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intersectionality-stuff-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Giovanni Barrella

Sharon Marshall

3/27/17

FYW-1000c-505

13 Ways of Looking at Intersectionality, A Numbered Multimodal Multi-Genre Research Composition

Tell a story

It was a hot summer in New York and Chrystel, fresh out of college, is looking for work. She needed the work because she’s attending graduate school and needs the money to pay for tuition, She is trying to get her masters in finance. Majoring and even mastering in finance is a risky move. Why? Because America is a white supremacy and the business world is not only a predominately white world (The Black Man’s Guide to Working in a White Man’s World, Lamay Lathan) it is also male dominated. We all know from today’s economy how hard it is to get a job. How is this a problem? Well Chrystel is a colored woman, meaning she is a double minority which further increases the odds of being against her. However, it wasn’t impossible, just really difficult. That didn’t stop her, she believed she was more than qualified. She just graduated from McGill University, one of the top three universities in Canada, with an outstanding 4.0 GPA. Chrystel also had experience from her internship, working as consultant and analyst at Rio Tinto, which is a British-Australian multinational and one of the world's largest metals and mining corporations. She was brimming with confidence that she would get offers in New York. She took a leap of faith and landed face first. Companies were reluctant on giving her offers and when she did get one, the pay-grade was not up to par with what of her contemporaries. You would think with such an impressive resume that companies would line up. Doubt started to consume her. Maybe She had to go back to Canada where she studied, which she disliked to the heavy winter seasons or give up her dream all-together and return to homeland known as Haiti and rot there. She decided to try one last time, hoping all that hard work was not in vain. Chrystel later went to this company called Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs interviewed her and welcomed her with open arms. She is now currently living the dream, making money and living that gentrified life in Brooklyn.

Write and extend an analogy or metaphor

Intersectionality is like that one dorky kid you would never had given a chance to prove himself. Like that dorky kid, he is a person who is afflicted with many things that society would classify as weird and “unnatural”. Let’s not forget that the person is in fact a person and we should judge his ability or capability just from his appearance. Who are you to say whether or not that the dorky kid is unable to fit in with the rest of the world. Instead of helping him and improve, society shuns him and puts him in a corner, not even thinking of the possibility of giving him a chance because they deem him/her beneath them. They are so many preconceptions that people make and that leads to make the wrong decisions. You have no idea what that so called dork could offer to the world. Don’t belittle him because he looks and sounds different, embrace him and try to understand him and his point of view. By humbling yourself and give that person a chance you in turn will grow in mature into a fine human being. By ignoring the dork, you will breed hate and contempt. It is not his/ her fault that no one is willing to look at and notice him, so that person is left with two options. Either to stay in that corner and hate himself for having characteristics that society deems unworthy, or he has to give up his nerdy ways and become what society deems normal and natural. The answer should be neither, we, as society must accept the person as is.

1. FACTS, STATISTICS, MEDIA

http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/feminism-shouldnt-discuss-race/

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/10/04/issues-vs-identities-whats-better-for-progressive-social-change/

https://www.pinterest.com/djacademe/intersectionality-race-class-gender-etc/

Signs

Journal of Women in Culture and Society

By Leslie McCall

Guerrilla Girls: Estrogen Bombing - Yoko Ono's Meltdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYnTO5eed8U

Intersectionality | Social Inequality | MCAT | Khan Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2kUpKP18z8

Kimberlé Crenshaw:

The urgency of intersectionality

https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality

http://www.aauw.org/2014/04/03/race-and-the-gender-wage-gap/

https://katiespeak.com/2015/02/25/netroots-radio-after-show-equalpay-the-oscars-intersectionality-022415/

Netroots Radio After Show — #EqualPay, the #Oscars, & Intersectionality — (02/24/15)

https://katiespeak.com/2015/02/25/netroots-radio-after-show-equalpay-the-oscars-intersectionality-022415/

Quotes:

“My grandmother and my two aunts were an exhibition in resilience and resourcefulness and black womanhood. They rarely talked about the unfairness of the world with the words that I use now with my social justice friends, words like "intersectionality" and "equality", "oppression", and "discrimination". They didn't discuss those things because they were too busy living it, navigating it, surviving it.” ― Janet Mock, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

Janet Mock is an American writer, TV host, transgender rights activist, author of the New York Times bestseller Redefining Realness, contributing editor for Marie Claire, and former staff editor of People magazine's website.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/intersectionality

“The main point about civility is...the ability to interact with strangers without holding their strangeness against them and without pressing them to surrender it or to renounce some or all the traits that have made them strangers in the first place.” ― Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity

Zygmunt Bauman was one of the world's most eminent social theorists writing on issues as diverse as modernity and the Holocaust, postmodern consumerism and liquid modernity.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/intersectionality

5 Reasons Intersectionality Matters, Because Feminism Cannot Be Inclusive Without It

https://www.bustle.com/articles/117968-5-reasons-intersectionality-matters-because-feminism-cannot-be-inclusive-without-it

Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

http://theconversation.com/intersectionality-how-gender-interacts-with-other-social-identities-to-shape-bias-53724

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

For those who do not know, identity categories such as gender and race are more than often conflated. Due to these combination, it is easier to marginalize those who don’t follow the restrictions or confines of the most influential group. We as a society often ignore intragroup differences and this ignorance bolsters the margination of minorities, especially women of color. By overlooking these differences, it creates tension between the groups. In Kimberle Crenshaw’s paper, “Mapping the Margins of Intersectionality”, she explores and exposes this intersectionality by analyzing cases that involves women of color. Crenshaw makes the case that race and gender intersects” Concerns of minority women fall into the void between concerns about women’s issues and concerns about racism” (1282). The representation of women of color in our society demands to be closely analyzed through “representational intersectionality”. Crenshaw gave the example of the 2 Live Crew and their prosecution for obscenity. Although the people who were against the actions of the rap group had their fair criticism, Crenshaw took another perspective and focuses on the tolerance of violence against women of color. Crenshaw found it weird that the 2 Live Crew were prosecuted for obscenity because many other popular rap groups were doing the similar things. She considered that 2 live Crew being an all-black recording group played a role for them being the first recording group to be prosecuted. She proved her point by giving examples of other popular artists and groups such as Madonna, and she was ignored by prosecution. However, here lies the problem; In all this mess, the interest of the black women that were used for the performance were ignored. Since women of color are portrayed as self-objectifying, the images of the performers were used to leverage the prosecution case. Crenshaw was very analytical during her entire piece, amazing how she suppressed her emotions. She gives clear examples and sends a dagger to conclude her points. Truly a brilliant mind capable of bringing a social revolution. "At this point in history, a strong case can be made that the most critical resistance strategy for disempowered groups is to occupy and defend a politics of social location rather than to vacate and destroy it" (1297).

VISUAL ANALYSIS

This image by everyday feminism demonstrates how blind society is to intersectionality, including fellow feminists. The image is supposed to promote awareness and proving that intersectionality exists and is an issue. The image starts with an argument between a genuinely concerned male who wonders why the movement is called Feminism rather than equalist or humanist and two feminists proving their point on why the movement is indeed called so. Later, after winning the argument, since women always win those, we see the white feminist being oblivious of the problems of her fellow black feminist. She asks her, presumably, friend, why should there be a black feminism. The white woman fails to see the disadvantage of not only being a woman but also being a black woman (lowering her chances of equal pay and employment). This satire image pokes fun at people who are oblivious to the problem and shows a simple example of intersectionality. The image would be well received by those affected by the problem, mostly women of color and empowers them. The other party, those being oblivious, could enjoy the satire to some extent; willing that they have the sense of humor to do so. Since the image is just there to poke fun, I do believe it is a positive image overall. I don’t think, in my opinion, it disempowers the other party. The conclusion that I came to was that, it’s easy to feign ignorance of the effects of overlapping factors that would negatively affect people.

It is easy to feign ignorance of the effects of overlapping factors that would negatively affect people’s daily lives. Most people act on self-interest, therefore, they are oblivious to problems occurring in plain sight. The image may be in fun and games, however, this is a real and serious issue that everyone turns a blind eye. Ignorance creates a negative atmosphere, because you may harm people without even knowing. The white feminist from the image is an example of it, she fails to be aware of her friend’s disadvantages. Intersectionality disempowers people, it makes their problems invisible to the public. It’s a cruel injustice because first of all unless you experience similar problems you won’t be able to relate. Second, because of so many different factors working against the affected, it is almost impossible to solve it yet alone deal with it in a day to day basis. Third, the factors that contribute to intersectionality were implemented by society. It is deep rooted in our society, meaning it’s harder to deal with. Intersectionality doesn’t care who it affects (unless you are filthy rich), It will hit minorities of all ages including homosexuals and I daresay trans-genders.

Compare and Contrast

Intersectionality is a touchy subject with people having various stances and views on the subject. Some give praise to Kimberle Crenshaw for exposing this so called invisible problem and deem her as an activist hero. According to Noah Wingard, he believes that intersectionality is indeed real and was more evident during the women’s march against Trump “Despite the success for the protest gaining significant visibility for women’s rights issues, many were conflicted over the lack of representation for pro-life women, women of color, LGBT women, and other groups that have significance in women’s rights issues” (Why intersectionality in modern civil rights struggles is failing). He explained that intersectionality played a role in the dissatisfaction of most activists. Saying how the marches failed to represent the issues most of these people face. some downright shut her down saying that the theory of intersectionality destroys the progress that the progressive movement have made. According to Jinna Ziller, she believes that intersectionality does not solve social problems such as racism or sexism, rather it perpetuates it “White or male should NOT translate to privileged because that IS RACISM and SEXISM. It is not different from what was done in the past, just because it is a new group being discriminated against doesn’t make it okay, it doesn’t make it not racism” (Women Against Feminism). Ziller believes that intersectionality is the new racism and sexism. She argues that intersectionality promotes infighting between feminist groups. It’s amazing to see how each opinion is an extreme, are for or against. There is no sweet spot.

Create an original mind map for your issue

EXPERT OPINION

Before I even begin on the analysis, I will write down reasons why I chose this source and why I consider important. The scholar I used for this piece is Ange-Marie Hancock and the topic is on her book, Intersectionality: An Intellectual History. Ange-Marie Hancock graduated from Yale University and has wrote the award winning The Politics of Disgust and the Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen,”. She is also a globally recognized scholar on the study of Intersectionality. In her book, Intersectionality: An Intellectual History, Hancock identifies two ways that intersectionality works. One as in "an inclusionary project designed to remedy specific instances of intersectional stigma or invisibility" (34) and the other as "an analytical project designed to reshape how categories of difference are conceptually related to each other" (34). Hancock tackled on “The Activist Roots of Intersectionality," where she revealed the "multiple and overlapping movements to end violence against women" and their mobilizations of intersectional logics. She also believed that History had a tremendous effect on shaping intersectionality. In which she says "We Are Named by Others and We Are Named by Ourselves", this means that Hancock believes that history has a relationship and is conjunction with intersectionality through social constructivism. This leads her to her conclusion that historical power led to intersectionality. How society continues to avoid and forget these problems (intersectionality) which further gives power to the problem. Which further gives proof to my point that ignorance is bliss.

RESEARCH QUESTION DIALOGUE

o Research Question: How come people are blind to Intersectionality?

Gio: before you answer my research question, what is intersectionality?

Sources: Intersectionality is 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.

Gio: Who came up with the term intersectionality and who is this person?

Sources: The term was first coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, Crenshaw is an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of the field known as critical race theory.

Gio: why do we use intersectionality, what are the benefits?

Sources: When applied effectively, intersectionality is a powerful tool for analyzing and addressing rights violations. Using it to guide our thinking and work means we have to move away from single- Utilizing an intersectional approach means the difference between saving lives and further worsening people’s experiences of discrimination.

Gio: Since intersectionality is the creation of overlapping systems of discrimination, it’s safe to say that only minorities are affected?

Sources: Yes, because the theory of Intersectionality is based on the concept that oppressive institutions within a society, such as racism, ageism, sexism, and homophobia.

Gio: I see, so minorities experience intersectionality in their daily lives without even knowing. This must certainly happen in the workforce right?

Sources: Take a black men’s experiences in professional occupations for instance, they reap some benefits as males in male-dominated professions, but experience challenges as racial minorities.

Gio: I saw you use black men as in an example, usually when I research about intersectionality it’s mostly about women of color, can you explain why?

Sources: Well, because women are treated unequal in the first place; they are treated more poorly when it’s a woman of color. Consider it a double minority.

Gio: All right, then explain to me How does social context influence our perceptions of race, class, and gender?

Sources: How we think, discuss, or see things when it comes race, class, and gender depends on our experiences. Recently, Penner and Saperstein find that survey interviewers sometimes classify the same person in a different racial group over time, depending on their other social statuses. Women are more likely to be reported as Black if they have received welfare. Having been incarcerated makes men more likely to be perceived as Black, but a suburban residence leads interviewers to identify people as white.

Gio: Ok since intersectionality has discrimination as a basis, how does discrimination work?

Sources: Discrimination is not simply about race or gender or class. racial discrimination against Blacks also has gender-specific components that affect Black women but not Black men and vice versa.

Gio: from what I have gathered, intersectionality also affects minorities of all ages? If so how do they experience it?

Sources: Sociologists using intersectionality have recently focused on age. Women are more concerned about looking old than men are; lesbians and Black women are less concerned than straight White women.

Gio: You mentioned lesbians in that last answer. Care to tell me how does sexuality relates to home, work, and family?

Sources: In the United States, we’ve witnessed increasing support for members of the LGBT community to have basic human rights. Intersectional approaches remind us that members of the LGBT community face pressures associated with their race, class, and gender identities. rurality, gender, and sexuality converge to privilege masculine performances of sexuality over feminine ones for White gays and lesbians. Participants talk about effeminate gay men not being compatible with rurality while more masculine lesbians are more likely to fit in.

Gio: I see, so there should be an appeal toward intersectionality if everyone is involved?

Sources: Intersectionality encourages researchers, policy makers and social change leaders to Move beyond single identities or group-specific concerns, which are ineffective in explaining the nuances of human lives; in this way, important information about the unfair impacts of politics and policies is less likely to ‘fall through the cracks.’

Gio: intersectionality, unlike other approaches, intersectionality is uniquely positioned to interrogate and understand human differences. Can you explain how Intersectionality differs from most approaches?

Sources: The intersectionality approach explicitly focuses on the relationships between factors and mutually constructed processes that create difference. As the examples at the end of this primer demonstrate, this allows for the generation of new and arguably more accurate information about any kind of problem or issue.

Gio: If society comes to terms with intersectionality, what would be the benefit in adding it into policy?

Sources: Just as important as understanding what intersectionality is, and the principles that can inform an intersectionality-informed stance, is to demonstrate

what intersectionality does. In the appendices of this primer, there are resources

for those seeking to begin the process of understanding how to think about and apply intersectionality in research (Appendix A), policy (Appendix B), activism (Appendix C) and education (Appendix D). The examples below briefly describe the potential of intersectionality to transform three important issues of policy.

Gio: Since intersectionality is a touchy issue, who benefits from this?

Sources: The correct question wouldn’t be who benefits but how can we use intersectionality to our advantage.

Gio: Would you care to tell me of those advantages then?

Sources: The use of intersectionality will allow us to not only use one standpoint but also view things on a wider scale to make sure we don’t miss any cracks.

Gio: some say that intersectionality leads to infighting between groups, feminist groups in particular. Is there a reason why?

Sources: Yes, indeed, intersectionality does lead to some infighting between women in such groups. There have been many reports in which the groups fought amongst each other due to tension between them.

Gio: You mentioned tension. Can you elaborate on what causes such tension?

Sources: The tension would surely rise from not only the mention of intersectionality but also due to lack of awareness the women have for their fellow feminists.

Gio: I find it amazing that there would actually be ignorance between women striving to achieve equality for their gender and yet they fail to realize the disadvantages of their peers. Why is that? Sources: Well it is easy to feign ignorance when a problem directly does not affects you. Since they cannot experience the problem it is therefore become invisible to them.

Gio: How can we promote awareness for people afflicted with intersectionality?

Sources: The basic response would be to talk about it with your peers, however, that would only solve your problem and not society’s. To promote awareness would not only involve events but also demand change in the social structure of society.

Gio: The world would definitely be a better place if society has this awareness of intersectionality, wouldn’t it?

Sources: Yes, it would. However, that would be a difficult task. Solving intersectionality would also mean to solve discrimination which is a hard task by itself. It is not impossible but it is difficult task to pursue.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW, OR WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT TO SAY?

What I’m thinking right now is as a man how can I contribute to help women of color who are afflicted by intersectionality. You have to remember that all minorities such as blacks, members of the LGBT community and other minorities are affected by intersectionality. However, intersectionality mostly affects women of color due to many social constructs. Another thing is that why can’t people who are oppressed work together to achieve equality. We all experience one form of intersectionality one way or another, why can’t we use intersectionality to our advantage. Those in power won’t help because solving intersectionality would be to be on equal terms with them, and they wouldn’t like that. I believe that the only way for me to help since I don’t have any government power is to use my platform such as social media to advocate for those who don’t have one. I should listen more to unprivileged groups even when they are criticizing my own. This one may be a hard one, I have to be conscious of my pronouns and other gendered language. I have to also examine my use of metaphors so that I don’t offend anyone.

CONCLUSION

After all my research, I have received enough information to answer my research question which was why do people turn a blind eye to intersectionality? The answer was quite simple, nothing more than a couple of clicks on google couldn’t solve. Apparently, the reason why people tend to ignore intersectionality or even criticize is simply because it causes tension between people. It is just like racism if not worst, because like racism the opposing party will not able to empathize with the one affected. It is different than racism because unlike racism it is not only about skin color but other overlapping factors that seem invisible but has devastating effect. Intersectionality does lead to many infighting, particularly between feminist groups. Due to those that feel marginalized within those groups, it creates fear and tension towards the white women. Many reports of straight-white females had left marches because they felt like they feel like they aren’t marginalized enough to be part of the group. Therefore, they ignore it and pretend it isn’t there. Because of intersectionality, white women feel like they need to “check their privileges”, which creates discomfort. Since humans dislike discomfort we turn a blind eye to it rather to solve it. Intersectionality is not saying that one oppressed group is better than any group. Rather, it is saying that oppressed person is a person too and deserves the same and equal treatment offered by the constitution and not fall between the cracks and plot holes of intersectionality. I do believe if we embrace the concept, we will certainly revolutionize society and bring forth change. You have to start from the ground up for this revolution.

Works Cited

Black feminism and intersectionality | International Socialist Review

Sharon Smith

http://isreview.org/issue/91/black-feminism-and-intersectionality

Bustle

Suzannah Weiss

https://www.bustle.com/articles/119061-6-ways-to-be-a-more-intersectional-feminist-beca

Contexts Quicklit 5 questions you need intersectionality to answer Comments

Contexts Magazine

https://contexts.org/blog/quicklit-5-questions-you-need-intersectionality-to-answer/

Du Bois review : social science research on race

Devon W.Carbado - Kimberlé WilliamsCrenshaw - Vickie M.Mays - Barbara Tomlinson

Equality Network

http://www.equality-network.org/our-work/intersectional/

http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/10/feminism-shouldnt-discuss-race/

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/10/04/issues-vs-identities-whats-better-for-progressive-social-change/

Title: Framing Intersectionality Year: 2011

hypatiaphilosophy.org

http://hypatiaphilosophy.org/HRO/content/intersectionality-intellectual-history

Intersectionality | Social Inequality | MCAT | Khan Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2kUpKP18z8

Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

http://theconversation.com/intersectionality-how-gender-interacts-with-other-social-identities-to-shape-bias-53724

Kimberlé Crenshaw on intersectionality: "I wanted to come up with an everyday metaphor that anyone could use"

http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/04/kimberl-crenshaw-intersectionality-i-wan

Netroots Radio After Show — #EqualPay, the #Oscars, & Intersectionality — (02/24/15)

https://katiespeak.com/2015/02/25/netroots-radio-after-show-equalpay-the-oscars-intersectionality-022415/

Newsela | What is intersectionality?

https://newsela.com/articles/lib-intersectionality/id/26478/

The Arena: - Ange-Marie Hancock Bio

http://www.politico.com/arena/bio/ange-marie_hancock.html

The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/intersectionality/

The Panther Online

http://www.thepantheronline.com/opinion/striving-for-intersectionality

The Washington Post

Kimberlé Crenshaw

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-intersectionality-can

What Is Intersectionality And Why Is It Important? | Care2 Causes

http://www.care2.com/causes/what-is-intersectionality-and-why-is-it-important.html

Vox

Jenée Desmond-Harris

https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/1/17/14267766/womens-march-on-washington-in

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