The Cost of Visibility for the Marginalized

Sor Juana became increasingly isolated as her intellectual prominence grew, facing pressures from institutional authorities and competing demands on her time and energy. Her visibility as a learned woman made her a target for both admiration and attack. This concept examines how privilege acknowledgment must include understanding that visibility carries asymmetrical costs. When marginalized people speak publicly, teach, write, or challenge systems, they expose themselves to scrutiny, backlash, and emotional labor that privileged voices are spared. The Sorjuanine tradition teaches that acknowledging our privilege includes understanding these disparities and not demanding that marginalized people perform visibility work without reciprocal support or protection. Those with privilege must be willing to do the slower, less visible work of building systems change—not requiring marginalized voices to carry the burden of being symbols or educating the privileged. True privilege acknowledgment recognizes that asking a marginalized person to speak is asking them to risk harm, and that this risk must be honored through material support, safety, and power-sharing, not merely through gratitude.