Wednesday, October 8, 2008
In "Worlding Women", Pettman discusses the issues of invisibility and hypervisibility for minority groups: "Women, gay men, and racialised-minority men suffer both from invisibility, where they and their interests are routinely ignored, and from hypervisibility, which places them in danger when they appear in public space. In these circumstances, some people restrict their own movements and claims. They cannot exercise full citizenship rights, even where they are legally entitled to them. Their insecurities demonstrate something that political theory often ignores -- that identities are embodied, and bodies are inscribed in ways that are 'read' to grant or deny their rights" (21). Should the political process of citizenship bypass identity politics and simply focus on treating everyone as equal? Or should these groups get special rights based on their "embodied identity"? And in the process of gaining rights on the basis of embodied identity: Do you think that it is necessary for these groups to be hypervisible, so that less tolerant citizens within the general population get used to their presence (and thus see them as citizens)? Or should they try to blend as much as possible, to avoid personal harm, at risk of their civil rights being overshadowed? Is there a median?
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