Now I am wondering whether/to what extent the people who think sexuality is just gay or straight, and/or that there are exactly two genders, overlap with the people who have similar opinions about race. By "similar opinions" I mean people who think that race is a meaningful biological fact, that "interracial" is meaningless (because everyone with one nonwhite parent is the same race as that parent), and whose categories ignore the existence of people with, say, one Black and one Asian parent.
There are ways in which, certainly in the United States today, white/non-white is salient: but while that's true and important, it's a simplification. I think it's (epistemologically) similar to the ways in which "is this person cishet: yes/no?" is salient even though there are significant and meaningful differences between my (bi, cis) experience and that of an asexual person, or a lesbian, or a trans* person of any sexual orientation.
Well said. :) I was just wondering the same thing, not least because in my experience I've dealt with quite a few people who hold both opinions and generally cling to a very small and narrow view of the world.
(no subject)
There are ways in which, certainly in the United States today, white/non-white is salient: but while that's true and important, it's a simplification. I think it's (epistemologically) similar to the ways in which "is this person cishet: yes/no?" is salient even though there are significant and meaningful differences between my (bi, cis) experience and that of an asexual person, or a lesbian, or a trans* person of any sexual orientation.
And yes, intersectionality again.
(no subject)