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The Conceptual Schema Of Women

Decent Essays

Women are seen powerless in many instances and Marilyn Frye details the accounts where women are viewed as second to men in “To see and Be Seen.” Frye uses a metaphysics approach to better understand how people come to power. She gives a metaphysical understanding of how the world has been determined by people of power, which throughout history has been men. Men have been in authority throughout history and have come up with society’s conceptual schema. Frye alludes to people in power don’t want to see people who are submissive. Men fit into the conceptual schema, women are excluded but are allowed in the schema in certain ways and lesbians are not included. Lesbians are seen as unnatural and are not recognized in the schema. Their perspective on society is not taken into account, whereas women are recognized but their own perspective on society is completely erased.
Men in charge do not identify women or lesbian’s experiences and view women as a mystery. The conceptual schema lead women to view society as men do, but lesbians do not view the world through men’s perspective. Suppressing a groups perspective excluded them from reality. Men are dominant and women are dominated. Frye mentions Sarah Hoagland’s paper saying, “In the conceptual schemes of phallocracies… there is no such thing as a lesbian. This puts a lesbian in the interesting and peculiar position of being something that does not exist, and this position is a singular vantage point with respect to the

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