Week 3: Allison Miller

Representation of sexism

Since I am part of the dominant group in many aspects of my identity (race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.), I am fortunate to experience less prejudice than people who are members of more oppressed groups.  That being said, I do tend to feel prejudice when it comes to my gender.  As a female, some stereotypes are that I am not as smart as men, quiet, sensitive, etc.  Sexism still exists in society due to men’s feelings of superiority.  I’m not saying that all men feel as though they are above all women—that would be ridiculous—but some men do feel that way, thus oppression lives on.  One particular example of this that comes to mind is my brother’s sense of humor.  He is always the center of attention, making everyone around him laugh—usually at the expense of others.  He frequently objectifies women, or makes comments that imply that women are subservient to men (i.e. “Where is my sandwich?”)  While I know that he is just trying to be funny, part of me still gets very offended by what he’s saying.  I feel like his jokes stem from his actual perception of men and women, and it’s kind of upsetting to know that my own brother is reinforcing sexism.  

sign expressing anti-Mexican sentiment

My mentee, on the other hand, probably experiences more prejudice than I could ever imagine.  On top of being a female, she is Mexican and English is her second language.  Many Americans discriminate against Mexican immigrants because there is an erroneous notion that the majority of them are illegal.  According to Suarez-Orozco (times 2), “undocumented immigrants make up roughly 10 percent of the total foreign-born (immigrant) population.” (p. 31).  Americans tend to jump to ignorant conclusions when it comes to people who are different from what is considered “normal”.  Lizbeth mentioned to me that she keeps a journal in which she writes down bad things that people do or say to her.  She then reads her journal to her mom, and her mom helps her deal with her problems at school by talking to her and taking action when necessary.  The bad things that happen to her may or may not occur because of her ethnicity and gender, but they certainly could have something to do with it.  I’m sure that Lizbeth and her family experience prejudice when they are out together more so than when Lizbeth is at school with many other multicultural students, which is an unfortunate reality. The privilege that I have over my mentee has mostly to do with the fact that I was born in America to English-speaking parents.  I have not had to go from living in one country to living in another, learning a new language and culture after being completely submerged in it, or translate or read for my non-English speaking parents.