Systems of Oppression

Our discussion on animal rights reminds me that all systems of oppression are connected. You cannot separate racism, sexism, classism, speciesism, or any other form of oppression. Bell hooks, a writer who focuses on the intersection of race, class, and sex, calls this ultimate system of oppression the "imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy". These different forms of oppression are not mutually exclusive. So, to stick up for one oppressed group, you must stick up for all of them. The ultimate enemy will always be the same thing. The human domination of other species is directly related to male domination, racial domination, class domination, etc.

Question: Why do so many people only care about the issues of one oppressed group, instead of all of them?

Attitudes about Feminism in the Classroom

Today in class, Professor Johnson simply mentioned a book about the connection between meat-eating and the oppression of women, and with the single mention of the word "feminism", comments were made that I thought were rude and insulting. For some reason, many people like to treat feminism as a joke, when they would never treat racial issues, other human rights issues, and animal rights issues as anything but gravely serious. The reason I am writing about this is because I find this offensive behavior appalling, especially in a classroom setting. Our class is male-dominated. The discipline of philosophy itself seems pretty male-dominated too. While this isn't necessarily anyone's fault, these insulting attitudes towards feminism could make it even more of a challenge for female students to be active participants in class discussions. I personally am drawn to philosophy because it challenges me to be open-minded and question things that I never did before. This dismissal of feminism and women's rights is the complete opposite of what philosophy should be about, in my opinion. To just write off women's perspectives without really considering them is a huge mistake, and it reflects poorly on you and your intellect. I am not counting this post as one of my 2 per week, I just really think this needed to be said.