Demarginalization Of Intersectionality

Majority of transgender people will face some sort of discrimination in their lifetime whether it is through being rejected by their families, denied housing or finding employment. “Employment discrimination forces many to become involved in the street economy and in survival crime. Widespread bias and ignorance among law enforcement and other officials mean that transgender people are disproportionately subjected to arrest and, in turn, imprisonment.” (al, 2011)

She challenges both antiracist and feminist theories since they fail and neglect to focus on the issue of intersection of gender and race. The theories are inadequate and cannot address the oppression experienced by the black women. White women, especially from the middle class are treated as emotional and delicate compared to men with special need for protection according to the feminist theorists. However, the situation is worse among the black women since they are subjected to racist abuses that are common in the society (Beauvoir 2). This implies they are more delicate than the white women with a need for more protection. On the contrary, black women are seen as “mules” and are expected to perform heavy cleaning chores of the fact that they are fragile and passive. Crenshaw argues that black women are forced to look for jobs instead of taking care for their children. They are pressured to use depo provera, norplant and other family planning drugs that are common with white women. This is an illustration of intersectionality of race, gender and

However, intersectionality gained prominence later (the 1980s and 90s) through African American feminist scholars, Crenshaw and Patricia Hill Collins, who criticized white feminists who failed to see that their skin color provided them with advantages that are not often offered to black feminists (Norris; Murphy-Erby; Zajiceck 2007). In time, intersectionality transitioned from an individual group’s experience (black women’s identity/ discrimination) to a larger framework.

Intersectionality is a framework that must be applied to all social justice work, a frame that recognizes the multiple aspects of identity that enrich our lives and experiences. This framework synthesizes and complicates oppressions and marginalization’s. In the article, “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait” Kimberle Crenshaw talks about how the purpose of intersectionality has been lost. Intersectional somehow creates an environment of bullying and privilege checking. This society cannot afford to have movements that are not intersectional because all races need to be embraced and have equality.

It is mandatory to understand the history behind Intersectionality and it’s upbringing to understand how it ties into cultural identity. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s classic article “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” helps to understand the struggle that women of color face with entwined differences that are not confronted and dealt with accordingly. Crenshaw mentions that, “The problem with identity politics is not that it fails to transcend difference, as some critics charge, but rather the opposite -- that is frequently conflates or ignores infra group differences. In the context of violence against women, this elision of difference is problematic, fundamentally because the violence that many women experience is

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.

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

Intersectionality has a significant impact on the feminist movement for several reasons; first is recognition of varying oppressions, second the inclusiveness of others facing oppression, and third how the recognition and inclusiveness can help reach equality. Intersectionality and the growing recognition of it has provided a better look at the amount of different oppressions that exist Through the understanding of intersectionality it becomes clear that race and sex are not the only factions that experience oppression, this awareness has led to the desire to “address a whole range of oppression.” (Combahee, pg. 4) Race and sex are no longer the sole focus of

Throughout our time in class, we’ve hosted conversations about the injustices women face, more specifically, the struggles endured by black women throughout history. Most, if not all, of these experiences may be direct results of a woman’s class, gender, sexuality, nationality, also due to the intersection of structures of races. According to the Tumblr page, Intersectional Feminism for Beginners, intersectionality, originally, referred to the discriminations black women faced. These discriminations were not only in the form of racism, sexism, and class oppression. Today, the term includes an analysis of the discrimination faced by those who identify with any group of people, whether it be cultural, biological, or social, that aren’t “favored

An intersectional approach is an approach which seeks to demonstrate how race, class, gender and sexuality make certain experiences different. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality that leads to further discrimination against a certain individual or group. To take an intersectional approach to understand race, class, gender and sexuality, is to consider hardships not as a similar element for all individuals without regards to race, but instead consider where in a specific hardship different races, genders, classes and sexualities are affected different. According to Crenshaw, “many of the experiences Black women face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that cannot be captured wholly by looking at the woman race or gender dimensions of those experiences separately” (Crenshaw, 357). Crenshaw explains that the personal experiences of women of color cannot be fully understood by looking at race or gender discrimination as two separate factors, but in fact can be understood if both aspects are looked at together. When race and gender are examined separately, this causes for women of color to be “erased”. Crenshaw says, “ And so, when the practices expound identity as “woman” or “person of color” as an either/or proposition, they relegate

Intersectionality according to Patricia Hill Collins is the “theory of the relationship between race, gender and class” (1990), also known as the “matrix of domination” (2000). This matrix shows that there is no one way to understand the complex nature of how gender, race and class inequalities within women’s lives can be separated; for they are intertwined within each other.

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

In her piece “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics”, African American civil rights lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw defines society’s current understanding of the term “intersectionality”. Crenshaw legitimizes the intersectional experience as one that is “greater than the sum of racism and sexism” (Crenshaw 140)– meaning that if intersectionality is not included in feminist ideology, “the particular manner in which [women of color] are subordinated” is ignored and therefore disbars them from the

Kimberle Chrenshaw’s article depicted three different types of intersectionality: structural, political and representational. Conceptual differences distinguish the three types from each other.