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Out of all of the concepts we have learned about thus far, for some reason intersectionality was the most difficult one for me to really understand. Every time I felt like I really grasped the concept I questioned if I was really getting the point. So, I wanted to start out with Merriam- Webster's definition of the word mostly to keep myself on track but also make sure we're all on the same page.

Side note: I thought it was interesting that this word was JUST added in April of this year (2017). Yet the first sentence states it's been around the 80's. Maybe a reminder that biases still happen in reputable academic sources such as a well known reference book company. Hmmmm.......

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It's been around since the late 1980's but intersectionality is a word that's new to many of us. It's used to refer to the complex and cumulative way that the effects of different forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, and yes, intersect-especially in the experiences of marginalized people or groups.

Lately the word seems to be popping up everywhere:

[Audre] Lorde is the authority on intersectionality - the crucial ways in which identities (race, gender, sexuality) converge. - Maria Yagoda, People.com, 7 Jan. 2016

... [Gene Luen Yang's] anthology [American Born Chinese] - three intertwined tales about Chinese identity and intersectionality ... - J. E. Reich, Tech Times, Jan. 2016

... a celebration of intersectionality, which mandates that the full breadth of our humanity be acknowledged and embraced. - Opal Tometi and Gerald Lenoir, Time, 10 Dec. 2015

The term was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in a 1989 essay that asserts that antidiscrimination law, feminist theory, and antiracist politics all fail to address the experiences of black women because of how they each focus on only a single factor. Crenshaw writes that "[b]ecause the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated."

Though originally applied only to the ways that sexism and racism combine and overlap, intersectionality has come to include other forms of discrimination as well, such as those based on class, sexuality, and ability.

Along with the noun intersectionality has come the related adjective intersectional:

... privilege is intersectional-a low income white woman will have a different set of privileges and disadvantages than I as a middle class brown woman do ... - Mehak Anwar, Bustle, 6 Jan. 2016

Intersectionality isn't a term without controversy. People object to the technical nature of the term and the concepts it addresses (it doesn't hide its academic origins very well), and it's been described by some as divisive. Those objections notwithstanding, it looks like it may very well be a word that's here to stay.

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It's been around since the late 1980's but intersectionality is a word that's new to many of us. It's used to refer to the complex and cumulative way that the effects of different forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, and yes, intersect-especially in the experiences of marginalized people or groups.

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Remember when I said I didn't quite grasp the whole extent of the concept right away? The stripey triangle literally cleared it all up for me.

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Showing women who have differences, but when bonded together can grow and flourish. 

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Showing women who have differences, but when bonded together can grow and flourish. 

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"intersectionality was a lived reality before it became a term"

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"intersectionality was a lived reality before it became a term"

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I thought this article brought to light a very strong point about the strength that intersectionality could bring to the legal world. This article stated that: "Unfortunately for DeGraffenreid and millions of other black women, the court dismissed their claims. Why? Because the court believed that black women should not be permitted to combine their race and gender claims into one" which I think is pretty silly when you really think about it. Can you imagine if we weren't allowed to let our traits intersect. Would my instagram bio just say: "female" or just "white" or just "mom" or just "student" or am I just "24"? No, I am a 24 year old mom, who is a student, a part time server, and a full time boss b****. For someone to say you're losing your case because I can't acknowledge the fact that you have a gender and a race is a dangerously small bubble to live in.

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Each week, In Theory Kimberlé Crenshaw is the executive director of the African American Policy Forum and a professor of law at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles, law schools. takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives. This week we're talking about intersectionality. Need a primer? Catch up here.
Intersectionality was a lived reality before it became a term.

Today, nearly three decades after I first put a name to the concept, the term seems to be everywhere. But if women and girls of color continue to be left in the shadows, something vital to the understanding of intersectionality has been lost.

In 1976, Emma DeGraffenreid and several other black women sued General Motors for discrimination, arguing that the company segregated its workforce by race and gender: Blacks did one set of jobs and whites did another. According to the plaintiffs' experiences, women were welcome to apply for some jobs, while only men were suitable for others. This was of course a problem in and of itself, but for black women the consequences were compounded. You see, the black jobs were men's jobs, and the women's jobs were only for whites. Thus, while a black applicant might get hired to work on the floor of the factory if he were male; if she were a black female she would not be considered. Similarly, a woman might be hired as a secretary if she were white, but wouldn't have a chance at that job if she were black. Neither the black jobs nor the women's jobs were appropriate for black women, since they were neither male nor white. Wasn't this clearly discrimination, even if some blacks and some women were hired?

Unfortunately for DeGraffenreid and millions of other black women, the court dismissed their claims. Why? Because the court believed that black women should not be permitted to combine their race and gender claims into one. Because they could not prove that what happened to them was just like what happened to white women or black men, the discrimination that happened to these black women fell through the cracks.
[Intersectionality: A Primer]
It was in thinking about why such a "big miss" could have happened within the complex structure of anti-discrimination law that the term "intersectionality" was born. As a young law professor, I wanted to define this profound invisibility in relation to the law. Racial and gender discrimination overlapped not only in the workplace but in other other arenas of life; equally significant, these burdens were almost completely absent from feminist and anti-racist advocacy. Intersectionality, then, was my attempt to make feminism, anti-racist activism, and anti-discrimination law do what I thought they should - highlight the multiple avenues through which racial and gender oppression were experienced so that the problems would be easier to discuss and understand.

Intersectionality is an analytic sensibility, a way of thinking about identity and its relationship to power. Originally articulated on behalf of black women, the term brought to light the invisibility of many constituents within groups that claim them as members, but often fail to represent them. Intersectional erasures are not exclusive to black women. People of color within LGBTQ movements; girls of color in the fight against the school-to-prison pipeline; women within immigration movements; trans women within feminist movements; and people with disabilities fighting police abuse - all face vulnerabilities that reflect the intersections of racism, sexism, class oppression, transphobia, able-ism and more. Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion.

Intersectionality has been the banner under which many demands for inclusion have been made, but a term can do no more than those who use it have the power to demand. And not surprisingly, intersectionality has generated its share of debate and controversy.

Conservatives have painted those who practice intersectionality as obsessed with "identity politics." Of course, as the DeGraffenreid case shows, intersectionality is not just about identities but about the institutions that use identity to exclude and privilege. The better we understand how identities and power work together from one context to another, the less likely our movements for change are to fracture.
[Why Equal Protection may not protect everyone equally.]
Others accuse intersectionality of being too theoretical, of being "all talk and no action." To that I say we've been "talking" about racial equality since the era of slavery and we're still not even close to realizing it. Instead of blaming the voices that highlight problems, we need to examine the structures of power that so successfully resist change.

Some have argued that intersectional understanding creates an atmosphere of bullying and "privilege checking." Acknowledging privilege is hard - particularly for those who also experience discrimination and exclusion. While white women and men of color also experience discrimination, all too often their experiences are taken as the only point of departure for all conversations about discrimination. Being front and center in conversations about racism or sexism is a complicated privilege that is often hard to see.

Although the president's recent call to support black women was commendable, undertaking intersectional work requires concrete action to address the barriers to equality facing women and girls of color in U.S. society.

Intersectionality alone cannot bring invisible bodies into view. Mere words won't change the way that some people - the less-visible members of political constituencies - must continue to wait for leaders, decision-makers and others to see their struggles. In the context of addressing the racial disparities that still plague our nation, activists and stakeholders must raise awareness about the intersectional dimensions of racial injustice that must be addressed to enhance the lives of all youths of color.
Explore these other perspectives:
This is why we continue the work of the #WhyWeCantWait Campaign, calling for holistic and inclusive approaches to racial justice. It is why "Say Her Name" continues to draw attention to the fact that women too are vulnerable to losing their lives at the hands of police. And it is why thousands have agreed that the tragedy in Charleston, S.C., demonstrates our need to sustain a vision of social justice that recognizes the ways racism, sexism and other inequalities work together to undermine us all. We simply do not have the luxury of building social movements that are not intersectional, nor can we believe we are doing intersectional work just by saying words.
Latoya Peterson: Intersectionality is not a label. Lauren Sudeall Lucas: Why Equal Protection may not protect everyone equally. Alyssa Rosenberg: How 'Orange Is the New Black' wins at illustrating identity
Brittney Cooper: Black lives matter - all of them.

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Opinion | Why intersectionality can't wait

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Each week, In Theory Kimberlé Crenshaw is the executive director of the African American Policy Forum and a professor of law at Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles, law schools. takes on a big idea in the news and explores it from a range of perspectives.

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At first, I just read the transcript for this TED talk because my girls were napping and I figured as long as I read the material that it would suffice.
But after I read through I felt like I needed to listen to her speak. If the transcript was so powerful I knew it would be worth the 18 mins to watch. And it was. I'll let you in on a secret about myself: I watch TED talks for fun, and i'm not just saying that because you're an educator and i want brownie points. I find them very enlightening. And I remember scrolling through and seeing this video either on Netflix or on the website here, but I skipped over it because I didn't know what it was going to be about. And I wish I hadn't. I feel like that's what a lot of the general population does, myself included.

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Now more than ever, it’s important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term “intersectionality” to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you’re likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.