But there are two points here I think non-feminist or anti-feminist or feminist-but-critical-of-intersectionality liberals need to think abt
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And that this is not being sufficiently interrogated by liberals but is being so by conservatives which gives the right credibility & power.
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So I do think dominant ideas powerfully impact society but I do not buy into the idea that individuals are mindlessly constructed by them.
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I retain confidence in the idea that individuals are 'won' to certain ideas from a big mess of them & so free discussion of them is vital.
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I resent being told that, as a woman, I have little autonomy to decide which ideas win my approval but simply react to dominant ones.
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Whether it's feminists telling me I'm conditioned to favour social jobs or anti-feminists that I'm brainwashed to think I want one at all.
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By that, I mean the very socially conservative idea that feminism is undermining the family & making women unhappy by extending their roles.
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Not the criticism of feminist approaches to gender equality by people who support gender equality. Both can be described as 'anti-feminist.'
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So it is not inconsistent to argue against cultural constructivist ideas of gender coz you think those ideas have power & are harmful.
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Ideas do have power & can be harmful but arguing against them is the way to defeat them. Win people to better ideas.
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Finally getting to the idea of the 'status quo' and liberals alleged support of it in a way which supports oppressive norms.
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Firstly, you'd need to accept the status quo is dominated by oppressive norms & this is a big difference between liberals & intersectionals
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(Using 'liberal' in the sense of lefties & centrists who are not conservative and also not the economic far-left or identitarian far-left)
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When I am accused of wanting the preserve the status quo, this is true in 1 sense. I want to preserve universal liberalism & egalitarianism
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There is a reason the identitarian lefties have been dubbed 'the regressive left'. But progress is also integral to liberalism.
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When we look at progress universal liberalism brought in last 50 years in terms of gender/racial/LGBT equality, mad to ditch this approach.
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The idea that people of all races, genders, sexualities should have equal opportunities & no-one be discriminated against works well.
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The idea that we should evaluate people by their race. gender, sexuality & foreground the interests of some groups over others doesn't.
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But we also need to be careful not to reactively defend the present in response to people who see it as plagued by oppressive systems.
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eg Not be motivated to see racism, sexism, homophobia nowhere in response to people seeing it everywhere.
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End of conversation
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