"Men as Gendered Beings"

I strongly agree with Michael S. Kimmel's and Michael A. Messner's theory in "Men as Gendered Beings", that people are not conscious of those things or circumstances that give them an edge, place them at an advantage, compared to the rest of the group. The example that they give is of two women having a discussion about sex and gender, in which the caucasian women says that when she looks at herself in a mirror she sees a woman, while the African American woman says that when she looks at herself in a mirror she sees a black women. This example shows the hierachy of societal and personal factors affecting our values and perspectives.

In the example the race- "black" comes before gender- "woman"(female). So for a female that is poor and black the hierarchy may be, in my opinion, first-Class,second-Race, and third-Gender. This may explain why African Americans are voting in such large numbers for Barack Obama and why it has been easier for Obama to make inroads in the group of caucasian voters. The caucasian voters are less likely to add into their hierarchy a race category because for most of them (except white racists) race is invisible, so they have no loyalties to weigh in the decision with regards to voting for a caucasian women and African American male.

With regards to class I put it first, although I do not believe it will be first in all circumstances. The closer you are to middle class, the more likely that the of class will become invisible in your hierarchy of issues affecting your perspective of things.