I imagine that Susan’s position is complicated, because in the social justice framework, in most interactions she is considered the less-privileged one, and then suddenly in a few of them she becomes the more-privileged one. And in different positions, different behavior is expected. Which, I suppose, is emotionally difficult, even if intellectually the person accepts the idea of intersectionality.
If in most situations, using tears is the winning strategy, it will be difficult to avoid crying when it suddenly becomes inappropriate for reasons invisible to her System 1. (Ironically, the less racist she is, the less likely she will notice “oops, this is a non-white person talking to me, I need to react differently”.)
Here a white man would have the situation easier, because his expected reaction on Monday is the same as his expected reaction on Tuesday, so he can use one behavior consistently.
I imagine that Susan’s position is complicated, because in the social justice framework, in most interactions she is considered the less-privileged one, and then suddenly in a few of them she becomes the more-privileged one. And in different positions, different behavior is expected. Which, I suppose, is emotionally difficult, even if intellectually the person accepts the idea of intersectionality.
If in most situations, using tears is the winning strategy, it will be difficult to avoid crying when it suddenly becomes inappropriate for reasons invisible to her System 1. (Ironically, the less racist she is, the less likely she will notice “oops, this is a non-white person talking to me, I need to react differently”.)
Here a white man would have the situation easier, because his expected reaction on Monday is the same as his expected reaction on Tuesday, so he can use one behavior consistently.