Talking about intersectionality, why is QTPOC space being made in lots of institutions (June series)
The world does consist of different kinds of groups, in different kinds of aspects. The distinctions between those are not necessarily always in a visual form, but too, exist over the way people live their life by their preferences. The thing about these variousnesses is that it tends to maximize the potential of discrimination the more a person is in a minority group. Bear in mind that this includes every kind of minority group so that we could see the distinctions between kinds of discrimination that exist in the world towards each group or even at the intersection of multiple identities.
Firstly let’s talk about the triple minority. I think the concrete definition of it is distinct in various states, especially between cultures. In Indonesia itself, people consider it as a condition where a person is part of multiple minority groups, be it of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual preferences, and so on. It worsens when they face even more unfortunate events, like the Covid-19 pandemic that has been with us for the past two and a half years. So it is important to take a deep search behind the surface, do we all really on the same boat on this occasion?
I remember a talk, between me and one of my colleagues back in high school. We even think that being in a single minority group is hard enough because, they have to face various kinds of unlucky conditions such as bullying, discrimination, and such act that the consequences are no joke. It intersects with the generalization of the groups themselves even before it intersects with other identities that they have. What does that mean exactly? We could see around us, that people with the same socio-cultural background tend to have the same viewpoint regarding stuff, and it includes how they see groups of minorities. The first intersection managed to be after the way that this group is seen as something people have power on, that people could make fun of. It often happens when a person is generalized because they belong to that minority group. For example, people tend to see a person with blue skin from a dull point of view, that they are radical and tend to harm others. It completely came from the generalization, so it is one condition that is often out of the victim’s control. This, alone, is bad. Let alone what others would have to say if it intersects with many kinds of groups of minorities.
In one case, in this truly month I would say, there is this ultimate condition that uncontrollably gets so much backlash. You know what it is, long ago it is not much of a concern knowing that movies, organizations, etc. are seemingly okay based on their existence. But, like our country, or should I say region/group of people move towards something (not saying it) and aware of their existence, we could see that it is followed by animosities that are violating human rights.
If we open a talk about that existence here, without it intersecting with other kinds of minority conditions, we could see that it was already deadly for some people. In other countries that are diversely poured with people with different backgrounds and ideologies, there might be different cases. High racism and ethnocentrism rates will add up to this minority group’s concerns and even become one of the biggest threats for them. As racism often came by because of physical-biology appearance, it’s never easy to hide for safety other than SOGIESC. But, as SOGIESC is often linked with non-society-default expressions and its own safe spaces are a place of terror from the discriminative cis-het, they are definitely on the edge. And when these identities merge on one individual, it doubled the threat.
As a solution, like what minorities always fight for, they build an intentional safe space. I hardly found it in Indonesia, probably because we do not have diverse ideological groups and not much of race differences so it rarely intersects with race and ethnicity (although it’s 100% possible) as it intersects so much with religion and beliefs. I found it mainly in US and Europe institutions, it’s called QTIPOC, or pronounced as ‘Cutie Poc’. After a long googling yesterday, I found this term everywhere being a space or club made by QTIPOC for QTIPOC, especially in the educational environment because it is one of the places that have lots of immigrants and such.
So, the intersectionality that we talked about before is the center of why QTIPOC exists. While it is all interconnected, people need more specific safe spaces to not be alone and be relevant to one another. But, though, not everyone that is queer and BAME (Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic) knows this acronym of QTIPOC, let alone its movement. One of the root causes of it is the lack of representation they could reach, and the lack of representation came from the small to no access to the public. The public scheme that we will talk about here is media representation and governmental representation.
Media Representation
The media platform is indeed an information train that could reach anyone in a glimpse of time. Due to its ease of accessibility for both information producers and information consumers, people especially policymakers made written rules regarding what to display, what to consume, and who to access. Although all these years it seems like a few of the policies did not lay in the right spot, its consequences are quite big. As this country experienced a public display of this one particular minority, it immediately sets rules that sometimes concerning.
As I write this opinion, there are already tons of restrictions and policies that are implemented. One of it being my favorite childhood show, Buzz. Seeing how it increases from time to time how many preferences and expressions are being cut out or even blocked completely, not few people think of it as an ethical movement, but few also think of it as an unethical movement. But if we travel back in time, even when I was not born yet, the display and representation of it seem freely exist (although it is still valid how they experience discrimination too, even worse). From Dorce’s show, Arisan, to on-cinema Brokeback Mountain we could see that it is not a problem back then to represent this minority.
If we see the base definition, our country’s framework of it is truly different from others. Other than looking at it only in a sexual way, the lack of knowledge about it often leads to false defining and appearing assumptions and generalizations that are harmful. Unfortunately, it appears not rarely on mainstream news which is accessible to all kinds of people, of all ages and all groups. Often seen as an adjective, it appears harder than it looked to accept what the majority of people think of them. It became a term that explains behavior, value, ideology, or even practice that has nothing to do with what they want to represent. It is not something new that people see it as a threat, even though it clearly shows who has the power here.
Governmental representation
The government is known for policy making. It is one of the most important determinants of this minority group’s existence condition. But it is still no doubt that it is almost impossible for gov-rep in this country to be from that minority group. It is still not a priority though, in this context and condition, because the existence itself is still at stake. Let alone be someone that is allowed to make policy and be respected.
Talking about the base definition, the misinterpretation not only exists in media and society but also through bureaucracy and formal sectors. It started from the most basic thing a person has, which is identity. The way it was misinterpreted, came from the way that this minority group was seen to represent a certain kind of behaviour. And this is still a part of generalization. This is the root of discriminating policies that our gov is planning. To show that it is a crime to just publicly exist, we know that this country truly deems no existence of this minority group. So, we got probably have a long journey to go, to enable a safe policy for everyone, equally.
The further we talked about this the more we realized safe space isn’t built, but it is something that requires acceptance. Because non-marginalized people hold power towards it, through all platforms possible. So, be safe out there, and know that you are not alone.
If you are someone who is trying to recognize more issues about this, visit QIArchive.
June 27th 2022
Aldila S.
