In the beginning of chapter 4, D’Ignazio and Klein cite activist Maria Munir, feminist geographer Joni Seager, and feminist sociologist Ann Oakley to talk about the political dynamics of counting and classifying.

Munir says:

If you refuse to register non-binary people like me with birth certificates, and exclude us in everything from creating bank accounts to signing up for mailing lists, you do not have the right to turn around and say that there are not enough of us to warrant change.

 

Seager bluntly asserts:

What gets counted counts.

 

 

And Oakley explains that without quantitative research to supplement qualitative research,

It is difficult to distinguish between personal experience and collective oppression.

 

However, as D’Ignazio and Klein argue, the data must exist before benefits from quantitative research can be obtained, which speaks to Munir’s point above.

What are the benefits and costs of that data existing, though?

Click the below for thinking through a response to this question.

 

Problems in Classifying and Paradox of Exposure

Click the above for more information.

 

Task

You have three options to post to our Discord server in the text channel “2-25-classifying-counting-benefits-harms”. Choose one of the following to respond to:

• Think of all the forms you fill out in your day to day life in which you are classified as something (i.e., placed into some kind of category). Write about how it helps you personally to be classified in that instance (e.g., monetarily, political representation, distribution of resources like housing/food/healthcare, etc.)
• Think of other examples not shared in the chapter that could be considered meeting the criteria of the “paradox of exposure.” Explain why your example meets those criteria.
• Think about systems of classification today that you ultimately think are unhelpful. This can be tricky. For instance, something like race is harmful, historically, but something very useful to classify because it can tell us about groups of people who are oppressed. Same can be true for gender, disability, and other ways of classifying people that have also historically been used to cause harm. Explain your thoughts.

Instead of creating your own post, you can respond to someone else’s post if you were going to say something similar. Just be sure to follow the commenting criteria to give a good faith, thoughtful comment in response.

After posting to Discord, click the button below to continue: