"Sensitivity and Survival"
Abstract: Accusations of over-sensitivity are nowadays very common, particularly when it comes to forms of systemic oppression such as racism and misogyny. In this paper, I consider two things such over-sensitivity could plausibly be: a disposition to over-identify instances of these phenomena and a tendency to overreact to putative instances thereof. In both of these cases, I find reasons why such worries are likely to be overblown: In the first, an agent’s supposed over-sensitivity to racism and misogyny is often simply sensitivity to phenomena which are routinely minimized; in other cases, her slight over-sensitivity nevertheless has value in a social environment in which under-sensitivity is a large and predictable problem. In the second case, an agent’s supposed overreactions to racism and misogyny are often warranted, and may also reflect an affective disposition that constitutes a valuable defense against the twin perils of gaslighting and numbness. I conclude by considering the possibility that there is a real strand of over-sensitivity to harms to dominant group members in the current discourse that illicitly serves their interests and functions to silence people facing oppression.
Kate Manne is a Professor at Cornell University.