Thread by @HZiauddeen

Mini 🧵: Is the idea of women's intuition misogynistic?
(Completely speculative and very likely very badly wrong)

I'm wondering if at the idea of female intuition is a way of dismissing both how women collect and use information, as well as their success in doing so.
(1/n)

'Is it your female intuition telling you we should consider that in our plans?'

'So you were right, must be that women's intuition.'

The implication of both statements is that there is no 'rational' reason why the woman would have suggested that and then got it right.
(2/n)

While this is mainly about women and girls, much of this would apply to anyone whose approaches differ from that of the dominant group in their system. However in patriarchal systems, this would only be one of many interacting (often synergistic) elements of misogyny.
(3/n)

So thinking particularly about female intuition, one can consider this in terms of elements that are deemed unimportant or incorrect by the dominant group (men in this case) and thus dismissed and sneered at.
(4/n)

These may include:
1. Dismissing certain classes of information e.g. (seemingly) non-linear effects* (especially in social systems and interactions), internal conflict, accurately weighted individual and group values (exactly how much things are important).
(5/n)

* non-linear effects: A affects B in ways that do not seem proportionate or A effects B through multiple indirect routes.
2. Dismissing ways of weighting and integrating information to make decisions especially thinking about interacting and multi-level effects.
(6/n)

3. Dismissing forms of the above that cannot be presented in an explicable form to the dominant group. This is sometimes described as non-verbal thinking and decision-making. I'm not sure you can call something non-verbal if you do not have an agreed vocabulary for it.
(7/n)

By this I mean that you may have a form of words to describe the information and thinking process but it is not accepted/understood by the dominant group and thus dismissed as a feeling or a vibe. I think a good example of this is 'creepiness'.
(8/n)

Creepiness is important, high value information. But a woman describing to a man why she finds another man creepy will involve describing a set of unpleasant emotional and physical states induced by that man, knowing that it is very likely she will not be believed.
(9/n)

In fact, detailing those states will be incredibly unpleasant in and of itself and given past experience, may simply not be worth the trouble. Thus 'non-verbal'.
4. Dismissing the positive outcomes of collecting and using information in this way.
(10/n)

i.e. 'I do not see what information you collected or can't see the value of it & I don't see how you put them together so must be some kind of fluke but you've got it right so I have to acknowledge that.'
5. Dismissing more broadly women's thinking & intellectual work.
(11/n)

6. Dismissing women's right to be in positions and places of decision-making and the value they bring.

I should be very clear that I am writing this more from the point of view of knowing what men dismiss.
(12/n)

I should also be very clear that I am not dismissing female intuition. I am however challenging the idea that somehow one half of the population 'intuit' while the other 'thinks'.
(13/n)

I'd also be wary of female intuition being used to cover crap thinking as @RuthAnnHarpur points out here.
(14/n)

https://twitter.com/RuthAnnHarpur/status/1439524911962263555?s=20

That's the end of what may well be my most ill-advised thread. As always criticisms and suggested reading welcome.

For people who actually know what they are talking about follow: @emrazz @alwaystheself @kate_manne @BreeNewsome
(n/n)

@emrazz @alwaystheself @kate_manne @BreeNewsome Addendum: with thanks to @miki_fern and @RRowanOlive
These forms of dismissal start very early and are a major part of gendering behaviour as well as gendering expectations, capabilities and roles. They also serve to exacerbate self doubt and second guessing onself.