Talk:Intersectionality

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This article was nominated for merging with Triple oppression on 14 October 2018. The result of the discussion (permanent link) was No consensus.

The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future: Atewologun, Doyin (28 August 2018). "Intersectionality Theory and Practice". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.48. Bhopal, Kalwant; Preston, John, eds. (2012). Intersectionality and "Race" in Education. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-62899-3. Burge, Amy (2018). "Intersectionality". In Robertson, Judy; et al. (eds.). EqualBITE: Gender equality in higher education. Brill. pp. 85–88. doi:10.1163/9789463511438_016. ISBN 978-94-6351-143-8. Collins, Patricia Hill; Bilge, Sirma (2020). Intersectionality (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. ISBN 978-1-5095-3967-3. Duran, Antonio; Jones, Susan R. (2020). "Intersectionality". In Casey, Zachary A. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Critical Whiteness Studies in Education. Brill. pp. 310–320. doi:10.1163/9789004444836_041. ISBN 978-90-04-44483-6. Falcón, Sylvanna M. (2009). "Intersectionality". In O'Brien, Jodi (ed.). Encyclopedia of Gender and Society. SAGE Publications. pp. 467–469. ISBN 978-1-4129-0916-7. Hancock, Ange-Marie (2016). Intersectionality : an intellectual history. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1993-7038-2.\ Howard, Judith A.; Renfrow, Daniel G. (2014). "Intersectionality". In McLeod, Jane D.; Lawler, Edward J.; Schwalbe, Michael (eds.). Handbook of the Social Psychology of Inequality. Springer Netherlands. pp. 95–121. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9002-4_5. ISBN 978-94-017-9002-4. "Intersectionality". ScienceDirect. Elsevier. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021.

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 January 2022 and 13 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Juliannamurga (article contribs). Peer reviewers: J.bust0s23.

There is a lot more information that could be added to this section and with more detail. The current section begins to scratch the surface of healthcare and intersectionality, but much more history could be discussed.

• Can discuss maternal mortality and racial disparities
  • Medical racism results in Black women experiencing higher rates of pregnancy-related deaths, even after controlling for socioeconomic status so can discuss that
  • Role of implicit bias among healthcare providers in pain management and medical decision-making (lime studies showing that Black patients’ pain is often underestimated)
• Social determinants of health!
  • Elaborate on how factors like housing, employment, food security, and environmental racism impact health outcomes through an intersectional lens
  • Discuss the role of climate change and environmental pollution, which disproportionately affect marginalized communities
• Medical experimentation
  • Tuskegee syphilis study, forced sterilization of of Indigenous and Latina women
  • Mention how medical research often excludes people of color and women, leading to treatment disparities
• Policy in healthcare reform
  • Orgs working towards intersectional health justice like SisterSong, The National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, and The Disability Justice Collective

Ananyamunjal (talk) 20:15, 18 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This all seems sensible enough. So long as you can use reliable sources for all of it, I can't see anyone complaining. Go ahead and add the text you'd like to see in there, and I'm happy to give it the once-over if you'd like a second set of eyes on it. Lewisguile (talk) 14:37, 19 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 8 January 2025 and 10 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Yz1141, Ananyamunjal, Zjl10 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Turtlesdownunder, Taliazam, An9000, Edu-student-123.

— Assignment last updated by Liliput000 (talk) 17:26, 7 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I want to begin by defining the term much more succinctly—drawing from Crenshaw’s own explanation—then fleshing out sub-sections with evidence/examples/sources (e.g., “Film & Television,” “Advertising and Marketing,” “News Media”) showing how intersecting identities are distorted or erased in each field. I want to use both scholarly works (like those above) and real-world examples (e.g., stereotypical characters in popular shows, ad campaigns that tokenize race and gender) to balance theoretical grounding and its manifestations.

Definition

Representational intersectionality is the study of how intersecting identities (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) are depicted in cultural narratives and media, creating or reinforcing overlapping forms of marginalization. This concept, introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, highlights that stereotypical or one-dimensional portrayals in popular culture often perpetuate harm against groups with multiple marginalized identities. Below are a few areas where representational intersectionality appears most clearly, alongside brief examples of relevant scholarship that could be cited to strengthen a Wikipedia section on this topic.

• Key Issue: Black, Latina, and Asian women are frequently constrained to narrow portrayals—hypersexualized, “sassy,” or docile—that erase the complexity of their intersecting identities. These patterns uphold intersecting stereotypes (racist, sexist, classist) and can shape societal attitudes or even violence against women of color.
• Sources to Cite:
  1. Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1991). “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review 43(6): 1241–1299.
     • Explains how one-dimensional media images can feed into real-world biases and violence.
  2. hooks, bell (1992). Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press.
     • Offers a critical examination of the “pornographic myth” of Black female sexuality and how it manifests in film and TV.

These works show that limiting women of color to singular characteristics (e.g., “fiery Latina,” “submissive Asian,” “angry Black woman”) perpetuates oppressive social norms that conflate racialized and gendered stereotypes—core to representational intersectionality.

• Key Issue: Advertisements often rely on “exotic” or “hyper-feminine” imagery for certain racial groups, reinforcing stereotypes about women of color as commodities or objects of consumption. Such portrayals can perpetuate existing hierarchies of gender, race, and class.
• Sources to Cite:
  1. Collins, Patricia Hill (2000). Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
     • Discusses “controlling images” of Black women and how marketing industries exploit these stereotypes for profit.
  2. Matsuda, Mari J. (1993). Words That Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
     • Though focused on speech, Matsuda’s analysis of racialized images can apply to the visual language of advertising, illustrating how representations can wound marginalized groups.

A discussion of advertising shows how everyday media (from commercials to print ads) shapes public perception and entrenches intersecting stigmas.

• Key Issue: News outlets often frame stories involving women of color through sensational or stereotypical lenses. Such coverage can ignore socioeconomic contexts or broader structural inequalities, effectively “flattening” the narrative of complex identities.
• Sources to Cite:
  1. Crenshaw, Kimberlé (1989). “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989 (1): 139–167.
     • Explores how legal and societal discourses fail to capture the distinct experiences of Black women, an argument extendable to media reporting.
  2. Miyazato, Chelsee (2016). “Intersectional Feminism 101.” Athena Talks on Medium.
     • Though less academic, this succinct piece gives a more contemporary snapshot of how intersecting oppressions appear in the digital/news sphere.

This part is of special contemporary relevance. I want to emphasize how news coverage can perpetuate biases—e.g., using tropes about immigrants, single mothers, or “criminality”—and thus shape broader perceptions of marginalized communities. Yz1141 (talk) 17:27, 26 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I believe there can be updates to the research section. Currently, the page reports that there was not much research when it came to applying an intersectionality lens to people who suffer from oppression. There is research on this topic. For example, researchers have worked on exploring the intersectionality of gender, disability, and poverty in South African qualitatively. Another article shares its exploration of intersectionality among disability, gender, race, and age from data in National Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Research Project. They have discovered that there are specific clusters of groups that are particularly at high risk of experiencing disability harassment. These examples can show and update this section that there is research that is applying intersectionality lens including the theme of disability to research literature.

Also the current political intersectionality section does not address anything global when it come to politics or laws that apply an intersectional lens and disability. An article does analyze current global human rights with an intersectionality lens focusing on disabled people belonging to racial or ethnic minorities, disabled women, and disabled children. There are significant limitations and a lack of human rights for these groups according to the article. I think adding an international view would benefit the page and show what the status and application intersectionality and disability can have on an international political stage.  

Zjl10 (talk) 17:41, 26 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The article is illustrated with a four-set Venn diagram. From a mathematical point of view I love this diagram; too few people are aware how to show all 16 combinations of four sets in a Venn diagram! However, this is widely beside the point in this article. A three-set Venn diagram like this one would make the point just as well - and that means, it would make it far better, as far more people would be familiar with it. Nø (talk) 17:24, 6 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]