United We Stand, Divided We Fall
by Anonymous
Steven Georges Blanchard, in his article "Does All this Really Matter?," describes how the fear of the unknown makes us highlight our differences while ignoring our commonalities. The lack of empathy produced by this irrational fear at best promotes ignorance and at worst deprives individuals of their inalienable rights. We will look at three different ideas to better understand how the lack of empathy from society as a whole is detrimental to the LGBTQ+ community. The ideas include Blanchard’s personal experience, Julia Serano’s accounts of the plight of trans women, and John Rawls’ concept of the veil of ignorance.
In the year 1984, homophobia was still very widespread according to Blanchard. When he came out to a friend about his sexual orientation, the response was accepting in nature and normalized Blanchard’s situation. What is the big deal? To many people it was still a big deal to be gay. For a lot of people, the fear of the unknown creates the mindset of us vs. them. When Blanchard was asked about gay rights, he replied that gay rights were human rightsi. The failure to recognize ourselves as human beings before our sexual orientation demonstrates severe lack in empathy. When Blanchard says gay rights are human rights, this is being said in an effort to foster understanding and compassion between him and someone who lacks awareness of gay issues. I believe this mutual understanding is essential in fighting against ignorance and bringing to light violations of human rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
In her book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Julia Serano points out the hypocrisy of some feminists and lesbian groups for their discrimination towards trans woman. Serano describes how trans women are often excluded from women only spaces due to the fact that they were born male. Trans men on the other hand are treated differently than their counterparts. She argues that this discrimination contradicts the feminist ideologyii. The solution lies in having open dialogue between the trans woman community and the “anti-feminist/anti-trans woman” community. I think it is the lack of understanding of trans woman and their struggle that has led certain feminists to betray their own ideology and remain willfully ignorant. The lack of empathy towards trans woman is comparable to Blanchard’s case of not being understood. The violation of one’s right is the violation of everyone’s right. A trans woman being treated unfairly threatens the rights of the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. A lack of acknowledgement of Blanchard’s rights as a gay man is a threat to the rights of all people regardless of background, sex, religion, or sexual orientation.
The veil of ignorance, also referred to as the original position, is an important component of John Rawls’ social contract account of justiceiii. The idea asks one to conduct a thought experiment: imagine you were able to organize society any way as you see fit; how would you organize society if you did not know what your human condition would be? If you did not know if you were to be born a man, a woman, black, white, disabled, etc. how would you set the rules of the game? Rawls’ forces one to empathize with different members of society in order for them to come to the conclusion that a fair society is a just society. The violation of one’s right is the violation of all rights. This commonality and oneness that Rawls’ advocates for is what Blanchard is also aiming for. The best response to Blanchard’s coming out as a gay person is one of acceptance and normativity. We must understand that there is far more that we have in common than what sets us apart.
The lack of empathy at its best encourages one to be willfully ignorant or at its worst can incite one to harm another under the pretense of delusional moral grounding. Blanchard’s experience, Serano’s narrative, and Rawls’ thought experiment illustrate how empathy is the main driver in bringing about a fair and just society. In 1984, homophobia may have been widespread, but the fact that I am taking a gender studies class in 2018 shows that not only has there been much progress made, but also that there is a lot more work to be done. I believe Blanchard would agree with me on that front.
i Steven Georges Blanchard, " Does all this really matter?," The Gay Issue 1984, the Link. Quebec Gay Archives.
ii Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. PDF.
iii John Rawls,Original Position. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
by Anonymous
Steven Georges Blanchard, in his article "Does All this Really Matter?," describes how the fear of the unknown makes us highlight our differences while ignoring our commonalities. The lack of empathy produced by this irrational fear at best promotes ignorance and at worst deprives individuals of their inalienable rights. We will look at three different ideas to better understand how the lack of empathy from society as a whole is detrimental to the LGBTQ+ community. The ideas include Blanchard’s personal experience, Julia Serano’s accounts of the plight of trans women, and John Rawls’ concept of the veil of ignorance.
In the year 1984, homophobia was still very widespread according to Blanchard. When he came out to a friend about his sexual orientation, the response was accepting in nature and normalized Blanchard’s situation. What is the big deal? To many people it was still a big deal to be gay. For a lot of people, the fear of the unknown creates the mindset of us vs. them. When Blanchard was asked about gay rights, he replied that gay rights were human rightsi. The failure to recognize ourselves as human beings before our sexual orientation demonstrates severe lack in empathy. When Blanchard says gay rights are human rights, this is being said in an effort to foster understanding and compassion between him and someone who lacks awareness of gay issues. I believe this mutual understanding is essential in fighting against ignorance and bringing to light violations of human rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
In her book Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Julia Serano points out the hypocrisy of some feminists and lesbian groups for their discrimination towards trans woman. Serano describes how trans women are often excluded from women only spaces due to the fact that they were born male. Trans men on the other hand are treated differently than their counterparts. She argues that this discrimination contradicts the feminist ideologyii. The solution lies in having open dialogue between the trans woman community and the “anti-feminist/anti-trans woman” community. I think it is the lack of understanding of trans woman and their struggle that has led certain feminists to betray their own ideology and remain willfully ignorant. The lack of empathy towards trans woman is comparable to Blanchard’s case of not being understood. The violation of one’s right is the violation of everyone’s right. A trans woman being treated unfairly threatens the rights of the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. A lack of acknowledgement of Blanchard’s rights as a gay man is a threat to the rights of all people regardless of background, sex, religion, or sexual orientation.
The veil of ignorance, also referred to as the original position, is an important component of John Rawls’ social contract account of justiceiii. The idea asks one to conduct a thought experiment: imagine you were able to organize society any way as you see fit; how would you organize society if you did not know what your human condition would be? If you did not know if you were to be born a man, a woman, black, white, disabled, etc. how would you set the rules of the game? Rawls’ forces one to empathize with different members of society in order for them to come to the conclusion that a fair society is a just society. The violation of one’s right is the violation of all rights. This commonality and oneness that Rawls’ advocates for is what Blanchard is also aiming for. The best response to Blanchard’s coming out as a gay person is one of acceptance and normativity. We must understand that there is far more that we have in common than what sets us apart.
The lack of empathy at its best encourages one to be willfully ignorant or at its worst can incite one to harm another under the pretense of delusional moral grounding. Blanchard’s experience, Serano’s narrative, and Rawls’ thought experiment illustrate how empathy is the main driver in bringing about a fair and just society. In 1984, homophobia may have been widespread, but the fact that I am taking a gender studies class in 2018 shows that not only has there been much progress made, but also that there is a lot more work to be done. I believe Blanchard would agree with me on that front.
i Steven Georges Blanchard, " Does all this really matter?," The Gay Issue 1984, the Link. Quebec Gay Archives.
ii Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. PDF.
iii John Rawls,Original Position. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Comments
Post a Comment