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Old 05-03-2012, 05:46 AM   #114
CuckooTuli
 
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 708
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya View Post
I just want to go back and address this for a second. The problem with pitting different oppressions against each other, racism vs feminism vs LGBTQ rights vs economic inequality vs disability is the idea that these are mutually exclusive oppressions. The group can't say they're going to tackle racism today and sexism another day because sexism is an integral part of racism.
Yeah, that's pretty much what I was getting at (or trying to) in my first post. It's all connected, and trying to understand a specific kind of prejudice without trying to understand prejudice and privilege in general is inherently limiting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya View Post
I think racism should be put at the forefront while talking about all these issues because its PoC who disproportionately are affected by all of them. Like I said, the last sixteen transwomen who were murdered were women of colour. Most victims of homophobic violence are also PoC. Most victims of sexual assault are PoC. Here in Canada aboriginal women are disproportionately trafficked, and missing and murdered. The economically worst off are often PoC, and particularly women. I experience oppression sometimes as a queer woman, but honestly I don't feel like I'm one of the worst off due to white privilege. I know I'd be worst off if I wasn't white.
Totally agreed - to clarify, I'm not against putting the forms which carry the most noxious real-world consequences to the forefront; limited resources, time, energy, etc., are a reality for most marginal movements and that's not the fault of those inside them. I agree that people of colour experience far more socially debilitating and politically oppressive forms of prejudice than I am generally exposed to as a white woman. What I resent though is the general implication that different forms of prejudice are A) separate/unrelated, and the consequential assumption B) that some of them just aren't that important in comparison.
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