Intersectionality; Why Individualism is Better

There is a lot of talk recently about how important Intersectionality is; This idea that we have overlapping oppressed identities that should be considered when being addressed.

Intersectionality fails to account for the individual while collectivizing everyone to arbitrarily picked group identities. Collectivizing people to group identities neglects the fact that even within like groups, there are still difference between individuals of the group. Take for example, a group of white people; Even though they share the same skin identity, these individuals could differ drastically in a vast number of other ways. Politically, religiously, etc...

Another problem with intersectionality is who is deciding the identities we should collectives people to? More worrisome, who is deciding which identities are more valuable? Why is it important we collectives people by their race, socioeconomic status, sex to begin with? Why is it that we break down our identities to see ways in which we are victims? It’s almost as though there is this competition, and the most victimized wins the gold in the “Oppression Olympics”.

When breaking down one’s identity using intersectionality, the conundrum one faces is you inevitably run into individualism the more you break down one’s identity. No two people are the same, you will always have individuals with all differing identities. We’ve all been oppressed in some way or another, but by simply belonging to a group doesn’t then automatically grant you victim hood. So why bother with intersectionality?