Although prejudices are highly prevalent in our society, I honestly feel that I am in a better position than most when it comes to being judged. I am a 5’4, Caucasian, blonde, college student from a middle class family. Although, I may receive many blonde jokes insulting my intelligence, I always come back with the fact that I am a regular Deans List-er. I am a bit short, but there are shorter, I am a bit too pale, but I am not colored. I honestly do not feel justified to complain about much in my life because I know and am friends with much more oppressed peoples. Our society holds some people more valuable than others and that is clear when certain institutions reinforce “otherness.” For instance, JMU is a predominantly Caucasian, female university. Although I do not feel that admissions have anything to do with these race and gender dynamics, I feel that the existing population of our school may make others less willing to attend for fear of “otherness.”
I must say that although I am exempt from many of these feelings, I have experienced gender inequality due to my being a female. Although no one person has blatantly stated that it was due to my gender, it is clear that when a man receives much better treatment/attention (for ex: Wal-Mart, Toyota) than I do, for no apparent reason…it has something to do with me being a female. The primary reason for this tends to be men not taking me serious. I pride myself on being independent and able-bodied but there are some things that men just do not believe I am capable of doing (i.e. changing a tire, lifting heavy things, changing the oil, etc.). The consensus seems to be that women know nothing of cars, sports, electronics, etc. Apparently they broke the mold when they made me because I bust all of those stereotypes.
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