Hello femmes and friends!

I was struck by something /u/bellebritta said recently, where she mentioned that she would like to see our sub include more discussion on the experiences of all of us as women (I paraphrase badly, please excuse me). I thought I'd write out some rambling thoughts to get everyone started.

The concept of intersectionality was one of the most powerful ideas I was ever introduced to, and the way it can be used to explain a multitude of inequitable and complex situations makes it one of the most powerful. I never thought much about "identity politics" until it started becoming an accusation of divisiveness aimed at "social justice warriors", but I now embrace the term. All life is politics, and all humans are an amalgamation of identities that they either choose or which can be thrust upon them. What you do with that, and what your intentions and actions are, is up to you.

I used to think of myself as Hindu, Brahmin, South Indian, Tamil. I embraced the childish idea of "unity in diversity" that was taught to us to instill national pride in our country (India, for those who don't know where I'm from). I used to think of myself as female. I used to give myself identities through my hobbies: singer, dancer, writer.

Age and (I like to think) wisdom have helped me refine the identities I choose and the ones I use. I am female, because the world sees me that way and treats me accordingly. In the USA now I am Indian, foreign, brown. Back home I am middle class and upper caste and highly educated; I feel responsibility in those privileged identities rather than pride or comfort (like being straight and cis and able-bodied). My hobbies no longer define me, but I do think of myself in terms of ideologies: feminist, environmentalist, social justice warrior.

Being a woman is so tied up in all the other things that I am, both by choice and by force, that it's hard for me to think of my experiences purely as a woman. I do think that there are certain facts and stories and systems and cultures that I react to more as a woman than as anything else: Rape culture. Consent. Casual or overt misogyny. Hypersexualization of young women and girls. PUA culture. Victim blaming. Reproductive rights. Bad feminism. Regular feminism.

Then there are the intersections that I react to as a feminist: where racism is pit against feminism, where capitalist arguments are used to perpetuate sexism, where comparisons are drawn across cultures to downplay legitimate concerns that women have, where gender and sexuality spectrums are used to divide and limit the conversation (misgendering, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, toxic masculinity).

I don't think of my life as very simple. I interact with the world and the people in it in complex ways, and that complexity is simultaneously delightful and affirming and exhausting and oppressive. Words and ideas sustain me because they help me grow and learn and change.

I'd love to hear everyone's ideas on what being a woman or female-identifying person means to them. Also please do think about things you'd like to talk about and consider making a post about it.