“When someone says “this social phenomenon is not always empowering and in fact is coerced” they are not robbing you of agency or victimizing you. Radical analysis of the functions of power is just analysis. The analyst or theorist does not harm you, power does.”

The liberal feminist response to critical and radical inquiry into the disciplinary aspect of gender norms is always “but I find this norm empowering, how dare you take that from me.” This not only misses the point, but assumes that an individualistic approach to a norm ought the trump the collective and social harm it creates.

-Quote found on “These are some things“.