Epistemic Injustice and Credibility Gaps

Sor Juana faced constant epistemic injustice—her intellectual authority was challenged not because her arguments were weak, but because she was a woman in a male-dominated ecclesiastical system. This concept names the mechanism by which privilege operates in the realm of knowledge: certain people are presumed credible while others must prove themselves repeatedly. Acknowledging privilege means recognizing which voices your culture pre-loads as trustworthy and which it requires to shout louder. The framework reveals how privilege isn't merely material advantage but the invisible authority to speak and be heard. For the privileged, this acknowledgment means actively questioning whose voices you instinctively trust, and consciously creating space for credible speakers society has systematically underestimated.