In the text, La Güera by Cherríe Moraga discusses how her discovery of her own sexual orientation allowed her to see the injustices that occurred around her. When Moraga decided to embrace the sexual orientation she had to face the reasons that held her back from admitting it before. The reasons, where non-other than, the injustices that included the classism, an act Moraga’s mother part took in, and the racism, that she internalized, as well.
When Moraga chose to accept that she was not a heterosexual it became obvious that her mother practices several behaviors that could be considered classist. It is not that her mother was ignorant of poverty. In fact, in her text, Moraga makes sure to point out that her mother was raised in a humble home …show more content…
This is important to understand this aspect of her mother since it seems that she engages classism as a self-defense mechanism. In other words, Moraga and her family lived in a hierarchy that placed Mexicans below Anglos and lower income Mexicans were cast even lower. Therefore, to protect her children from being seen as inferior she had to make sure to remind society that there were other individuals further down the hierarchy. To demonstrated that there were others below her, Moraga ‘s mother referred to lower-income Mexicans “braceros” or “wet-backs” in order to distinguish and distance herself from them (Moraga 1983, 28). This is not an uncommon practice amongst society. Most individuals choose to hide any signs of their lower-economic status. It seems that Moraga and her mother choose to do the same and Moraga did not see …show more content…
That is the racism that she also had internalized without realizing. The best way to demonstrate that she did not realize she had internalized racism it to take into account her own words, “No one ever quite told me this [that light was right]”( Moraga 1983, 28). That is on one explicitly told her that the society was more accepting of lighter skinned individuals, but somehow perhaps through the observation of the actions those who surrounded her while she grew up that led her to that conclusion. This is a fact that came rushing to the surface when she chose to admit to herself she was not a heterosexual. Moraga realized that she had ignored racism and oppression due to the fact that she never was affected by it since her skin was not “brown” and the fact that she internalized it created dissonance within her (Moraga 1983, 30). She concluded that to some extent she was both the oppressed and the oppressor. Moraga admits that she wanted to ignore the fact that sometimes she hates herself for being queer and struggles against her own homophobia (Moraga 1983, 33). When she admitted she the fact that she was not a heterosexual, white, or from an elevated economic status, then her own bias that she grew up with suddenly turned against her. By being able to identify and understand where the source dissonance than through analyzes of the feminist narrative. Moraga was able to conclude that
When Moraga chose to accept that she was not a heterosexual it became obvious that her mother practices several behaviors that could be considered classist. It is not that her mother was ignorant of poverty. In fact, in her text, Moraga makes sure to point out that her mother was raised in a humble home …show more content…
This is important to understand this aspect of her mother since it seems that she engages classism as a self-defense mechanism. In other words, Moraga and her family lived in a hierarchy that placed Mexicans below Anglos and lower income Mexicans were cast even lower. Therefore, to protect her children from being seen as inferior she had to make sure to remind society that there were other individuals further down the hierarchy. To demonstrated that there were others below her, Moraga ‘s mother referred to lower-income Mexicans “braceros” or “wet-backs” in order to distinguish and distance herself from them (Moraga 1983, 28). This is not an uncommon practice amongst society. Most individuals choose to hide any signs of their lower-economic status. It seems that Moraga and her mother choose to do the same and Moraga did not see …show more content…
That is the racism that she also had internalized without realizing. The best way to demonstrate that she did not realize she had internalized racism it to take into account her own words, “No one ever quite told me this [that light was right]”( Moraga 1983, 28). That is on one explicitly told her that the society was more accepting of lighter skinned individuals, but somehow perhaps through the observation of the actions those who surrounded her while she grew up that led her to that conclusion. This is a fact that came rushing to the surface when she chose to admit to herself she was not a heterosexual. Moraga realized that she had ignored racism and oppression due to the fact that she never was affected by it since her skin was not “brown” and the fact that she internalized it created dissonance within her (Moraga 1983, 30). She concluded that to some extent she was both the oppressed and the oppressor. Moraga admits that she wanted to ignore the fact that sometimes she hates herself for being queer and struggles against her own homophobia (Moraga 1983, 33). When she admitted she the fact that she was not a heterosexual, white, or from an elevated economic status, then her own bias that she grew up with suddenly turned against her. By being able to identify and understand where the source dissonance than through analyzes of the feminist narrative. Moraga was able to conclude that