Velvet Banana

Blog Assignment #2

Pop Culture Oppression?

A Matrix of Domination Brief Study

The purpose of this study is to examine Simone de Beauvoir’s quote, “One is not born a woman,but becomes one“, with respect to the theory of the matrix of domination. In order to better understand the concept of matrix of domination especially in the context of modern culture, it is helpful to do a little light research.

In accordance with the text, Thinking About Women, pg. 15, the concept deals with oppression of an individual based upon a personal trait or social construct. The matrix portion highlights how multiple traits or constructs interweave amongst each other to contribute to an overall dynamic. For example, a black woman might experience two forms of oppression based on race and gender. A divorced, ex-con, black, Jewish, handicapped, lesbian, poor, senior-citizen woman might be subject to a monstrous array of oppression under the matrix!

For my study I will focus on the cultural aspect of oppression with respect to gender and age (kind of a cross-generational study). In her book, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Patricia Hill Collins, states, “The cultural context formed by those experiences and ideas that are shared with other members of a group or community which give meaning to individual biographies (made up of concrete experiences, values, motivations, and emotions) constitutes a second level at which domination is experienced and resisted. The cultural component contributes, among other things, the concepts used in thinking and acting, group validation of an individual’s interpretation of concepts, the “thought models” used in the acquisition of knowledge, and standards used to evaluate individual thought and behavior.” This statement suggests culture with respect to environmental upbringing enforces an aspect of the matrix of domination. Hence, a woman becomes a woman under the oppressive hand of societal “norms”.

This assignment is more of a correlational study than an experiment. There is not a control group. The subjects are not randomly assigned. However, the interview questions are formulated with a neutral, non-judgmental tone. The goal of this study is to either support or not support Beauvoir’s quote based on the informal research questions. Here are the study questions.

STUDY QUESTIONS 

Pop Culture Favorites (the purpose is to examine the effect of societal norms via cultural experience)

1. What was your favorite toy growing up?
2. What was the theme to your grade school lunchbox?
3. Favorite childhood TV show?
4. Favorite childhood TV actor/actress?
5. Favorite childhood TV actor/actress (opposite sex of answer in previous question)?
6. Favorite hero?
7. Favorite (opposite sex of previous answer) hero?
8. Favorite villain?
9. Favorite (opposite sex of previous answer) villain?

Free Association (one word answer only)

1. Boy wearing a dress.
2. Girl playing football.
3. Pink or blue?
4. Stay at home dad.
5. Working mom.
6. Boy named Sue.

Cultural Background Questions

1. Did your mom, dad, or both mom & dad work?
2. What childhood sport did you play?
3. Using your own interpretation of power, name a powerful woman.
4. Name a powerful man.
5. Finish this statement: a woman’s place is _____.
6. A man’s place is _____.

FINDINGS: RESULTS TABLE

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Overall the study supported Beavoir’s quote. It certainly appears as though pop-cultural influences in conjunction with a societal gender oppression affects both sexes equally. However, there are a couple of glaring exceptions which demonstrate a move away from the matrix of domination.

The first section, Pop Culture Favorites, definitely supported Beavoir’s quote. The toys and lunch boxes decidedly fell along line traditional boy/girl divisions. Males favored action shows and females had a slant away from action shows. Both sexes favored either funny or macho actors. Both sexes sided with beautiful models as actresses. Most of the initial questions fell along classic traditional lines.

The first exception was the female villain question. The older generation had trouble naming a single female villain. After a few moments of thought, the subjects almost jumped at the suggestion that ‘no answer’ was an acceptable answer. The younger generation had no trouble coming up with female villains. This dichotomy reveals a positive trend over time. Females can be just as bad as the males in the media!

The Free Association section strongly supported Beavoir’s thesis with a heavy skew toward males. In fact this section probably better addresses a reversal of the orginal question — “One is not born a man, but become one.” Perhaps the one question that is most troubling is the “boy wearing a dress” question and to a lesser extent the “stay at home dad” question. Most of the answers are aggressive and judgmental. Society seems to reject the notion of a man not fulfilling a traditional norm. A positive is the “girl playing football”. Both generations showed a more positive view with “athletic” being the most common answer.

One of the most interesting responses was for the “powerful woman” question. Hillary Clinton was an almost unanimous response across both generations and sexes.

The only other notable finding was the female response to “powerful man” — a unanimous “dad”.

Here is a short list of possible confounds that might affect the validity of this study:

a) Subject expectations based on personal bias.

b) Subject memory possibly influenced or altered over time.

c) Evolution of historical context of matrix of domination with respect to culture.

d) Sample size is very small. I would be very interested to see this study with a greater number of subjects spread over several generations.

CONCLUSION

Even though the study was comprised of a small sample of subjects, there were still some surprising, relevant results. Overall the study supports Beavoir’s quote and the existence of the matrix of domination with respect to age and gender. The attitudes towards what is expected and accepted of both males and females is especially revealed in the Free Association section.

However, the study shows a progression of thought and a gradual change of attitudes through the generations as evidenced by the “female playing football” question and the emergence of the female villain. The decision to allow subjects under the age of eighteen provided perhaps the most interesting finding of the study. Also, in a reflection of the times, people can quickly name a “powerful woman”, and she is Hillary Clinton. It would seem, “The times…they are a changin’.” The change is slow to be sure, but there is a hope and change will continue to be steady.