To generalize on women is dangerous. To specialize on them is infinitely worse.
So the old Copenhagen interpretation needs to be generalized needs to be replaced by something that can be used for the whole universe and can be used also in cases where there is plenty of individuality and history.
I don't like to generalize but I've had nothing but bad experiences with Mexican food in Europe.
So when you do your family tree and Margaret Cho does hers and... Wanda Sykes and John Legend... we're adding to the database that scholars can then draw from to generalize about the complexity of the American experience. And that's the contribution that family trees make to broader scholarship.