What is Intersectionality?
Intersectionality originally gained attention as an ideological framework to describe multiple and overlapping forms of discrimination unaddressed in the legal context. But even from its inception it was grounded in systems of power and oppression based on group identity – such as race or sex – advocating to “center” the “marginalized,” “remaking the world where necessary” and to “resist efforts to … undermine potential collective action.”
Intersectionalists assert that “structures of oppression are related and, therefore, … struggles are linked.” They seek to “create a connection around shared experiences of discrimination, marginalization, and privilege.”
In practice, intersectionality justifies the differing treatment of people depending on whether, and how many, marginalized categories they occupy. This functions to replace meritocracy and equal protection of the law with group-based privileges and disadvantages.
Primary Resources
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Demarginalizing The Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics (1989)
Kimberlé Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color (1991)
Devon Carbado, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, Vicki M. Mays, Barbara Tomlinson, Intersectionality: Mapping the Movements of a Theory (2013)
