Feminist Thought
Intersectionality
Intersectionality
What does it mean?
In K and B, p. 49
Intersectionality Òthe
understanding that our lives are not shaped by gender along. Rather individuals are multiply
constituted by gender, race, class, sexuality, nationality, age, ability, and other
social experiences, identities, and phenomena that we live simultaneously
rather that separately.Ó
Other terms
bell hooks Òinterlocking
systems of dominationÓ
Deborah King Òmultiple
jeopardyÓ
Why do we need a concept like
intersectionality in Feminist Theory?
To account for the lived
experiences of real women
To avoid universality,
domination, colonialism, racism, etc.
To avoid the opposition,
competition found among movements in earlier phases of history
e.g. tensions between abolitionists
and First Wave feminists/suffrage movement activists
or
between Civil Rights/Black Power movement activists and Second Wave feminists