Essay on intersectionality

Intersectionality, a feminist sociological theory, is a term coined by a famous researcher Kimberlé Crenshaw in her essay entitled Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics (1989).

Though intersectionality primarily began with the categories of race and gender, it is constantly expanding, and even Crenshaw (1991) recognized that “the concept can and should be expanded by factoring in issues such as class, sexual orientation, age, and color” (p. 1245).

Feminism at its core is about equality and dismantling oppression in all forms. Intersectionality is the lens through which we can learn to understand the many forms of oppression and how they overlap. The experience of the African American women and Black Feminist politic, was the beginning of incorporating intersectionality into women’s studies.

This is largely due to intersectionality, which is the idea that the convergence and interaction of various oppressed aspects of one’s identity uniquely affect individuals and social systems.