“Intersectionality” is defined as the interrelated nature of societal classifications such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, viewed as generating intersecting and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. In order to study these social formations one must understand “how they mutually construct one another” (Collins, 62). President Barack Obama expresses that anyone can be a LGBT individual and therefore we should support those we know with no judgment or cruelty stating, “Every single American — gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, transgender — every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our society. It’s a pretty simple proposition. (Obama …show more content…
“A National Transgender Discrimination Survey of nearly 6,000 respondents revealed that about 38 percent were parents and at least 18 percent had at least one dependent child” (James), which is honorable considering that many divorced spouses will use their transition as a reason why transgender individuals should not have either primary custody, partial custody and or visitations rights. Leslie Cooper a senior staff attorney with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project American Civil Liberties union wrote a Guide for fellow lawyers and Transgender Parents called Transgender Parents and Their Children: A Guide for Parents and Lawyers states that you advise Transgender individuals who are in the process of a divorce or a modification should not only show evidence in the case of transitioning, but also get psychologists, as well as transitional doctors to testify in the stability of the individual as well as displaying support to both the individual and the child through testimony on the child’s welfare when they are in the company of the transgender parent. How can someone who has no jurisdiction in Transgender issues advise a Transgender individual that they should not have custody or visitation to their own child to prevent the possibility of a child either following in or becoming a Transgender or the mental capacity of the child in understanding what it means to be
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.
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
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.
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.
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 is defined as how systems of inequality mutually constitute and reinforce each other (Anderson, 2015).” It is important to understand that gender, race, class and sexuality work simultaneously in interlocking systems of oppression that create inequality. Injustice is not caused by a singular force so it would be a mistake to only examine one variable at a time. For example, if it were true that the Caucasian male was not questioned or arrested on the basis of his skin color than there would not be any Caucasian males in prison for theft.
The central idea of this article is about the unfair treatment people are facing because of intersectionality. Such as Nicole, her grades are suffering, shes always late to class,etc. As The teachers dont dig deep into why she is late and her grades are suffering. They believe because she is a female African she is not doing well in her classes. What they dont know is that her socioeconomic status is low, and she has to take care of her two younger siblings.
Chapter#2 discusses the meaning of intersectionality. It also discusses ways to apply intersectional analysis to research on racism. This chapter also informs its readers on how to design a research on perceived racism.
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
My personal definition of Intersectionality is the study when society or someone classifies a person as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc. After viewing the video, it’s sad to say I was not really shocked at how the onlookers reacted to each person. In the video each person was categorized differently and had somewhat different experiences and reactions. In this case I believe the main intersectionality results that the three people experienced were race, gender and class.
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
I am applying intersectionality and the sociological imagination to my intersecting identities: class, gender, and ethnicity. By employing intersectionality and the sociological imagination, I am analyzing how my positionality affected my personal experiences while connecting those events with society. I also included five peer-reviewed articles as supporting evidence.
Intersectionality is the study of intersections between different disenfranchised groups or groups of minorities. The theory of intersectionality stems from various socially and culturally constructed categorical groups, who are discriminated against based on their race, class, gender or other social inequalities. Historically, these groups have interacted on multiple levels and are simultaneously oppressed, stigmatized, marginalized through many means, such as indentured servitude, mass incarceration, collateral consequences, etc. Additionally, the issues racism and sexism are intertwined on many levels, and cannot be abolished individually. Therefore, in order to eliminate these different types of oppressions, the system (body of government, society) should be made more
To be a person, requires intersectionality. Intersectionality is the idea that people do not function on only one aspect of their being, but instead, function on every aspect. Aspects that include race, gender, ability, etc. With this intersectionality comes innumerable categories that lie on the scale of privileged, oppressed, or somewhere in between. To be privileged is to have advantages that are not necessarily earned, and instead come with a specific, usually uncontrollable feature, such as race, gender, class, and ability. To be oppressed is to have disadvantages that are not earned, but instead come with the same uncontrollable categories as privilege. Even cis-gendered, heterosexual, white, men have aspects of their intersectionality that might not place them at the top of the privilege hierarchy. And it is in these complications where people start to place doubts on their own privileges. It is important to realize that it is nearly impossible to have privilege in every single way or oppression in every single way, yet, this is not an excuse to deny privileges. Even with some oppressions, some are still granted more advantages than others. To delve into this deeper, analyzing writings from established writers, such as Peggy McIntosh and Devon Carbado become necessary.
Intersectionality has truly opened my eyes in cases where there is a possibility where two systems of oppression can be working together to make life a struggle for a certain group or race. In the political world when someone feels that they are being mistreated or being taken advantage of they make their voice heard. They search for the correct people to help them in their situation and once in court and they feel that they have been mistreated for example racially and gender discrimination the question now becomes well which one is it? Gender or race? It cannot be both. Well, why can’t we choose both options each is a brick in the wall of oppression that everyone has faced at least once in their life. Not to generalize the fact that people face more walls in their life than others based on certain privileges from the type of skin, class, or the global power of wealth and how much it is used for ill intentions. Intersectionality creates lenses in seeing the “bricks” of the wall, seeing what each one stands for and what it does to us. However, it also shows us where it is weak and way for us as scholars to find the weak points and change our groups future where we will no longer fear to speak about the injustices we see every day and will be able to fight and give knowledge to our “enemy” as well for they could see their error as well.