Lee 1
Shanna Lee
Professor Lambert
IAH 207 Sec. 004
4 October 2016
Marilyn Frye: On Being White Analysis
Marilyn Frye in her article “On being White”, states that: “Whiteness is...a social or political
construct of some sort...Whites exercise a power of defining who is white and who is not, and are
jealous of that power...To be white is to be a member of an in-group, a kin group, which is self-
defining...Members can bend the rules anytime, if that is necessary to assert the members' sole
and exclusive authority to
decide
who is a member; in fact, bending the rules is an ideal expres-
sion of that authority” (pp. 114-115). Frye is proposing that whiteness is power; if you are white,
you are in control.
White people can distinguish who they want to be a part of their white soci-
ety and who they do not want to be a part of their white society. White people are the Julliard of
people, you have to audition and play your role. Once you've played your role, you are then
judged and discussed. After you have been watched, judged, and discussed, you are then told if
you made the cut or not. If you make the cut you are deemed as white and inducted into the most
prestige groups of people. You are now a self-defining individual. If you do not make the cut you
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