To some it's merely a social media buzz word; to many, it is the theory needed to liberate millions and help us achieve true social justice. Originally coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (American civil rights advocate and academic), the term 'intersectionality' refers to feminism which recognises that women have different experiences due to the overlap of different types of oppression.
Intersectionality recognises the problems faced by women who are LGBTQIA+, of ethnic minority, disabled, working class, immigrants, sex workers and a plethora more. Rather than excluding these women, intersectional feminists seek to amplify their voices in a world which is seemingly only interested a form of feminism centred around the experiences of white, middle class, straight, cisgender and able-bodied women, which is problematic because it simply glosses over the injustices faced by women who do not fit that criteria.
Many critics of intersectionality are fast to point out that 'traditional' feminism has vastly improved the rights of women throughout history (which is true), and argue that intersectionality causes separation within the movement, but there is one thing that simply cannot be denied: the mainstream feminist narrative erases very large groups of women- who are arguably in more need of support and resources to equip them against oppression in society. To put it simply, people can be part of more than one marginalised group and this alters how they experience the world. For example, as a young black woman I have to face the combined effects of racism and sexism, but as I am heterosexual, I have never been subjected to homophobia- so in that sense, I have privilege. For many of us 'being female' is not the only reason why we're discriminated against- it's much more complicated.
Those of us with any form of privilege have the responsibility to give our more marginalised counterparts a platform to voice their concerns and we must also be careful not to speak over them, so that we can all work towards a truly fair global society- and not just for select groups of people.
Mainstream feminism is perpetuating a false sense of security that we are on a march of progress towards a truly equal utopia; but what kind of march is it if we're leaving behind the people for whom equality is the furthest out of reach?
