Final Thoughts

3 Pages 820 Words

The main topics of the “Final Thoughts” section of our readings deals mainly with oppression. The first reading in this section is titled “Can White Heterosexual Men Understand Oppression?” written by Cooper Thompson, whom is in fact a white, heterosexual male, himself. Thompson elaborates on oppression of women, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, black people and basically anybody who is not a white, heterosexual male themselves. Thompson goes on to claim “I began to hear and read about the privileges I get as a man, as a white person, and a heterosexual. I was able to see how oppressed persons – particularly women, people of color, and lesbians and gay men – are denied some of the rights I have”. He goes on to state that “heterosexual white men in this society tend to have a dualistic view of the world: we are either right or wrong, winners or losers. There is only one truth, and we will fight with one another to determine whose truth is right. To understand oppression requires that we accept others’ experiences as truthful, even though they may be very different from ours.” In many ways I disagree with the claims made by Cooper Thompson. I am a white, heterosexual male myself and I can think of numerous times that I myself have been oppressed. Now maybe my oppressions were not to the level or extent of many of the oppressions of minorities, but I do believe that white, heterosexual men do have a good understanding about oppression. Also, when Thompson claimed that white heterosexual males are either winners or losers and so on and so forth, he is merely describing all of man’s desire and drive to be number one, and this can tie back into many previous readings and postings. At an early age, boys are taught to be competitive and are taught to want to win. Losing was seen as something a girl would do and it would jeopardize one’s masculinity. I believe that this trait of either winning or losing, or bein...