Intersectionalism 101

"My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit!" -Flavia Dzodan

I quote this a lot. To me, intersectionality is inherent to feminism. I remember sitting in one of my first poli sci classes as a brand new undergrad and a professor gave me my first concept of intersectionality. (She later told us she was a feminist but I didn't know it yet.) She said, "I like to use an analogy to start discussions about oppression. I think oppression is like carrying a weight. Some people walk around without any, making their travel easier. Others walk around with several weights. For me, I'm a woman...add a weight. And I'm black, add a weight. I can't navigate this world without these oppressions influencing me. It means a lot of things. For example, when people find out I'm a single mom the welfare queen stereotype comes to mind."



This was a pretty big moment in my education, and an eye opener for me. It laid the foundation for me to understand the world in terms I hadn't considered before and it became part of the fabric of my feminism. So when I hear feminist discussions that are not intersectional, it sounds off to me and I immediately bristle.*

This happened to me yesterday over at my Tumblr project. Someone wrote in saying that thin privilege is an illusion because thin women experience body shame and scrutiny too. I, of course, agree that they do; however, it hardly makes thin privilege nonexistent. Besides, thin privilege is about so much more than just fat shaming (which I explained and cited some examples: from lack of clothing sizing and options, to airline seats, to assumptions about your health, hygiene, and physical abilities.)

The experience was annoying, but it reminded me that intersectionalism is not actually widespread in feminism (an experience that women of color, trans* people, etc. are reminded of daily.) And it made me want to write a little bit about what intersectionalism is and why it matters.

Allow me to quote from Wikipedia if you will:

Intersectionality is a feminist sociological theory first highlighted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989). Intersectionality is a methodology of studying "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations" (McCall 2005). The theory suggests—and seeks to examine how—various biological, social and cultural categories such as gender, race, class, ability, sexual orientation, and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social inequality. Intersectionality holds that the classical conceptualizations of oppression within society, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and religion-based bigotry, do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate, creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination.

(Emphasis mine.)

You see, intersectionality is important because it acknowledges the full picture. As people, we cannot compartmentalize our identities so a feminism that denies those other identities is incomplete. Intersectionalism allows for the full picture of privilege and oppression to be seen.

It's also helpful to talk a little bit about what intersectionalism isn't. Firstly, it's not "oppression Olympics." It's not trying to categorize or rank experiences to say "people X definitely have it the worst in society!" Rather, it is about understanding how various identities interact. It also isn't saying that because you experience privilege in one area that you aren't oppressed in others. Finally, intersectionality isn't saying that the experience of the privileged will be perfect--it simply acknowledges that there are systematic oppressions with work to discriminate against various groups.

The problem I was encountering over on Tumblr was that people were unable to see that body shaming is often the intersection of sexism and fatphobia. While all types of women experience appearance based pressure and/or objectification (sexism) fat women face the additional challenges of a society which is deeply fat phobic.

It was very frustrating to me to have people who are "on my team" so to speak denying an experience that I have very much lived. That's why "check your privilege" is thrown around in many feminist circles. When you enter a feminist space and you are only concerned about sexism, you are missing the full story. It's like listening to music but only hearing the melody...without the harmony, percussion, and bass line, you aren't actually hearing the song.

While we're on that subject, one of the most important pieces of intersectionalism to me is listening. (I've talked about this before.) We've got to trust that people are the experts of their own experiences. We will never learn from them if we're too busy rearticulating our own experience over and over. For example, as a white person with loads of race privilege, how can I possibly learn and understand if I'm not reading and listening to people of color? How will I gain any grasp of this situation if I start every sentence with, "Yes, but for me..." The ME here is irrelevant.

This is part of why the experience on Tumblr was so deeply frustrating for me. There I was--a person who has, by my own admission, been on both sides of the weight privilege situation. Yet, I kept being met with, "Well yeah, but all women's bodies are scrutinized." No amount of me saying, "Yes, but society still systematically privileges thinness" would be heard. It was incredibly frustrating and it's an unnervingly common situation. I've seen women of color discuss a situation they experienced as racism and they are met with white feminists who hijack the discussion and make it about sexism. Or someone will make it about class.

Time and time again, a little listening can go a long way in discussions of oppression. And just to say it again, because I think it's incredibly important: We've got to trust that people are the experts of their own experiences.

I will forever stand by Dzodan's quote that I opened with. The more that I read and learn the more I am certain that a feminism which is not intersectional is incomplete, ineffective, and deeply flawed.


*This is not to say that I don't mess up and need calling out.