Intersectionality is a sociological and critical theory about how an individual can face multiple threats such as oppression, domination and discrimination when their various biological, social and cultural identities overlap such as gender, race, sex, wealth, age, ability, sexuality and many other characteristics. Intersectionality maintains that oppressive institutions such as racism, classism, ageism and countless more “isms”, are interconnected and do not act separately of one another. The idea of intersectionality applies to both genders but is traditionally applied to women. Victoria Bromley, author of Feminism Matters: Debates, Theories and Activism expresses intersectionality by explaining how power is utilized in various forms to empower …show more content…
In Feminism Matters, Victoria Bromley analyses the use of power and how it intertwines with intersectionality and the feminist culture. There are two different ways that power is visualized in our society. The first branch she discusses, is empowerment. Bromley defines empowerment as a power that permits people to live more accomplished lives. Empowerment is an important aspect of feminism as it promotes power to be shared and be used for good instead of evil. Bromley believes that empowerment is “collective, expansive, and beneficial…Empowerment increases the social, economic, political and spiritual strength of individuals and their communities” (Bromley 50). The other side of power that Bromley mentions is the power that focuses on the systems of inclusion and exclusion, hierarchies of privilege and the system of domination and subordination. This type of power is what defines the struggle of intersectionality and what feminists want to eliminate in our society. It defines the fact that women are all the same and share the exact same life experiences; which is untrue. Another big aspect of
According to feminist Victoria L. Bromley, if feminism is about combating all forms of inequalities, including oppression, towards all social groups, then feminists must study how masculinity oppresses both men and women. Patriarchy, men’s powers and dominance, hegemonic masculinity, the idea that the “dominant group” in society is most powerful, and hyper masculinity, the exaggeration of the emphasis on male characteristics, all lead to oppression through multiple forms: privileges and unearned privileges, hierarchies of power and exclusion. Bromley argues that the feminist approach towards eliminating oppression, is to use an intersectional analysis, a theoretical tool used for understanding how multiple identities are connected and how systems
According to feminist scholar Victoria Bromley, intersectionality is a theory used by feminists that considers the intertwinement of systems of oppressions, intricate multiple identities of individuals, and social inequalities of society. Each of these factors influence the lives of humanity and have ultimately created a world where being different can either be a negative or positive thing. Through the use of expression and persuasion, Bromely argues that intersectionality analyzes the complexity of multiple identities and their interrelationships, the experiences and positionalities of those with multiple identities and their existence within the frameworks of power, which are systems of inclusion and exclusion, and hierarchies of privilege,
“[T]he cage may or may not be specifically developed for the purpose of trapping the bird, yet it still operates (together with the other wires) to restrict its freedom” (Alexander, 184). This metaphor used by Michelle Alexander gives a good basis on the idea of intersectionality within feminist theory. What Alexander has stressed hugely in ‘The New Jim Crow’ is the idea of racial hierarchy, which bell hooks also stresses in her chapter Men: Comrades in Struggle in her book ‘Feminist Theory: from margin to center.’ She discusses the hierarchy of men and women while also discussing race. She claims that the history of the feminist movement has not wanted to “acknowledge that bourgeois white women, though often victimized by sexism, have more
Patricia Hill Collins outlines the existence of three different dimensions of gender oppression: institutional, symbolic, and individual. The institutional dimension consists of systemic relationship of domination structured through social institutions, such as government, the workplace or education institutions. In other words, this dimension explains “who has the power”. This is completely related to a patriarchal society. Patriarchy is the manifestation and institutionalism of male dominance. This means that men hold power in all institutions, while women are denied the access to this power. The symbolic dimension of oppression is based on widespread socially sanctioned ideologies used to justify relations of domination. It reflects inequality
Feminism analyzes how men have more social power than women and as a result, they use their social privileges above women (Ravelli and Webber 70). Likewise, feminism examines the political and social inequality occurring between both genders and highlight the patriarchy of men (Ravelli and Webber 70). Patriarchy is used to describe how male dominate the culture and the social system (Ravelli and Webber 71). When feminists understand a women’s experience, they consider her race and social class this is the concept of intersectionality (Ravelli and Webber 73). In intersectionality, they recognize the oppression women experience various for every individual (Ravelli and Webber 73). In the Aboriginal community, violence occurs because of the men’s inability to be superior. Although functionalism and feminism explain the disruption in the Aboriginal community, functionalism demonstrates a greater responsibly the police force has for the
The identities have tended to be divided into some different categories, such as gender, race, and class, and these sources have been judged in the different ways. In other words, the different determinant factors of the individuality have been considered separately, and these components have been regarded as a unrelated simple category. Under these points of view, however, it is hard to recognize the problems of interrelated individual component of the identity. Thus, to solve the disregarding crossover point, the new theory of the “intersectionality” are essential. This essay explores the key definition of the “intersectionality” from the viewpoint of gender studies, and how the concept is connected with the social system and individual identity
Intersectionality is complex. For example, I experience race differently as a black female than a black man does. And similarly, a white woman experiences sexism differently than me. Despite the four systems of oppression that were discussed, there are also many ways in which I am privileged. As someone who conforms to gender norms, is heterosexual, able-bodied, credentialed, young, middle class, and fertile, my standing in society is a lot higher than most. The unique thing about intersectionality is both the oppression and privilege have made me into who I am today and have ultimately changed me for the better.
The principal of empowerment lies in the capability of a woman to control her own purposes. Previously in the 70’s, being an empowered women wasn’t an option. They didn’t have equal capabilities such as education to achieve literacy, health and equal access to resources and opportunities such as employment with same wage as men. However, to use those rights, skills, resources, and opportunities to make deliberate decisions such as providing through management opportunities and involvement in political organizations, weren’t an option either. Also women wanted to live without the fear of pressure and violence threw out those historical times. Because the stereotype for women was the proper place for them to be was home while men worked to provide for his family. These boundaries have made men the guardians of what has been taught and understood concerning gender and the placement of men and women in society. However, this perspective has changed over the years. Women have now stepped outside of those powerless limits of domesticity and have now been recognized as gender equality. Women today in society now have strengthen opportunities for a proper education, assurance for sexual and reproductive health and rights, abolish gender discrimination in employment by decreasing women’s dependence as a house wife as an employment, increased women’s share of seats in
Intersectionality according to Patricia Hill Collins is the “theory of the relationship between race, gender and class” (1990), also known as the “matrix of domination” (2000). This matrix shows that there is no one way to understand the complex nature of how gender, race and class inequalities within women’s lives can be separated; for they are intertwined within each other.
This essay will be unpacking and analysing the different elements that create my own intersectionality in my life. This essay will be discussing how class, gender/sex and race have influenced who I am and the experiences I have had throughout my life, and how various structures impact these experiences, with reference to the Crenshaw and Dill and Zambara articles, I will connect their thoughts and ideas to the intersectionality of my own life.
The theory of intersectionality as a whole can be applied to more than the experiences of race and gender, incorporating the various aspects which make up an individual, to better explain the unique experiences felt by various groups of similar individuals. Within the field of feminist discourse, there are two theorists who have employed the theory of intersection to more powerfully punctuate the issues which they discuss. This paper shall focus on how the theory of intersectionality is applied to two articles, put forth by Angela Davis and Julietta Hua, to further explain and understand the complexities of the particular fields of discourse they represent.
Intersectionality is a term used to describe a situation whereby an individual has multiple identities and as result, the person feels that he or she doesn’t belong to one community or another. Because of the many conflicts in an individual’s identities, he or she could be a victim of multiple threats of discrimination (Williams, 2017). The discrimination could be a result of race, gender, age, health and ethnicity among others. To give an example, a black transgender woman could be discriminated in the workplace because of being black and also because she is transgender. From an intersectionality perspective, the woman faces multiple threats of discrimination because of the overlapping identities of gender and race and therefore the transwoman faces a bigger struggle (Barber, 2017). Transwomen of color will most likely encounter prejudices in the form of homophobia, racism or sexism in many dimensions of their life. The perspective of intersectionality is not only applicable to women but it can also be applied to males. For example, a gay Latino man could be discriminated based on race because he is an immigrant into
Intersectionality also known as intersectional theory originally was a theory which was encoded in feminism. Intersectionality was a term in which feminists developed to explain how they were being socially oppressed because they were woman, in particular this theory addressed issues of the women’s suffrage movement and women wanting to retain the same rights as their male counterparts. As time progressed it became more common to see see it branched out into multidimensional levels of institutions such as- race, class, sexism, culture, religion, and even biological transgender. Intersectionality by definition aims to analyze multiple identities exposing different types of discrimination and disadvantages that occur
Among the many subjects covered in this book are the three classes of oppression: gender, race and class in addition to the ways in which they intersect. As well as the importance of the movement being all-inclusive, advocating the idea that feminism is in fact for everybody. The author also touches upon education, parenting and violence. She begins her book with her key argument, stating that feminist theory and the movement are mainly led by high class white women who disregarded the circumstances of underprivileged non-white women.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...