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Identity, Intersectionality, And Power

Decent Essays

What do these words mean? How do identity, intersectionality, and power relate to feminism? Are they important? Or are they just another set of words used to emphasize feminism?

Identity. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines identity as "the fact of being who or what a person or thing is" (n.d.). Identity is whatever you think you are-whether it's birth gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or sexual identity (Bredin, Module 1, Lecture 3). Identity goes hand-in-hand with intersectionality, which is the combination of categories that you classify yourself with. Confusing, I know, but it will all come together. Now that we have defined identity and intersectionality, we can now examine how it is related to power by using the Gender/Identity/Power …show more content…

In reality, the Gender/Identity/Power Pyramid doesn't work like how Michael Foucault suggests it. It works exactly like whoever is on top will rule, and those who give them "power" suffers from it and we refer to it as hierarchical power. Hierarchical power is when "someone above enforces social codes and behaviors for the others below" (Bredin, Module 1, Lecture …show more content…

What classes does she identify herself with? She’s African-American, woman, lawyer, mother, daughter, wife, and the First Lady of the United States. As what we have watched in the video, her being in the White House did not exempt her from experiencing the same struggles that every women, especially women of color, face every single day. Despite the insults and doubts that the public has thrown at her and President Barack Obama, she used this opportunity to increase awareness about inequality by inspiring the younger generation to never give up on their dreams no matter what their identities are (Baker,

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