Kimberle Crenshaw describes interesectionality as the combination of identities as it applies to many women of color in American society. The problem that she says arises for these women is the idea that it’s hard to assimilate with rights movements due to the fact that they identify as a certain minority race as well as an oppressed gender. On an even deeper level, no matter which identity they chose to rally behind, being recognized as as woman is represented majorly by whites, while being recognized as a particular race is represented by men. “Racism as experienced by people of color who are of a particular gender–male–tends to determine the parameters of antiracist strategies, just as sexism experienced by women who are of a particular race–white–tends to ground the women’s movement.” (Crenshaw 363). In such cases, they are still not properly visible within these subgroups.
The significance of acknowledging the way these identities coexist is to acknowledge the ways in which different people experience life within American society. “Through an awareness of intersectionality, we can better acknowledge and ground the differences among us and negotiate the means by which these differences will find expression in constructing group politics” (378). It basically means that the sooner we realize that everyone’s experiences aren’t the same, the sooner we will be able to give everyone rights that not only recognizes, but caters to such differences, in the same way we discussed in class what the perfect domestic abuse shelter would have an environment that everyone would be comfortable in.
Crenshaw uses a variety of examples of the exclusion that occurs for women of color in many different ways. One difference that is important to note is the separation of structural intersectionality versus political intersectionality. In some ways this reminded me of Michel Foucault’s definition of biopower, where disciplinary actions and regulatory actions affected each other in interesting ways. Structural intersectionality occurred on what could be considered a smaller scale, where the rules of a certain area seem to be coincidental and just happen to disenfranchise certain people. It has a lot to do with social boundaries that are difficult to overcome. “Race and gender are two of the primary site for the particular distribution of social resources that ends up with observable class differences” (360). An example given cites immigrant women who are afraid to report being beaten by their spouses because they fear deportation. “many immigrant women were reluctant to leave even the most abusive of partners for fear of being deported” (360). This being forced to silence is one of the many ways women remain ignorant of the rights that they do have. Another way of this is through language barriers which fail to inform women who don’t speak English and are not able to communicate such abuses. “Some shelter turn non-English speaking women away for lack of bilingual personnel and resources”(361). These structures are ones that limit women of color on a level that isn’t deliberately employed by people in positions of power to hurt them but still seriously affects them.
The other type of intersectionality that is differentiated is political, which I briefly mentioned before. “The concept of political intersectionality highlights the fact that women of color are situated within at least two subordinated groups that frequently pursue conflicting political agendas” (363). The aforementioned idea that women of color are forced to align with either women, or their race (and unable to locate a happy medium contributing to both identities) poses a serious problem when it comes not to deciding which is more important, but which will gain the most results.
A book by Rosalyn Terborg-Penn about the struggle of African American women to gain voting rights
A historical example of this exclusion of women of color is clearly apparent in gaining the right to vote. As mentioned in Lisa Duggan’s Twilight of Equality, “With universal white male suffrage, the formal equality of state participation could more easily be defined as distinct from the ‘natural,’ ‘private’ inequalities of developing industrial capitalism in the United States” (Duggan 6). The default voting rights went to ‘citizens’ who owned property, ergo, white males, all other people were considered property, subordinates or dependents (6). When ‘Blacks’ gained the right to vote in 1870 with the addition of the 15th Amendment, it was only directed towards black men. Years later, when the women’s suffrage movement occurred in the twenties, many women’s suffrage organizations sought to exclude Black women in the hopes of preserving white supremacy in the south. “Excluding black women from membership, it garnered significant support from southern women by asserting that the white woman’s vote would maintain white supremacy in the South. In response, black women, such as Mary Church Terrell, formed their own organization to further suffrage in 1896, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW)”. I would assume that due to the intentional exclusion of women of color for this specific example, that this is a type of political intersectionality, where black women were ostracized by both Black men andy white women, and forced to fend for themselves. The only problem with ends to means such as this has to do with the fact that it is people of power who ultimately get to decide what rights are given to those without them. If no one is there to back them up,. the struggle becomes exponentially harder than if they had the help of people who already said rights.
Works Cited
“American Experience: TV’s Most-watched History Series.” PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2012 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/eleanor-suffrage/>.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement. Eds. Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas. New York: New Press, 1995. 357-83.
Duggan, Lisa. The Twilight of Equality: Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy (selections). Boston: Beacon Press, 2003. ix-21, 43-66.
“Primary Documents in American History.” 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. <http://
Myths & Misconceptions about Women's Studies, Fall 2012 
Fabulous job here. You clearly and compellingly describe the differences between political and structural intersectionality, and explain the violences that are perpetuated by failing to address this.
Your reading of suffrage movements is really interesting, and I’d love to hear more about this. Which specific suffrage campaigns focused on white women to the exclusion of women of color, or black men to the exclusion of women of all racial identities? This would be interesting to trace out in more detail.
And since you brought up the Duggan book (which is a great connection, by the way), I’m wondering how you see neoliberalism shaping possibilities for intersectional analyses. How does neoliberalism deny intersectionality even as it relies upon it to produce profit in the context of global capitalism? Something to think about.
Well done.