"Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how a person's various social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege."
Examining the ways in which race, ethnicity, and identity intersect with other aspects of social identity, such as gender, class, and sexual orientation, and how they interact with one another to impact individuals and communities.
Intersectionality: The concept that different aspects of identity, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class, intersect and interact with each other to create unique experiences of discrimination and privilege.
Social construction of race: The idea that race is not biologically determined, but rather a social construct that is shaped by historical, political, and cultural factors.
Systemic racism: The ways in which racism is embedded in institutions and structures, such as education, employment, and housing, leading to unequal opportunities and outcomes for people of different races.
White privilege: The advantages and benefits that people who identify as white receive simply because of their racial identity, including access to better education, healthcare, and job opportunities.
Colorism: The discrimination and marginalization of people based on the shade of their skin, with lighter-skinned individuals often receiving more positive treatment than those with darker skin.
Microaggressions: Subtle and often unintentional forms of discrimination and marginalization that people experience based on their race or other identities.
Cultural appropriation: The act of borrowing cultural elements from a marginalized group without acknowledging, respecting or understanding its context and significance.
Allyship: The active support of individuals who experience oppression or marginalization, often by those who hold more privilege, in order to work towards equity and justice.
Racial identity development: The process by which individuals come to understand and navigate their own racial identity and the impact it has on their experiences and interactions with others.
Intersectional feminism: The recognition and inclusion of multiple identities and experiences, including race, gender, sexuality, and class, in the feminist movement and the fight for gender equity and justice.
Race: One of the essential dimensions of Intersectionality is race, which refers to someone's cultural and social background related to their geographic and genetic ancestry.
Ethnicity: Ethnicity relates to the shared cultural or national heritage that people share.
Gender identity: Gender identity, gender expression, or sex refers to a person's association with, or expression of their perceived gender.
Sexual orientation: Sexual orientation pertains to the emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to a particular gender.
Socioeconomic status: Socioeconomic status (SES) encompasses factors such as income, education, and wealth, which can profoundly impact someone's opportunities and living conditions.
Disability: A person's disability is any physical, mental, or sensory difference that can affect their ability to navigate the world and participate in society.
National origin: National origin relates to the country someone is from or identifies with.
Age: Age refers to the amount of time someone has been alive and their life stage, which can impact their experiences and opportunities.
"Examples of these factors include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, weight, and physical appearance."
"These intersecting and overlapping social identities may be both empowering and oppressing."
"Intersectional feminism aims to separate itself from white feminism by acknowledging women's differing experiences and identities."
"The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989."
"Intersectionality opposes analytical systems that treat each axis of oppression in isolation."
"In this framework, for instance, discrimination against black women cannot be explained as a simple combination of misogyny and racism, but as something more complicated."
"Intersectionality engages in similar themes as triple oppression, which is the oppression associated with being a poor or immigrant woman of color."
"Criticism includes the framework's tendency to reduce individuals to specific demographic factors, and its use as an ideological tool against other feminist theories."
"Critics have characterized the framework as ambiguous and lacking defined goals."
"As it is based in standpoint theory, critics say the focus on subjective experiences can lead to contradictions and the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"However, little good-quality quantitative research has been done to support or undermine the theory of intersectionality."
"An analysis of academic articles published through December 2019 found that there are no widely adopted quantitative methods to investigate research questions informed by intersectionality."
"The analysis ... provided recommendations on analytic best practices for future research."
"An analysis of academic articles published through May 2020 found that intersectionality is frequently misunderstood when bridging theory into quantitative methodology."
"In 2022, a quantitative approach to intersectionality was proposed based on information theory, specifically synergistic information."
"In this framing, intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome (e.g. income, etc.) that can only be learned when multiple identities (e.g. race and sex) are known together."
"Intersectionality is identified with the information about some outcome [...] that can [...] not [be] extractable from analysis of the individual identities considered separately."
"Critics [argue] the inability to identify common causes of oppression."
"Intersectionality broadens the scope of the first and second waves of feminism, [...] to include the different experiences of women of color, poor women, immigrant women, and other groups."