Few days ago, Oprah Winfrey talked about her harsh and painful childhood during her show. She said that she was born to teenage parents and had a mountain of obstacles already in front of her as a newborn baby as she was female, black, and poor. She was raped by a cousin when she was nine years old and later molested by a male friend of her mother's and by an uncle. However, she never told anyone about the abuse that she was suffering. Instead, she held her anger and pain inside and became rebellious. She repeatedly ran away and got into trouble. What was worse was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn baby boy when she was fourteen. She said that "It was just an ongoing, continuous thing. So much so, that I started to think, "This is the way life is."
Her use of strong and emotional voice indicates that the purpose of the conversation was to make the audience sympathize with her and take actions to help young girls or woman who have been sexually abused by man. Since the "Oprah Winfrey Show" is prevalent and popular all over the world, the message can be spread among the public swiftly. Moreover, the show is easy of access as people can watch it on TV and Internet, which are considered as most influential media these days.
As I watched the show, I could not help but ask myself "Are women nothing but toys to man?" Listening to Oprah's childhood experience, it seemed as if women were just there to please and satisfy man. However, at the same time, I thought that this is biased, as it only deals with Oprah's childhood. It was 1950s when she was a child and this period was especially hard for women and black people to live. In addition, her painful childhood might have been resulted from her poor living conditions. If she came from middle or upper class parents, she might not have faced the severe problems that she suffered. This limited point of view causes a skewed display of the oppression of women. Also, the fact that she was a black woman with poor background living in 1950s hinders the obtainment of objective truth concerning the current obstacles faced by average women.
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"Oprah Winfrey Interview -- page 2 / 8 -- Academy of Achievement." Academy of Achievement Main Menu. 30 Aug. 2008
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