Freedom, Patriarchy and Racial OppressionThe French philosopher Jean-Paul Sarte is known for establishing existentialism in France after the liberation of Paris in 1944. Existentialism is the philosophy that states that the values ​​people choose influence the choices they make and how they interpret the meaning of their decisions. When existentialism was introduced to the United States, it challenged Americans to access their own ethical standards from a different perspective. America is associated with being “The Land of the Free.” However, American society has set standards on women's roles and racial castes and until these oppressions are eliminated, the entire society will never have freedom. What is freedom? Freedom, as defined by Krisnamurti, is a state of mind in which there is no fear or compulsion, nor need to be secure. In American society there is a need for security and there is fear. People conform to society's ideas to feel safe and fear being different, they fear thinking for themselves to set their own standards and choose their own values. Sartre's existentialist vision of freedom is that it pre-exists value choices. Because people do not freely choose and follow their values, society creates ideals that control their opinions in life. These ideals are supposed to maintain order in society by showing everyone their place, but these ideals supersede what society should stand for and prevent people from gaining freedom. Should people follow society's norms or become existentialists and think for themselves? Society has placed limits on gender roles with ideals such as male privilege and patriarchy. Patriarchy is the political structure to control women's thoughts about their sexuality, work and position in society, thus... middle of paper... the exact abilities they have and those opinions and values ​​that weaken society. They could choose new values ​​that allow equal opportunities for all people and a better society could be born. Minorities could use an existentialist perspective to improve their standards. American ideals about patriarchy, male privilege, and race will continue to oppress the entire society from freedom until these views can be changed when people understand what freedom truly is. People must first free themselves from society's opinions by realizing that they have a negative effect on everyone. They must freely choose their values. When people in society evaluate their ethical standards from a new perspective and become existentialists, freedom will pre-exist value choices and people will choose values ​​with the equality of all in mind..