“Dancing Around Objectification,” by Victoria Merlino
Victoria Merlino’s opinion piece on the “Harlem Dancer” demonstrates vividly the contrast between women who are alike in nature but different in perception. Merlino illustrates the difference of women dancers whose image and appreciation differs on the basis of their race by describing the way these two groups are described. These polarized attitudes, Merlino explains, is clearly evident with how a black woman was forced to relinquish her identity in order to serve as a “temptress” and the white woman being idealized and in a way placed as a valuable object.
“Intersectionality 101” by Reddit
Intersectionality, according to Reddit users, covers the relationship among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationship where various biological, social, and cultural categories intersect. The methodology of intersectional discrimination, in particular, holds that forms of oppression end up involving one another, meaning discriminative oppression is never unaccompanied (gender, race, class, ability, etc). In fruition, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw metaphorized this by explaining how gender and race oppression intersected similar to a collision of cars in an intersection. Intersectionality many facets extend to various variations such as the Interlocking Matrix of Oppression, which deal with social classifications, and the Standpoint Theory, which dealt with personal experiences and their influence. Regardless of how intersectionality is internalized, it generalizes as the interrelation of struggles.
“The Urgency of Intersectionality” by Kimberle Crenshaw
Kimberle Crenshaw’s TED talk addressed the unfair practices of discrimination that black women are subjected to because of their intersectionality of being both black and female. Crenshaw uses the story of Emma Degafenary whose intersectionality served as a double exclusion in finding employment. The framework of this double discrimination is illustrated by the metaphors of the intersection of roads, where being in the intersection means being marginalized to the fullest. The challenges that simple intersectionality can pose means a dangerous dynamic prevalent in the lives of most Americans.
The Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test identifies gender inequality in film by evaluating whether a film involves conversation between two women where the focal point of the conversation is not a man. The test serves as an indicator of whether a film lacks equality between men and women. The premise of this test to me highlights an issue that I as a man would not identify by my own means as I am not directly marginalized by it.
Connection:
All of the writings see intersectionality as the way to label the summed experience of marginalized groups, differing between gender inequality and race discrimination. The dynamic between intersectionality and oppression, to me, is similar to that of a solution and its catalyst. After reflecting on my own “intersectionalities”, it is interesting how my identity directly reflects what my oppression is. Putting it into perspective being how, me being a male inflicts one thing, me being a person of color inflicts on another thing, and both connected is a shithole altogether.