Theories Of Intersectionality

Intersectionality has become the latest feminist “buzzword” as it comes to the discussion of pop culture, politics or academia. the article “Intersectionality” by The Washington Post, tells us how the term intersectionality was initially used to describe how race and gender could bisect as the forms of oppression. However, now the term is used to trace how different forms of discrimination overlap and relate. It also describes how important is it for feminists to consider women from diverse backgrounds when advocating for social causes. This term encompasses numerous social factors such as sexual orientation, disability, class and nationality. Recently, this term has been used by social activists either as a rallying cry or punishment for

Intersectionality is defined by social categories, such as race and gender that have interconnected to apply to individuals and groups, causing an overlap, which has consequently created a system of discrimination and disadvantages

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.

It is impossible to discuss gender and the influences it has on one livelihood without acknowledging the other aspects of one’s identity. Other aspects such as race, class, and sexuality in combination with will always play a major role in one’s life choices and the way they are perceived by others. The term intersectionality as stated by Susanne Hochreiter offers a way to understand the multiple grounds of identity when considering how the social world is constructed. Intersectionality explains why gender cannot be in isolation from other inequalities in the social world. As a black Haitian woman raised in America, it is clear to see that my identity occupies several spheres. The experiences of being a woman in Haitian culture often conflicts with that in of American culture. In Haitian, there are specific roles and social spaces that women occupy. Traditionally in Haitian culture women are the head of the household but still place their husband’s authority above them. Young Haitian girls must learn many things before they are considered young women in their society. These

The mindset of other individuals would discriminate women for their intersectionality; especially if it is depicting the color of their skin, race, and etc. Intersectionality has many interpretations but society has characterized it into a social categorization such as race, sex, class which creates interdependent system of discrimination/ disadvantages. During the 1960’s the film “Hidden Figures”, gave a prime example of intersectionality; showing viewers how the women were treated on a daily basis in and out of NASA. Through the elements of: racism, sexism, and class (economic standards).

Since the beginning of feminism, the mainstream feminists’ associations, have mostly focused on the problems that white middle class women face. As a consequence, numerous feminists´ have ignored and overlooked the experiences of oppression that other minority women encounter. Therefore, I am of the opinion that it is essential that the feminist concept is not solely used to enlighten the inequality between genders, withal also racism, islamophobia, homophobia and further. I would argue that feminism is useless without intersectionality and inclusion.

Throughout time, there have been groups of people that have been mistreated, and have organized movements that they hope will help them get the rights they deserve. Not only has this happened in the past, it happens everyday across the world. There are many minorities in our society and each day, these minorities stand up to the majority in a variety of ways. There’s also groups of people that have experienced the same things that make a minority. For example, women have recently been opening up about experiencing sexual assaults, standing up to the men that have assaulted them. They have done this in a variety of ways, such as a coming from a legal standpoint in trying to get the men put in jail for the crime and posting about it on social media with the hashtag #metoo. These women are standing up to the men that have done them wrong, trying to find justice for themselves and the array of women across the world that have been through this traumatic experience. Another example is people of the LGBTQ community advocating for themselves in numerous ways. There have been numerous LGBTQ marches to spread awareness and their right to be equal to everyone else in our world. The people of the LGBTQ community are standing up to the majority, standing up to the people that don’t treat them as equals, or treat them unfairly. As a result of standing up for themselves, these women have received, or are in the

This film shows the true layers that black women can have in films that is past the stereotypical The sassy black friend The ghetto black women The angry black woman storyline can only be done so many times. Seeing black women as strong and highly intelligent individuals in films and how this needed to related to real life.

When the U.S. Declaration of Independence was written, it was generalized towards one group: white, preferably European, males. As years passed and the United States grew into a well-known nation, it was still clear that this group was getting more rights than others. This group created the idea of intersectionality to anyone who did not fit inside their parameters of being the typical the Euro-American white male. Everyone should be getting free rights, but this was not the case, until the other groups started fighting back. The women of the United States were one group who stood up and fought for their rights, ending women’s suffrage. They fought against the intersectionalities that had been set by society based on their gender. In the First

In “Intersectional Resistance and Law Reform,” Dean Spade proposes that the United States was founded through “racialization…(which) continues to operate under new guises… that produce, manage, and deploy gender categories and sexuality and family norms” (16). More over, these laws and norms tend to maintain the “status quo,” and employ an inherently flawed justice system that is only equipped to address single-axis discrimination issues (5). Thus, the intersectionality movement is largely dismissed by the social and justice systems, as it utilizes “critical intersectional tools… that are often (too) difficult for legal scholars to comprehend” (17). Interstionality’s progress is also impeded by advocates leaving to support single-axis issues. However, Spade warns that this approach is ineffective, as it fails to protect the most marginalized members of society.

She uses data from a field study on a battered women’s shelter in Los Angeles to back up her claims on structural intersectionality, explaining how women of color often face many structural barriers that keep them stuck in abusive relationships. The field study examines how most women at the shelter were struggling with language and financial barriers and facing racism, Crenshaw uses this information to propose that the struggles women of color face are often left unconsidered in the subject of feminism. In the fourth page of her essay, Crenshaw says, "WOC are differently situated in the economic, social and political worlds" (1250) . In making this claim, Crenshaw makes a warrant that all women of color are facing these same struggles, which is most likely true, but she only refers to the field study to support her claim, which is a generalization strategy. Making a claim about all WOC (women of color) based on the data from a single field suggests to the reader that every woman of color can be compared to the women at this one shelter in Los Angeles and all women can be properly represented by one region. This generalization fails to consider the struggles of WOC from other regions with different factors. Crenshaw’s generalization of representing

The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. Skeeter, a southern society girl, interviews the black women who have spent their lives being servants for wealthy white Southern families. There are various scenes throughout the film that show social stratification, racial inequalities, gender inequalities, and class inequalities.

The intersectionality theory focuses on the intersection of identities, and in this case, it is the intersection of being a female and being Mexican. This relates to the feminist theory in that “within that framework, women’s experience was made synonymous with what it was like to be white woman” (Marsiglia and Kunis, 2016, p. 149). As previously mentioned, women of this culture have extremely different experiences than the average American woman and it is important to recognize the differences and intervene accordingly. In this case, it is extremely important to recognize the cultural factors that are included in this as they relate to the issue and have many effects on the people in this situation. This theory affects research because women are already a minority group who are systematically oppressed and being a Mexican immigrant woman further adds to the oppressive factors

Without applying intersectionality in analysis, oppression can only be understood in general terms, which can cause forms of oppression to become undetected (Mattsson, 2014). Instead, intersectionality, demonstrates the complexity of gender, sexuality, class, and race avoiding stereotypes as a whole, rather than simplifying an individual based on one characteristic (Mattsson, 2014). For example, when I was working at a Community Centre in the Jane and Finch area, I had a conversation with my co-worker. He described the barriers and struggles he has faced because of his race and socioeconomic status. It was through this conversation that I realized the pre-conceived notions my co-worker had about me, as a white individual who did not grow-up in the same neighbourhood. More specifically, my co-worker was surprised to hear that I experienced similar barriers as he did in regards to socioeconomic status. In other words, due to my race, my co-worker had perceived notions about my economic class, which conflicted with my actual experience. In this example, my identity was simplified based on my race, while my socioeconomic status was concealed. This is because race and class are structural systems of oppression that are often conflated. Thus, without the use of intersectionality, assumptions were made and forms of oppression became

Intersectionality describes ways in which certain social identities such as race, ethnicity, gender and class affects an individual’s experience. These same categories are used to reflect systems of oppression and privilege. Intersectionality provides the context for understanding that people’s health cuts across many lived experiences (Bowleg, 2012). Much of public health however does not acknowledge health differences as they speak on each identity independently. Because the term women and minorities has become the centre in public health discourse and research,