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To be honest - the only way I've seen intersectionality used - was as a way to divide not unite, essentially as a weapon. Broadly with intersectionality in pra
by Aloha 4y ago
To be honest - the only way I've seen intersectionality used - was as a way to divide not unite, essentially as a weapon.
Broadly with intersectionality in practice that I've seen is its used to divide people into ever smaller groups, sliced up by their differences - it can make it incredibly hard to get people grouped into rational communities of interests, who can work together to fix problems.
As a concept, it shouldn't divide it should instead allow people to acknowledge that everyone is not at the relative same privilege level, and that we need to be aware of hidden disadvantages, but humans being like we are, it never seems to work out that way outside of academic discourse.
This is a broader problem with concepts for academic discourse making it into the broader world, without the intense educational background, they turn into a form of either buzzword or checkbox compliance.
- zozbot234 4y agoExcept that even "privilege level" as such is not a concept from academic discourse. It's a concept from Maoist discourse-- in its original form of "bourgeois privilege", which applied to such elite things as being basically literate-- which got picked up by academics; and largely bourgeois, privileged academics at that.
- Aloha 4y agoIt's not an entirely harmful way of thinking - a bunch of us have hidden disabilities, and forcing people to think about it, is broadly, helpful. I don't think its useful for determining public policy, in general practice intersectionality is harmful to minority groups because it makes our pool to form a community of interest out of smaller.