I had the same question opening this thread so I googled it.
the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
What this means in this context is considering the viewpoints coming from many different groups–people of different races, religions, disabilities, neurodivergence, etc., so issues that affect men with disabilities, for example, are as important as issues that affect men without disabilities. They don’t get ignored or sidelined in favor of more mainstream conversations.
It seems like it just ends up killing a group’s momentum though. Instead of finding the common problems that affect everyone in the larger group me, you spend time talking about all the small issues that only effect some people in the group and then nothing gets done about the issues that actually affect a superlative or majority of the group.
Nobody is just one thing. Intersectionality is about finding common ground where everyone feels like an island. Discussing the small stuff doesn’t prevent anyone from talking about the big stuff.
Case in point, being a man with a part time, invisible disability, there is a cultural expectation that I will lift heavy things, engage in sports, or give up my seat to a woman or elder. And I do these things, sometimes with great physical pain, because it’s easier than explaining to people why everything hurts without sounding like a whiny malcontent.
My experience is not universal, but many men can relate to the societal pressures to conform to what a “man” is supposed to be. Sharing my experience might help another person recognize their own biases and expectations, and to empathize with people who might exist in another space.
That is a good way to go about intersectionality, but this other comment from another Lemmy user is how I’ve always seen it go:
As someone with a learning disability, a history of trauma, neurodivergence, and is part of a racial minority, I really don’t give a fuck if the majority are kept quiet for five minutes lol
As someone with a learning disability, a history of trauma, neurodivergence, and is part of a racial minority, I really don’t give a fuck if the majority are kept quiet for five minutes lol
Seems weird to me that you think helping marginalized people wouldn’t help everybody. That’s the whole point, finding solutions to problems that work for everyone, not just those in the middle of the bell curve.
Helping everyone helps everyone. Helping just some people helps just some people. And it divides your group inter ever smaller segments, diminishing your power.
You can be short-sighted and wrong, but it’s better to re-examine your beliefs and the way you understand the world. It’s a good thing to grow out of this phase.
What’s intersectionailty?
I had the same question opening this thread so I googled it.
What this means in this context is considering the viewpoints coming from many different groups–people of different races, religions, disabilities, neurodivergence, etc., so issues that affect men with disabilities, for example, are as important as issues that affect men without disabilities. They don’t get ignored or sidelined in favor of more mainstream conversations.
It seems like it just ends up killing a group’s momentum though. Instead of finding the common problems that affect everyone in the larger group me, you spend time talking about all the small issues that only effect some people in the group and then nothing gets done about the issues that actually affect a superlative or majority of the group.
Nobody is just one thing. Intersectionality is about finding common ground where everyone feels like an island. Discussing the small stuff doesn’t prevent anyone from talking about the big stuff.
Case in point, being a man with a part time, invisible disability, there is a cultural expectation that I will lift heavy things, engage in sports, or give up my seat to a woman or elder. And I do these things, sometimes with great physical pain, because it’s easier than explaining to people why everything hurts without sounding like a whiny malcontent.
My experience is not universal, but many men can relate to the societal pressures to conform to what a “man” is supposed to be. Sharing my experience might help another person recognize their own biases and expectations, and to empathize with people who might exist in another space.
That is a good way to go about intersectionality, but this other comment from another Lemmy user is how I’ve always seen it go:
As someone with a learning disability, a history of trauma, neurodivergence, and is part of a racial minority, I really don’t give a fuck if the majority are kept quiet for five minutes lol
That’s the problem. You want to keep the majority quiet instead of finding common ground that will help everyone in the greater group.
Seems weird to me that you think helping marginalized people wouldn’t help everybody. That’s the whole point, finding solutions to problems that work for everyone, not just those in the middle of the bell curve.
Helping everyone helps everyone. Helping just some people helps just some people. And it divides your group inter ever smaller segments, diminishing your power.
You can be short-sighted and wrong, but it’s better to re-examine your beliefs and the way you understand the world. It’s a good thing to grow out of this phase.
I can assure you that progress has not been stopped by the advent of intersectionality. See fourth wave feminism