Final Exam - Essay Questions

Question 1

Define and discuss what you have learned in this course about oppression and privilege.

Answer 1

Frye:

• oppression: when someone’s life is restricted of shaped due to a force or barrier being inflicted
• rule to drive on one side of the road is NOT oppression
• women being kept in the service sector by barrier created by men, like caring for children and household chores

McIntosh:

• privilege: special advantages provided to a group that grants dominance over other groups
• white individuals due to the colour of their skin remain oblivious of their huge advantage

Question 2

In your own words, and based on what you have learned in this course, describe what you have learned in this course about feminist analyses of: patriarchy, patriarchal practices, patriarchal beliefs and / or culture.

Answer 2

Nelson:

• patriarchy: men have highest status in the family and society
• men less involved in housework and care of children
• more willing to sacrifice affection, family and safety for dominance and status

Calixte

• socialist feminism describe women’s economic dependence on men
• unpaid gendered division of labour of women at home
• inequality of pay in workplace

Question 3

Explain what you have learned in this course regarding racialization.

Answer 3

Murdocca:

• Enlightenment thinker: Europeans created racism to identify differences in humans by the colour of their skin
• social, cultural and political construction, NOT biological
• skin colour gave Europeans a reason to gain power, enslave Black people and colonization of Indigenous soils and near genocide of Indigenous people

Bourassa:
-today in the Canadian government policies and data collection, the term visible minority is still being used as if to say that there is an “us” white people and an “everyone else”

Question 4

Describe the differences between one’s sex and one’s gender, and discuss heteronormativity. Base you essay on what you have learned in this course.

Answer 4

Luhmann:

• gender: dependent on social and cultural expectations of being male or female
• sex: determined biologically by physical characteristics and chromosomes
• heteronormativity: beliefs and practices that make heterosexuality the norm

Edwards:

• unrealistic expectations of men to be aggressive, emotionless and to be straight
• learn these expectations at a young age
• don’t know other options like bisexual or simply don’t understand them

Question 5

Why is “hair” considered a “project” by Carla Rice?

Answer 5

Rice:

• project because women are constantly being judged and must follow the norms of society
• straight hair is good, untamed curls is bad
• managing hair has huge social benefits and boosts status and success
• having hair on body is considered to be a manly trait

Kilbourne

• advertisements around us constantly tell women how they should look at a very young age
• men judge us by the photoshopped ads