In reply to by Prudence L Steiner

Excellent questions ma’am. Thanks for asking!
Intersectionality is a term Kimberle Crenshaw, a wonderful black American civil rights advocate, feminist, and scholar, coined in 1989 to describe the overlap between different forms/systems of bigotry and oppression. (The concept goes a back a long way; Sojourner Truth spoke eloquently about what it’s like being in the intersection of blackness and womanhood in 1851.) Crenshaw was inspired to coin this term by a case in which black women who’d unsuccessfully applied for jobs at General Motors factories sued for race and gender discrimination. The factories in question employed white female secretaries and black male industrial workers, but no black women. The judges who presided over this case didn’t understand that race and gender discrimination can intersect and affect black women in ways they don’t affect white women or black men. They thought that because the factories employed both women and black people, they evidently weren’t discriminating, and dismissed the case. To raise awareness and help people understand the effects of intersecting race and gender discrimination, Kimberle Crenshaw coined the term and theory of intersectionality. This theory applies not just to race and gender, but also to class, disability, sexuality, etc.
Intersectionality is very important to lots of people on the left (and rightfully so; without it justice movements tend to become exclusive and let lots of vulnerable people fall through the cracks, which defeats the whole point of having them), and some people are trying to take advantage of that and twist it into a justification for all sorts of poisonous nonsense. Contrary to what a lot of folks seem to think, intersectionality doesn’t require Jews or anyone else to make excuses for Mallory, Farrakhan, the women’s march, or anyone else who’s mistreating, disrespecting, betraying, or showing disregard for us. In fact, the whole point of intersectionality is that all of us matter and nobody should ever be pressured or shamed into leaving any part of their identity at the door, especially by leaders of movements whose entire purpose to fight for, advance, and secure freedom, justice, and dignity for all.
Here’s some more information:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersectionality
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc
https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersection…
Have a beautiful day ma’am :) ❤️

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