Young and MacKinnon on the 5 Faces of Oppression

This week’s question is How might one analyze Catherine MacKinnon’s theory of sex discrimination in “Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination” through the rubric proved by Iris Marion Young in her essay, “Five Faces of Oppression?” First, MacKinnon presents her argument by explicating modern day “equality” discourse, specifically within the context of gender and sexuality, and according to her, for women this would mean: “a chance at productive lives of reasonable physical security, self-expression, individuation, and minimal respect and dignity” (MacKinnon 81). 

However, according to her, the objectives used to obtain these results, through the lens of sameness equality, predisposes women to either be like men or be different from men. While the first options places women in a cognitively disturbing position, especially if these “sameness” traits are not expressed or present, and forces them to conform in order for them to freely experience the rights and privileges available to men, the second option acknowledges and plays on the idea that men and women are fundamentally different and thus should have access to different humanistic ideals and responsibilities. MacKinnon argues that the question is not which of these two approaches is more successful or appropriate, but instead, why we use “difference” to determine the standard for a new equality when at the root of the issue, we are all the same. 

Similarly, Iris Young highlights some of the common themes of oppressed people, in a series called “the five faces of oppression,” these stages being: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. While these stages are very specific and express a different plane of issues experienced by oppressed groups, MacKinnon would probably agree, at least within the context of sex and gender again, that these tropes serve to highlight the differences between the ruling class and the working class, and do little to express a course of action to account for the sameness between these oppressed groups with those of the dominant group.