by Morgan Finn and Mikeni López
The Ruthe Boyea Women’s Center
When talking about feminism, its merits and proponents, people lose sight of many of its important aspects. Feminism is not a dirty word; it is the name of a broad ideology meant to address the oppression women have faced and continue to face in societies.
There are different types of feminism and it is said to have arisen in waves. However, what the different types of feminism and “waves” have in common is that they try to address sexism.
Sexism is oppression on the basis of sex and gender. Much of the confusion about feminism, and what feminists do, comes from a misunderstanding of what oppression is and how it manifests. This confusion is understandable since oppression is an abstract idea.
Some feminist theorists have tried to explain the nature of oppression. Dr. Marilyn Frye and the late Dr. Iris Marion Young are two such theorists; Frye attempts to clear the confusion about oppression with a birdcage analogy in her 1983 essay titled Oppression.
Frye’s analogy draws a distinction between the microscopic and macroscopic perspectives to show that oppression is best understood from the latter. Frye writes, “It is only when you step back, stop looking at the wires one by one, microscopically, and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere.”
To further clarify the meaning of oppression, Frye uses the idea of the “double-bind,” a dilemma where all options indict negative recourse.
Take, for example, the limitations of the “double-bind” that women face in the annual dilemma of Halloween costume shopping. Costumes available for men and women differ greatly.
A majority of the costumes available for women have “sexy” included in their title, while men’s costumes don’t include such descriptors.
Although men and women’s costumes may represent similar figures, the Halloween industry finds some way to over-sexualize costumes for women, whether it is a clown, a firefighter or a bumblebee costume. Furthermore, if a woman decides to purchase and wear one of these “sexy” costumes, she is often considered “slutty.”
Another feminist theorist is Dr. Young who, in her 1990 essay Five Faces of Oppression, offers an analysis of the ways oppression manifests.
In Young’s view, oppression is not one thing, but a multifaceted condition, which includes exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism and violence.
According to Young, exploitation refers to “a systematic process [where] the energies of the have-nots are continuously expended to maintain and augment the power, status and wealth of the haves.” She relates exploitation to sexism, saying that it’s the “transfer of fruits of material labor, nurturance and sexual energies to men.”
Young’s conception of exploitation is reflected in Halloween costumes that often typify women in subservient roles.
Marginalization is the process by which oppressed groups are excluded and their needs and efforts downplayed or ignored.
This Halloween, Young’s definition of marginalization is visible in most costumes aimed at women because these often represent jobs that are seen as less importance. For example, there are nurse costumes, but we rarely see doctor costumes aimed at women.
Powerlessness refers to societies that are organized in a way where certain people have advantages others lack, such as “regularly participat[ing] in [decision-making] that affect the conditions of their lives and actions” with more people willing “to listen to what they say and to do what they request, [out of respect].”
In terms of what is expected in Halloween, women fell pressure to be sexy — but not too sexy. This is a case that illustrates Young’s conception of powerlessness, since the “powerless are situated so that they must take orders and rarely give them.”
Cultural imperialism refers to a society that treats one culture as universally representing the standard for all of humanity.
Cultural imperialism, as conceptualized by Young, will be visible this Halloween in the fact that costumes aimed at men are unaltered, because theirs are seen as the original. By contrast, costumes aimed at women are “feminized.”
According to Young, violence refers to random, unprovoked attacks on members of oppressed groups; these attacks are intended to coerce, embarrass, dehumanize or kill.
The history of the United States is full of examples where violence was used as a means of controlling certain groups. Constitutionally-sanctioned violence has been used to enforce racial segregation, prevent women from voting and to breakup unions.
Most Halloween costumes contribute to reducing a woman’s worth by overemphasizing their sexuality. This climate of hyper-sexuality leads some men to feel that sexual assault, harassment or rape is excusable.
Although some might say feminists take fun holidays like Halloween too seriously, they attempt to make Halloween more accessible and fun for everyone. Many feminists support women that choose to wear such costumes and any others.
Oversexualization as a norm and its overpowering influence on costumes perpetuate damaging ideas about women.
During this Halloween, push yourselves to be aware of this wire to a much larger cage. Take it upon yourselves to challenge its too-common manifestations of sexism and oppression while supporting the self-determination of all women.