I’ve been thinking a lot today about gatekeeping in various forms, and I feel like it boils down to how power structures affect marginalized groups. Somewhere along the way, people become hurt and angry and, whether they consciously realize it or not, they want to be the ones with power over others for a change. I think gatekeeping in general has a lot to do with this desire.

The problem is that in the big picture, we want to dismantle artificial power structures, not just create new ones that we’re in charge of for a change. As long as any sort of hierarchy exists, true equality will be impossible. It’ll just be an endless cycle of angry people finding weaker groups to pick on in order to make themselves feel better.