Excluded by Julia Serano

Author:Julia Serano [Serano, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781580055055
Publisher: Seal Press

MYRIAD DOUBLE STANDARDS

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

In the first chapter of this section, I suggested that we should be wary of viewing gender and sexism in terms of some sort of hegemonic “gender system”—such as the patriarchy, or heteronormativity, or the gender binary, or kyriarchy, and so on. Admittedly, each of these concepts provides a seemingly self-consistent model for how sexism arises and functions, and each has a great deal of explanatory power, in that they account for many people’s experiences with sexism. The problem is that each of these models is incomplete, as they all fail to address certain forms of sexism and marginalization. Furthermore, when we single out some force outside ourselves (e.g., a particular hegemonic gender system) as the source of the marginalization we face, it encourages us-versus-them thinking, as we start imagining ourselves as being uniquely oppressed, while everyone who does not share our identity or circumstance is assumed to be our oppressor. This sort of rhetoric often fosters an “oppression Olympics”–type mentality, where people claim that certain forms of marginalization (invariably the ones that they themselves face) are worse than—and therefore, take precedence over—other forms of marginalization. Along the same lines, when we become invested in an us-versus-them narrative, where we are righteous do-gooders who are committed to overturning some kind of external evil force, then we will likely be resistant to the idea that we ourselves may sometimes act in sexist or marginalizing ways toward others.

Rather than relying on one-size-fits-all gender systems that attempt to explain gender and sexism in their entirety, we should instead acknowledge that we live in a world of myriad double standards. In any given situation or setting, some double standards may be in play, while others may not. And all of these double standards may intersect with one another, thus leading to a diverse array of experiences with sexism and marginalization.

Thinking about sexism and marginalization in terms of myriad double standards implores us to challenge all double standards: those that are prevalent, and those that are rare; those that negatively impact us, and those that negatively impact others; those that we are currently aware of, as well as those that are currently unknown to us. Having such a mindset can make us more open to learning about new double standards when they are first described to us (rather than outright dismissing them because they do not fit into our worldview), and more mindful of the fact that we ourselves are fallible (as we may be unknowingly engaging in, or enforcing, certain double standards ourselves). Perhaps most importantly, thinking in terms of myriad double standards encourages humility, as it forces us to admit that there are many aspects of gender and sexism that we do not personally experience, and therefore cannot fully know about. For this reason, it would be conceited for us to project our fixed and limited perspective of the universe onto other people.

DOUBLE STANDARDS TAKE MANY FORMS

In order to make sense of this notion of myriad double standards, I find

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