Course:WMST307:Sara Baghbannezhad shishvan

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as:"the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formations" (McCall, 2005, p. 1771). The concept of intersectionality may have started as a theory of identity and interactions of social and cultural understanding of human dimensions such as race, gender, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economical status by feminists and under the umbrella of feminist theory. However, it has the potential to become a border concept of looking and social phenomenon of being from more than one direction and understanding the complexity of human life from several points of views as it has been used by various disciplines of sociology and general Arts. Intersectionality explains that the state of being can also be an ever-changing and flexible matter that no written and concrete definition can ever explain or fully define it. The theory has the capacity to allow further exploration of socially constructed subject and therefore, better match the reality of them in life.

Intersectionality offers a more complex understanding that there are never-ending and infinite numbers of possibilities of approaching layers of human relationships and there are degrees of defining identities. Intersectionality answers the question:"who am (I)?","how am I related to (us)?" and "how am I different from (them)?" The emphasis of intersectionality is on identity and identity politics. Intersectionality however, has not been used to its full potential and it probably never will be due to the complication of conceptualization of human dimensions, but it is still the closest theory to understanding how racism, sexism and class inequality work. (Yuval-Davis, 2006) Brah and Phoenix (2004) write about analyzing civil rights movements, gay and lesbian movements, the work of black feminists and First Nation feminists, and many other historical and contemporary issues.Something unrealistic as: "All women want the same thing." according to them, can be modified into women of color, based on their needs and realities, want different things.

Works Cited

McCall, L. (2005). The Complexity of Intersectionality. Chicago Journals, 1771-1800. Yuval-Davis, N. (2006). Intersectionality and Feminist Politics. The European journal of women's studies, 193-206. Brah, A., & Phoenix, A. (2004). Ain’t I A Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality. Journal of International Women’s studies, 5(3), 75-86.