system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What does the term "identity politics" mean?

This is super embarrassing -- but it comes up all the time and I don't totally get it....
gpt
"identity politics" are political idea or efforts to encourage political activities based on someone's membership in a particular "identity" group. The most common examples in the U.S. are race, religion, and gender. 

The term is most frequently used with a negative connotation -- the idea being that "identity politics" is a way of setting groups against each other and making it harder to talk about actual policy because every discussion becomes about whether you are betraying your "group." However, it can also be used in a neutral or positive sense, to describe political appeals based on problems uniquely faced or experienced by people in certain social contexts.