Friday, 7 August 2009

Intersectionality - and how we’re all fighting the same fight


But there’s one point that strikes me most about it which I do firmly believe in. We’re all fighting the same battle.

Oh details vary, reasons vary, individual concerns vary, history most certainly varies. There’s a lot of variation here that we shouldn’t dismiss. But in the end there’s one unifying message:

People shouldn’t be ‘othered,’ devalued or treated as lesser be that through great big violent oppression and hate or small, subtle but prevalent societal assumptions and pressures.

That is the core. That is the foundation. This is the root of all our movements for freedom and justice. The ‘othered’ should not be disadvantaged by the dominant privilege and should enjoy the same rights, freedoms, opportunities, respect, position and advantages as they do.


Similarly, it means that every incidence of sexism, ableism, racism, homophobia et al is an attack on ALL of us. In every instance the message is being sent that it is ok to treat people as less for being ’other’ in every instance it is saying that the privileged group deserve their privilege and others deserve to be treated as less. Even if we ARE privileged in that specific instance, it is still an attack on us if we allow any ‘othered’ group to be treated as less. We have a stake in that fight and we have a duty - not just from human decency - but from sheer self-interest to fight against that prejudice.

It also means that if an ‘othered’ person does something or says something sexist/racist/etc then they are hurting themselves.

The message is Prejudice is Wrong. You can’t say “some is wrong” or “it’s wrong when used against me” or “this prejudice is ok but prejudice against me isn’t” it doesn’t work that way. When you are prejudiced or allow prejudice to go unchallenged - even if you don’t perceive it as your fight - then you are giving a license to be prejudiced - you are allowing the idea that prejudice isn’t necessarily bad. That’s a message none of us can afford to send.

In practical terms what does this mean to me?


3) All issues should be aired. I should not allow any ‘othered’ people to be silenced. I should respect platforms for them to air their views and battles. I should listen. I should not allow any ‘othered’ groups to be marginalised, their issues brushed aside or ignored - even if in doing so it would garner more attention to MY issue


5) I should never ever ever ever ever condone the ‘divide and conquer’ tactics that have been used so successfully before. We’re in the same fight - we can’t throw our allies under the bus if it will get us ahead.
