Essays on Intersectionality
Intersectionality is an analytical concept used to identify, analyze and understand the complexities of social stratification that occur due to an individual’s intersecting identities. It was first coined in 1989 by KimberlĂ© Crenshaw, a professor at UCLA School of Law, who argued that discrimination based on race or gender must be understood as overlapping systems which together create a unique experience for each person affected. Intersectionality understands how these different aspects of identity ” such as race, gender, class and sexuality ” can coalesce to create greater levels of marginalization and oppression than any single factor could produce on its own. At its core, intersectionality looks beyond what appears to be isolated issues affecting one group by recognizing the ways in which various forms of inequality overlap with one another and impact multiple people simultaneously. For example, racism can lead to lower paying jobs for certain racial minorities; when combined with sexism this can lead to women from minority backgrounds being paid even less than men doing similar work. In addition to economic disadvantages, intersectional analysis has been used to study other areas such as education access and health outcomes for individuals facing multiple forms of oppression. Importantly, it also challenges us not only look at differences between groups but also pay attention at differences within them – so-called ĂąâŹËintersectional invisibility’ occurs when members of one group are more privileged than others within their group due to factors like age or ability status. This means that policies addressing inequality may have unintended consequences if they do not take into account the range of diversity found within each group they seek to help. By understanding the power dynamics created by varying forms of social disadvantage we can begin tackling systemic inequality more effectively through policy changes designed specifically for marginalized communities rather than relying solely on blanket solutions which often fail those most deeply affected by injustice or unaware about their rights & entitlements in society .
The event I attended was a presentation given by Dr. Dean Franco, a professor in the English department and director of the Humanities Institute at Wake Forest. This event consisted of Franco talking about his new book, The Border and the Line – Race, Literature, and Los Angeles, published in January of 2019. The event […]
Universalism refers to the concept which argues that some ideologies have can be generalized and are thus applicable universally. Marxists feminism is one of the most popular examples of such a universalist theory in feminism, which states the capitalist mode of production as the inherent reason for female oppression in the world (Glenn 1992: 1). […]
Over the course of DOC , we were given superficial definitions of keywords where each played a critical role in developing U.S history. But through class analysis and readings, my insight of the problematic history of white dominant America expanded. In each keyword comes multiplicable layers that erase the transparency of my past definitions of […]
College students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) experience a higher risk of psychopathological disorders such as but not limited to anxiety and depression due to the addition of imposed psychological stress that comes with identifying as a sexual or gender minority. (Borgogna, McDermott, Aita, & Kridel, 2018). These LGBTQ studentâs […]
Women are more vulnerable to environmental hazards than men because of social and economic roles women hold. In many social structures, women are usually discriminated in the labor force. Since the 1800s, women have fought to attain better working conditions, higher wages, and an end to sex discrimination. Because men and women tend to have […]
Intersectionality is a theory of how various social identities, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class, and their overlap contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual. While Intersectionality is a theory of how various social identities, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class, and their overlap contributes to […]
It is a challenging pursuit for people to extract racism, sexism, and hetersexism among other systems of opression from their daily lives. The truth, is if you are a woman, queer person, or person of color, it is twice if not three times harder to eliminate these types of oppression. This is because these systems […]
Persepolis is a graphic autobiography written by Marjane Satrapi that depicts her childhood and adulthood in Iran, during the Iranian Revolution, among other places around the world. Throughout Marjaneâs story, we are introduced to many of the topics that were introduced to us during our class. Because of this, I was able to understand her […]
