Krissy's Intersectionanity: An Analysis

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The novel challenges heteronormative ideology by demonstrating intersectionality and how each aspect of Krissy is vital to who she is. Intersectionality is incredibly prominent in the novel, as Krissy has a multitude of aspects that inform her identity. Heteronormative ideology is about looking at heterosexuality as the norm, and the un-questioned ‘given’. Intersectionality in this novel is key to Krissy’s identity, and her identity is unique because she is not binaried. Krissy’s gender identity, biological sex, her athletic career, title as Homecoming Queen, her mother passing away, her boyfriend dumping her, and her experiences with public rejection and her classmates actions, are all a part of who she is. At one doctors appointment, Krissy …show more content…

She is a college level athlete, and her scholarship to State takes a great deal of pressure off her dad and it is something she has been working toward for years. She is heterosexual, which allows the reader to focus on how the novel queers the heteronormative, rather than nitpicking about how the main character is queer. The various aspects of Krissy’s identity are all interconnected, and “McClinton argues that race, gender and class are related realms of experience, but that they cannot simply be yoked together. They come into existence in, and through, relationship to each other, ‘if in contradictory and conflictual ways’” (Monro 18). Intersectionality is demonstrated through each and every aspect that make up a person, and Krissy struggles to understand that her being intersex may mean that she is unable to compete as a collegiate athlete. However, her dad works to help her, and lets her know that he will fight to ensure that she is able to keep her scholarship because he understands how much it means to her, and how integral it is to her identity. Her father discovers good news later in the novel, and tells Krissy, “‘I finally found the right NCAA guidelines’ he said ‘and people with AIS are considered women for competitive purposes. They can’t take your scholarship away” (Gregorio 200). The knowledge that she will be able to keep this piece of her identity is a turning point in the novel, in which she realizes that her identity has not changed as drastically as she initially thought. Her intersectionality is what keeps her going, and encourages and informs her daily life, even during the time where she is unsure of who she can trust. The various aspects of her identity cannot be easily separated because they inform each other, and even as her viewpoint of herself changes, she knows inside who she truly

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