"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."
Intersectionality refers to the interconnectedness of different aspects of identity such as race, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, ability etc., and the ways in which they intersect to shape a person’s experiences of discrimination or privilege.
Identity: Understanding intersectionality requires identifying and examining different aspects of personal identity such as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and disability.
Privilege: Acknowledging privilege and oppression as structural, institutional, and social realities that work in intersecting ways.
Feminism: Understanding the ways in which feminist theory and practice intersect with queer theory and critical race theory.
Social justice: Understanding the role of social justice in intersectional analyses, which includes activism, political action, and community organizing.
Queer theory: Examining the intersection of gender, sexuality, and power in relation to different social and political contexts.
Critical race theory: Examining the role of race and racism in shaping individual and collective experiences of marginalization and oppression.
Cultural factors: Examining how cultural norms, values, beliefs, and practices influence power dynamics within society and shape individual experiences.
The role of language: Recognizing the significance of language in shaping cultural norms and social attitudes.
Representation: Reflecting on the ways in which media, art, and popular culture represent and reinforce certain identities and power structures.
Global issues: Recognizing that intersectionality is a global issue, and considering the ways in which colonialism, imperialism, and globalization affect marginalized communities around the world.
Race: When a person experiences oppression or privilege based on their race or ethnicity, and this intersection influences their experiences of queerness or gender identity.
Class: Class-based oppression, poverty, or wealth intersect with other experiences of oppression unique to the queer community, such as employment discrimination, homelessness, or healthcare access.
Disability: When a person experiences oppression or ableism based on their physical or mental disabilities, and this intersection influences their experiences of queerness or gender identity.
Age: Oppression and privilege based on age intersect with other experiences of queerness or gender identity, like access to healthcare or employment discrimination.
Gender Identity: Transgender or gender non-conforming people who experience intersecting oppression or privilege based on their gender identity in addition to sexual orientation or other identities.
Sexuality: Intersectionality and intersectional analysis of sexuality will acknowledge diversity in sexual experience and identities that act as independent or intersectional identities.
Religion: Oppression or privilege based on religious identity intersects with other experiences of queerness or gender identity, such as in the LGTBQI+ community or with the broader society.
Nationality/Immigration Status: When people experience oppression or privilege based on their nationality or immigration status, and this intersection influences their experiences of queerness or gender identity, particularly considering the intersection with access to healthcare, the legal system, and workplace discrimination.
Body Size: Oppression or privilege based on body size intersects with other experiences of queerness or gender identity, particularly in the realm of healthcare access or if they would be more likely to be outed.
"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."