Intersectionality: Like a System to Separate

As was all know there are various forms of discrimination, including things like prejudice based on race, age, and gender to name a few. We often consider these things in isolation. However, intersectionality looks at these multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage and how they overlap and compound themselves to create obstacles that are often not understood within conventional ways of thinking. The theory was originally coined in 1989 by legal scholar and professor Kimberlé Crenshaw as a feminist theory to explain the oppression of women.

She noticed that we didn’t have an effective way to talk about how the experiences of black women were different from the experiences of black men and of white women. Black women endure both gender discrimination and racial discrimination. Over the last 30 years, scholars, educators, and activists have expanded the use of the word intersectionality and applied it across a range of social divisions to talk about identities beyond race and gender and include discrimination found in all parts of society.

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Intersectionality asks us to acknowledge that social systems are complicated and that many forms of oppression like racism, sexism and ageism might be present in a person’s life. 

An example of this can be found in the the article Talking intersections with race, disability, and police violence where “a New York Times review of education statistics found that when students acted out in school, white students tended to receive an evaluation for learning disabilities, while students of colour were more likely to be suspended” (Smith 2016).

Life isn’t the same for people, even for people who share identity characteristics. By looking at situations from an intersectional perspective we have the opportunity to understand and address all potential roadblocks to a persons well-being more effectively. 

Intersectionality in media is also very evident and after watching the 2004 film, Mean Girls in the context intersectionality, I noted the ways in which the movie perpetuate social inequality. Mean Girls upholds oppression of gender, race, disability and sexuality. The story revolves around a new high school student, Cady Heron, who is befriended by social outcasts, Janis and Damian. She is later invited to join The Plastics, the school’s popular clique, Regina George being the ringleader. Cady accepts the invitation and eventually becomes accustomed to the Plastics’ dynamic, adopting their values and transforming her physical and social identity to fit in. 

The Plastics in Mean Girls embrace the ‘ideal’ gender construction. The exclusive clique is extremely girly, wears pink, short skirts, and dresses. Regina, the ringleader, personifies femininity being tall, thin, and blonde, yet, finds herself counting calories and trying to lose weight. When Regina eventually gains a bit of weight, her alpha status plummets, sending the message that thinness is essential to beauty, popularity and happiness. Heterosexism in the film is very also very apparent, those who do not fit this standard are social outcasts. Janis is perceived as a lesbian and hence rejected by her peers, while Damian is depicted as flamboyant, stereotypical homosexual that is “too gay to function”. 

Mean Girls reinforces traditional gender roles and equates normalcy with heterosexuality. Similarly, the social hierarchy in Mean Girls is determined by class and race to a great extent. All of Mean Girl’s main characters are strictly white, wealthy, wear expensive clothes and live in large homes. Coloured characters are referred to as “unfriendly black kids”. Aaron, the white alpha male is Cady’s ideal man, rather than Kevin, the non-caucasian ‘mathlete’. Lastly, today’s media often underrepresents disabled individuals, and although Mean Girls includes disabled characters, the way in which the film presents them is disempowering. 

These characters lack confidence and aspire to emulate Regina George, but would never be embraced as part of The Plastics due to their physical condition, portraying them as individuals desiring to achieve unattainable popularity. Some viewers consider Mean Girls to be an empowering film, as it’s claimed to shun bullying and support values such as friendship, kindness and honesty. However, these morals are overshadowed by the film’s reinforcement of multiple areas of oppression which many of the characters face simultaneously. 

Works cited

1. Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139-167.
2. Smith, J. (2016). Talking intersections with race, disability, and police violence. Disability & Society, 31(5), 623-627. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2016.1197250
3. Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.
4. Davis, A. Y. (1990). Women, culture, and politics. Vintage Books.
5. Hancock, A. M. (2016). Intersectionality: An intellectual history. Oxford University Press.
6. Cho, S., Crenshaw, K. W., & McCall, L. (2013). Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38(4), 785-810.
7. McCall, L. (2005). The complexity of intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30(3), 1771-1800.
8. Hill Collins, P. (2009). Another kind of public education: Race, schools, the media, and democratic possibilities. Beacon Press.
9. Cho, S., & Gainsborough, J. (2013). Intersectionality and politics: Recent works, new directions. Politics & Gender, 9(4), 448-452.
10. Bilge, S. (2013). Intersectionality undone: Saving intersectionality from feminist intersectionality studies. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 10(2), 405-424.