Intersectionality

Intersectionality happens when more than one form of oppression is affecting an individual. The oppressions overlap with each other. Intersectionality hides itself within our system which makes it harder to be noticed. Examples of oppressions that tend to intersect: sex, race, homophobia, and class. The overlap of oppressions creates an unfair and exclusive experience to those oppressed. Kimberle Crenshaw talks about three court cases where Black females faced the issues of intersectionality. These women were suing because they believed they were being discriminated for both their race and sex. Unfortunately, the courts treated race and gender as mutually exclusive categories. These women were not able to defend themselves because they either had to sue for sex discrimination or race, but not both. Putting these woman in an awkward stance. A white woman could sue for discrimination without being worried about her race. Black men could sue without being worried about their sex. The plaintiffs were faced with both issues because they were female and Black. Due to their oppressions intersecting, they didn’t have a case. The courts failure to acknowledge the…

“Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power” (Crenshaw 2015). This term shows how different forms of discrimination can interact and overlap one another and cause those who are being marginalized to stay oppress and those with privilege to rise. Originally it focused on race and gender and in the case of Professor Crenshaw her identities that intersect would be that she is a black woman. But throughout the years intersectionality…

Inclusion of Intersectionality in the Academy Introduction With this paper, I will explore the inclusion of intersectionality in the academy. To do so, I will provide a genealogical analysis of the ways in which intersectionality has been taken up and implemented by the neo-liberal academy and feminist scholars. The purpose of this paper, then, is to trace the history of intersectionality in relation to the academy in order to consider a future that is beyond inclusion. My analysis will start…

Black feminist thought can be thought of as an understanding behind the intersectionality of race and sex. The assumption that race and sex can be divorced and examined separately prevents many people from grasping the concept of black feminist thought. African-American women are a part of a minority race and minority sex, which they must live with on a daily basis. Therefore, examining race and sex separately is a distorted, biased, and inaccurate view on African-American women in society. As a…

of color are less likely to have their needs met” (p. 1250). Uniform policy and standards of need reproduce systems of domination and subordination, whereby white and middle-class needs are prioritized. Frontline workers who provide rape crisis to racialized women, “report that a significant proportion of the resources allocated to them must be spent handling problems other than rape itself” (Crenshaw, 1991, p. 1250). These resources can be spent finding employment, housing, and a variety of…

The theory of intersectionality, coined by legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989 in her ground-breaking article Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, has been regarded as one of the most important contributions to feminist scholarship. This theory allows for examination of intersections of identities, and how these intersections form individual identities. However, this definition is vague and does not explain how one should study…

With millions of people in the world, it is important to understand that not one is the same. We all come from different backgrounds and we have different experiences under our belts, and with that comes the importance of social location. Social Location determines what type of person you are, what groups you fit into, and how intersectionality theory affects you either in a positive and or a negative fashion. My social location is unique because of my experiences with mental health. It is…

known as Intersectionality. Kimberle Crenshaw “coined this term in attempt to interlock complex identities and how it works to privilege or oppress an individual” (Bromley 47). Intersectionality serves as an analytical tool for understanding how social inequality is perceived and the degree to which it is measured in an individual’s life based on…

While there are so many lessons I am greatful to have learned about community organizing I think most of these are related to intersectionality as a practice of theory and in oraganizing. A few things specifically is knowing and accepting that we bring ourselves, whoever that may to to the work we do as organizers. This is so important in being able to work thorugh group dynamics as well as working with people in general to be able to put our theory into practice. It’s with this acceptance,…

Many believe that gender oppression is based purely on gender. Gender oppression, however, goes much deeper than that. Many things contribute to gender oppression. The idea of intersectionality can be used to explain this. Intersectionality is the concept that many factors come together to contribute to oppression. These factors include, but are not limited to, poverty, patriarchy, and race. Each of these things affect how people experience gender oppression. The major factor of these three is…