Response to Nellie Wong's Poem

Internalized oppression is the act of convincing yourself that you’re not worthy or good enough for something/someone, without being explicitly told by an outsider; you reinforce these ideas and end up oppressing yourself. I don’t think it’s humanly possible to ever internally oppress yourself without some sort of external force driving this atrophic mind set. What are some of the main institutional and structural forces that I think contribute to the causes of internal oppression? The media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, etc.)àresponsible for projecting the image of the status quo…relentlessly and without shame. Perhaps socioeconomic status plays a role in that it limits the places you can live and the things you can buy, which may not allow you to afford buying into the status quo. The strict categorization of gender roles exacerbates fragile souls who are struggling to figure out who they can possibly exude true maleness or femaleness without ignoring impulses, or desires. Providing support and awareness in contrast to these overwhelming forces is the idea of conscientization: the act of trying to make people aware of their own internalized oppression. There are few institutional forces that make efforts to spread conscientization (that I can think of). But there are structural forces that can help alleviate internalized oppression: communities. I would consider a community a group of friends, siblings, a family, professors, and books (literary communities).