Intersectionality?
Hello Queens, I wanted to touch on a topic that has been roaming around social media recently. Many don’t know the true meaning of intersectionality and I will try my best to enlighten a few on the concept. The best definition that I could find would be out of the book “Intersectionality” written by Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge. Their definition is the most effective way to easily figure out what this concept is about.
They state that “Intersectionality is a way of understanding and analyzing the complexity in the world, in people, in human experiences…When it comes to social inequality, peoples lives and the organization of power in a given society are better understood as being shaped not by a single axis of social division, be it race or gender or class, but many axes working together and influence each other, Intersectionality as an analytical tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and themselves” (Collins, Bilge 2).
So these are obviously not my words nor my definition but I think that Collins and Bilge combined many of the parts that create the definition of Intersectionality in just a few sentences beautifully! Which is very hard to do, but I will try my best to make sense of it for you reading! I am still learning more about the concept but I wanted to create a more strict awareness towards the word, the concept, and so on.
So starting off this concept is a leading reason of oppression for many women. They become oppressed for their gender, then for their race, then for their class structure and it all combines into pushing them down to the lowest rank on human respect. As seen in many examples of people of color being mistreated and disrespected in society every single day, the oppression increases when that person is a women of color. Being a women already causes oppression from patriarchy, however, adding an ethnic background causes restraints in treatments, accessibility, and freedom towards these women. Medical treatements are looked over and sedcond guessed. Their voices are no longer valid or creditable. Their freedom to cross borders is questioned, judged, and restricted at times. Is this how we want women of color to live? Stepping on egg shells everyday for the skin and body parts they were born in. They cannot wash off their culture nor their color, but we can wash our views and make them more clear that these women and not only women but every person of color is beautiful. Also deserving the same respect a privledged women or man would recieve.
Class Structure becomes a pawn in this concept as well, when wealth is no longer prevalent, the respect, and the decent moral of being a human being is lost. Many people have become closed minded at the fact that the ones with low income are some how inferior, dumb, and useless to society. Not the case nor the scenario. We have lost the true meaning of being a human being towards eachother. If we simply strip away the money, the clothes, the skin, we are left with the same thing, bones. In the end we are all alike but our brains and society is what causes diferences to be viewed as abnormal. Its heart breaking… truly that there are so many labels stapled on everyones foreheads to make sure the determination of a specific definition is present for that human being. So why do women of color in low class income become less human beings?
I wanted to create awareness towards this issue that so many humans face. Because frankly its f***** up. They are human beings…period…this government as well as many closed minds try having these titles and labels represented as inferior…to what? Who decided and agreed to which is superior? All I am saying is through this f***** up world we live in, DO NOT loose the sense of common respect and kindness towards anyone. No matter the color of skin, gender, sexuality or amount of money in their wallets…respect and be kind to one another…not difficult. I count on you queens to keep respect and kindness in your daily thoughts and actions. Hopefully one day this will change.
Quick little lesson and shout out for awareness!
Stay Royal My Queens
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