In this retrospective Christina Nordstrom works to identify and come to terms with the cultural forces that she says influenced and limited her life choices and opportunities coming of age in the 1960s. Attending UMASS Boston’s College of Public and Community Service at the age of 40, she studied the life-affirming teaching method of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed), and the principles of liberation theology. This doctrine was conceived in the 1960s when Catholic priests struggled with the dilemma of “how [they asked] can one both live as a Christian while not recognizing or addressing the needs of the poor.” Her coursework opened her eyes to the many guises of oppression, and she learned how to identify oppression in her own life.

She endeavors to reconcile the role of the North American culture’s perpetuation of bias against women, which led to gender oppression, through its socialization of boys and men – and, thereby, of girls and women. Using illustrations of some of her own experiences, she demonstrates how this bias is supported within various cultural domains. And, while she acknowledges it can be a matter of degree, she defends her claim that this contributes to its own version of historical trauma for women as an oppressed class.

In sharing her work she hopes to provide thoughts to encourage discussions among, and further insight from her peers, as well as younger generations, so that, together, men and women might consider finding a common starting place, perhaps simply to begin a dialog about this far-reaching issue.