GRSJ224/Intersectionality- The It Gets Better Movement

The “It Gets Better” (IGB) movement has been criticized as imposing a homogenized “coming out” experience or experience of being gay in general. The IGB campaign was sparked in response to Tyler Clementi’s and other suicides of young gay men. Individuals, such as gay journalist Dan Savage began posting videos and comments explaining how periods of bullying, self-loathing and other social violence will end if you just hold on. In addition to the common critique that the movement perpetuates a form of liberal handholding and upward mobility that caters to the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” ideology. The movement was also exclusionary to racial, gender and ethnic minorities.

 The dominant message that was fore-grounded was that it does get better for some, especially those who are white, cis-gendered and middle class (Puar, J., 2010). One individual writes the basic message encourages gay youth to stay ‘upbeat’ and ‘on message’ but dissent and diversity does not seem to be encouraged. This is born out of the vast number of videos uploaded by white university-educated gay men, in comparison of those from women, transgender people, lesbians and gender nonconforming youth. What these comments seem to suggest is that the IGB movement denotes an expectation that things will get better and this in turn leads to mean, you will get more normal (Puar, J., 2010). This therefore illustrates how movements, which attempt to collapse a plurality of group identities under one mandate, inadvertently leads to expressing social hierarchies and suppressing the voices of minorities. While the movement was no doubt well intentioned and aimed at instilling hope into the minds of those suffering from bullying, the result is a reduction of a singular experience of what it means to be gay.

Kimberlé Crenshaw (2016) was the first scholar to coin the term “intersectionality”, to describe the way gender and racial discrimination can compound each other. Crenshaw invokes an analogy of a road map, where different roads of discrimination, such as ability, sex, race, class, gender etc. can create intersections of oppression. She explains a paradigm which focuses on singular axis of oppression, would be able to see how a black women might be discriminated against for her skin colour and her gender separately, but not how these two factors meet to create new grounds for discrimination (Crenshaw, K., 2016). This work has significant implications for addressing legal doctrinal issues and institutional discrimination (Dhamoon, R., 2011).

Intersectionality it therefore particularly useful for considering the multiple categories an individual might ascribe to, and recognizing one is not more valuable than another. As Crenshaw (2010) notes, “roads emerge from various histories, became politically relevant because of historical repetition, and were constituted through movement that affected people and existing structures” (Dhamoon, R., 2011, 232). One category does not try to eclipse another, rather there is a celebration of the plurality of voices, experiences and situated knowledge and a willingness to be open to the sharing of this information with others.

There has been a push back from individuals who advocated for a more inclusive and diverse understanding of varying experiences of gay that are not restricted to a singular event or experience. One such example is Laurel Dykstra (2010) who points out in her article, “What if it doesn’t get better? Queer and aboriginal youth suicide”, that Aboriginal youth in Canada and the US might have higher suicide rate than queer youth. In Canada, suicide is the second leading cause of death for everyone aged 10 to 24, the Aboriginal youth suicide rate is somewhere between 4 to 6 times higher than their peers, while LGBT youth suicide happens at 3 to 4 times the rate of their peers (Dykstra, L., 2010). Therefore, Aboriginal youth who identify with the LGBT community are particularly vulnerable. The question then arises, is society participating in a form of whitewashing by remaining ignorant or silent to the deaths of aboriginal youth?

At a minimum, the IGB movement has been criticized for being a form of “slactivism” and at most has been an excuse for serving as a substitute for meaningful action. While it is true the trauma of high school horrors does not last forever, it is flawed and harmful to urge queer youth to hold on until the privileges of their adulthood come into effect. This is where the concept of intersectionality becomes particularly relevant, because often those who are in positions of privilege are often unaware of intersecting levels of oppressions that make some individuals more vulnerable. Love, safety and acceptance should not be considered privileges.           

Works Cited

Crenshaw, K. TedWomen 2016. “The urgency of intersectionality”. Ted Talk. Retrieved from <             https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality/ up-next .

Dhamoon, R. K. (March 2011). “Considerations on Mainstreaming Intersectionality”.Political Research Quarterly. 64(1): pp. 230-243. Retrieved from < https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/pdf/41058336.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aeeaa2  f80c24ca4b70e21a84babf56b34 >.

Dykstra, L. (9 October 2010). “What If It Doesn’t Get Better? Queer and AboriginalYouth Suicide”. Common Dreams. Website. Retrieved from < https://www.commondreams.org/views/2010/10/09/what-if-it-doesnt-get-better-    queer-and-aboriginal-youth-suicide >.

Puar, J. (2010). In the Wake of It Gets Better. The Guardian. 16 November 2010.    Retrieved 15 November 2018. Web. <             https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/nov/16/wake-it-        gets-better-campaign?showallcomments=true#comment-fold >.