Intersectionality : Sex, Race, and Class

I suspect that, like most of my peers, I came across the term ‘intersectionality’ through feminist discourse, which is also the basis through which it was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw. In the cultural discourse of the day it is essential to identify oneself as an intersectional feminist, or you may as well be branded as a white supremacist (regardless of what your own race may be). I have had a number of problems with what the term entails, that are not entirely different from the criticisms levied against it by the far left. The primary institution responsible for oppression is the patriarchy for feminists, racism for black and coloured peoples, capitalism for the worker and so on. With regard to feminism, I have always felt that intersectionality has served to divide the movement, and create conflict from within that has prevented it from focusing on the true root of the problem i.e. patriarchy. As a brown woman, I have always felt that my anger has been directed first at white men, followed by brown men and lastly by white women. I have always held that women all over the world, regardless of race or class have been collectively oppressed by institutional patriarchy. I feel a solidarity with white women that transcends their  supposed racial superiority. However, it must be noted that perhaps I’m comfortable with these affiliations because living in a largely homogenous country, I have never felt threatened by white women, or at least not in the same way that African American women have. It is their unique experience that led to an understanding of intersectionality in the first place i.e. oppression at the crossroads of race and sex.

I believe that intersectionality has its merits, and is, in a sense, essential. In my understanding, every problem is not equal – there are some that are greater than others in magnitude or in scale and are thus worthy of greater attention and collective effort. We studied about how liberating the most oppressed will automatically result in emancipation for all those above them – and that must be the focus while also maintaining the collective action that is so necessary for any kind of productive struggle against institutional oppression. It is for these reasons that I believe intersectionality is most useful when it is understood in its historical sense, with a primary focus on race and sex. I choose these two factors because I believe that their innate quality as it relates to the tangible experience is like no other. The oppression that stems from differences of race and sex is distinctly tied to the body in a way that others are simply not. Matrices are being added to qualify for the title of ‘most oppressed’ with someone who is black, female (or expresses themselves in a variant gender identity), disabled, gay, old, Muslim taking this esteemed position, regardless of their personal politics, beliefs or what they have to say about the world. While factors such as religion, caste, sexuality, age etc. can certainly be oppressive, I do not find them to be immutable characteristics in the same way that race and sex are. I can hide my sexuality, or change my religion, but I cannot cease to be seen as a woman of colour no matter how much I may desire it.

The third most important denominator that must be factored into intersectionality is of course, that of class. It is not immutable in the same way as race and sex, but it is powerful in its age-old history, and in its universality. Class is a factor that serves as an umbrella of sorts, encompassing all other determinants of marginalization. No matter who you are, unless you are very wealthy, you are also a victim of capitalism. It is the unifying force that intersectional studies and movements require, if they want to avoid the trap of neoliberal individualization that posits each person as an anomaly of sorts, with their own needs and desires, thus negating the possibility of genuine collective action. In addition, these other marginalized identities are largely epiphenomenal to racism and sexism. Sexualities other than heterosexual are looked down upon because they threaten patriarchal gender relations. Older people are devalued in society because everything and everyone is viewed through the capitalist lens of economic productivity.

Thus, I believe that intersectionality is an important concept that has great value in collectivizing oppressed groups with a degree of nuance but only if the three most essential and universal factors of sex, race, and class are considered, forming the coalitions that  Kimberle Crenshaw spoke of in her essay. It is important to avoid the mantra of superficial individuality in order to focus on collective action, while also retaining that identities do not make up people in their entirety, and that they exist beyond their matrix of marginalization.