Opression) Essay, Research Paper
Oppression is a serious issue in our society today, although it may be less serious than in the past. Having to deal with sexism and the current generation gap in the 90’s makes the lives of teenage girls harder than it should be. Throughout history we have seen groups of people have to deal with oppression. Many of the problems of the past still exist, and they may push the victims of the oppression beyond the point of no return.
Teenage girls, such as myself, can be the victims of several types of oppression, including sexism. All throughout history, women have been portrayed as the inferior sex. Even in Genesis Adam was created first, and Eve second. Eve was also portrayed as the weaker one by showing that she gave into the temptations of the forbidden fruit. In the past, women were not allowed to vote, not allowed to become professionals, they were expected to stay at home and tend to the children. Times have changed. Women are receiving more and more right and our world is thriving for “equality” of the sexes, and many people believe we have nearly achieved this. There are scientific facts that say that females are physically weaker than men. This does not mean that they are inferior to men in intelligence and skill. Although girls and women are now allowed to work in professions as never before, we have still not achieved equality. Women frequently receive lesser wages than do men, and for no other reason than they are women. Although we have not achieved perfect equality, we are progressing and the lives of women are in some ways getting easier than before. This, therefore makes the lives of the future adults of this generation a little easier, but problems are part of life and we all have them.
We have all heard of different generations such as “Generation X” and the “Baby Boomers”, and the current generation which is being called by some “Generation Y”. Unfortunately, because of the different generations, we end up with generation gaps. There are differences between the generations, and this does not really allow parents and children to understand each other’s point of view. This causes fights withing families, which makes the live of both the parents and the teenagers harder than it should be. We have not yet found a solution to this problem, except that of trying to be understanding of each other.
How do people deal with oppression? Well, there all sorts of reactions. Some teenagers may become depressed, hopeless, listless or even drugged believing that they are powerless. Others may react in the opposite way by becoming angry, bitter or violent. Others still, will try to work twice as hard as others to achieve the same status as non-oppressed people or even to better the lives of others by sacrificing their own personal goals.
In conclusion, we see that although sexism has nearly disappeared, it still affects the live of female teenagers today. Also, the generation gap seems to cause many problems for teenagers, both girls and boys. All teenagers react in different ways to oppression, but one thing is for sure: Oppression is not positive; it has a negative effect on teenage girls.