Thank You For Proving My Point For Me
Dear White Peepul,
It's Neo again. And yes I know, "Dear White Peepul" are the three most dreaded words you hear me utter because you know this isn't going to end well and--
[Sees white people fleeing in terror in a mass hysteria of panic.Pearls are clutched and white woman tears flow like the Mississippi River ( Read more... )
I thought it was stupid then, I think it’s stupid now.
I mean, I recognize that Stephanie was discriminated against as a character because she was OMG A GIRL, but I also recognize that Cass was discriminated against as a character because she was OMG A GIRL and OMG AN ETHNICITY OTHER THAN WHITE. Saying Cass got the short end of the stick worse than Steph did doesn’t somehow magically erase the fact that Steph got the short end of the stick too, though her fans seem to think it does, it just means that she had it much easier than Cass did--and this compulsive need to DEFEND Steph because “OMG STOP PRETENDING SHE WASN’T OPPRESSED SHE WAS TOTALLY OPPRESSED!” makes no bloody sense whatsoever.
It's like, if I go apply for a job, of course I’m going to be discriminated against because I’m a Woman, but you know, if a Woman of Color applies for the same job, she’s going to have an even harder time landing it because she has to deal with sexism AND racism, whereas I only have to deal with one.
Acknowledging this doesn’t mean that the eeeevil WOC in question is somehow trying to steal my oppression from me, or that I'm somehow magically not exposed to sexism, it just means I have enough fucking self awareness to realize that wow, hey, a universe outside myself exists and sometimes--in fact, MUCH of the time--the setbacks and stumbling blocks in society that just kinda suck for me are MASSIVE EPIC PILES OF SUCKTACULAR SUCK for someone else.
This is one of the things that has always pissed me off about people who want to be involved with anti-oppression--especially upper/middle-class cisgendered white girls. If you want equality, you don’t get to say, “I want equality for me.” while forgetting that everyone else who doesn’t share every single one of your traits exists. You want to set yourself up as a self-righteous champion for the oppressed? You better fucking set yourself up as a champion for all of the oppressed, or you’re no better than the Privilege Denying Dude you condemn for thinking only of himself. Hypocrisy is not my scene.
I guess some people just love their own oppression too much to let compassion for people who have it worse get in the way. I mean, God, why the hell would anyone want to acknowledge that their problems aren't insurmountable in comparison to someone else's? DEAR LORD, THEY MIGHT HAVE TO GET DOWN OFF THE CROSS LONG ENOUGH TO THINK OF OTHER PEOPLE'S FEELINGS AND THEN WHERE WOULD WE BE??
tl;dr: Saying the Stephanie Brown's oppression=Cass or Renee's oppression suggests a complete inability to understand basic math.
Bruce Wayne: No discrimination modifier
Stephanie Brown: Sexism modifier +1
Cassandra Cain: Sexism modifier +1, Racism modifier +1
Renee Montoya: Sexism modifier +1, Racism modifier +1, Homophobia modifier +1
See how easy that is, internet? All those kinds of oppression suck individually, but the more they pile up, the more they suck. Nobody's saying they don't suck individually, but it's not a crime to say that one bad thing plus another bad thing is worse than the first bad thing on its own.
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The truth of the matter is that it isn't that a lot of people don't get it, it's that they don't want it.
Many folks have different agendas when it comes to anti-oppression. Whereas some genuinely believe in fighting oppression and gaining EQUALITY FOR ALL, others are fighting anti-oppression to remove the stigma from their own marginalized status so they can resume reaping privilege with everyone else and throwing other minorities under the bus.
Examples of this are with many racist white feminists who throw WOC under the bus as well as too many racist gay white men who pull the same shit.
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Whereas some genuinely believe in fighting oppression and gaining EQUALITY FOR ALL, others are fighting anti-oppression to remove the stigma from their own marginalized status so they can resume reaping privilege with everyone else and throwing other minorities under the bus.
You've just perfectly described my fiance's ex--my first exposure to anti-oppression theory. She was one of those people who was so governed by her own white middle-class guilt that she was using anti-oppression as a means of easing it and simultaneously abusing others who didn't behave exactly the way she thought they should or didn't treat her as nicely as she/her friends clearly deserved because she was a speshul oppressed snowflake, rather than a means of making the world a better place.
AGH.
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