This week on Common Hour we discussed diversity, social identities and social justice. All of these topics were extremely important to me as I had never addressed them before (racism, homophobia and sexism are widely spread and totally acceptable in my country). I've really enjoyed analyzing myself and the community, so here are my thoughts on issues of oppression and privilege and their relationship to my social identities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To begin with, let's define what exactly oppression is. Oppression is systemic discrimination and social prejudice against a disadvantaged group and has no other reason than hatred for a particular quality of the group, such as race or sexual orientation. The only social identity of mine that experiences any form of oppression is my sexual orientation. Since I'm bisexual, people tend to think I must be promiscuous or "one foot out of the closet" or just still undecided. Not to mention the homophobia: half of my relatives still refuse to talk to me. Negative stereotypes are annoying and can even hinder you if you want to contribute to the LGBTQ community, as many people still don't consider bisexuals "valid" enough. I never really thought of this as oppression, but now that I understand what the term really means, I understand it and can fight it. Educating people is the first step. Here on campus, it's really refreshing that the only reaction to admitting you're bi is "oh, that's nice." People are very open-minded and it's easy to talk to them about issues of oppression and privilege. The second social identity that was important to me and is tied to privilege is my race. I'm as white as can be and so are the other 99.9% of the people I come from, which means I've never been exposed to the idea of ​​white privilege. It's a terrifying thought that someone could still be oppressed because of the color of their skin. However, Caucasians are certainly privileged in today's society. This means they don't have to worry about things like racial profiling, representation, or discrimination based on race. A personal anecdote about racial profiling: When I arrived in the United States, I met a nice Turkish girl while waiting to clear customs. We started talking and I joked about being randomly selected for a second screening. She then casually mentions that she was randomly selected all 3 times she flew. I go through customs, everything goes smoothly, I wait for her to pass the checks and, in fact, she is "selected at random". While I'm not sure you can prove it was because of his race, it seems to be the most likely explanation. I've never had to deal with anything like this, I'm accepted everywhere, they don't ask me questions and I seem trustworthy just because I'm white. If that's not privilege, I don't know what is. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay After learning about oppression and privilege, I feel like I understand them better and can relate to them. I can raise awareness, start talking to people and educate them about these issues that we're still facing. All in all, a very thought-provoking and serious topic indeed.