Intersectionality: A Feminist Sociological Theory

According to the Oxford Dictionary, transphobia is an intense dislike of or prejudice against trans people. Misogyny describes the hatred and discrimination of women and traits which are womanly. It has been portrayed in media that these traits are lesser to masculine traits rather than equivalent. Transmisogyny is a combination of both which can be sometimes expressed through extreme levels of behavior such as discrimination, oppression and violence. (Hill-Meyer, 2009).

However, one of the biggest struggles faced by women would be the inequities in the social determinants of women’s health. In “Applying Intersectionality & Complexity Theory to Address the Social Determinants of

She struggles against sexual objectification and exploitation. Through Helga’s fight for sexual autonomy, the book illustrates two stereotypes of African American females which prevail throughout the literature. The novel depicts limitations of stereotypes held across Europe and the United States. The stereotypes’ pervasiveness is conveyed via constant change of settings. For instance, it criticizes reactionary stereotypes that treated sex with reticence and caution to counterbalance literary and social myths about sexuality of the black women.

Patricia Hill Collins’ “Black Feminist Thought” discussed the importance and power of the black feminist thought and black feminist critique, what she called the “matrix of domination”. Collins argued the critiques offered two main contributions: (1) they provided another way of looking at oppression through an intersectional lens, and (2) black feminist thought acknowledges and centers around the voices of black women, even in a field of predominantly white scholars. She argued that a subordinate group experiences a different reality than a dominant group and interprets that reality different than them; it is the connection of what a person does and what he or she thinks. This idea reminds me of how a dominant group, Whites, make assumptions about a subordinate group’s, Blacks, life experiences. Whites cannot explain those experiences of Blacks simply because they are the one group who caused the pain and suffering of Blacks, what they have experienced and are experiencing, from acts of discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice.

According to Dictonary.com Intersectionality is defined as “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage”. A term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality began as a critical response to the silence of White feminists on African American women’s oppression and the anti-racist movement for ignoring the needs of women in the name of racial unity. Crenshaw argues that anti-sexist politics and anti-racist approaches very rarely correspond to each other negatively implicating the understanding of black women as subjects for feminist intervention. Crenshaw’s most noted

The Angry Black Woman saying comes from the sapphire stereotype. The stereotypes claim that black women are dominant, masculine and aggressive. It also claims Black women drove their partners and children away from them which is called “unnecessary anger”. The stereotype has portrayed the black women as very opinionated, harsh, loud, bad attitudes, always negative and rude. If you decide to wear your hair in a natural state that is considers unprofessional, unkept, and or distracting.

First of all, sexism is an unfair treatment of people because of their sex, especially an unfair treatment of women. “There are the concept of discrimination or prejudice build upon sexual which against women.” ("Sexism." Merriam-Webster). “Sexism also can be a belief that one sex is superior to or more valuable than another sex.”

Intersectionality is deemed as “The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage”. There are loads of women nowadays that are still disregarded, women experiencing hardship, disease, and other issue that may allow women to feel as if they are not a part of the solution of the world’s problems. In the Article, am not I a Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality, the author’s state, “She enacts dispersal and dissemination both in terms of being members of a historical diaspora, but equally, in the sense of disarticulating, rupturing and de-centering the precariously sutured complacency and self-importance of certain feminisms” (Brahe e t., al 2004

The literature used for this study, draws on CRC and its relation to feminist insights which aim to explore the “relationship between power and the construction of social roles...and the largely invisible collection of patterns that make up types of domination” (Delgado &Stefancic, 2001, p.6). Studies on race and racism had predominately centred its attention on those constructed on the margins as “black” (Steyn, 2001). Critical Whiteness studies however, distinguished itself as a field to explore “the

Feminist scholarships are defined as sets of ideas for academic and intellectual orientation and interest towards women (Ngwainmbi, 2004). In general, women issues and problems are from oppressive, exclusionary, and discriminatory practices built into societal institutions. It is the knowledge where women issues and problems are identified through study, investigate and observe for those who are specialized and interest in this specific field. These scholar objectives are to produce knowledge contribution to women and also this knowledge is the bridge to find solutions to support women issues and problems. Hence, feminist scholarship is a framework that provides a platform for intellectual and academic for feminism studies.

1.The theory/concept of intersectionality is a theory centered around oppression, domination and discrimination through various mediums from the social and cultural elements of society. The theory can be applied in many ways toward women as well as their involvement in the criminal justice system. Some forms of discrimination that is more prevalent in perceiving the individual is using a woman's status, race, sexual orientation, ability and age, however there can be more added to this list. The wiki article said “The theory proposes that we should think of each element or trait of a person as inextricably linked with all of the other elements in order to fully understand one's identity.”

Intersectionality is a very important part of identity. It changes the way people see and interact with each other and the bias people have, whether they are aware of it or not. Intersectionality is using the combination of layers of identity such as race, gender, sexuality, or ability, and looking at them together rather than individual pieces. People are diverse.

Intersectionality is the idea that when certain group identities that have similar systems of oppression merge together, they form a group that is fundamentally different as a whole than from their respective groups. In the case of the Mexicans and the Filipinos and their involvement in the “United Farm Workers of America”, it proved to hinder the alliance that the two groups had with each other. Because of their differences in race and the language barrier, there was a divide that had formed between the two groups; the Mexicans were more favored in the union. The Mexicans were more represented and usually were tended to first, which was apparent when it came to power and money in the union. As a result, the Filipinos were often neglected when