Assignment Task: Understanding Oppression - by Feminist philosopher Marilyn Frye.
Q1. In what ways does the concept of oppression differ from earlier discussions of external and internal constraints?
Q2. Frye claims that women's oppression cannot be seen on a microscopic scale, that one must adopt the macroscopic view in order to uncover the systematic oppression of women. In what ways does her birdcage analogy support this claim?
Q3. Are there problems with her analogy? Can you think of another way of describing the oppression that overcomes these problems?
Q4. Both Frye and Bartky discuss the way that individuals adopt social norms such that they appear to be natural facts rather than social decisions. What are some examples from your own life of tacitly accepted social norms? Is it likely that rational reflection on some of these norms would lead you to act differently?
Q5. Does one have to rationally reflect upon a behavior for it to be free from internal constraints? Why or why not?