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Oct 31, 2023 · For example, a man might not have to worry about walking alone at night in the same way a woman might. Discrimination is the unfair treatment of someone based on aspects of their identity, such as race, gender, or religion. It's the opposite of privilege; it puts people at a disadvantage. Think of intersectionality like a 3D puzzle.
Intersectionality examines how a person’s identities, such as their gender, ethnicity, and sexuality, affect their access to opportunities and privileges. First coined in 1989, the theory has since been applied to employment, housing, healthcare, and so on. In this article, we’ll define what intersectionality is, explain the facts everyone ...
- Origins of Intersectionality
- Examples of Intersectionality
- Examples of Intersectional Activism
- Conclusion
- Further Reading
The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberle Crrenshaw in 1989. It opened up new lines of inquiry that critiqued feminism’s overemphasis on the experiences of white middle-class women. Later, the concept spread to break down the one dimensionality of: 1. Marxism (whose main focus was historically on class issues), 2. Critical race studies (who...
1. Missing and Indigenous Women
In Canada, indigenous people have been raising the alarm about the apparent lack of police or government interest in the high rates of missing indigenous women. Families highlight that, for decades, there have been insufficient police investigations. The families of the women often reject the findings of the police and complain about the over-representation of indigenous women in unresolved missing person cases. Here, being indigenous (ethnicity) and a woman (gender) intersect as historical m...
2. Missing White Woman Syndrome
This is a coin termed to describe the media’s hyperfocus on white women who go missing. Within this term is an implicit accusation that media doesn’t pay the same amount of attention when people with other identity markers go missing. For example, this syndrome sits in stark contrast to the missing and murdered indigenous women problems highlighted above. The missing white woman syndrome was on full display during the 2021 Gabby Petitocase. Petito went missing during a road trip with her fian...
3. Stereotypes about Asian Women
Stereotypesabout Asian women often sit at the intersection of racism against Asians and sexism against women. But the confluence of these two identity markers raises some unique stereotypesaround being exotic, submissive, and a service worker. This can lead Asian women to being bullied from people expecting them to know their place at the bottom of the social order, and even harassment from men desiring the ‘exotic other’.
Well before the term ‘intersectionality’ was coined, we could still see examples of intersectional activism in the real world. Below are five examples.
Intersectional theory allows us to explore how discrimination has a compounding effect. When it was introduced into academia, it was seen as a well-needed critique of the failure of race, gender, and class theorists to explore how disadvantage crosses identity factors and compounds upon itself. It also very successfully critiqued how feminism tende...
Cho, S., Crenshaw, K. W., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of women in culture and society, 38(4), 785-810. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/669608 Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2020). Intersectionality. John Wiley & Sons. Crenshaw, K. W. (2017). On intersectionality: Esse...
Intersectionality is, in short, a framework for understanding oppression. Originally coined by American lawyer, scholar, and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw, the term has its roots in activism and the concept of "interlocking" systems of oppression was commonly referenced by the Combahee River Collective, a Black lesbian social justice collective ...
Mar 8, 2021 · Intersectionality is a framework that describes how our overlapping social identities relate to social structures of racism and oppression. Intersectionality merges many identity markers, including race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, and more, to create a more truthful and complex identity.
May 17, 2023 · Why Intersectionality Is Important. Caring for Yourself. Intersectionality acknowledges that each individual has multiple identities and is subject to various forms of intersecting oppression. This article will review the term's history, examples of intersectionality, why it is important, and how you can use this knowledge to create change.
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Oct 31, 2016 · Understanding intersectionality can promote “an understanding of human beings as shaped by the interaction of different social locations,” such as race, ethnicity, gender, and class, Nsiah-Jefferson said. “Utilizing intersectionality frameworks can help us more accurately reflect the diversity within higher education in the classroom and ...
