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My intersectionality essay
My intersectionality essay
Theorizing intersectionality
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Write an essay that explains and illustrates the significance of taking an intersectional approach to queer studies. Intersectionality is a theory which states that people have multiple identities and therefore belong to more than one community and thus experience multiple oppressions at the same time. Those who face multiple oppressions because of their layered identities are mostly queer women of color. Taking an intersectional approach to queer studies means exposing the inequalities and disadvantages that occur when people have multiple identities in order for transformational political work to happen. People of color, especially lesbian women of color experience this layered oppression.
Identity is how a person is perceived by both themselves and others. Combining different values, experiences, and distinguishing characteristics make up a person's identity. Intersectionality is how people are disadvantaged due to race, gender, and status, which shape their identity. This disadvantage is evident through the oppression and discrimination towards the individual and their identity. In Brent Staples' essay "Black Men in Public Spaces," we learn how appearance, a defining aspect of identity, can lead to unwarranted discrimination and trepidation.
Gloria Steinem: Female Activist Gloria Steinem rose to national fame as a feminist leader in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s for her work as a journalist, activist and political organizer. Her tireless efforts to lobby for social and economic equality allowed Gloria to emerge as an enduring symbol of female liberation. She advocates for intersectional feminism which examines the intersections where forms of oppression overlap and looks at the institutions and conditions hindering women from advancing as a whole. Gloria adapts her approach to issues as the social and political landscape transforms and she continues to promote an intersectional feminist agenda in a paradoxical world where many changes have occurred, but many issues remain.
1.The theory/concept of intersectionality is a theory centered around oppression, domination and discrimination through various mediums from the social and cultural elements of society. The theory can be applied in many ways toward women as well as their involvement in the criminal justice system. Some forms of discrimination that is more prevalent in perceiving the individual is using a woman's status, race, sexual orientation, ability and age, however there can be more added to this list. The wiki article said “The theory proposes that we should think of each element or trait of a person as inextricably linked with all of the other elements in order to fully understand one's identity.”
Individuals go through oppressive conditions because they are classified in groups that are defined on the basis of common characteristics such as: gender, class, sexuality, and age. These social groups have particular attributes and stereotypes associated with them; however, in this response, the importance of acknowledging gender through the lens of race and racism is crucial. Women of color may have individual experiences of racial and gender discrimination in which the effected oppression is increasing and widespread. Through the examination of the readings and films, intersectionality guides us to recognize the coercion that occurs in our daily lives. Intersectionality is a vital device that allows one to understand how individuals face
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.
Midterm Intersectionality: As a human being you are not bound nor placed into one single group or category. You yourself do not identify solely by gender or race. There are multiple aspects to you that make you who you are; it consists on how you see yourself and how the world perceives you. Intersectionality is the interwoven identities that make up who you are: race, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, etc. They are interdependent and can be shaped by one’s own personal experiences.
Intersectionality has been considered an essential aspect of feminist and queer theory, particularly within the last twenty years. Theorist began to recognize that without considering other avenues of oppression their ideas would only go so far and apply to a limited number of people. While recognition and application are innately different, both queer and feminist works have made real attempts to be more inclusive. Yet in many of the attempts made, there is a faltering in what it means to truly be intersectional. Simply mentioning race and class in addition to gender and sexuality is not enough.
It’s not just simply a single identity but one can have multiple identities that determine their privileges and social experiences. Just thinking gender “neglects race and class; thus, it is an incomplete framework for understanding social inequality” (West and Fenstermarker, pg.9). One who suffers from oppression at the intersection of those three identities is more oppressed, but oppression is not simply ranked. Gender, race, and class are all connected and operate together that determine a person’s social experiences and access to resources. For example, women experience oppression but it discounts the different social experiences of a rich White woman versus a poor Black woman.
According to the English Oxford Dictionary, intersectionality is the, “Interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d). Intersectionality is a way of acknowledging and comprehending that everyone’s identity has more than one attribute or social category; it’s how everyone experiences their own identity in their own unique way. For instance, in the article, Why intersectionality can’t wait, the writer Kimberlé Crenshaw, talked about a group of black women who prosecuted General Motors for discrimination (Crenshaw, 2015). Crenshaw spoke about how
Moreover, Intersectional feminism opens the door for oppressed women who are different from the overly white, middle class, cis-gendered and able-bodied women who claim to “want power for all women”, but will not advocate and let her privilege be called out by a woman of a different race. Another key point is that though people of white decent cannot be oppressed in the ways that a person of color can be, they can use their privilege to bring light upon the people who need help. If society would shine more light on the oppressed women of the world, then they could understand the trauma and heartbreak it feels like to not be treated equally to a woman of the Caucasian
Maryam Nazari is 21 years old, from Afghanistan. She is asthmatic, freezing and has no access to her medication. She is waiting for the Slovenian police to direct her to a camp 9 km away, to walk there without any means of transportation. Maryam’s sister has a 6 month old baby, the rest of the family is visibly upset. She unsuccessfully tried to get help from doctors, the police and the Red Cross at the Slovenian border.
I define intersectionality as having different life experiences and multiple identities that intersect. For example, the EOP program here on campus helps students who are first generation college students. They often have specific needs and obstacles. These students are sometimes below the poverty line. These two identities intersect because having family members who have never been to college often results in making less money which limits the chances of their children going to school.
Moreover, women with a foreign background should not have more difficulties when searching for jobs nor should women with other skin color than white feel invisible the mainstream media. One of the main arguments against intersectionality within feminism, is that intersectionality will cause feminism to be more about who to feel the sorriest for instead of improving feminism. I totally disagree with that argument on the ground that I believe intersectionality is rather about the fact that all of us experience events differently therefor it is crucial to listen to everyone’s experiences nevertheless to not place each other´s experiences into a hierarchy of who to emphasize the most.
In this article, we will be discussing how feminism is still needed as there is a lack of gender equality. Till this day there are still women that are not given the opportunity to be educated like men, females’ salaries are less than males’ salaries and women are treated as if their job is to serve men. Women and men should have equal rights because no one is more superior to the other gender. Sexism is still a struggle in our society that has to be tackled as it makes us as women feel unworthy and not capable of things that we can actually do. We are all human beings therefore we all have the same abilities as well as we all have goals we want to achieve but it is a struggle for women more than it is for men.