White women: don't. "drawing parallels btw my research [on racism &sexism] and my experience as a childfree woman" http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/adults-who-choose-not-have-kids-inspire-moral-outrage.htm?utm_campaign=sf&hsw=facebook&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social#mkcpgn=rssnws1 …
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As soon as I read that line, I knew this researcher was a White woman. Stigma of being childfree is NOT comparable to racism.
Racism is systematic inequity based on race, an imposed category. Being childfree is a choice & does not impact life chances since birth.
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The problem here is that
#WOC who are childfree experience social condemnation for choosing to be childfree AS WELL AS racism... -
PLUS additional judgement
#WOC face for choosing childfree is racialised sexism: letting down wider society AND her culture/community, etc. -
White people like to compare any form of disadvantage to racism in order to emphasise the "bad" impact. Whiteness emboldens them to do this
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This is another facet racism: White people want to reclaim racism as their own, in this case even when they research racism. It's a tool.
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Unsurprising but frustrating that White woman who researches racism would see no theoretical problem with comparing her experience to racism
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In comparing personal experiences to racism, White people want to be excused from racism, whether or not they are conscious of their motives
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This is one example of how White researchers contribute to racism in science & society: lack of critical awareness of Whiteness.
#marginsci -
This is *not* insignificant: Study, while interesting, focuses on "students" but conclusions presented as broaderhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-016-0606-1 …
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In the methodology, like many other studies, Whiteness is unperturbed: race is not explored as a factor (easier to say "students" than WP)
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The research of
#POC which focuses on POC in the sample are considered "ethnic/racial" studies. White people's studies are just "studies." -
Researchers' racial biases, incl how they come to be interested in a particular topic in any field, are not critically examined.
#marginsci -
Then media picks up a study & publish Whiteness as scientific fact, normalising racial bias of researchers Science is political.
#marginsci
End of conversation
New conversation -
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This white person is positioning herself in an oppressed position through false equivalencies. Clearly doesn't understand race politics.
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Exactly. Yet she is an "expert" on racism studies. She's not unique in this regard. Science is set up to allow this type of bias to continue
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Many academics are too. As if getting your PhD in Renaissance art makes you an expert on connecting POC to contemporary art work.
#museums -
1/2 Great point! Prof Jill Milroy talks about how White researchers use knowledge of Indigenous people to get their PhDs & become "experts"
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2/2 But Indigenous people don't get PhDs nor prestige, even though it's their knowledge that White people assume to gain their degrees.
End of conversation
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I agree it's not at all comparable to racism, but FWIW, being childless isn't a choice for everyone. Can stem from medical issues etc
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1/ I've specifically talked about childfree by choice here because that is the context of the study I'm discussing, which I've linked to.
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2/ Regardless of whether or not it's a choice it is NOT like racism. So your point is moot. This comment is derailment. Read the thread.
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? I agreed that it's not at all comparable to racism, choice or not
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So why did you feel a need to interject on a thread about racism? Thread is a discussion of how White people don't recognise Whiteness.
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I read it as a good thread comparing being a POC and being childless, and was just commenting on the childless part.
End of conversation
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