{"id":2406,"date":"2019-02-20T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2406"},"modified":"2019-02-15T12:34:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T18:34:53","slug":"intersectionality-and-its-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2019\/02\/20\/intersectionality-and-its-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"Intersectionality and its Roots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Feminism without intersectionality is just white supremacy,” by Ian Spence, Wikimedia Commons CC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIntersectionality\u201d — a concept used to help understand the complexity of the social identities, institutions, and experiences — is moving from a buzzword in scholarly and activist communities to more popular mainstream use. The concept refers to an understanding that our lives are always shaped by many factors, like the economy, racism, sexism, family dynamics, education, and our social support systems. For Black History Month, we take a closer look at the women of color who helped bring this term to our everyday language. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the United States, intersectional work among Black feminists arose out of the need to recognize the experiences of Black women as multiply marginalized. <\/i>Black women faced oppression along the lines of both <\/i>gender and race. For instance, Black feminists faced exclusion and oppression from both antiracist movements that fought for justice primarily for Black men, as well as feminist movements that centered white women\u2019s experiences of patriarchy. Out of this exclusion came work like The Black Woman,<\/i> edited by Toni Cade Bambara, demonstrating that Black women would never gain freedom without attention to their marginalization along the lines of gender, race,\u00a0and class. Work by Black Lesbian feminists like Audrey Lorde and Barbara Smith also highlighted the ways (hetero)sexuality served as axis of marginalization for LGBTQ+ persons.<\/h5>\n