I Am Applying Intersectionality And The Sociological Imagination

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.

In the memoir “Two or Three Things I Know for Sure”, Dorothy Allison recites stories from her life that ultimately depict the oppression and liberation seen in gender, sexuality, and social class. Intersectionality is a theme that can be seen throughout the book. Intersectionality is the overlapping of characteristics (such as sex, gender, race, class, and sexuality) that forms a person’s identity. Although people may have similar traits and characteristics, they are distinct from person to person. They can depict different features about different people throughout society.

In order to analyze the memorable events of Fannie Lou Hamer’s life using intersectionality, we must first define it. Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw. In her work Crenshaw says that “The basic function of intersectionality is to frame the following inquiring: How does the fact that women of color are simultaneously situated within at least two groups that are subjected to broad societal subordination bear on problems traditionally viewed as monocausal – that is gender discrimination or race discrimination?” (Crenshaw 1997, 552). Her point here is that minority women, in this case black women, are subject to multiple levels of discrimination and these forms cannot be separated. When discriminated against, it is not simply on the basis of one identity – both of her identities work together. She is looked as a black woman, not just black and not just a woman. The idea of intersectionality is broken down into three different subcategories: political intersectionality, structural intersectionality, and representational intersectionality.

The idea of intersectionality is that all of our identities overlap and are also constantly affecting our privileges and oppressions. People do not always think about their interactions despite them playing a pivotal role in our human experience. This is what causes some writers to feel the need to put them into words so that maybe more people will look at themselves and do some thinking about their own intersections. Some of the authors that I believe have done this well are Patricia Collins in her work titled Black Feminist Thought. Another work that discussed intersectionality well is titled “A Black Feminist Statement” which is powerful in the way it discusses how race interacts with womanhood. The final piece I feel as though needs discussed is Women, Race, and Class which is a piece written by Angela Davis that discusses the intersections that can be seen in

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

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.

Intersectionality is a term that describes the ways which oppressive institutions such as, sexism, homophobia, racism, classism etc interact. Categories such as gender, ethnicity, poverty and mental illness reinforce each other in ’‘Women on the Edge of Time’’ and they overdetermine a negative outcome. Piercy put Connie in positions where she came to understand sexism, working class opression and white supremacy in both her personal life and in Mattapoisett.

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”,

Intersectionality is a term that was introduced by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who is known to be an American civil rights advocate. The term itself helps one explore identity beyond race and gender, and more into concepts such as racism or oppression. The term also discusses further critical insight on race, class, gender, ethnicity, and so on, and how they all shape social inequality (Collins, 2015, p. 2). One cannot escape what is taught by large institutions such as educational or police sectors as it has become a collective way of understanding. Intersectionality helps us gain an insight to as why certain things are the way that they are when it comes to our own identity.

Sociology is one of those that focuses on the social construction of race followed by gender and class and many other social axes that intertwine with one another and combined or alone create social issues. These social complexities limits people and reduces the diversity experience that we have in our day-to-day lives. When analyzing every single independent issue, we notice that often times when one person of color speaks or gives their perspective they are believed to be speaking for all people of color. Here intersectionality challenges this belief that anyone can speak on behalf of anyone of their race. The purpose of intersectionality in the nature of this paper is to display how race, gender and class are not social issues that are different from one another but are focused on separately.

Up to now, I do not what think about intersectionality. I understand the usefulness of it as Collins phrases it (as an academic field, as a strategy and as critical praxis). However, many intersectionality scholars tend to ignore the asymmetries across “races”/classes, genders, and so on. A good example of this, is Crenshaw’s article; I would not argue that black women, are being oppressed by a) their gender b) their color. However, focusing exclusively on “violence perpetrated by men under the same race”, leaves aside the rest of factors of systematic oppression and structural discrimination. For instance, the violence exercised by white women or white men against them. It seems that by solely using intersectionality we are reproducing the

For example, a high income, homosexual, Hispanic male describes his intersectionality. Bowleg (2012) discusses the need to further define intersectionality in terms

I hate this question. However, I have been asked to disclose my “preferential order of causes” by black men, white women, and white men. I hate the question because it assumes that black causes are solely male and women causes are solely white. However, there is a whole bunch of gray and women of color fall right in the middle of it. Intersectionality is defined as the study of the interconnection between the discriminative or oppressive systemic practices of disenfranchised groups or minorities. It examines the oppressive institutions, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia, and determines how they related and affect one and other.

In order to establish a dialogue between women of color and white women, it is necessary to understand what intersectionality is. Intersectionality theory accounts for the levels of oppression a person has to confront (Ramsay, 455). For example,

Kimberle Crenshaw, African-American legal theorist used intersectionality for the first time while discussing unique position of black women in anti discrimination law and arguing that the experiences of black women have both race and class and in this way challenged the universal gendered experience (Monk, 2011, p. 88 and Edna, 2012, p. 2100). Intersectionality is a method, rooted in black feminism and critical race theory and an analytical tool that can move according to time, disciplines, issues and boundaries for gender and economic justice (Devon, et al, 2013, p.303; Samuels and Sheriff, 2008).