I think your take is appropriate. Intersectionality has never been a process of merit badges of oppression. It's simply a lens we can select to more carefully focus on the lived experiences of communities in the margins. Folks in the dominant culture of Patriarchal White Supremacy have privilege, but they also have more access and potential to disband systems of oppression. When they choose to avoid the work to disassemble, they become complicit, and the systems of oppression grow stronger. Grassroots political movements all sprout on the edges of these systems. They can only stretch inward insofar as the culture allows. HOWEVER, grassroots movements observing clear intersectionality have the potential to connect and strengthen MANY outlying communities, gaining momentum by mobilizing laterally first, then utilizing pressure of numbers upwards through the hierarchy. So an effective movement must prioritize intersectionality as the antithesis of othering. Each identity must be shown connection with others in order to shift power from those who oppress- even those who refuse to believe they hold oppressive tendencies.
I think your take is appropriate. Intersectionality has never been a process of merit badges of oppression. It's simply a lens we can select to more carefully focus on the lived experiences of communities in the margins. Folks in the dominant culture of Patriarchal White Supremacy have privilege, but they also have more access and potential to disband systems of oppression. When they choose to avoid the work to disassemble, they become complicit, and the systems of oppression grow stronger. Grassroots political movements all sprout on the edges of these systems. They can only stretch inward insofar as the culture allows. HOWEVER, grassroots movements observing clear intersectionality have the potential to connect and strengthen MANY outlying communities, gaining momentum by mobilizing laterally first, then utilizing pressure of numbers upwards through the hierarchy. So an effective movement must prioritize intersectionality as the antithesis of othering. Each identity must be shown connection with others in order to shift power from those who oppress- even those who refuse to believe they hold oppressive tendencies.