Sally Haslager Race And Gender Analysis

While both face oppression – gender and race are perceived as two distinctly different social castes. Sally Haslager states, “The key point for us is that oppression comes in different forms, and even if one is privileged in one dimensions (e.g. in income or respect), one might be oppressed in others” (140, Haslanger). Haslager makes a distinct claim here: there is a pecking order to oppression and that some people face more cruelty than others. This is undoubtedly true; people can and often are privileged in some ways while simultaneously oppressed in others. Physical differences in race and gender are impossible to ignore to the naked eye, but what significance do differences in physically appearance hold? Why is there an apparent need to distinguish race and sex?
Society’s general perspectives are what establish the differences between races and genders. Most people would say the differences between races are skin colour, and the …show more content…
Examples are many; “people of color” is a term used to separate Caucasians from all other races, and the connotations are not always positive. Could these forms of oppression be considered legitimate at all? The central claim states that people experience oppression and privileged simultaneously, is this still true? A black business man is privileged because he is a business man, not because he is black; he is oppressed because he is black. But what is oppression? To be oppressed is for society to be unjust. Therefore, while we see the black business man as both experiencing privilege and oppression, the society cannot be considered a just society. A just society cannot be considered just with a hierarchy of people based on factors outside of their own personal control including, in this case, race. A just society values merits within an individual’s