Intersectionalism is the worst thing to happen to feminism.

submitted by medium_tomato from self.GenderCritical

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[–]endthewoo 44 insightful - 1 fun44 insightful - 0 fun45 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

The original concept (Kimberle Crenshaw) was fine and made sense in context. The problem is it being twisted beyond recognition such that it has lost any useful meaning at all. It was originally about material realities (workplace discrimination and recourse under law) but is now all about identity-oppression-olympics IOW complete bullshit.

[–][deleted] 16 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 0 fun17 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I'm cynical enough to think that pretty much everything that describes the situations of a vulnerable minority will either be hijacked or ignored because the average person wants theory to include them or they ignore it. Anything else requires a lot of empathy.

I'm disabled, and remember when non-disabled people were being told not to use spoon theory for situations where a good night's sleep would fix it – does anyone even talk about spoon theory anymore?

[–]Lemonade_Masquerade 21 insightful - 1 fun21 insightful - 0 fun22 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Woke circles use oppression points like currency. It's no wonder they want to try to cheat the system as much as possible.

Definitely could use some more empathy. The ability to say "your situation and my situation are different and we have different needs" is missing from so many of these people's mindsets. It's like they think their feelings and experiences are universal. Spoon theory was also my first thought. I had only heard it from people who use it when talking about mental health for so long before I found out that it was a concept for disabled people. "Trigger" has gone through a similar process as it was specifically a PTSD term before it became a word for "generic thing that makes me uncomfortable."

I am so uncomfortable with how much those circles promote self-diagnosis for mental disorders, for this very reason. Many mental illnesses are normal thought processes taken to the extreme. That's why so many people can read a list of vague symptoms and think "Oh, that's me!" in the same way you can read any random horoscope and feel the same way.

It seems very related to how they don't appreciate the need for clear language. They only use language to express their subjective experience. If men can be women, then "spoons" can apply to any mental illness you want. If penises are female, then getting bored sometimes can be ADHD.

[–]puffball 9 insightful - 2 fun9 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

It bugs the hell out of me when people self-diagnose and then turn around and use their status as a weapon to silence others, to gain favorable treatment or exceptions to rules. Not just because of the dishonesty and despicable acts they try to have excused, but more so for the incredible damage it does to those who are actually diagnosed and suffering from the consequences of their actual, real, ailments.

These assholes' abuse of their appropriated status turns the very real problems and suffering of those who actually are affected by these ailments into a joke, a stereotype and significantly erodes the average person's willingness to make the allowances and provide the help that the real sufferers so desperately need. Not only that, but they also soak up many of the scarce resources intended for those with actual diagnoses.

And as a final "fuck you" to the actual victims, when these fakers eventually get caught out having faked their illnesses, the result usually is for the general population to treat everyone who claims these ailments with skepticism or even outright dismissal, again making life even worse for the actual sufferers.

If reading a list of symptoms cause you to think "Oh, that's me!", go see a freaking doctor about it, don't update your damn Facebook and Twitter status with your newfound "diagnoses". It's what you'd do if you thought you genuinely had cancer, so why are these illnesses any different?