Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How race and gender have affected us in society
How does race and enthnicity shape identity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In “Intersectional Resistance and Law Reform,” Dean Spade proposes that the United States was founded through “racialization…(which) continues to operate under new guises… that produce, manage, and deploy gender categories and sexuality and family norms” (16). More over, these laws and norms tend to maintain the “status quo,” and employ an inherently flawed justice system that is only equipped to address single-axis discrimination issues (5). Thus, the intersectionality movement is largely dismissed by the social and justice systems, as it utilizes “critical intersectional tools… that are often (too) difficult for legal scholars to comprehend” (17). Interstionality’s progress is also impeded by advocates leaving to support single-axis issues. However, Spade warns that this approach is ineffective, as it fails to protect the most marginalized members of society.
Race, gender, and class, while commonly thought of as separate, are deeply intertwined with one-another. In his book Iron Cages, Ronald Takaki explores and lays out both the ways in which these three connected the ways they are not and the underlying reasons as to why. Following will be the analysis of the three in pairs, so as to better break down the comparisons among the three in relation to one another, concluded with the intersection of all three. Beginning with race and gender, it goes without says that masculinity was emphasized when referring to peoples of color, and femininity was emphasized when referring to white people. This appears to have been used as a way to paint people of color as threats whilst maintaining the white person
The authors stress that the impact of patriarchy on women, along with issues of class and race, is significant. They view intersectionality as an aspect to consider when understanding oppression. By defining it as the connection between forms of discrimination like racism, sexism, and classism, they set the stage for their argument. They believe that looking at intersectionality offers an approach to addressing the hurdles black women encounter and stresses the need to consider various forms of oppression in fights for freedom. In their analysis, they show how intersectionality shapes their views on justice and feminist
Based on their ethnicity, gender, and economic situation, the characters in the book experience prejudice and marginalization. The experiences of black women, who confront particular difficulties because of their ethnicity and gender, are highlighted in the book. Black women still experience bias and discrimination in both the job and in their personal life, which is a problem
Frye particularly seems to gloss over oppression women of color experiences due to their race because it “divides [women] against each other practically and economically.” (87) While her intentions may not be to contribute to the erasure of their experiences (because, as noted earlier, she does acknowledge how oppressed people often do partake in their erasure), there still seems to be a lack of recognition for the importance of intersectionality. Both Frye and Young’s works lack significant discussion of internalized misogyny, and the psychological oppression experienced by women. Neither are without flaws, but Young offers a more inclusive and substantial definition and approach to what constitutes
Very often, Asian women are portrayed as submissive and hypersexualized, not just in film but in various social contexts. This creates a set of symbolic meanings that external people internalize and act upon. Symbolic interactionism shows how these symbols and their meanings perpetuate the marginalization and objectification of Asian women. Intersectionality: Intersectionality examines how social identities all intersect and create unique experiences for discrimination, and the other side of discrimination: privilege. Social identities
For example, police brutality, gender norms, and economic inequality. The video raises awareness about intersectional oppression that many Black women experience. This message is particularly significant as Black women face unique and complex forms of oppression that many other groups do not relate to. In "A Black Feminist Statement," the author highlights how “black feminists often talk about their feelings of craziness before becoming conscious of the concepts of sexual politics, patriarchal rule; and most importantly, feminism, the political analysis and practice that we women use to struggle against our oppression.” Therefore, it is crucial for Black women to understand and engage with these concepts to resist and overcome their oppression.
Based on class content such as readings and educational documentaries it is clear that women of all backgrounds share universal struggles, including how to deal with infused social standards. Over the course of the semester, hearing in depth recounts of not only practices forced upon females to make them adhere to certain beauty and purity standards but also witness access being denied to certain female groups (especially those of color) in order to keep women from progressing up the social and economic ladder has put the story, appearance and outlook of every woman in perspective. Each individual has to deal with a unique aspect of being female that has greatly affected her life in a way unfathomable for a male in America. Conducting an interview
Gender proves that there is still a hierarchy that exists for those denied the status of “human”, it is not a universal bottom but a web of intersectional oppression. Sylvia Wynters notes that domination needs a cultural model, such as female domesticity, that encourages exploitation. Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun presents the division between community and identity in black womanhood. Beneatha denies to sacrifice herself, but faces rejection from her black female peers. However, Ruth puts herself second only to realize it will never be enough.
Without applying intersectionality in analysis, oppression can only be understood in general terms, which can cause forms of oppression to become undetected (Mattsson, 2014). Instead, intersectionality, demonstrates the complexity of gender, sexuality, class, and race avoiding stereotypes as a whole, rather than simplifying an individual based on one characteristic (Mattsson, 2014). For example, when I was working at a Community Centre in the Jane and Finch area, I had a conversation with my co-worker. He described the barriers and struggles he has faced because of his race and socioeconomic status. It was through this conversation that I realized the pre-conceived notions my co-worker had about me, as a white individual who did not grow-up in the same neighbourhood.
Some of these are intersecting roads, Grand Canyon, kaleidoscope, fly 's eye, swirls of cake, the finished product after blending baking ingredients. Organizations such as the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) and theWomen of Color Policy Network (WCPN) depict intersectionality using wheel diagrams. CRIAW 's model show how experiences shape exclusion from individual to macro-forces while WCPN show social equality issues which are also shaped from the microlevel to macrolevel (Ibid.) Although these researchers and organizations have different depictions of intersectionality, they all provide a deeper understanding of how this approach works. Intersectionality is a device that offers a multi-level and a bottom-up critical analysis.
Feminist therapy attempts to make the marginalized viewpoint central, and modern-day feminist therapy and theory often addresses the concerns of people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender-variant individuals; people with special needs; immigrants; refugees; and more (Corey, 2009). Those who have experienced oppression may be able to find a treatment that can inspire social transformation in addition to addressing mental health concerns (Nutt et al., 2007). Many women have experienced systematic oppression and discrimination for centuries and are still experiencing it during this day and age. With this discrimination often comes numerous gender-specific obstacles and stressors, such as victimization and violence, unrealistic
This is not the case for Latinas, and Black women who tend to receive the full extent of the law along with their male counterparts. While this only examines one issue with intersectionality in the courts, identifying this problem can help to begin the process to fix the great issues. In conclusion, intersectionality has flourished in people’s minds after it had been coined by Black-feminist Kimberle Crenshaw in the late 1980’s (Sarah & Jones, 2018).
Kareen Harboyan English 1C Professor Supekar March 15, 2018 Word Count: Crenshaw’s Mapping the Margins: The Marginalization of Women of Color Analyzed Through Generalization and A Feminist Lens Crenshaw's Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color expands on the multifaceted struggles of women of color and the generalizations ingrained in society that limit women of color and keep them in a box. In this text, Crenshaw builds on the concept of intersectionality which proposes that social categorizations such as gender and race are intertwined and have great influence on one another.
Recently, in class, we discussed hybridity and intersectionality. Hybridity is defined as having two or more cultural identities where as intersectionality is defined as an overlapping of different cultural identities. At the beginning of the discussion, I was not really sure what the difference of the two were, until I realized hybridity was specifically two or more different identities within the specific culture. These topics really interested me because I, personally, can relate to hybridity since I am of mixed race.