Intersectional Invisibility (2008).Pdf
Sex Roles DOI 10.1007/s11199-008-9424-4 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Intersectional Invisibility: The Distinctive Advantages and Disadvantages of Multiple Subordinate-Group Identities Valerie Purdie-Vaughns & Richard P. Eibach # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract The hypothesis that possessing multiple subordi- Without in any way underplaying the enormous nate-group identities renders a person “invisible” relative to problems that poor African American women face, I those with a single subordinate-group identity is developed. want to suggest that the burdens of African American We propose that androcentric, ethnocentric, and heterocentric men have always been oppressive, dispiriting, demor- ideologies will cause people who have multiple subordinate- alizing, and soul-killing, whereas those of women group identities to be defined as non-prototypical members of have always been at least partly generative, empower- their respective identity groups. Because people with multiple ing, and humanizing. (Patterson 1995 pp. 62–3) subordinate-group identities (e.g., ethnic minority woman) do not fit the prototypes of their respective identity groups (e.g., ethnic minorities, women), they will experience what we have Introduction termed “intersectional invisibility.” In this article, our model of intersectional invisibility is developed and evidence from The politics of research on the intersection of social historical narratives, cultural representations, interest-group identities based on race, gender, class, and sexuality can politics, and anti-discrimination legal frameworks is used to at times resemble a score-keeping contest between battle- illustrate its utility. Implications for social psychological weary warriors. The warriors display ever deeper and more theory and research are discussed. gruesome battle scars in a game of one-upmanship, with each trying to prove that he or she has suffered more than Keywords Intersectionality.
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