Feminism as a practice-case for rationality
You know how the history of science is littered with cases where progress was held back because so many people couldn't let go of their preconceived notions? It's why rationalists prize the ability to abandon preconceived notions, and to do so quickly, regardless of how many people stand by the notion currently. "Speak the truth though your lips may tremble" and all that.
Seen through that lens, women's role in history can be another case study of mass-delusion. Lots of people were unable to see the fact in front of their noses: that women are people. Even the women themselves didn't see it. Yet it should be the simplest thing in the world. Isn't that worrying?
If our brains can serve us that badly, how do you know yours isn't keeping up other massive blind spots?
The concepts of intersectional feminism are not just things you learn in order to be able to claim you did your part in building a more equal society.
They also give you some practice at deconstructing deeply entrenched Aliefs. Even today, nobody is free of aliefs around gender… it's a collective project to catalogue them all, hence that gender studies is a field of research.
We can benefit from what they have found so far, like premade lessons. But the biggest leg of the journey is within yourself, as you digest this material. You get to observe, almost directly, the shift that happens as various hidden attics in your mind get unhidden, and you realize they were there all along, and it's humbling that, you know, you just didn't see them.
Best of all, you get the kind of personal development that makes you feel like a more complete human being.
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- 2023-05-19