"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."
The interconnectedness between different forms of diversity, and how they affect a person's experiences and opportunities, including the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, and other factors interact.
Identity: The recognition of different aspects of a person's identity, including race, gender, sexuality, ability, class, and more that shape their experiences.
Privilege: The unearned advantages experienced by those who hold certain identities, such as white or male.
Oppression: The systemic and institutionalized mistreatment of marginalized groups based on their identities.
Social Justice: The vision and goals of a just society, often focused on correcting power imbalances and promoting equality.
Intersectionality: The study of how different aspects of identity intersect, creating unique experiences of marginalization and privilege.
Marginalization: The social exclusion and disadvantage experienced by people who hold stigmatized identities.
Stereotypes: Generalizations and oversimplifications of a group of people based on their identities.
Microaggressions: The subtle forms of discrimination and marginalization that people experience in everyday life.
Language: The power of language to shape perceptions of identity and perpetuate stereotypes.
Allyship: The active support and advocacy for marginalized groups from individuals who hold privileged identities.
Cultural Competence: The ability to understand and interact effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Systemic Change: The need for broader change in institutions and systems to combat oppression and promote equity.
Feminist Intersectionality: This framework aims to address the intersection of multiple forms of oppression that women experience, including gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, and nationality. For example, a woman who is black and disabled may face more barriers to accessing healthcare and education than a white able-bodied woman.
LGBT Intersectionality: This framework recognizes that LGBT individuals may experience intersectional oppression based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, class, ability, and other factors. For example, a transgender person of color may face discrimination that is different from that experienced by a white heterosexual LGBT person.
Disability Intersectionality: This framework focuses on the intersection of disability with other forms of oppression such as race, gender, sexuality, and class. For example, a disabled person who is also black and low-income may face more barriers to accessing employment and education than a white able-bodied person.
Environmental Intersectionality: This framework recognizes that marginalized communities may be disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and climate change, based on factors such as race, class, and geographic location. For example, low-income communities of color may be more likely to live near toxic waste sites and experience health problems as a result.
Postcolonial Intersectionality: This framework emphasizes the intersection of different forms of oppression and resistance in postcolonial societies. For example, Indigenous peoples may experience intersectional oppression from settler colonialism, racism, and environmental degradation.
"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."