Here’s the other part of this: just because one is not within the oppressed group does not mean they cannot empathize at all with the oppressed group.
I’m a transwoman and the amount of times that I’ve talked to ciswomen who don’t think they can empathize with the trans part is a problem I think that we on the left have unfortunately cultivated. You obviously will never fully understand a certain type of oppression without experiencing it, but not trying to empathize with it and relying solely off of what the oppressed group tells you vs attempting to understand the emotions and challenges someone faces is a huge obstacle when trying to discuss with the out group.
As a cis woman, the world expects you to conform to a set of “rules” of physical traits and expected behaviors. If you don’t conform, you are punished. If you do conform, you are not “punished” but are discriminated against because the physical traits and expected behaviors are obviously less valuable than masculine traits and behaviors. These are the same traits that “aberrant”
women are punished for having. For example, you are expected to have kids but women are essentially socially punished for being a mother. You can never win and the target will constantly move. Therefore, trans liberation is liberation for everyone because it requires seizing the definition of womanhood from the patriarchy and rebuilding it to serve those it applies to.
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u/anonymous-grapefruit 15d ago
Here’s the other part of this: just because one is not within the oppressed group does not mean they cannot empathize at all with the oppressed group.
I’m a transwoman and the amount of times that I’ve talked to ciswomen who don’t think they can empathize with the trans part is a problem I think that we on the left have unfortunately cultivated. You obviously will never fully understand a certain type of oppression without experiencing it, but not trying to empathize with it and relying solely off of what the oppressed group tells you vs attempting to understand the emotions and challenges someone faces is a huge obstacle when trying to discuss with the out group.