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History, Aspirations, and Transformations of Intersectionality: Focusing on Gender

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History, Aspirations, and Transformations of Intersectionality: Focusing on Gender C HAPTER 2 8 HISTORY, ASPIRATIONS, AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF INTERSECTIONALITY: FOCUSING ON GENDER Vickie M. Mays and Negin Ghavami Increasingly, gender researchers have acknowl- social statuses in particular contextsASSOCIATION using an inter- edged that to understand the critical issues affect- sectional framework. ing women and men in multicultural societies such Our goals in this chapter are threefold. The first as the United States, they must use an inclusive is to present the early history of intersectional- theoretical and methodological approach (e.g., ity, with a focus on the use of the method of social Ghavami & Peplau, 2017; Hyde, 2014; Mays, activism as the foundation of intersectionality Maas, Ricks, & Cochran, 2012; Shields, 2008). development in addressing the marginalization of This approach must take into account not only individuals, particularly African American women, how gender shapes experiences but also how other whose multiple minority statuses have often ren- meaningful social group memberships and con- deredPSYCHOLOGICAL them invisible and unprotected. To that end, textual statuses, such as race, ethnicity, socioeco- we begin with the genealogy of intersectionality, nomic status, sexual orientation, and life course focusing on key figures who significantly shaped stages (e.g., Ghavami, Katsiaficas, & Rogers, 2016), the evolution of contemporary intersectionality. A combine with gender to create experiences that are second goal is to highlight the potential transfor- more than merely the sum of the statusesAMERICAN (Collins, mation that can take place through the integration 1999; Crenshaw, 1995; Mays et al., 2012).© In addi- of micro-level psychological theory and research, tion and more important, there is an increasing as well as the transformation of psychological recognition in the social sciences that because the theory and research by using intersectionality meaning and mechanisms at play in social catego- approaches in its methods and analytic approaches. ries are politically and historicallyPROOFS bound, the ways A third goal is to outline future aspirations for social categories combine at various developmen- intersectionality—particularly as a method, tool, tal stages to shape outcomes must be understood and approach—even returning to its early origins of within the context of power and privilege (e.g., social activism that can contribute to the advancing Browne & Misra, 2003; Del Toro & Yoshikawa, of intersectionality. 2016; Else-Quest & Hyde, 2016; Ghavami et al., In the sections that follow, we first review 2016; Marecek, 2016; Warner, 2016). Scholars and the origins of intersectionality by focusing on social activists interested in change for those mar- the social, political, and historical contexts that UNCORRECTEDginalized in society have called for a move beyond shaped the social activism for the inclusion and a single category or simple additive approach to protection of Black women and others in the understanding experiences and consequences of United States. We then turn our focus to the ways various simultaneous combinations of multiple in which intersectionality can be advanced using This work was partially supported by the National Institute of Minority Health and Heath Disparities (Grant No. MD0006923 to Dr. Mays) and Spencer Foundation Research (Dr. Ghavami). Both authors contributed equally to the work. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/XXXXXXX-028 APA Handbook of the Psychology of Women: Vol. 1. History, Theory, and Battlegrounds, C. B. Travis and J. W. White (Editors-in-Chief ) 541 Copyright © 2018 by the American Psychological Association. All rights reserved. BK-APA-HPW_V1-170074-Chp28.indd 541 03/06/17 1:03 PM Mays and Ghavami psychological theory and research on gender in legal studies, sociology, and gender and feminist the context of other social identities across vari- studies (e.g., Beale, 1970; Bond & Perry, 1970; ous domains. Next, we consider how psychology Collins, 1999; Cooper, 1892/1988; Combahee River as a discipline—with its distinctive intellectual and Collective, 1977/1983; Crenshaw, 1989; King, 1988; methodological orientation—can transform inter- Stewart, 1832/1987). sectionality. We close with a discussion of intersec- tionality’s potential for achieving equity and justice Coining of the Term Intersectionality goals in theory, research, and practice as well as in Black feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Williams public policy. Crenshaw is credited with coining the term intersec- tionality. In her landmark article, Crenshaw (1989) discussed how interlocking systems of power, privi- HISTORY OF INTERSECTIONALITY, lege, and disadvantage at the intersection of race and BEGINNING WITH SOCIAL ACTIVISM gender uniquely position Black women in both the AND THE FIGHT FOR PROTECTION AND U.S. legal system and antidiscrimination law. In this EQUITY FOR U.S. BLACK WOMEN ASSOCIATION work, Crenshaw highlighted the limitations of criti- The use of intersectionality in the field of psychol- cal race theory and feminist scholarship in capturing ogy has increased significantly in recent years, the realities of Black women. To characterize how particularly after the appearance of Elizabeth Cole’s systems of oppression at the intersection of race and (2009) article on intersectionality in the American gender shape Black women’s experiences, Crenshaw Psychologist. A quick search in PsycINFO indi- offered the following analogy: cated that in the years before the publication of Consider an analogy to traffic in an inter- Cole’s article (e.g., from 1997 to 2009), only 180 section, coming and going in all four publications focused on intersectionality, includ- directions.PSYCHOLOGICAL Discrimination, like traffic ing 126 peer-reviewed articles, 34 book-related through an intersection, may flow in one publications, and only 20 dissertations or theses. By direction, and it may flow in another. If contrast, a PsycINFO search of the years since her an accident happens in an intersection, article’s publication, 2010 through 2016, revealed it can be caused by cars traveling from 696 peer-reviewed articles, 191 book-related any number of directions and, some- publications, and 157 dissertations or theses.AMERICAN times, from all of them. Similarly, if a Cole’s (2009) article alone has been cited© by 696 Black woman is harmed because she is in publications. an intersection, her injury could result This recent interest in intersectionality in the from sex discrimination or race discrimi- field of psychology might suggest it is a new idea. nation. But it is not always easy to However, this is far from thePROOFS truth. The concept of reconstruct an accident: Sometimes the intersectionality has a long history, spanning centu- skid marks and the injuries simply indi- ries of creative expression and social activism by cate that they occurred simultaneously, and for Black women in the United States (e.g., frustrating efforts to determine which Collins, 2000; Lewis & Grzanka, 2016). Some credit driver caused the harm. (p. 149) Sojourner Truth with having expressed the tenets of intersectionality in her attempts to call attention Criticizing feminists and antiracist scholars for to the ways in which the obstacles to empowerment their focus on White women as targets of sexism andUNCORRECTED well-being for Black women were both dissimi- and on Black men as targets of racism, Crenshaw lar and disproportionate to the experiences of Black (1993) argued that “focusing on the experiences men or White women (Salami, 2012). In the acad- of the most privileged members of the subordinate emy and beyond, intersectionality has deep roots groups” (p. 383) renders the unique experiences in Black women’s feminist thought and scholarship of Black women invisible. In her groundbreak- across a wide range of disciplines, including critical ing work, Crenshaw challenged the “single-axis 542 BK-APA-HPW_V1-170074-Chp28.indd 542 03/06/17 1:03 PM History, Aspirations, and Transformations of Intersectionality framework” dominant in antidiscrimination law scholarship across various social science dis- and argued that ciplines, including psychology, sociology, and political science (e.g., Cole, 2009; Hancock, 2007; [Black female plaintiffs] sometimes expe- McCall, 2005; Risman, 2004). rience discrimination in ways similar to white women’s experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Social Activism as the Foundation of Black men. Yet often they experience Intersectionality double discrimination—the combined Although the term intersectionality was coined in effects of practices which discriminate on the late 20th century, these ideas have a longer his- the basis of race, and on the basis of sex. tory and played a significant role in the “herstory” of And sometimes, they experience discrim- Black female activists in particular. Because for cen- ination as Black women—not the sum of turies Black women were banned from U.S. institu- race and sex discrimination, but as Black tions of higher education, the contributions of early women. (p. 385) thinkers of intersectionality wereASSOCIATION found outside of the academy (Grzanka, 2014; Lewis & Grzanka, Sociologist Patricia Hill Collins (2000) furthered 2016) in such sites as abolitionist and women’s solidified the concept of intersectionality in her rights social activism, oral history, poetry, music, influential bookBlack Feminist Thought. Emphasiz- journalism, and creative nonfiction. Notable aboli- ing Black women’s unique position on the “matrix tionists and women’s
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