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Week 10: Intersectionality


Intersectionality is an idea that I was only introduced to a little under two years ago. Like with a lot of social justice issues, my first real exposure and exploration came when I joined TFA. But watching the video of Kimberle Crenshaw's TED talk brought up a lot of issues that have been given much more meaning to me as I have been exposed to this idea.

The exercise she did with the audience was really powerful, especially because I was similarly unaware of the four women she brought up despite knowing who all four men were. Intersectionality, especially the intersection of race and gender, has very much been a topic of conversation with how big the Black Lives Matter and Women's Rights Movements have become in the last few years. Black Lives Matter, despite being run and led by many women, has rallied around the injustices black men have faced. Similarly, the Women's movement has been criticized for its perceived singular "white middle-class woman" narrative.

Particularly with the women's movement and marches happening, women of color have felt neglected, dismissed, and disregarded, especially when looking at the way in which white women voted in the last election. Not to mention that the median income for African American women is lower than both African American men and white women.

Unfortunately, this is just one example of why it is so important and necessary to understand and engage in conversations about intersectionality. Race and gender are just two pieces of the identity puzzle, and the Crenshaw video just sparked a lot of thoughts about these two in particular, especially given how present the issues have been in our nation.

Comments

  1. Victoria RestlerMarch 19, 2018 at 6:54 AM

    Thanks for your post Haley and for linking these readings on intersectionality to current events and the problems with white feminism past and present. I realize that none of these articles/videos really calls out or challenges white feminism, but it is the unspoken subtext. Makes me think also about the recent youth movements against gun violence and the differential reception that Parkland students and BLM youth activists have received. Although on the left, we KNOW that trickle down economics doesn't work, there is often a willingness to subscribe to a version of trickle-down social justice that similarly has not worked for folks navigating intersectional social oppressions.

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