The theory of intersectionality is a very important concept when analysing the many different obstacles an individual may face throughout their life time. It takes into consideration that an individual is identified by many different labels rather than by their gender alone. Through the analysis of historical texts and extensive knowledge of activists and authors on the topic, Hunter College women’s and Gender Studies collective and Joan Simalchik (2016) is able to provide insight on the importance of intersectionality in studying identity markers and social categories when considering the many obstacles an individual may face through relations of power and privilege, multiple identities, and intersections of oppression. Relations of power and privilege
The article argues how each identity marker that is not the dominant trait, experiences a different type of racism. Without considering the intersectionality of identity markers and social classes, one may never understand the amounts of racism, oppression and other struggles an individual such as a black woman from a working class background may experience. A woman with those identity markers may experience sexism due to their gender, racism due to their skin colour, and mistreatment due to their social class. At the same time, a white woman from the upper class whose every need is put first may also experience forms of sexism as they are perceived to always need male protection. In turn, this can prevent the individual from having their own decisions. Although both women experience forms of sexism, the black women from a working- class experiences a harsher reality of the situation, which can only be recognised when using intersectionality to distinguish the different levels of oppression and discrimination between different groups of
In many contemporary spaces, intersectionality is taught and consumed as a static concept of merely listing identities carried by one person simultaneously. It’s used more often as a checklist than a place of analysis or resistance. However, the use of intersectionality as just an apolitical tool, rather than a theory born from the knowledge of Black women experiencing a “triple jeopardy” of oppression and seeking liberation by deconstructing the institutions that bind them, is reductionist at best. In “Intersectionality is Not Neutral”May communicates that intersectionality pushes us to question and challenge the relatively mundane or acceptable norms in society that lend themselves to a continuous legacy of systemic inequality.
Claude M. Steele is the author of “ Whistling Vivaldi”, which mainly represents that the meaning of identity contingencies and stereotype threat, and how can these effect people’s ideas and behaviors. By writing this article, Steele tries to make people know exist of identity contingencies. Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who is a white woman suffered the poverty in her childhood. Through describing her miserable experiences in parallel construction to motivate readers sympathize her, moreover approving that she can as a powerful evidence for affirming the impact of identity contingencies. Crosley-Corcoran admits the white privilege really exist in some way in her article “ Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person”, and white privilege
On Being Young-A Woman-and Colored an essay by Marita Bonner addresses what it means to be black women in a world of white privilege. Bonner reflects about a time when she was younger, how simple her life was, but as she grows older she is forced to work hard to live a life better than those around her. Ultimately, she is a woman living with the roles that women of all colors have been constrained to. Critics, within the last 20 years, believe that Marita Bonners’ essay primarily focuses on the double consciousness ; while others believe that she is focusing on gender , class , “economic hardships, and discrimination” . I argue that Bonner is writing her essay about the historical context of oppression forcing women into intersectional oppression by explaining the naturality of racial discrimination between black and white, how time and money equate to the American Dream, and lastly how gender discrimination silences women, specifically black women.
In the world of sociology and the studies of human interaction, the term intersectionality has been defined as, “the idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories – including gender, race, class, and ethnicity – interact and contribute towards systematic social inequality” (“Definition of Intersectionality – Sociology”). However, as Dr. White defined the term on the Spring 2014 Final Writing Assignment sheet, these categories that make up one’s identity can “intersect or interact in ways that can either advantage or disadvantage the person’s well-being and development” (White). In regards to the text, David M. Newman’s Identities & Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality, Newman progressively explores the concept of intersectionality throughout the entirety of the text, but he does not ever actually define the term itself. Although an exact, clear-cut definition of the term “intersectionality” has not been officially established, the concept of the term is fairly simple to understand. Every person has different social identities that they carry to their name. Intersectionality is simply an analysis of how those different identities play off of each other and how they affect the person they are describing.
Gender and racism are two of the main topics of “The Talk” by Dana Canedy and “What Goes Through Your Mind: On Nice Parties and Casual Racism” by Nicole Chung. Throughout their essays, Canedy and Chung prove whether it is an African-American boy or an Asian American woman, minorities face racism. Also, all types of racism such as casual racism or intended racism all are extremely hurtful, degrading to any minority. Gender has a lot to do with the severity of racism experienced. Police brutality on an African American woman happens, but is not as frequently and sever as it does to an African American man. Nicole Chung, who is Asian American believes that she has control over her own identity. When placed in an uncomfortable racist situation
Although it often goes unknown, Allison wrote Two or Three Things I Know For Sure and it shares experiences that reveal intersectionality and it addresses how her life experiences and environment shaped her into who she is now. This book also reveals the juxtaposition between how people identify themselves with intersectionality and how society or others view and hold them to specific standards. This book reveals how history can repeat itself, how others can be impacted by the intersectionality surrounding them and how they feel pressured to stick to a standard placed upon them such as the reoccurring idea of being “pretty”. The book ends with Allison and her sister addressing Allison’s niece as being “pretty” and Allison breaks down the walls surrounding her allowing herself to see the battles she’s faced in the
This essay will be unpacking and analysing the different elements that create my own intersectionality in my life. This essay will be discussing how class, gender/sex and race have influenced who I am and the experiences I have had throughout my life, and how various structures impact these experiences, with reference to the Crenshaw and Dill and Zambara articles, I will connect their thoughts and ideas to the intersectionality of my own life.
For instance, relating to the employment, there were two obvious hierarchical differences between the black and the white, and women and men. According to Kimberle (2015), in the late 1970, the employment opportunities for black people and women were still in the straitened circumstance, furthermore, even if there were chances for them, “... the black job were men’s job, and the women’s job were only for whites.” (Kimberle Cranshaw 2015). In other words, there was no opportunity for the black women. In this case, the unjust discriminatory treatment for black women simply resulted from their intersected identities as a “black” and “woman” both were marginalized in the society. In regard to this, however, the important point is that people did not analyze the cause of this situation through considering it from the both racial and sexual sides simultaneously. People ignored the experience of the others, and categorized the black women based on their sex as a “woman”. In other words, people, especially who were in the privileged position, just neglected the subtle “differences” of others, and they stretched the rules to their own advantages. Relating to these “differences”, Audre Lorde (1984: 115) explains that “ But we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals. As a result, those differences have been misnamed and misused in the
The article being analyzed is called “The Intersections of Race, Class and Gender in the Anti-Racist Discourse" by George Dei. The purpose of the article is to outline the idea that race cannot be analysed by itself, rather it has to be separated and looked at in connection to other types of identities. The author argues that the current theory about race does not provide a concise understanding of “human and social development”. The ideas surrounding race that already exist do not consider the “totality of human experiences”. This is where the author argues that the study of anti-racism is "integrative". These type of studies aim to provide information on how different identities such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation are connected
African American women are considered the most disadvantaged group vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. Researchers have concluded that their racial and gender classification may explain their vulnerable position within society, despite the strides these women have made in education, employment, and progressing their families and communities (Chavous et al. 2004; Childs 2005; Hunter 1998; Settles 2006; Wilkins 2012). Most people agree that race and gender categories are explained as the biological differences between individuals in our society; however sociologists understand that race and gender categories are social constructions that are maintained on micro and macro levels. Historically, those in power who control the means of production within a society have imposed race, class, and gender meanings onto the minority population in order to maintain their dominant position and justify the unequal treatment of minority individuals by the divisions of race, class, and gender categories (Collins 2004; Nguyen & Anthony 2014; Settles 2006;).
In relation to the Critical Race Theory, the idea of the “gap between law, politics, economics, and sociological reality of racialized lives” (Critical Race Theory slides). The critical race theory gives us a guide to analyze privileges and hardships that comes across different races and gender. For example, analyzing how and why a “black” or “indigenous” woman may experience more hardships versus not only a “white” man, but a “white”
Intersectionality is a term used to describe a situation whereby an individual has multiple identities and as result, the person feels that he or she doesn’t belong to one community or another. Because of the many conflicts in an individual’s identities, he or she could be a victim of multiple threats of discrimination (Williams, 2017). The discrimination could be a result of race, gender, age, health and ethnicity among others. To give an example, a black transgender woman could be discriminated in the workplace because of being black and also because she is transgender. From an intersectionality perspective, the woman faces multiple threats of discrimination because of the overlapping identities of gender and race and therefore the transwoman faces a bigger struggle (Barber, 2017). Transwomen of color will most likely encounter prejudices in the form of homophobia, racism or sexism in many dimensions of their life. The perspective of intersectionality is not only applicable to women but it can also be applied to males. For example, a gay Latino man could be discriminated based on race because he is an immigrant into
‘Intersectionality’ as a concept can be understood as an interaction between diverse factors encompassing race, age, sex, gender, religion, social policies, systemic practices, cultural norms and the resulting outcome of this interplay with respect to power (Davis, 2008). The genesis of intersectional feminist theory followed an organic process whereby it provided an improvement on the traditional approaches and it was also a step ahead of the radical feminist theory. The marriage of feminist and intersectionality concepts provided an explanation for the interconnectedness of systems of oppression that are experienced by a sub-group such as racially marginalized immigrant South Asian women and their resulting experience of violence due to these factors (Sokoloff & Dupont,
Intersectionality was one of the greatest concepts this course shed light on, intersectionality is can be broadly defined as the coming together of various social groups to work together to fight against forms of oppression. In the conceptual frameworks portion of the book Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, they talk about the importance of privileged identities and disadvantaged identities coming together to work towards solving a particular issue. While before taking this course I was somewhat aware of the various forms of oppression, I never gave much thought to how I could help combat forms of oppression that I did not necessarily experience with my own identity.
The article is written by Bell Hooks as a critique of the article by Sheryl Sandberg. The author analyses the feminist theory as propounded by Sandberg. She acknowledges the fact that Sandberg’s view on Feminism is clouded by her race and privileged social status. It is thus apparent that Sandberg’s views are subjective to her situation and status in life. The largest failure of the piece is the fact that the writer fails to discuss how multiple intersectionality as defined by Kimberle Crenshaw affect the gender power matrix.