Viewing MacKinnon through Young's Five Faces of Oppression

In Five Faces of Oppression, Iris Young redefines oppression as “the disadvantage and injustice some people suffer, not because some tyrannical group intends to keep them down, but because of the everyday practices of a well-intentioned liberal society” (Young 92). Young breaks oppression down into five key conditions: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. Through these acts, women as a social group are reduced to a lesser status because they are the other to the standard, gender neutral/normal that is maleness. MacKinnon's discussion of dominance through differences is based mostly on Young's conditions except for cultural imperialism. The fundamental theory of exploitation that Young sets out is based on Marx’s labor theory of value, in which the have-nots expend effort in order to maintain the power of the haves, yet they are still dependent. It is expected that a wife supports her husband by making sure dinner is cooked, his dry cleaning is picked up, and the children are taken care of. It is expected that, despite what a woman’s desires are, she will fulfill her man’s needs first. Instead of an equal trade, women are expected of with little in return. In this way, women are also marginalized. If a woman’s traits do not contribute to her ability to be a mother or wife, then those traits are seen as unfavorable, not only because men have no value for them, but also because they often give women an edge over men. Young describes this difference between professionals and non-professionals as a difference in status as opposed to a difference in class, and I think here MacKinnon would argue that it is a difference based on differences because even in gender neutral situations, women are still compared to men as the norm. This is because gender is a comparison of unlikeness, while equality demands that you treat unlikness the same. This can be exemplified in the workplace where women make significantly less than men, while having to work to overcome the stereotypical norms that are expected of "corporate" employees. While women may consider themselves equal because they hold corporate positions, they themselves still hold a different status because those positions aren't ubiquitously available. This lack of respect and power, as well as the stereotypes associated with women being irrational, emotional, and weak, all lead to a blatant inequality based on physiological differences that don't always necessarily result in a different expression.