User:Yz1141/Intersectionality

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Research

Many recent academics, such as Leslie McCall, have argued that the introduction of the intersectionality theory was vital to sociology and that before the development of the theory, there was little research that specifically addressed the experiences of people who are subjected to multiple forms of oppression within society.

There have been recent attempts to apply the intersectionality theory to research that involves disability, gender, and poverty. For example, Jacqueline Moodley and Lauren Graham^[1] focused on the intersection of disabled, impoverished, South African men and women to find what effect different combinations of the characteristics and identities had on outcomes of education, income, and employment. Also, researchers have used data from the National Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Research Project to explore the interactions among disability, gender, age, race, and employer characteristics and it connection to the outcome of workplace harassment.^[2]

Others suggest that generating testable predictions from intersectionality theory can be complex. Liam Kofi Bright, Daniel Malinsky, and Morgan Thompson suggest a framework of graphical causal modeling to provide "empirically testable interpretations of intersectional theory" to address such concerns.

An analysis of academic articles published through December 2019 found that there are no widely adopted quantitative methods to investigate research questions informed by intersectionality and provided recommendations on analytic best practices for future research. An analysis of academic articles published through May 2020 found that intersectionality is frequently misunderstood when bridging theory into quantitative methodology.

Political

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Critics of intersectionality also say that it is used as a tool of neoliberalism. Cooper says: "To suggest as Puar does that intersectionality is a tool of a neoliberal agenda rather than a tool that works against it is a line of thinking that should be vigilantly guarded against." Jibrin and Salem suggest that, while intersectionality has radical origins, its ambiguities mean it has been embraced by neoliberal feminists, undermining its radical nature:

Given the empirical examples presented, we are convinced that the rise of class domination in what we know as the neoliberal university creates the conditions for concepts like intersectionality to become diluted and commodified. By depoliticizing intersectionality neoliberal market regimes empty radical struggle of structural critiques and translate them into palatable (unthreatening) narratives of social justice, multiculturalisms.

Conservatives such as American conservative commentator Ben Shapiro suggest that intersectionality creates a "hierarchy of victimhood", where individuals are categorized as "members of a victim class by virtue of membership in a particular group".

On the international political scale, intersectional lenses have not been applied to the topic of human right laws. Gauthier de Beco found using an intersectional lens that people with disabilities that belong to racial or ethnic, gender, and age minorities lack suitable human rights.^[3]

Healthcare

Intersectionality has been used as a critical framework in healthcare, such as in addressing issues of reproductive justice, where the intersection of race, class, and gender shapes access to healthcare and family planning resources for women of color. An intersectional lens reveals a disproportionate rate of maternal mortality among Black women^[4] in the United States. Black women experience a significantly higher rate of pregnancy-related deaths, despite controlling for insurance status, income, and education. Research has linked these disparities to structural racism and implicit bias within the healthcare system. Healthcare providers have been shown to cause an underestimation of Black patients’ pain^[5] and inadequate or delayed treatment, specifically in maternal care and pain management.

People of color in general often experience differential treatment in the healthcare system. For example, in the period immediately after 9/11, researchers noted low birth weights and other poor birth outcomes among Muslim and Arab Americans, a result they connected to the increased racial and religious discrimination of the time^[6]. Some researchers have also argued that immigration policies can affect health outcomes through mechanisms such as stress, restrictions on access to healthcare, and the social determinants of health.

Social determinants of health, such as food security, access to clean air and water, housing stability, and employment conditions, can also have significant impacts on health outcomes^[7], particularly for marginalized communities^[8]. Environmental racism^[9], a form of systemic racism where communities of color disproportionately bear the burden of environmental hazards, contributes to elevated rates of asthma, cancer, and other chronic illnesses. Rising temperatures and natural disasters as a result of climate change also disproportionately impact populations with limited economic resources and restricted access to healthcare.

Historical medical exploitation are continuing to inform health disparities today. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which Black men were denied treatment for syphilis without their consent or knowledge, and the forced sterilization of Indigenous and Latina women, driven by the eugenics movement^[10], racial and colonial control, and targeting through welfare and public health programs^[11], are all examples of systemic medical abuse. These events have contributed to longstanding distrust in healthcare institutions among marginalized communities. Additionally, medical research has historically excluded people of color, women, and disabled individuals^[12] from clinical trials, resulting in gaps in knowledge about how various treatments affect these populations. This underrepresentation persists in many areas of research and contributes to unequal health outcomes today.

Loretta Ross and the SisterSong Collective reinforce the suggestion that healthcare policies disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and Latina women, highlighting the importance of applying an intersectional lens in policy-making. This ensures that systematic disparities are identified and addressed to create equitable healthcare policies and resources for marginalized communities. The Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race advocates for the disaggregation of data in order to highlight intersectional identities in all kinds of research. Additional organizations such as the National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda^[13], the Black Mamas Matter^[14] Alliance, and the Disability Justice Collective^[15] also work to center intersectionality in health justice advocacy, public policy, and community-driven research efforts.

Forms

Kimberlé Crenshaw, in "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color", uses and explains three different forms of intersectionality to describe the violence that women experience. According to Crenshaw, there are three forms of intersectionality: structural, political, and representational intersectionality.

Representational intersectionality

Representational intersectionality is the study of how intersecting identities (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality) are depicted in cultural narratives and media, creating or reinforcing overlapping forms of marginalization. This concept, introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, highlights that stereotypical or one-dimensional portrayals in popular culture often perpetuate harm against groups with multiple marginalized identities.

Film and television tropes frequently constrain Black, Latina, and Asian women to narrow portrayals—hyper-sexualized, “sassy,” or docile—that erase the complexity the full array of their intersecting identities. Limiting women of color to singular characteristics^[16] (e.g., “fiery Latina,” “submissive Asian,” “angry Black woman”) perpetuates oppressive social norms that conflate racialized and gendered stereotypes—core to representational intersectionality. These patterns uphold intersecting stereotypes (racist, sexist, classist) and can shape societal attitudes or even violence against women of color.

Advertisements and marketing campaigns often rely on “exotic” or “hyper-feminine” imagery for minority racial groups, reinforcing stereotypes about women of color as commodities or objects of consumption when trying to appeal to specific sectors^[16]. Such portrayals can perpetuate existing hierarchies of gender, race, and class in shaping public perception and entrenches intersecting stigmas^[17].

News coverage and journalism often frame stories involving women of color, LGBTQ population, and other minority groups through sensational or stereotypical lenses, ignoring socioeconomic contexts or broader structural inequalities, effectively “flattening” the narrative of complex identities^[18]. Tropes of criminality, cleanliness, and invasion about immigrants, single parents, and trans people are examples that shape broader perceptions of marginalized communities in our contemporary context.