Over the past couple of years, we have seen mobilization against various forms of social injustice on a global scale. With this powerful activism, the word ‘intersectionality’ has increasingly made its way into public discourse.

At its core, intersectionality is a concept used to describe the way an individual’s experience in the world is shaped by the multifaceted (and, intersecting) aspects of their identity that may contribute to the discrimination and systemic oppression that an individual faces.

These aspects of identity often include categories like race, national origin, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sexual orientation and others. The framework of intersectionality acknowledges that while individuals may (and often do) experience disadvantage and discrimination in society as a function of any one these aspects of identity, these categories ultimately interact with each other in combination, mutually shaping the disadvantages and discrimination that an individual may face. The framework acknowledges that our experiences in the world are not shaped solely by one aspect or the other, but a complex interaction between them.

The concept of intersectionality is largely credited to feminist activist and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw, who originally used the idea to describe the systemic oppression and disadvantage faced by African-American women. The idea first came to Crenshaw when she was a university student herself, as she noticed that racial discrimination and gender discrimination were often treated as separate issues in her class discussions.

Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality pointed out that black women in America faced a complex, overlapping form of discrimination as functions of being both black and female, and to treat these categories as separate and not intersecting did not reflect the lived experiences of black women in America - which differed from those of both black men and white women. She then pointed out that additional considerations like socioeconomic status and other factors, add additional layers to the power dynamics in society, lending further support to the idea that discrimination is often not easily describable as purely ‘gender discrimination’, ‘racial discrimination’, or any other singular form.

Undoubtedly and unfortunately, domestic violence and abuse have the potential to (and do) impact individuals from all walks of life, irrespective of race, socioeconomic status and other factors.

Understanding intersectionality is important in work related to gender-based violence, because the particular experiences that people have with violence and abuse are drastically different, and their journeys in attempting to overcome these circumstances are equally as diverse.

 905-709-0900 | supporter@yellowbrickhouse.org | www.yellowbrickhouse.org