Friday, April 18, 2014

Your identity is problematic (just so you know)

(Content warning: identity policing, concern trolling, sexism, racism, transphobia, ableism. TL;DR don't read this.)

Of course, none of the following is real, because human beings know better than to automatically politicise other human beings' personal experiences.


Because of the community I grew up in, I feel a strong kinship with people of my racial heritage.

Race? You might not realise this, but it's been scientifically proven that biological differences among races don't exist. Maybe what you meant was cultural heritage.


Despite what I was assigned at birth, I identify as this gender.

But gender is just a social construct. By saying you identify as a particular gender which happens to sit on one extreme of the mythical gender binary, you're reifying social constructs that seriously need to be dismantled. You're part of the problem.


If I had the financial capability, I would consider sex reassignment surgery.

Sex is a questionable notion at best: not only is it a false dichotomy that ignores intersex experience, it exists only to further genderist narratives.


I am depressed.

Actually, you're using an incredibly loose definition of depressed trivialising the experiences of people who actually have depression.


Key takeaways:

  • Labelling something as a social construct is kind of like saying a magic spell that suddenly makes all of its effects on people and lived experiences it is intertwined with — past, present and future — disappear. That's why shutting down conversations with the phrase social construct is always the right thing to do.
  • If you're ever wondering what the personal is political means, it's exactly that: other people's personal experiences are really just attacks on your politics.

Actual key takeaways:

  • If someone's existence doesn't mesh with your politics, maybe the problem lies with the former, but — and hear me out here — maybe not.

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