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Is intersectionality the new caste system?
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Intersectionality is impractical

The theory of intersectionality is good, but what feels like endless labels and considerations are impractical in real life.

The Argument

Intersectionality is the idea of accounting for discrimination taking into consideration the whole of your identity. This means that broad labels we use to talk about discrimination, such as gender, sexuality, social background, etc. are interlinked and all contribute to each person’s experiences. But it is not enough to know the theory. How many different labels can we find for discrimination? Furthermore, how we account for all of them and what we can do to give these different groups a voice remains to be defined. These points have no easy answer. Regardless of how narrow we make our labels, we will still find people falling through the cracks unheard. These people will continue to feel unrepresented, at the bottom of the caste system if you will[1]. So while the theory should promote equality for all, we still do not have a way to accurately identify and correct discrimination in a wide range of cases.

Counter arguments

Intersectionality and raising awareness are a good first step. We need to start somewhere, and acknowledging that there are many things we don’t understand and many factors that need to be accounted for will build on future policies and understanding[2].

Proponents

Premises

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.newstatesman.com/helen-lewis/2014/02/uses-and-abuses-intersectionality
  2. https://www.catalyst.org/2020/08/18/intersectionality-workplace-2020/
This page was last edited on Friday, 13 Nov 2020 at 18:59 UTC

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