Representational Intersectionality Beyond Race:
Persons of Mixed Races and Categories of “Otherness” in Feminist Studies
Intersectionality is not simply a popular term in academia or a hot buzzword in the popular discourse. It is something that feminism must come to terms with to make a difference in people’s lives and to change the ways in which women are represented and their ability to access social justice. The term intersectionality was coined by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, referring to how identity is based upon an interconnected web of social categorizations such as “race, class, and gender” rather than something that could solely be reduced to a singular category, such as gender (“What Is Intersectionality,” 2017, par. 5). The category of gender, Crenshaw notes, also includes sexuality, given the extent to which non-heterosexual women were likewise excluded from many of the concerns of 20th century feminism at the time she coined the term (“What Is Intersectionality,” 2017). Without intersectionality, it was impossible on a legal as well as a theoretical level to address the complexities of economic discrimination women of color were facing, believed Crenshaw (Adewunmi, 2014).
Crenshaw was writing in response to the prevailing notion among many feminists that gender alone was the most salient category for categorizing their lived experience. For women of color, quite simply this was not always the case. And even if they were in situations where gender impacted their sense of self and being, it was not necessarily in the same manner as their white, female counterparts. A good example of this from earlier variations of Second Wave Feminism was the extent to which the ability of women to work was framed with the 20th century by works such as The Feminine Mystique. Early middle-class female advocates of feminism protested that women not being permitted to work after marriage was a serious issue in their disenfranchisement, given this rendered them dependent upon men. It also gave them...
References
Adewunmi, B. (2014). Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality. The New Statesman. Retrieved from: https://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/04/kimberl-crenshaw- intersectionality-i-wanted-come-everyday-metaphor-anyone-could
Friedan, B. (2013). The feminine mystique: 50th anniversary edition. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.
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What is intersectionality, and what does it have to do with me? (2017). YW Boston. Retrieved from: https://www.ywboston.org/2017/03/what-is-intersectionality-and-what-does-it- have-to-do-with-me/
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