Once upon a time it was somewhat a benign phrase but the right co-opted it to the point where if somebody uses the words “identity politics” I assume chud or TERF until proven otherwise. For the left we can just use the word “intersectionality” to mean the same thing.
It might be a naive hope but I think the right will have more difficulty co-opting that word. Capitalist brainstorms have attached the concept of the individual to identity so “identity politics” was always vulnerable to being twisted by bad actors whereas ‘intersectionality’ implies a collective or at minimum multi-person framing of the concept. Again, I could be naive. But I hope.
hate to break it to you but liberals in the academy coopted intersectionality to mean ‘all forms of oppression besides class’ pretty immediately. it’s been used by the Robin DiAngelo HR DEI class in the same way for going on a decade.
Once upon a time it was somewhat a benign phrase but the right co-opted it to the point where if somebody uses the words “identity politics” I assume chud or TERF until proven otherwise. For the left we can just use the word “intersectionality” to mean the same thing.
It might be a naive hope but I think the right will have more difficulty co-opting that word. Capitalist brainstorms have attached the concept of the individual to identity so “identity politics” was always vulnerable to being twisted by bad actors whereas ‘intersectionality’ implies a collective or at minimum multi-person framing of the concept. Again, I could be naive. But I hope.
hate to break it to you but liberals in the academy coopted intersectionality to mean ‘all forms of oppression besides class’ pretty immediately. it’s been used by the Robin DiAngelo HR DEI class in the same way for going on a decade.
God. Damnit.