This week's guest blogger is Nick Murphy.
Nick Murphy is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics. His research is on solar physics, including the role of
magnetic reconnection in solar eruptions. He is active in several
community groups in the Boston area that are working for gender equity and
racial justice.
Why Sexism, Racism, and Other Forms of Oppression Must Be Considered
Together
It is a long term historical trend that liberation movements tend to leave
behind members of other marginalized groups. For example, as pointed out
by authors such as bell hooks and Audre Lorde, the feminist movement
through much of the last century focused on issues most relevant to white
middle class women, and the Civil Rights movement did not sufficiently
challenge sexism and patriarchy in the African American community. Both
of these movements largely left behind women of color.
Intersectionality is the idea that different forms of oppression (such as
sexism, racism, heterosexism, and transphobia) are interconnected and thus
cannot be considered in isolation. The racism experienced by men of color
differs from that experienced by women of color, and the way sexism plays
itself out depends strongly on many other identities such as sexual
orientation. Intersectionality is a powerful concept because it can help
our community avoid excluding people who are members of multiple
marginalized groups.
To make progress, we in the astronomical community must work to understand
the ways that different forms of oppression intersect with each other, and
how members of our community who are not traditionally represented by the
CSWA might be excluded. For example, the focus of the CSWA is primarily
on astronomers, but this also leaves out the members of the astronomical
community who do things other than astronomy: administrators, janitorial
and support staff, systems administrators, and so on. These people are
often affected by sexism and racism within our community, but in different
ways than we are used to thinking in terms of. Additionally, the Pasadena
Recommendations for Gender Equality in Astronomy make no mention of
transgender inclusivity. To remedy this would require amending these
recommendations to directly address transphobia and employment
discrimination.
Changing the culture within astronomy and throughout our society to be
significantly more inclusive can only occur on generational time scales.
Even so, I am optimistic that by working hard we will be able to make the
changes we need to.
