Intersectionality: How does it affect you?

Maj Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:24:26 -0500

"The concept of intersectionality recognizes that people can be privileged in some ways and definitely not privileged in others. There are many different types of privilege, not just skin-color privilege, that impact the way people can move through the world or are discriminated against. These are all things you are born into, not things you earned, that afford you opportunities that others may not have."

How does the concept of intersectionality affect you? Sexual discrimination, white privilege, male privilege?

Can we use and teach intersectionality in our units to help people analyze disfunction?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-crosleycorcoran/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255.html

Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person

I, maybe more than most people, can completely understand why broke white folks get pissed when the word "privilege" is thrown around. As a child I was constantly discriminated against because of my poverty, and those wounds still run deep. But luckily my college education introduced me to a more nuanced concept of privilege: intersectionality.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Dec 1 at 2014 10:29 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:29:30 -0500

Privilege is nothing more than a perception by someone who feels they have it worse than the next guy. We all feel it in one way or another. Some take it harder than others and act on it in an attempt to level the playing field. Others take it for what its worth and are thankful for what they have.

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 1 at 2014 10:31 PM

Maj Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 22:31:53 -0500

Some background from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality):
"This feminist sociological theory was first named by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, though the concept can be traced back to the 19th century. The theory suggests that—and seeks to examine how—various biological, social and cultural categories such as gender, race, class, ability, sexual orientation, caste, and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic injustice and social inequality. Intersectionality holds that the classical conceptualizations of oppression within society, such as racism, sexism, biphobia, homophobia, transphobia, and belief-based bigotry, do not act independently of one another. Instead, these forms of oppression interrelate, creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination."

Intersectionality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intersectionality (or intersectionalism) is the study of intersections between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. An example is black feminism, which argues that the experience of being a black woman cannot be understood in terms of being black, and of being a woman, considered independently, but must include the interactions, which frequently reinforce each other.[1]

Response by CMSgt James Nolan made Dec 1 at 2014 11:14 PM

CMSgt James Nolan — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 23:14:47 -0500

Maj Private RallyPoint Member I would like to think that in the Military, the whole theory of Intersectionality would not have any place. We all bleed green. But I have to admit today is the first time I have heard this phrase.

As a Marine, everybody had to eat the same Sh&t sandwich to earn the title (officers had one, that may have had condiments and napkins {joke} enlisted had another). Any kind of privilege was non-existent in Boot Camp. Unless I can claim that I did not have the same chance at becoming Commandant as an officer, I would have no standing. Unless we are saying that the officer/enlisted separation is some kind of elitism? But if it were, there would be no opportunity for enlisted to commission, unless we assume that is some kind of charity project.....don't think so.

Now that I am in the Guard, I would say the same thing: Do not see intersectionality. Promotion is based upon work ethic, capability and performance. You want to promote, do the work-I don't see that privilege stacks into the equation. Everyone has the opportunity to do PT, to work on marksmanship, to do their PME, to take college classes and use their GI Bill to pay for it.....

I see the military as truly being a land of opportunity for success. I think that troops can either take advantage of the opportunities or not. Sometimes those opportunities come by way of challenge, pain, sweat and sometimes by studying. To a large degree, we follow our own destinies. Some choose to cry over spilt milk.

I do think that good leaders learn how to identify what makes their personnel tick. I think they then alter their styles slightly when dealing with different personalities to maximize performance from their personnel. I do not see that as privilege nor discrimination, but as leadership.

May have strayed slightly off topic...

Response by SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 1 at 2014 11:22 PM

SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 23:22:54 -0500

Great question Sir. I'm not sure if this affects me personally, but I have witnessed similar issues. I hope that you will understand that this is not a jab at you because you are wearing a flight suit in your photo, but you, I am almost positive have heard the term "Zipper God's". As a Security Forces member and being a grunt of the AF. I am a Phoenix Raven and have flown over 150 missions with Air Crew members. I have seen a lot of Pilots that came from extensive backgrounds and feel a sense of entitlement to say the least. As far as the squadrons go though, I know that the OPS Group is far more privlaged than any of the MSG squadrons. Most don't understand the importance of the mission, but I get it!!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 2 at 2014 12:38 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 00:38:28 -0500

I grew up in trailer parks in rural Alabama. I remember lying in my bed, in my tiny, stifling room, and seeing the light of the moon in the cracks under my window sill. I had rats that lived in the closet, and would come out at night and scratchscratchscratch under my bed. My mother had boyfriends who would come in and out of our lives. The first time I visited a crack-house and smoked crack-cocaine...I was 14.
I was "beat" into a gang at 15, and ran away from home at 16. By 17, I had been pregnant three times.
By 25, most childhood friends had already died of overdoses, or car-wrecks, or AIDS.
When I stepped into my relative's homes, under hostile eyes, where was "white privilege?" When I walked into a store, with my pregnant belly, in GoodWill clothes and twenty-year old car...where was "white privilege"? Where was "white privilege" when my family was being scrutinized, in case we "trailer park trash" were robbing the "moneyed folks" blind?
I'd like to know. Maybe the keepers of such a fortune were asleep on the job.
This hostility, this innate distrust in society, may not necessarily be due to racism, by itself. Classicism is a critical, judgmental bitch. We have a long way to go, folks.

Response by SPC(P) Jay Heenan made Dec 2 at 2014 1:10 AM

SPC(P) Jay Heenan — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 01:10:10 -0500

'White privilege'? Is there some special thing I was supposed to get because of my skin color and I missed it? Do I also suffer from 'male privilege' because I have a p#nis? Does the President suffer from 'black privilege' because he is our first black President? What about Oprah also suffer from it because she has billions?

The way I see it, this does more to tear us apart than it ever will do to bring us together. It gives us a reason to not accept 'personal responsibility' and blame others for their bad choices or just plain bad luck.

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