What does intersectionality mean?

Definitions for intersectionality
in·ter·sec·tion·al·i·ty

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word intersectionality.

Wikipedia

  1. Intersectionality

    Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of advantage and disadvantage. 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.Intersectionality broadens the scope of the first and second waves of feminism, which largely focused on the experiences of women who were white, middle-class and cisgender, to include the different experiences of women of color, poor women, immigrant women, and other groups. 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.: 385  She describes how interlocking systems of power affect those who are most marginalized in society. Activists use the framework to promote social and political egalitarianism. 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. Intersectional analysis aligns very closely with anarcha-feminist power analysis frameworks.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.

Wikidata

  1. Intersectionality

    Intersectionality is the study of intersections between different disenfranchised groups or groups of minorities; specifically, the study of the interactions of multiple systems of oppression or discrimination. This feminist sociological theory was first highlighted by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Intersectionality is a methodology of studying "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations". The theory suggests that—and seeks to examine how—various biological, social and cultural categories such as gender, race, class, ability, sexual orientation, speciesism, and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic injustice and social inequality. Intersectionality holds that the classical conceptualizations of oppression within society, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and belief-based bigotry including nationalism and speciesism, do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate, creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of intersectionality in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of intersectionality in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of intersectionality in a Sentence

  1. Ron DeSantis:

    In the state of Florida, our education standards not only don’t prevent, but they require teaching black history, all of the important things, that’s part of our core curriculum, this course on Black history. What are one of, what’s one of the lessons about? Queer theory? Now who would say that an important part of Black history is queer theory? That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids, and so when you look to see they have stuff about intersectionality, abolishing prisons, that’s a political agenda.

  2. Mike Peterson:

    So what we intend to do is keep the calm and keep the good inclusion, belonging, kindness, respect, but anything that creeps over into critical race theory, division, intersectionality, some voices being more valid based on the speaker and not on the merit or the virtue of the argument, we're going to separate the wheat from the chaff, keep the good and we're going to get rid of the bad.

  3. Quentin James:

    The new populism in this country is one around racial inclusion and racial authenticity. Some of the White candidates still struggle with the racial analysis, that was a major problem with the Sanders campaign. We could be with you on a lot of different issues -- health care, education, the economy -- but if you don't understand race and understand the racial analysis that's needed, and intersectionality, then you're probably not going to be successful.


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"intersectionality." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/intersectionality>.

Discuss these intersectionality definitions with the community:

1 Comment
  • Sitan Diakite
    Sitan Diakite
    It is really an interestind term that fits more to the context of black women's oppression and also for many other women round the world
    LikeReply6 years ago

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