This is where the term "intersectionality" comes in. The able-bodied in our society enjoy all kinds of privilege that the disabled don't; some of those privileges overlap with things like cis privilege or white privilege or male privilege, such that a disabled male and an able-bodied female (for example) might both experience similar forms of discrimination, e.g., being viewed as less able or as possessing less agency than (for example) an able-bodied male.
Sometimes a space is intersectional, and sometimes it isn't. When I'm in a safe space for people with my disability (Asperger's syndrome), sometimes the people in that space don't want to include neurotypicals, even neurotypicals who might be able to sympathize with our experiences, because we have to deal with neurotypicals all the fucking time, and we're tired of having to wear our neurotypical-interaction hats. It doesn't mean that we want to reject all interaction with NTs, just that we're not interested in it in that space at that moment.
Similarly I don't see a problem with a group deciding to establish a safe space whose entrance criterion is "are you now, or have you ever been female-gendered?" Cis males, i.e., people who have never had the experience of living female-identified, can't answer "yes" to that question; cis women, trans women, and trans men can.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-06-28 12:57 am (UTC)Sometimes a space is intersectional, and sometimes it isn't. When I'm in a safe space for people with my disability (Asperger's syndrome), sometimes the people in that space don't want to include neurotypicals, even neurotypicals who might be able to sympathize with our experiences, because we have to deal with neurotypicals all the fucking time, and we're tired of having to wear our neurotypical-interaction hats. It doesn't mean that we want to reject all interaction with NTs, just that we're not interested in it in that space at that moment.
Similarly I don't see a problem with a group deciding to establish a safe space whose entrance criterion is "are you now, or have you ever been female-gendered?" Cis males, i.e., people who have never had the experience of living female-identified, can't answer "yes" to that question; cis women, trans women, and trans men can.