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Sadiq Khan showing how powerful working together and fighting for equality is!

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Sadiq Khan at March For Women: I'm a proud feminist

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Subculture & Sociology of Intersectionality

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What is Intersectionality?
the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage." -Oxford Dictionaries
Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that within groups of people with a common identity, whether it be gender, sexuality, religion, race, or one of the many other defining aspects of identity, there exist intragroup differences. In other words, each individual experiences social structure slightly differently because the intersection of their identities reflects an intersection of overlapping oppressions. Therefore, sweeping generalizations about the struggle or power of a particular social group fail to recognize that individuals in the group also belong to other social groups and may experience other forms of marginalization.Unfortunately, institutions and social movements based on a commonly shared identity tend to disregard the presence of other marginalized identities within the group.

Beyond institutions and social movements, many scholars have disregarded the importance of intersectionality in their respective fields, including deviance and subcultural studies. In the late 1970s, feminist subculture scholar Angela McRobbie brought an intersectional lens to her field of study when she addressed the lack of female perspectives in the exploration of subcultures. In "Girls and Subcultures," McRobbie claims that the absence of girls in youth subculture studies reflects a lack of effort from researchers and scholars to find female perspectives rather than a lack of women in subcultures ( McRobbie 1991: 1-16). Furthermore, McRobbie worked to bring a class perspective into subculture studies when she wrote about "The Culture of Working-Class Girls" (35).

Contemporary scholar T. J. Berard has expanded this intersectional approach even further, claiming that subculture scholars "need to address issues of class, race and ethnicity, sex and gender, social ecology, and issues of adolescence and human development as already intersecting" ( Berard 2014: 330). When scholars fail to embrace an intersectional approach to subculture studies, they run the risk of devaluing identities and misunderstanding the various oppressions that may contribute to the culture and practices of a subculture. Studying intersectionality within subcultures not only allows social scientists to better understand subcultures, but also allows them to better understand intersectionality within mainstream society through comparison.

Intersectionality in History

, which devalued their female identity ( Kimberle Crenshaw , who coined the term "intersectionality" in 1989, has that while the word may be relatively new, the concept is anything but modern. Through a historical lens, it's clear that the leaders of many social movements, such as the feminist and civil rights movements of the 1960's, marginalized their fellow group members by glossing over the influence of intersecting identities on social inequality. In her commonly referenced piece, " Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color," Crenshaw discusses the invisibility of the identities and oppression of black women within both the feminist movement, which devalued their black identity, and the civil rights movement Crenshaw 1993: 1242). Moreover, homophobia and transphobia have played a part in marginalizing queer individuals in several historical social movements ( Smith 1983: 83-84, 190-201).

Black feminists, queers, and working-class individuals combatted the lack of intersectional perspective within society by creating their own spaces to organize (, for example, created an alternative feminist perspective that she called "womanist," in which she encouraged followers to consider race, class, gender, disability, sexuality, and more in their social movements and critical analysis of societal issues ( Giddings 1984). Audre Lorde Lorde 1984). Furthermore, activists like Barbara Smith started organizations, such as the Combahee River Collective, which is "committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression" ( Combahee River Collective). Of course, there are many more historical examples of intersectional ignorance, oppression, and resistance, but it is useful to consider contemporary examples as well.

Although many social scientists recognize intersectionality as an important step in the history of social movements, theorists have developed different, and sometimes conflicting, interpretations of the role of intersectionality in society. However, the conceptual flexibility of intersectionality allows us to examine a wide variety of social dynamics and groups, such as subcultures, through a new lens ( Davis 2008). Alt hough subcultures often abandon social norms, racist, classist, and patriarchal systems still invade subculture spaces. Therefore, the overlapping power structures that accompany intersecting identities affect how participants of a subculture interact with each other, impact how the public views particular participants, and create the need for groups of people to form new subcultures based around their identity. Moreover, intersectional experiences within subcultures have led subculture participants to promote an intersectional analysis of systems of oppression within their own subculture through various forms of resistance.

Afro-Punk: Race, Gender, and Sexuality

Intersectional resistance certainly reveals itself in the an avenue through which to explore how their multiple identities have shaped their experiences. By using their music and zines to "undermine the myths of a post-everything world of linearity" and promote the "transcendence and transformation of homogeneous narratives," afro-Punk feminists have highlighted the still-existing and often overlooked racism, sexism, and homophobia that is prevalent in dominant culture ( Afro-Punk subculture . Afro-Punk is simply a subsection of the punk subculture in which the participants, individuals of color, embrace anti-hegemonic rhetoric through rock music, dark and confrontational style, and media that challenges society's traditional values. The nature of punk's subcultural resistance provides black Afro-Punk feminists with Stinson 2012: 292). Moreover, they have challenged the overplayed white, heterosexual, male-centered worldview that exists in society. It is through the music and written work that Afro-Punk feminists produce that the existence of intersecting identities can finally come to the lime-light and be understood within the context of the various oppressions these individuals face.

Afro-Punk bands like , for example, have used their music to integrate race, queerness, and womanist politics into the punk sphere. To address racism, NighTraiN produced a song called in reference to the debt that white America has to the unpaid labor of the black society it oppressed and exploited ( a "zine by and for black punks" meant to "support black people who exist within predominantly white subcultures," but it is also written to challenge all oppressions and to celebrate the uniqueness of black punks, queers, feminists, and artists ( "Reparations" , in which they chastised the use of the word "bitch" to describe women (317). In addition to music, Afro-Punk feminists like Osa Atoe have used their zines as a way to communicate black feminist politics. Not only is Atoe's Mahound 2012: 320). Moreover, NighTraiN has criticized sexism, as seen in their song, Shotgun Seamstress Stinson 2012: 264-265). It is clear that Afro-Punk musicians and writers like NighTraiN and Osa Atoe have worked hard to contribute an intersectional analysis to the Afro-Punk subculture by focusing on various identities and oppressions that exist within their lives.

Hip Hop: Race and Gender

Hip Hop offers another interesting example of how complex and contradictory identities create authenticity within a subculture closely tied to music and media. Hip hop is historically a form of black cultural expression, as demonstrated by the often race-based distinction of who is "allowed" to use certain language. For example, the word "nigga is hip hop's most powerful word, as valuable as a status symbol and resource for those who are 'allowed' to use it and a means of both dividing 'authentic' rappers from fake and creating race-based distinctions between different groups of rappers" ( Harkness 2008: 41). However, this criteria for authenticity does not necessarily place black women above white men, as many "gangsta-rap" lyrics are blatantly sexist and derogatory to black women ( Stapleton 1998). This misogynoir not only demonstrates the potential of identities to clash with each other, but helps explain the dangers of only considering one aspect of identity when discussing privilege and oppression.

Fan Culture: Gender and Sexuality

Complex and intersecting identities not only lead to the creation of nuanced subcultures such as afro-punk and hip-hop, but also contribute to how certain individuals interact with the subculture they identify with. C ertain identities carry different social capital, despite the fact that participants in a subculture may have similar interests, styles, or aspects of identity. For example, both participants in fan culture and members of dominant culture perceive women negatively. Media often portrays fangirls as desperate and crazy, while fanboys are generally given more leniency and often have redeeming qualities: "Fanboys are allowed more agency and can be heroes, whereas fangirls are either invisible or weak yet odd girls" ( Busse 2013).

Gender, and in particular female sexuality, also plays a role in authenticity within the subculture. Male fans often accuse female fans of being fans for the "wrong" reasons, such as being attracted to an actor. Moreover, men in fan culture often claim that female fans are participating in the culture the "wrong" way when they write erotic that often caters more toward female perspectives ( fan-fiction Busse 2013). This gendered policing of participation in fan culture reflects an aspect of dominant social culture: fear and negative perception of female sexuality. Fans express their fear of "unconventional sexualities" not only through disdain for female sexuality, but also through judgement of queer fan-fiction. Although "fandoms have become safe spaces not just for geeky behavior but also for expressing one's identities and sexualities" ( Busse 2013), many straight male fans devalue queer fan-fiction, which is a common avenue for queer fans to not only participate in the subculture, but also explore their own identity.

Gamers: Race and Gender

Gaming subculture constitutes yet another space in which individuals within and outside of the subculture attack and marginalize the identities of women, in particular women of color. Millions of people play video games, to be exact; with so many players, it is inevitable that revelations and discussions about how these players interact take place. Since the early 2000s, the most substantial and controversial conversations held within these discussions have concerned feminism. Several franchises and organizations such as and have hosted seminars, workshops, and presentations to discuss the roles and positions of women in the video game industry. However, despite work towards equality for women in the industry, participants in these discussions consistently and systemically leave women of color out of the conversations; as blogger Hazel Allen , it isn't that women of color are not represented in video games, it's just that those women are often blue, purple, or green.

Besides fantastical colors, women of color are horribly represented in video games and are online in ways indistinguishable from . Jef Rouner shines light on the fact that there are playable black female characters in video games. Despite these facts, there has been little to no public effort made to discuss or change this lack of representation, even though members of the videogame industry recognize that videogames can and have been used as a platform to fight racial injustices such as police brutality. Scarcity of discussion surrounding the lack of representation and commonplace harassment of women of color contributes to the shallow statistics surrounding women of color in the industry; only 17% of gamers identify as women of color, and less than 5 % of game developers are women of color ( Ong 2016).

Bronies: Age and Gender

On the other side of the gender spectrum, there are situations in which participants of subcultural spheres challenge the identities of older men. Media and citizens alike often ridicule bronies, adult male fans of the children's show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," for enjoying a show directed towards female children. The television show, developed in soft, pastel colors, features several feminine ponies who develop strong friendships and learn lessons through their adventures ( not only demonstrate how identities impact the way in which subculturists relate to their scene, but also show how multiple identities interact to further change the social meaning of their subcultural participation. Adult male fans of the show often face strong stigma because they violate not only gender rules, but age rules. While outsiders might consider adult female fans of the show odd for enjoying a children's program, they often see adult male fans as "creepy" and similar to pedophiles ( Robertson 2014). Robertson 2014).

What Can We Learn from Intersectionality?

Although intersectionality originated as a way for black women to adapt and relate to feminism, the lens of intersectionality can be used to understand a wide variety of social interactions and complex social hierarchies. While this lens helps alert us to just how complicated these hierarchies and interactions are, the lack of a clear methodology on how to use intersectionality to bring about social justice makes intersectionality studies a developing and complicated field. However, the intersectionality that we have observed in many subcultures not only confirms the importance of considering intersectionality in social science studies, but also helps demonstrate that subcultures are more than simply a style of music or dress; subcultures contain their own social meanings that both contradict and confirm dominant social structures. Moreover, by comparing and contrasting examples of intersectionality within subcultures with mainstream society, we can better understand how intersectionality plays such an integral role in such a variety of aspects of social life.
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Scholarship

Scholars

Books

Collins, Patricia Hill and Bilge, Sirma. 2016. Intersectionality: Key Concepts . Cambridge: Polity Press. This book is an introduction to the influence of intersecting identities in human rights, social conflict, and cultural scenes such as hip hop and sports.

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 2015. On Intersectionality: Essential Writings. New York: New Press. This book is comprised of several essays and articles that define and examine the concept of intersectionality.

Scholarly Articles

Berard, T. J. 2014. " The Study of Deviant Subcultures as a Longstanding and Evolving Site of Intersecting Membership Categorizations. " Human Studies 37:317-34. In this article, Berard expands the scope of intersectional perspectives of deviance, crime, and subcultures.

Combahee River Collective. 1977. "A Black Feminist Statement". Combahee River Collective. This statement informs readers of the Combahee River Collective's goals and values.

Giddings, Paula. 1984. When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: Quill William Morrow. In this book, Paula Giddings examines the history of black women's activism, professionalism, and art. Many of the activists talked about in this book have organized in ways that address intersectionality.

Lorde, Audre. 1984. Sister Outsider. Berkeley: Crossing Press. This book is a collection of essays written by Audre Lorde, many of which address the issue of intersectionality and the need to embrace rather than merely tolerate difference.

McCall, Leslie. 2005. "The Complexity of Intersectionality" Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30(3): 1771-1800. This article offers the perspective of a leading intersectionality theorist about methods of studying intersectionality and using it to better society.

Smith, Barbara. 1983. Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. This is a collection of short stories, essays, and poetry written by women of color. Various essays and poetry entries in this book acknowledge the invisibility of and aggression towards black queer women.

Stapleton, Katina R. 1998. " From the Margins to Mainstream: The Political Power of Hip-Hop " Media, Culture & Society 20: 219-234. An article examining the historical and social complexities of hip hop music and culture.

Stinson, Elizabeth. 2012. "Writing Zines, Playing Music, and Being a Black Punk Feminist: An Interview with Osa Atoe." Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory 22(2-3):261-74. In this interview, Osa Atoe talks about the work she has done in her zine, Shotgun Seamstress , in which she tackles issues of race, gender, queerness, and more.

Other Resources

Ong, S. (2016, October 13). The Video Games Industry's Problem with Racial Diversity [Newsgroup post]. Retrieved from Newsweek website: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/10/21/video-games-race-black-protagonists-509328.html The article discusses how people react to the representation of people of color in video games, especially in Mafia's new release Mafia 3 in which the lead character is black.
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the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage." -Oxford Dictionaries Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that within groups of people with a common identity, whether it be gender, sexuality, religion, race, or one of the many other defining aspects of identity, there exist intragroup differences.

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A young boy is living his life to the fullest with the complete support of his parents. He's breaking constructs by wearing make-up and dresses. He is a drag queen!

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Meet the 8-Year-Old Boy Who Transforms Into a Drag Queen Named Lactatia

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Hanna Yusuf explains why her hijab isn't a form of oppression by her religion or culture, it's a form of feminist expression.

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My hijab is nothing to do with oppression. It's a feminist statement - Hanna Yusuf | Comment if Free

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This in-depth look at privilege was introspectively analyzed on how white people often look-over the fact that they receive certain benefits just by the type of skin color they were born into.

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack’ and ‘Some Notes for Facilitators’ | National SEED Project

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Downloadable PDF © 1989 Peggy McIntosh ‘White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack’ first appeared in Peace and Freedom Magazine, July/August, 1989, pp. 10-12, a publication of the Women’s Inte…

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Privilege at the forefront of employment in America

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Privilege at the forefront of employment in America

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Donald Glover's symbolism-filled music video stars him as Jim Crow and portrays the violent side of the US that most people see but choose to ignore.

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Childish Gambino - This Is America (Official Video)

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This music video is a form of activism by blatantly calling out white people for the things that are said behind closed doors. This is a form of racial activism by basically calling-out all racists and having conversation about the racist comments and actions that people of color witness everyday.

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If we want our children to grow up to be thoughtful and engaged citizens, we should help them be part of social change now.

I grew up petrified of acid rain. The name itself was terrifying, and it haunted my waking hours. Did it eat people's faces? Would wild animals survive it? My parents were not activists, but they were good citizens, recycling tin foil and eschewing gill-net tuna; when I decided to write a letter to President Nixon and ask him for answers, they gamely provided the White House address. But the letter that came back offered no solutions, threw out some platitudes about the importance of concerned children, and signed off with a signature that even my nine-year-old brain realized immediately was a stamp. Neither my parents nor I knew other avenues of action. I was left still scared - and irreparably disappointed in grownups.

Looking back, I wish I'd known some activist tactics. And that it had gone further: I wish I'd been taught concepts like privilege, prejudice and intersectionality at that tender young age, instead of bumbling all the way through early adulthood ignorant of primal social forces. That's why I've watched with admiration as teens from Ferguson to Parkland, galvanized by their own terror of gun violence, have taken to the streets, to city hall, and to the steps of Congress. But what about younger kids? Should we teach our sixth, fifth, even fourth graders to be activists, too? Yes, definitely. Now.

I recognize this is controversial. "Parents need to hold the reins of activism and let kids be kids," one man argued on Twitter in response to my latest book, which offers protest tactics for those as young as nine years old. Teaching activism, he lamented, meant that kids would be taking on adult responsibilities, "robbing them of laughter and the happy-go-lucky spirit."

Keeping activism out of kids' reach shortchanges them - by under-preparing them for life.

My Twitter acquaintance has his heart in the right place - but he's also mistaken. Keeping a 10-year-old from learning about activism does not shield her from injustices. She has seen homeless people on the street. She's been instructed to duck under her desk in active shooter drills. Maybe her whole family evacuated last summer for climate change-related wildfires/floods/hurricanes (pick one.) If she's a kid of color, she has sensed the negative ways that she is often perceived by teachers, shopkeepers and police.

Even if you believe you have kept your child from directly experiencing any of the above, the internet has certainly breached your fortress walls. A friend's 10-year-old son recently returned from his school day with the question, "Mom, what's a mistress?" (Thank you, Stormy Daniels furor.) Keeping activism out of kids' reach does not protect them. It shortchanges them - by under-preparing them for life.
Here's the big not-so-secret: Kids know what's going on.
They also have the capacity to be deeply upset by it. What we might call "social justice" boils down to what children would call "fairness." As any parent knows, kids are keenly aware of who gets more cookies or less praise; studies tell us those as young as 15 months understand equitable treatment. Social issues like racism, sexism and classism are complex, but underlying them are simple concepts that kids can relate to and be moved by. Since they already sense inequities, now we adults need to help kids understand them.

While some actions can be supplemented with social media, activism is ultimately about groups of human beings face-to-face with each other.

The protection we want for young kids comes not by ignoring a social justice issue but by assuring kids we can explain it, even if we have yet to remedy it. And it's vital to go one step further. We have to teach kids how to respond, with tactics that range from volunteering and raising money to boycotting and marching. These civic engagements not only empower, they can foster that happy-go-lucky spirit my Twitter friend was so concerned about.

There are so many other benefits as well: kids who take up activism learn real-life social skills, like teamwork, planning, strategy and communication. They listen to ethical arguments and form their own. And all this is done IRL, because while some actions can be supplemented with social media, activism is ultimately about groups of human beings face-to-face with each other. This interaction is vital. Right now, kids as young as eight spend an average of four and a half hours a day looking at screens and grow into teens who are less social, less empathetic, and more depressed.

To be sure, conversations about social justice can feel akin to the sex talk. What should we include, and what should we leave out? When we explain to a young person that this country was founded by activists who questioned the governance of the English king, how deep into the injustices to Native Americans and Africans do we also go? What details are included, and how gory must we get? Ultimately, it's up to the parent. But, as with the sex talk, negotiating these boundaries does not mean ignoring the landscape altogether. Kids will find the information without us, but in grimy bits and pieces that are incomplete or incorrect.

This year and every year, let's also imagine the power of schooling our nine-year-olds about social justice and civic engagement. It's a win-win situation: it ensures our democracy will survive these trying times - even thrive - and so will all our kids.

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Activism isn't just for adults and teens. We need to teach younger kids to be activists, too.

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I grew up petrified of acid rain. The name itself was terrifying, and it haunted my waking hours. Did it eat people's faces? Would wild animals survive it? My parents were not activists, but they were good citizens, recycling tin foil and eschewing gill-net tuna; when I decided to write a letter to President Nixon and ask him for answers, they gamely provided the White House address.

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People think by saying, "I'm color blind I don't see the difference". No, people of color want you to see how they are different and how they are still human, not just something to pass over.

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What is gender? It is a social construct?

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What is gender? It is a social construct?

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Is Gender a Social Construct? in 7 Minutes

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How the human brain differs between gender...

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How the human brain differs between gender...

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In this image, it shows what women are supposed to be thinking about all the time and what men are supposed to be thinking about all the time. That they are in this box of only one type of thought.

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Chimamanda's recognition of her thoughts on the social contruct of gender

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Chimamanda's recognition of her thoughts on the social contruct of gender

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Gracious Madondo

Nigeria author, Chimamanda Ngozie-Adichie, known for her books that cut across geographical space, tribe or racial segmentation, was recently awarded an honorary degree by the Duke University of United States, California.

Ngozie-Adichie was awarded the degree alongside other luminaries like General Motors chairman and chief executive officer, Mary Barra; former Durham Mayor William Bell; the lead architect for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Dr Phil Freelon; Professor of Medicine at Dana-Faber Institute and at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Havard Medical School, William Kaelin, and Russel M. Robinson II, who is an attorney, community leader and philanthropist.

A citation posted on Duke University read out by Duke President Vincent E. Price at the conferment ceremony reads: "Duke is proud to recognise the contributions that this distinguished group has made to society. They each have been bold leaders in their respective fields, and their work has enriched and improved our lives. I am delighted to have the honour of awarding their degrees, and I am certain that the graduating Class of 2018 will be inspired by their example."

As expected, it was Ngozie-Adichie who stole the limelight as an African writer who, against all odds, has had her ingenuity defying long held stereotypes about Africa and black women in general.

Recognised as a voice of both contemporary African and global Anglophone fiction, Ngozie-Adichie is the author of three novels -- "Purple Hibiscus" (2003), "Half of a Yellow Sun" (2006) and "Americanah" (2013).

"Americanah" won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and was named one of The New York Time's Ten Best Books of the Year. It was also chosen as the first-year summer reading assignment for Duke's Class of 2018.

Ngozie-Adichie earned a bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2001, a master's degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins in 2004 and a master's degree in African Studies from Yale in 2008.

Being given an honorary degree is not a mean achievement for the Nigerian author who is on schools reading lists and counts Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce Knowles as her fans. She has indeed made Africa and her native Nigeria proud by her excellent creative work and her stand on striving the debunking of stereotypes that have over the years stifled social, political and economic mobility of women worldwide.

At a PEN lecture in Manhattan last month, the novelist is reported to have taken Hillary Clinton to task for beginning her Twitter bio with "Wife, mom, grandma" and yet her husband doesn't begin with the word "husband". Hillary promised to change how the bio starts.

Why wouldn't Hillary not listen to an international bestseller whose first book, "Purple Hibiscus", was published when she was just 26 years? The book was longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker; and she went on to win the 2006 Orange prize for "Half of a Yellow Sun" and was awarded a MacArthur fellowship, something next to a genius grant, and her work is now a fixture on American schools reading lists.

Most track Ngozie-Adichie's phenomenal rise to stardom to her sensational 2013 TED talk, "We Should All Be Feminists". It was that TED talk that firmly thrust her as avowed feminist and an authority on issues to do with women experiences.

Ngozie-Adichie is a complex character. She lives in both Maryland and Lagos and has an explanation for that. "I couldn't be happy living entirely in Nigeria or living entirely in America," she says of her duo "homes".

On writing "Americanah" Adichie says the inspiration came from her American experience. She "became black" when she moved to the US as a student because there was not that consciousness when living in Nigeria.

Ngozi-Adichie has had such a strong impact on young women across the globe particularly with her; "Dear Ijeawele: A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions" (published in paperback) in which she writes that she is angrier about sexism than she is about racism.

"I don't think sexism is worse than racism, it's impossible even to compare," she explains.

"It's that I feel lonely in my fight against sexism, in a way that I don't feel in my fight against racism. My friends, my family, they get racism, they get it. The people I'm close to who are not black get it. But I find that with sexism you are constantly having to explain, justify, convince, (and) make a case for."

It would be difficult not to like this little book, which glitters with all Adichie's usual warmth and sanity and forthrightness. Her friend Ijeawele had asked her how she could bring her baby daughter up as a feminist and in response Adichie wrote the book.

"It felt like too huge a task" and "she will still turn out to be different from what you hoped, because sometimes life just does its thing".

Ngozi-Adichie made a list of 15 suggestions. One of them is that Ijeawele must be a full person and not let motherhood alone define her: she should go back to work if she wants to, and love "the confidence and self-fulfilment that come with doing and earning."

She should share childcare equally, and not thank her husband for changing their daughter's nappy, nor complain about the way he does it, either. They should never tell their daughter not to do something "because she's a girl"; they shouldn't encourage her to aim at getting married, as if it were an achievement in itself.

One of the most compelling injunctions in Adichie's manifestos is to encourage girls to "reject likability".

Unsurprisingly, language, for Adichie, is a feminist issue, at its most sneaky when it comes to pregnancy and parenting, a verb she dislikes. She despises words such as "baby bump" as "diminishing", preventing proper discussion of serious issues such as the gender pay gap and maternity leave.

Adichie says so many women have been pushed down by pregnancy and calls for a clause in every job that a woman who gets pregnant gets her job back in the exactly the same way. And for her, gender is a social construction: "I don't think I am more inherently likely to do domestic work, or childcare...It does come pre-programmed in your vagina, right?"

It is my humble submission that the honour bestowed by Duke University by giving her an honorary degree befits her contribution in shaping public opinion of critical issues like gender and marked stereotypes that shape people's sensibilities.

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A deserving honour for Chimamanda Ngozie-Adichie || The Southern Times

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Gracious Madondo Nigeria author, Chimamanda Ngozie-Adichie, known for her books that cut across geographical space, tribe or racial segmentation, was recently awarded an honorary degree by the Duke University of United States, California.

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Social Construct of Gender Discussion Board

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Social Construct of Gender Discussion Board

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Is gender socially constructed or biologically determined? The concept of gender is used broadly to refer to gender roles -how man and women behave or how...

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Older people in society are also fighting for their rights, there is activism in every age group.

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Older people in society are also fighting for their rights, there is activism in every age group.

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Emma Gonzalez speaking at March for our Lives after her classmates were victims of Parkland shooting.

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Emma Gonzalez speaking at March for our Lives after her classmates were victims of Parkland shooting.

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Audre Lorde - No Hierarchy of Oppressions

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Audre Lorde - No Hierarchy of Oppressions

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There is No Hierarchy of Oppressions - by Audre Lorde (Read by Lauren Lyons)

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The urgency of intersectionality | Kimberlé Crenshaw | TED