White Feminism and Intersectionality; An Essay

By Dallas Sword

“Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects.”

(Kimberlē Crenshaw, Colombia Law News, 2017)

 

Intersectional feminism is a considerably new term, first coined in 1989 by Kimberlē Crenshaw, an African American lawyer, civil rights activist and a published academic of critical race theory. The term was used by Crenshaw in her paper titled “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Policies” to describe how race, class, gender and other individual characteristics all intersect with one another and overlap, to emphasise and amplify the issues of oppression that women of colour and other minorities face in their personal lives, workplace, and within law and policymaking. Crenshaw, through her life’s work, seeks to dismantle racial and gendered hierarchies in society altogether. In order to interpret what intersectional feminism is, is to understand the discrimination and unfair bias that women of colour go through, and how this framework can be of benefit to them and to highlight the inequalities within our systems of justice and law. Additionally, feminist movements have long been criticised for their failure to recognise the oppression of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) as historically, white females in power have aligned with white men, considering themselves as equal, while failing to recognise the struggles of their fellow feminists (Case, 2012).  It is not about who gets what, or who deserves more recognition, it is to acknowledge the injustices towards women, Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC), disabled people, and LGBTQIA+, including from their feminist contemporaries. Within the lens of intersectional feminism, they are all minorities, living in a hegemonic patriarchal and disadvantaged society, all with their own personal and public struggles. Simultaneously with observing the explicit differences of oppression between white feminists and BIPOC women, it is also to reframe the ideologies and the complexities of feminism itself.

A major contributor to such issues that arise from intersectional feminism is of the superiority and privilege of white women. It is important to emphasise that white privilege is an invisible package of values and assets unearned by white people at birth. The invisibility of whiteness allows us to view ourselves as individuals, rather than of a collective, unburdened by prejudice and unmerited privilege (Case, 2012). Applying white privilege is to admit oneself as having so to be able to unpack the responsibilities placed upon oneself, and to reframe them to best support the philosophy of intersectional feminism. This includes an exploration of the very subtle nuances and the language used to perpetuate racism by white people in both personal and public lives, which then gives support towards an action to be more antiracist (Case, 2012). Intersectionality has also revealed an unmistakable division between right and the left, pitting conservative white people against BIPOC, politically and personally (Coatson, 2019). In her years practicing law, Crenshaw observed that courts had an implicit bias towards Black women in cases brought before them, but acknowledged white women, which then created a foundation of prejudice within the court of law (Crenshaw, 1989). Moreover, as a result of the power imbalance, this meant for those Black women were often isolated, unrecognised and with no resources or support, due to the racial hierarchy. There was, and still is, a paradox created in which Black women felt unable to defend themselves against racial and sexual discrimination, caught between their communities with a deep-seated suspicion of white people, rightly so, and a feminist movement which reinforced the mistrust (Crenshaw, 1989). When one looks back into American history, the purity and sexuality of white women is exemplified over that of Black women which often leads to the pretext of prejudiced attitude against the black community by many in society. No movement can speak for all women unless it is also to address the consequences of racism, class inequalities and disability, that place women of colour disproportionately low in societal hierarchies (Smith, 2013).

For example, as a Pakeha woman who is also Deaf, I do recognise that I have more privilege than my disabled peers who are Māori, Pasifika, and other minority. I still benefit from the patriarchal society of European colonialism in Aotearoa and confront less barriers in inclusion and accessibility. As Diversity & Ability (DnA’s Blog, 2019) states that for intersectional feminism to be as influential is to ensure that it has the power to positively impact upon much broader initiatives within policymaking and employment issues, to boost the health and wellbeing of BIPOC women, to increase a wider inclusivity in society and to inspire a positive shift in culture towards further acceptance of diversity and improved accessibility of all. The structure of thought within feminism and white privilege did deign that those specific social mechanisms were invisible and unfortunately were replicated in institutional practices, but those processes can be used to expose the structures and dynamics of oppression and subordination (Lewis, 2019).

Lastly, acts of antiracism do not necessarily need to be public actions, as illustrated by marches, legislations and policymaking, but also are individual actions to confront racism in personal life, even against your own family and friends, and in public, such as within the workplace (Case, 2012). Parallel to this, it is also to foster learning and knowledge of discrimination and racism, to support a safe space for BIPOC women and men to speak. (Lewis, 2019). The premise of intersectionality, as outlined by Kimberlē Crenshaw, works to link theory to practice as a blunt reminder that for as long as oppression exists, there is always a need for it and for white women with privilege to recognise it for what it is (Lewis, 2019). Highlighting the bias of race for many women of colour within intersectional feminism is also to focus on their race, gender and the oppression faced in everyday life to aspire for a more inclusive society than the one we currently live in.

References

Case, K. A. (2012). Discovering the Privilege of Whiteness: White Women's Reflections on Anti-racist Identity and Ally Behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 68 (78-96). The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Coaston, J. (2019). The Intersectionality Wars. Vox Media. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination

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. 1;8 (139-167).

Diversity and Ability. (2019). Identity Beyond Disability, Intersectional Approaches to Disability.  Diversity and Ability, DnA’s Blog. https://medium.com/dna-s-blog/identity-beyond-disability-3d59d19b1dad

Lewis, G. (2019). Celebrating Intersectionality? Debates on a Multi-faceted Concept in Gender Studies: Themes from a Conference. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 16, 3 (203-210).

Smith, S. (2013). Black feminism and Intersectionality. International Socialist Review. Issue 91. https://isreview.org/issue/91/black-feminism-and-intersectionality/

Stamper, K. (2018). A Brief, Convoluted History of the word ‘Intersectionality’. The Cut. https://www.thecut.com/2018/03/a-brief-convoluted-history-of-the-word-intersectionality.html

The Trustees of Columbia University. (2017). Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later. Colombia Law News. https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/archive/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality-more-two-decades-later