{"id":161,"date":"2018-08-07T17:55:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T17:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-gordianknot.com\/?p=161"},"modified":"2020-11-13T07:32:56","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T07:32:56","slug":"intersectionality-method-not-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-gordianknot.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/07\/intersectionality-method-not-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Intersectionality as a Method, Not a Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

A quick piece on how it can meet its potential, instead of its end.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

EDIT: I should add links and examples I’ve collected. Once I’ve stopped procrastinating.\u00a0
<\/em>
When its most well-known associations are discarded, intersectionality is simply a method for identifying and understanding what happens in the intersection points of distinct categories, attributes or domains.<\/p>\n

It’s quite a bit like the edge effect<\/em> in ecology, where the intersection of two or more habitats or biomes results in a unique zone that exhibits new, unique traits and possibilities, more biodiversity, may eventually extend its influence over an entire region and may warrant a certain level of protection.<\/p>\n

For example:
We know LGBT individuals are generally discriminated against. We know people of colour are often discriminated against. So, what happens when those two groups intersect?<\/p>\n

An LGBT person of colour is very likely to experience substantially more discrimination than either two alone, along with a good chance of a new, unique set of experiences.<\/p>\n

In this way, it is possible to analyze each individual or group depending on the various overlapping domains and categories that apply to them.<\/p>\n

The original purpose of intersectional feminism<\/em> was to expand feminism\u2019s vision and make it more accurate, plural and globally relevant. This was and is a noble goal.<\/p>\n

As a concept, it is far<\/em> from BS, it\u2019s almost obvious. But a majority of its most vocal practicioners miss its true potential and purpose\u2014 which is as an approach to understanding people, not <\/em>an ideology, social framework or system of proof. Used as one of the latter, it indeed lends itself to craziness.<\/p>\n

The intersectional movement has forgotten its potential by allying with toxic leaders, youthful immaturity and fixed politics.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their failure is in turning it into a way to subjectively identify maximally oppressed identities<\/em> and forcefully hand themselves or others \u201cpower\u201d and a voice, without vetting them in any way. This creates a kind of oppression ranking and ladder, facilitating the perfect pH for toxic people to grow and thrive. Enough people inside and outside of this cult have seen it in action, and felt its wrath and almost comical incoherence.<\/p>\n

Marrying the methodology to marxist and post-modern concepts of power and class to form a new lens is a very worthy experiment, but it\u2019s ultimately a bounded experiment. That\u2019s the inherent nature of any experimentation within a fixed framework.<\/p>\n

The resulting political ideology replaces the “individual” as the smallest and indivisible legal, economic and political unit with “individual + category” and “identity group” instead.<\/p>\n

This shouldn’t turn us off the whole thing. The method itself is far more open, interesting, flexible and revealing, and shouldn\u2019t really belong to any particular \u201cintersectional\u201d group.<\/p>\n

Used to the full extent of its definition, it will find various edge effects even in places its usual wielders don\u2019t care to look. For instance, in the upper classes. Or with men. Or with religions other than Islam.<\/p>\n

A dark-skinned south indian gay dalit would be an intersection, and a dark-skinned south indian gay brahmin<\/em> forms an entirely new intersection, \u201cimportant\u201d in and of itself. Given enough instances, that becomes a minority. Given a substantial volume, it becomes an important minority. It doesn\u2019t have to be about sexual orientation. The simple category of hindu brahmins in an increasingly christian or muslim area constitutes an interesting category, just like christian or muslim dalits in a backward majority hindu village. Add \u201cpoor\u201d to either, and it becomes even more important.<\/p>\n

Because being a brahmin or dalit has its own set of challenges and knowledge, that those who are not brahmins or dalits cannot and do not easily understand\u200a\u2014\u200achallenges and life experience that become increasingly unique and interesting with every additional interacting category, whose priors change with every social intervention.<\/p>\n

An upper-class right-wing actress in a male-dominated industry constitutes an edge effect, and if enough instances are identified, becomes \u201cimportant\u201d.<\/p>\n

A heterosexual white man can become a significant, discriminated intersection with a single addition of the category of \u201cpoor\u201d, \u201cuneducated\u201d, or \u201cdisabled\u201d. Absolutely anyone who becomes a victim of angry mobs, internet mini-trials or terrorism forms an important category, which may additionally be very unique depending on who they are.<\/p>\n

A rich, successful guy can become part of a misunderstood category with a single intersection of \u201cfalsely accused by a woman\u201d, just as a woman can with a single addition of “slandered by her rapist”. A man losing his family and going to prison for decades, with the high likelihood of being raped there is just as bad as a woman being raped anywhere else and not getting due justice against the perpetrator. A man losing his reputation and means to earn a living forever despite being acquitted is as bad a woman losing her reputation and means because she rightfully accused someone, and yet everyone is now afraid to hire her . Low percentages do not disqualify either from attention, because they are in the same class of effects– caused by the collective cognitive follies of society and mobs.<\/p>\n

When influential people reject published statistics, lived experiences of men or think falsely accused men are acceptable \u201cminor\u201d collateral damage for the greater good of feminism, it doesn’t just hurt those individuals, it also paradoxically damages the feminist cause along with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

15 years ago, I would have laughed heartily with you if you said \u201cmisandry\u201d existed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now? Of course it exists. Right alongside misogyny. Anyone who has spent any time using social media in the last decade can attest to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fact that it doesn\u2019t affect me at this time doesn\u2019t invalidate all the people it does effect, including female <\/em>relatives of the men in question.<\/p>\n

Intersectionality’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness\u200a\u2014\u200aits deep respect for subjective experience. Which is why that must be applied across the board, not at the whims of what the ideological majority considers the most important intersections. If certain subjective experiences \u201cwin\u201d the race, and toxic people are allowed to become leaders and influencers instead of being treated with aggressive backlash from within the movement, it once again becomes a tool to create oppression, which is what you wanted to fight in the first place.<\/p>\n

Childish social consciousness lets even the most noble ideas turn into incoherent, oppressive movements that enforce the dominant view through a mob mentality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Within that framework, it\u2019s a fractal world of sameness, not diversity. Hierarchies form and then repeat at the macro and micro level. The human tendencies to supplicate, curry favour, backstab, play politics and seek to climb the ladder of power become extremely rewarding\u200a\u2014 especially with social media. Even a previously \u201coppressive\u201d category can gradually become \u201coppressed\u201d, and create mind-bending sub-categories. Combined with political philosophy, it exploits the innate human weakness to feel confidently and righteously enraged at unjustice, even where evidence is poor, or where you yourself are taking part in injustice elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Picking a side in these artificial battles just entangles us all further in a very silly fight.<\/p>\n

In short, the intersectional method can be used to analyze the edge effect of every <\/em>overlapping category, and is best used to provide a richer, more accurate and more interesting picture of the world. It only appears to play badly with science and objectivity at this time because its use is currently limited to extremist, cult-like ideologies lacking maturity. But used properly, I challenge anyone to find anything in it that is allergic to proper data collection or has a negative effect on the world.<\/p>\n

Which means you should immediately mistrust any attempt to co-opt it under any ideology, or use it as some sort of be-all-and-end-all of sociological proof.<\/p>\n

The silent majority is blessed with sanity, but cursed with cowardice and laziness. If we want to counter the dangerous fools, then instead of rejecting a great concept, we need to start using it properly.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quick piece on how it can meet its potential, instead of its end.\u00a0 EDIT: I should add links and examples I’ve collected. Once I’ve stopped procrastinating.\u00a0When its most well-known associations are discarded, intersectionality is simply a method for identifying and understanding what happens in the intersection points of distinct categories, attributes or domains. It’s … →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,27,33,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-complexity","category-philosophy","category-social-issues","category-sociology"],"yoast_head":"\nIntersectionality as a Method, Not a Madness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Intersectionality is a simple, powerful approach. 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