Intersectional Identities
The information here provides a basic overview of important considerations related to intersecting identities or intersectionality.
The University of Colorado Protected Class Nondiscrimination Policy lists 17 protected classes and states that protected classes "encompass intersectional identities."
You may continue expanding upon this knowledge and look further into the concepts presented that you are unfamiliar with and/or are curious about.
Disclaimer
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Understanding Intersectionality
Intersectionality refers to the interplay of one’s identities, the status of those identities, and the situational context of how, when, and where those identities show up.
Kimberlé Crenshaw coined this term in 1989 in reference to her experience of being black and a woman; describing the ways in which social identities influence one another and overlap. Her identities of being black AND being a woman do not operate independently; instead the interactions between the two identities frequently reinforce each other and shape her experiences within our society.
In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Kimberlé Crenshaw explained what intersectionality means to her today. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
Interviewer (Katy Steinmetz): "You introduced intersectionality more than 30 years ago. How do you explain what it means today?"
Kimberlé Crenshaw: "These days, I start with what it’s not, because there has been distortion. It’s not identity politics on steroids. It is not a mechanism to turn white men into the new pariahs. It’s basically a lens, a prism, for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other. We tend to talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. What’s often missing is how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts."
In this interview, Kimberlé Crenshaw also explained how intersectionality does not fetishize victimization, but merely explains how you have access to, or you are denied access to, certain things in life.
"Intersectionality is simply about how certain aspects of who you are will increase your access to the good things or your exposure to the bad things in life. Like many other social-justice ideas, it stands because it resonates with people’s lives, but because it resonates with people’s lives, it’s under attack. There’s nothing new about defenders of the status quo criticizing those who are demanding that injustices be addressed. It’s all a crisis over a sense that things might actually have to change for equality to be real."
It is important to not make assumptions based on our perceptions about how another person identifies or the impact that their intersectional identities have on them.
You can begin to think critically and strategically about how systems may intersect and create compounding effects on an individual. This will allow us to understand the inequities in history, policies, structures, and lived realities that historically marginalized populations have endured. By doing so, you can think about how to institute people-centered and equity-focused change.
"Without frames that allow us to see how social problems impact all members of a targeted group, many will fall through the cracks of our movements."
This talk was presented at an official TED conference.
Resources
Acknowledgement
We ask that any redistribution or reproduction of content is credited appropriately to the creators of the content, and if applicable, credited to any scholars or outside resources that were acknowledged and cited in adapted content. Credit for this website: Sara D. Anderson, Karissa Stolen, and Paulina Venzor, 2020.