Oh yes *salient* is definitely a better word. In an interaction with the police, my race is more likely to be salient than my other identities. At my tech job my gender is usually the salient factor that affects how I’m treated, but race definitely enters into it as well. My class, educational background and sexual orientation, don’t really enter into it.

“I also think one thing about intersectionality, is that sometimes one aspect of identity may be prioritized over another. Like, when it comes to how I interact with the police, my race is usually more of a factor than my gender.”

It’s not so much that one is prioritized over another, but that one identity may be more salient in particular situations than another. For example, being black and male are intersectional identities when it comes to how people are viewed/treated by the police, but I would guess that for black women, it’s the race that is more salient than the gender in those kinds of interactions.

Once I heard about Neo_Prodigy’s behavior, I still participated in foc_u because it was unclear to me if Neo_Prodigy had a one off freak out, or if this was part of a pattern of sexist behavior on his part. If it was a one off he was being defensive about, then I felt he could be educated, persuaded to apologize, and supporting foc_u was something I could do. If it was a pattern of behavior, then supporting foc_u was a problem for me.

Neo_Prodigy initially dodged comments in ways that made me think this was an one off bad behavior situation that he was ashamed or embarassed of. Certainly when I ham pissed off I have made comments that were less than ideal.

However (after the “shattering the silence” event) it became clear to me that he was not ashamed of what he said an did. He deleted comments I made in in the foc_u community, and responded in an unofrtunate way (I copy and pasted what was deleted here: http://sparkymonster.livejournal.com/329351.html)

I also think one thing about intersectionality, is that sometimes one aspect of identity may be prioritized over another. Like, when it comes to how I interact with the police, my race is usually more of a factor than my gender.

I strive to bear these things in mind in my own work. It is hard to face again and again your own capacity for failure.

I also struggle against projecting my own experiences with oppression onto other groups. Because my most stigmatized identity is one that gets shat on from both the mainstream and from my own community’s internal policing, I often identify more quickly and completely with people in comparable situations. I am actively working on preventing that from being a blind spot that keeps me from supporting people struggling against very different kinds of oppression.

I pretty much instantly mistrust anyone who presents themselves as fail-free. For one thing, I expect that they see the world in binary “people who fail” and “me” terms, and there’s not much point in being close to people who’re like that.

I couldn’t have participated anyway, but it made me a little ill that I saw so few people commenting on it.

Also, Nick is culturally and ethnically Greek, it is a big part of his identity, and I’m not entirely sure labeling him white is /quite/ accurate.