"The root of the word oppression is the element 'press'. The press of the crowd; pressed into the military service; to press a pair of pants; printing press; printing press; press the button. Presses are used to mold things or flatten them or reduce them in bulk.... Something pressed is something caught between or among forces and barriers which are so related to each other that jointly they restrain, restrict or prevent the thing's motion or mobility. Mold. Immobilise. Reduce."

The word oppression is often related to feminism. The statement that women are oppressed is often found with the statement that men are oppressed as well. According to Frye, "oppressing is oppressive to those who oppress as well as to those they oppress." It is not only women who are oppressed; Men claim their oppression as the fact that they are not supposed to show their emotion, they aren't allowed to cry, it is unacceptable. In many countries, for example Afghanistan, women are deeply oppre

In Readings two there is references to how women's sexuality has a connection with economic, political dominance and the control that man has. Rosalinda Mendez Gonzalez wrote Reading two, which is titled, "Distinctions in Western Women's Experience: Ethnicity, Class, and Social Change". One of the main questions in this reading is "What did the settlement of the land itself mean for the women of different classes and ethnicity?" Many of the answers came from the focus on pioneer women and their lives. Their lives are studied through their diaries and or literature left behind. Gonzalez explains that this is biased. There is evidence of the experience of working class women, but when studying women's history we seem to be steered towards educated and/or elite women and their writings. Gonzalez explains that this is biased because not all women experienced what those women did and their experiences are often applied to all women. Many women in history were unable to record their experiences because they were too poor. They did not hold diaries or attend school and were unable to read and write. Many women suffered great amounts of prejudice and most of them were black, Indian, Asian or Mexican.

Soon after the western expansion patriarchy came into place. Families that were patriarchal were particularly strong in the rural areas. Women were hired to pick cotton, as agricultural labourers but were never paid their own wages. Their salary would be given to her husband, father or brother. Because of this system, which was called "family wages", feudal relations in the countryside were difficult to breakdown, and wage labour did not offer women the economic independence that weakened patriarchal relations like urban and industrial employment did. Giving the liv

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Approximate Word count = 1200
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)