[MUSIC] This lecture and discussion is about theories of intersectionality. The term itself is typically attributed to Kimberle Crenshaw, a US scholar, educator and activist. Broadly, intersectionality refers to the study of how our social categories intersect and how these intersections impact experiences, structures of power and oppression. Put another way, intersectionality examines how social categories such as gender, race, and ethnicity overlap and shape our experiences, our life outcomes, and our views of the world. Intersectionality is essential to our understanding of gender and sexual diversity because gender and sexuality is impacted by other social categories. Not just in some cases, but in all cases. Put simply our ideas about white masculinity are very different from our ideas about black masculinity. If we really want to create diverse and inclusive work places we have to be willing to think about difference, power and oppression in increasingly complex ways. Crenshaw's theory, and the field of intersectionality studies more broadly, provides us with the tools to think conceptionally about how identities intersect. And how these intersections produce understandings of difference that impact our lives. Though the term was coined in 1989, scholars and activists have been thinking about intersecting social categories and social justice for a very long time. The history of the feminist movement as an example, reflects the long history of intersecting oppressions. Women's suffrage in the US was often presented as a way to counter the black vote. And in other words, giving white women the vote, by this argument, would produce more white voters who would vote for white politicians. And thus ensure white privilege and white dominance in government and population regulation. This blatant racism reveals that women's rights have often coincided with white privilege and white interests. We can see a very similar logic at play in the history of birth control in the US. Since it was not uncommon for supporters of birth control to use eugenic-based arguments to support the legalization of contraception. Such arguments presented birth control as a central way to control so called quote undesirable races. Far from being based in women's rights to choose when to have sex and when to bear children, these arguments used white supremacy and fear of race and ethnic difference to legalize contraception. Both of these examples tell us that intersectionality is key to understanding how oppression and social justice work. Since they demonstrate that forms of gender oppression directly intersects with forms of racial oppression. Much of feminist theory now focuses on specialized concerns. Gender and race, gender and class, gender and sexuality, gender and ability or disability. Gender and religion, spirituality, or cultural practice. This demonstrates that intersectionality is central to thoughtful analysis of any form of gender or sexual oppression. Intersectionality is key in academic scholarship but it is also very key to understanding how ideas about gender and sexuality can be really different across race, class, and culture. As an example, consider the image of the ideal man in your culture or community. What income or class level is he? What race or ethnicity is he? Does he practice a religion? What kind of work does he do? Is this hair long or short? Are his politics conservative or liberal? All of these questions showcase the fact that our ideas about men and masculinity are very heavily shaped by other social aspects like race, religion, and class. Globally the image of the perfect man will be really quite different, city by city and culture by culture. Thinking about this is in fact one way to demonstrate that gender itself is a social construct. It is shaped by society and it changes because societal ideas about gender change. When thinking about oppression, intersectionality attunes us to the fact that gender is not the only access of oppression. As this course makes clear people are routinely oppressed across cultures because of their sexual orientation. Gender and sexuality are often very intimately linked. So linked in fact that it might make sense to see homophobia as a form of gender oppression since it is ultimately an oppression that hinges upon your gender. And the gender of the people you love and/or the people you are sexually attracted to. Gay white men may experience only one form of oppression, which would be linked to their sexual orientation. Lesbian women might experience two forms of oppression, both sexism and homophobia. Other factors like physical ability, spirituality, class, race and marital status can all shape how individuals experience their oppression. When people talk about oppression they often also talk about privilege. One form of privilege that is fairly common across cultures is male privilege. In most countries, women had to fight for the basic rights that men had, in some cases, we're still fighting for this. In the US as an example, outdated ideas about who pays the bills in the family seem to support the continued legacy of pay inequality between men and woman. Pay equality, the idea that people should receive equal pay regardless of their gender, seems like a pretty simple idea but it is not a reality in the US at the moment. But male privilege isn't so simple. Racism and classism directly impact how much privilege a man might have. Which means white middle class women in the US most likely experience a much higher quality of living, have better access to education, health, and other vital resources than Hispanic men living below the poverty line. As a point of reference, in the US the poverty line is typically around $22,000 for an annual salary. But this varies broadly depending on the cost of living and access to healthcare. Similarly, since Islamophobia, which is defined as prejudice against people who identify as Muslim, is fairly pervasive in US culture. A Muslim man might receive more bias when applying for jobs than say, a white lesbian woman. An article by Dr. Christine Williams discusses the glass escalator. A concept used to explore men's privilege in traditionally female occupations. Borrowing from the idea of the glass ceiling, the unofficially acknowledged level of success that women can achieve in men's professions. The essay explores how men in women's professions are advanced or promoted fairly quickly. The authors revisit this article in a essay titled, The Glass Escalator Revisited. In this follow up essay, they address the fact that this glass escalator is experienced fairly unevenly. Not all men find quick rewards in traditionally feminine occupations like nursing or teaching. Men of color and trans-identified men report different experiences, thus showcasing that single access models of privilege and oppression fail to account for the complexity of oppression in most work environments. Intersectionality reminds us that oppression is complicated by various factors and systems of oppression. It should also remind us that abuse of the world are largely shaped by these factors. [MUSIC]
