The concept of allyship is disastrous. It is predicated on the idea that every *single* individual from an oppressed group knows everything about oppression and how to combat it — this is demonstrably false,and the right wing has lots of machinery in place to exploit this foolishness to the maximum.
I knew dozens of women in college that insisted they weren’t feminists and wanted nothing to do with feminism. Did they really know more about feminism than I did? Should I have walked away from those discussions firm in my newfound belief that women have achieved equal rights only to be confused five minutes later when I am willingly reprogrammed by another woman that disagrees? Under the allyship model you present, the “allies” are intended to be mindless automatons.
Ann Coulter is happy to use your model to tell me that women shouldn’t vote, and I should listen to her because, she’s a women. Allen West wants me to know black men should just obey police, and I should listen because he’s black, so he’s the expert, yes?
I agree that oppressed people…
*** as a group ***
…know more about their oppression than anyone else. Individuals like the article author however, do not have license to speak for the entire movement and expect to be obeyed without question, and clearly they feel entitled to be obeyed because no one has ever said “No.”
There can and there will be veterans outside of every oppressed group that have struggled longer than the newborn oppressed person, and who will inevitably individual to individual know more, have done more and be worthy of more respect within the movement. A teenager that decided last week they are trans, isn’t going to know more about the struggle or be more worthy of respect for their opinion about it than the cis spouse of a trans person on their 30th anniversary.
