Intersectionality

When thinking about the categorization of people, what terms come to mind? Gender? Race? Social class? If you were forced to classify each person into a single category, would you be able to? Probably not. It is impossible to define a person simply by a single category such as “female”, as it provides no distinction between the billions of other females in the world. To define a person, you must encompass all the different categories that one fits into, and consider their effects on identity both individually and combined- with these combined effects being defined as “intersectionality.”

Formally, intersectionality is defined as “the study of intersections between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination” (Wikipedia). The term came into existence during the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 70’s, mostly being used by African American women to emphasize that “white middle-class women did not serve as an accurate representation of the feminist movement as a whole” (Wikipedia). African American women were being treated especially unfair during this time period as they were seen as a minority in both the categories of feminism and in their race. Different people experience different challenges pertaining to their lives which not everyone would be able to relate to or understand, and thus, people must realize that different classifications provide different obstacles for said groups to overcome. Feminism was aiming to increase women’s rights of the women in the majority; however, it needed to be acknowledged that the term feminism encompassed all women, no matter what race.

Intersectionality stems from the idea that when someone is part of more than one group facing discrimination, then it can at times become hard to distinguish what the basis of oppression is, therefore the two groups must both be considered.

Works Cited

Collins, Patricia Hill. "Patricia Hill Collins: Intersecting Oppressions." Sagepub. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <http://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/13299_Chapter_16_Web_Byte_Patricia_Hill_Collins.pdf>.

Crenshaw, Kimberle. "Intersectionality: The Double Bind of Race and Gender." Perspectives. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/perspectives_magazine/women_perspectives_Spring2004CrenshawPSP.authcheckdam.pdf>.

"Intersectionality." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality>.