1419,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}