Exaggerated Egocentrism
The thirteenth amendment abolished slavery, the nineteenth amendment gave women equal rights as men and the right to vote, homosexual marriage has been adapted into state law, and the Bill of Rights has given the same rights to everyone no matter sex, age, race, or religion. Are these acts enough to halt discrimination in its tracks? Not even close. The problem does not reside in the government or constitution. The problem resides in the minds of the people who live by and maintain these acts. These “proposals” upon equality and fairness are nothing unless the people agree to enforce and punish those who fail to meet the expectations of such standards. It is nearly an impossible task. Discrimination lies within each and every individual. People try to eliminate discrimination but the more people try the more issues people create. Ageism and sexuality are two major fields of discrimination in the twenty-first century. Evidence from Lillian Faderman’s essay “Queer” and Linda M. Woolf’s essay “Gender and Ageism” explain how these two fields are heavily discriminated against. These two essays conflict on the type of people involved but compare on the effect discrimination has upon the minorities’ emotional and social health.
In the essay “Queer,” Lillian Faderman talks about what it is like growing up as a homosexual. Faderman describes what it feels like to be seen as an outcast and what it feels like to be called something because of who you sleep with. The words she used can be seen as emotionally and socially impairing. For example Faderman states “…[queer] had nonsexual connotations—weird, eccentric, suspicious—that were disturbing to us in our desire to fit in and to be just like heterosexuals in all ways but what we did in bed”(170). What gender struggling individual wants to be called “weird, eccentric, suspicious” when they are already confused on what they feel and so many other emotional and social issues which are going on...