A Woman 's Experience With The Law Essay

Patricia J. Williams, a renowned legal scholar from Harvard Law, studies and defends issues of society and how it intertwines with race, law, and power; furthermore, she is a mother, which makes her stance of her argument even stronger along side of her credentials (“Patricia”). In Williams article, Are We Worried About Storm’s Identity—or Our Own in 2011,she provides a broad-spectrum of societal problematic topics as a comparison of this gender identity crisis; furthermore, it aids her argument by providing insight and familiarity to a topic the common person would not feel comfortable thinking about. She is not arguing that gender neutrality is a need, but rather a choice

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is an African American scholar, civil rights advocate, and law professor who developed the term intersectionality (Merriam-Webster 2017; Wikipedia 2017). Intersectionality is a theory that examines the intersecting point in which oppressive institutions (like racism, sexism, and classism) and one’ social categorization (such as race, gender, and

Kimberle Crenshaw’s “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex”, where Crenshaw discusses the role of intersectionality from a judicial point of view. Crenshaw states “focus on the most privileged group members marginalizes those who are multiply-burdened and obscures claims that cannot be understood as resulting from discrete sources of discrimination” (Crenshaw 140). Crenshaw adds that the struggles of Women of Color are usually individualized and not seen as a systematic attack on them as a group.

Solnit’s choice of topic and the context surrounding it stem from her knowledge of the extent of the issue and the overarching repercussions that could result. She acknowledges that there are other topics that she would prefer to devote her time to, “but this affects everything else” (530). Through her topic choice and her selection of details, Solnit seeks to reveal the depth of the inequality throughout society. In order to do this, one of the first strategies that Solnit employs is to use examples from all around the globe. She writes this essay under the assumption that the audience is largely uninformed about the sheer extent of violence against women, and is working to remedy that situation. By pointing out the ways in which other countries routinely and systematically discriminate against women, Solnit places under scrutiny the idea that women’s rights are no longer an issue in the United States. Additionally, by presenting her audience with an abundance of headlines and examples of this discrimination, she further validates her argument and purpose of shedding light onto the issue. One other way in which the context of Solnit’s essay advances her purpose is through her creation of ties between the women’s rights movement and the

The first reading, in favour of intersectionality, is “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color” by Kimberlé Crenshaw. The article was written in 1991, and it looks at the experience of Black women in regards to different types of violence. Crenshaw brings up the fact that “…racism and

In 1989 Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality”. It can be defined as the way multiple oppressions of race and gender are experienced in a person’s life. Kimberle’ explains that the experience of being a black woman cannot be defined by just race or gender alone but by the joined forces of both. She argues that Black women are discriminated against in ways that often do not fit into the systematic categories of oppression of either “racism” or “sexism” but as a combination of both.

For centuries and even today, gender inequality and racial prejudice continue to exist. Throughout time these concepts have overlapped and intertwined, each other creating complex interactions and a negative influence upon society. In the 1980s, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw through her article, named Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, introduced the term “Intersectionality.” Intersectionality, is the theory of how different types of discriminations interact thus, goes hand in hand with Judith Butler, in her article titled “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” which expresses the term “gender acts” and helps decipher a probable cause of the many discriminations faced in contemporary society. Since both gender inequality and racial inequality share a common thread, I believe that what intersectionality represents will help understand Judith Butler’s view on gender classification and the dynamic it’s caused on our social and political formation.

As many women struggled to retain their values and traditions, there were existing male dominated conceptions of race and white dominated conceptions of gender. Kimberle Crenshaw describes the concept of intersectionality where race and gender interact in various ways to shape multiple dimensions experiences for different groups

Nevertheless, I argue that Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality should be used as the framework in analyzing discrimination, either by women or any discrimination faced by individuals in the society. According to Crenshaw:

The term intersectionality is widely credited to Kimberly Crenshaw’s 1989 article “Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimation doctrine, feminist theory, and antiracist politics”. A black feminist lawyer, Crenshaw utilized the term as a metaphor to describe the experience of black women who may be oppressed as blacks, as women, and as black-women. Antidiscrimination law supposes the one who is discriminated against to be privileged in every other dimension. The premise being that “but for that I am black” or “but for that I am a woman” I would not have been discriminated against. The perhaps unintended consequence of this is that all blacks in

Crenshaw proves that all forms of oppression must be taken into account, as is the case in pinpointing the root causes of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In her analysis, she explains how in society, the treatment of women of colour differs greatly from that of white women because of stereotypical depictions of women of colour in media. Although she mainly cites this by delving into the stereotypical representation of Black women, this treatment is crucial to Indigenous women as well. Indigenous women are often seen as negative stereotypes of their cultures, which contributes to the disproportionate rates of violence against them. Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality is integral in addressing this systemic and institutional

Intersectionality refers to the idea of the overlapping social identities that one might have. This article explores the problems that arise when not having intersectional awareness. For example, it describes a situation in which a woman was turned away from a shelter for domestic violence victims due to her inability to speak English. Often times in history and still to this day, social movements advocate for progress in their area of interest while simultaneously stepping on other groups.

The theory of intersectionality is one put forth by the feminist theorist known as Kimberlé Crenshaw. Crenshaw developed this theory as a critique to what she called a single-axis framework. A single-axis framework is one that considers an issue, be it feminist or otherwise, as a product of a single aspect. To be clearer, and to provide an example, a single-axis framework would consider the experiences of a woman of colour as either those experienced by an individual of colour, or those experienced by a woman. Crenshaw introduced the concept of intersectionality to explain that some experiences are unique to those who fall under a combination of these categories. In her article, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex”,

The theory of intersectionality has received a widespread of various distinct definitions and usage; it is often unclear of its designed function may be. Intersectionality is defined as “the acknowledgment that different forms of identity-based discrimination can combine to give rise to unique brands of injustice”(Lucas 8). In other words, how the classification of one’s individuality such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class can intertwine with each other among the social structure. The term was first coined by feminist and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw who spoke upon the discrimination and marginalization of black women and how both institutions interconnect with one another. The significance of

“Radical Feminism offers systematic analysis of the nature of women’s oppression including the way it is sustained through law and criminal justice processes. It is not only to understand male dominance and control of women and but also to end it.”