Theory Of Intersectionality: The Feminist Popular Culture Theory

1. The theory of intersectionality was created by Patricia Hill Collins and Kimberlé Crenshaw, and posited that the various aspects of a woman’s identity all intersect rather than existing in a vacuum; race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc., all combine to influence a person’s life, opportunities, successes and lack thereof – and should, as such, not be treated as mutually exclusive entities (Cocarla, “Feminist Popular Culture Theory”). That may seem like a lot to break down, but considering the historical context is helpful. By that point in time – namely the 1980s and 1990s – women had already seen the first and second waves of feminism come and go (Cocarla, “Feminist Popular Culture Theory”). While it is difficult to deny that both waves focused on
Presumably, discussions on the representation of ‘women’ were implicitly restricted to discussions of ‘white women,’ or so history in general seems to suggest. Why is this? Because discrimination stems not only from gender in general, as a divisor between males and females, but also from divisors within genders, such as race. There is more to the problem of systemic inequality in society than gender. This complexity, I believe, is what needed to be accounted for in early feminism. Enter intersectionality. The latter is important because failing to take it into account is oversimplifying – not thinking critically about – the problem of discrimination. Today, inequality exists not only between the sexes, but also between the races and the classes and the sexualities – and more. One’s identity is far too complicated, too heavily nuanced, to be captured by a single label like ‘woman’ or ‘man.’ A specific example from the course is the founding of the National Black Feminist Organization in 1973 (Cocarla, “Feminist Popular Culture Theory”). A black woman is not simply affected by her gender. She is not simply a