How to Make the Left Look Good by Making It Harder to Speak Out
I’m a woman of color and a trans woman.
I’m also an avid feminist and an avid conservative.
But my life story doesn’t quite align with those who claim to be conservative.
When I first entered college in 2000, my first major was political science, and I was shocked to find that most of my classmates were white men.
As I learned more about gender and feminism, I began to realize that, to me, political ideology was the most important thing I’d ever been taught.
In an interview with my college professor, she suggested that I try to find a new perspective on the world by taking on a new role.
“I don’t want you to be a woman and be a feminist,” she said.
“You’re a man and you’re supposed to be the boss.”
That’s when I discovered a new term that I had never heard before: “intersectionalism.”
I began using the term “intersectionality” in the years that followed.
The idea that gender and sexuality are intertwined, and that they are complex and fluid, resonated with me.
When people ask me, “What is intersectionality?”
I often answer with a quote from a famous feminist: “What the feminist is is the person who sees what is happening, who knows what is really going on, who has the power to change it.”
In other words, the feminist sees the problems and opportunities that society is facing and then tries to make those changes.
But I don’t think that “the feminist” is necessarily a bad person.
In fact, it’s often an important and necessary part of our society.
Intersectionalism has its detractors, and those who disagree with its goals often have an agenda of their own.
Some people say that “intersectionsality” only applies to the left, and so it’s impossible to be intersectional or progressive in the same way.
But there are plenty of people in my own community that feel differently about that idea.
In my hometown of Baltimore, I was called “intersexist” and “transphobic” for years, which led to a very public feud with my mother.
After my mom sued my school, she threatened to call the police on me, so I began living as a man.
I became an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, which eventually led to my eventual transition into a woman.
As a transgender man, I’m not a feminist, but I’ve also come to appreciate the importance of feminism and my family’s history of fighting for equality.
In this post, I’ll explore what it means to be an intersectionalist, why I believe that people should have the right to be themselves, and how I hope my friends will take the time to understand my feminism.
To understand why it’s important to be conscious of your own identity, it helps to understand the term intersectionality.
How does “interview” get its name?
What does “a woman of colour” mean in a “white male world”?
Why is “interracial” an acceptable label for an Asian American man?
What are the different kinds of racism?
Why does “gender identity” fit into the “intergender” category?
What is intersectionalism and how do I apply it to my life?
This post is part of a series that explores the meaning of “interaction.”
You can read the other parts of the series here.
Part I: “The Definition of Intersectional” Why Does It Matter?
The “inter” part of “feminism” is important.
Because the term intersex is a synonym for “gender nonconforming,” the concept of intersexness is often used to describe people who do not conform to the gender binary.
Some feminists argue that the word is inclusive of gender nonconformists.
That is, “intersexual” is used to refer to people who are transgender and who identify with the gender nonbinary gender, or “inter”, a term that has also been used to label people who identify as intersex.
However, the term is often applied in a way that excludes people who don’t fit into binary gender roles, because it excludes trans women, people who may identify as transgender women, and other people who consider themselves to be transgender.
In a statement released in 2015 by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), the organization that works to end violence against women, the group’s president, Lila Rose, says, “The word intersex, which is a medical term, has been used as a slur and has historically been used in ways that are discriminatory, exclusionary, and dehumanizing.”
The NCAVP’s statement is also problematic because it implies that the very idea of a person’s sex is somehow invalid, and people who have the same sex as their mother are considered to be defective because they are not “inter,” as well.
A trans woman named Brianna Keilar has also written an essay titled “Transgender Women of Color and