Intersectionality is a term Kimberle Crenshaw first uses to describe double discrimination. Crenshaw describes her intersectional discrimination as a Black woman, as she faces double oppression. A pivotal court case which determined that we need to identify intersectionality was DeGraffenreid v. General Motors. A group of Black women sued General Motors for discrimination against hiring Black women. The women lost the case because General Motors had both Black employees and women employees, therefore no discrimination could be proven. Since Crenshaw came up with intersectionality, the term has become broader, and now is defined as double discrimination.
In my social work class last week, we watched part of her TedTalk, and in small groups we discussed how we each experience intersectionality. Intersectionality is a familiar term for me as a woman with a disability, but when I brought up how I face intersectionality as a woman with a disability, my classmates told me that they had never thought about those two identities together. I was surprised, because I had assumed it would be a common connection, but then I started to list some ways it affected me.
For example, I worked at an education and basketball camp for all African American middle school boys for three years. The two most frequent questions I received when I told people were: “Why would you want to work with middle schoolers?” and “How can you work at a basketball camp?” Both are legitimate questions.
During the summer I would often joke around with the kids, and one day they figured out that I was, in fact, stronger than I look. Maybe ten different campers, around a third of the camp, challenged me to an arm wrestling competition. With the exception of one or two, I won every competition. After every time, each camper would say, “I let her win, you can’t beat a girl.” Now, I know what you’re thinking, they are just middle school boys, they are cocky and sexist. But it was not just the campers. Every day the other interns and I would set up a morning snack outside. Without fail, they would assign me to carry the napkins, or the cups. When I stole the food boxes to carry, they would offer to help, and expected me to fail. To be clear, I don’t see my coworkers as horribly sexist and ableist, this is just one of the concrete experiences I have had where double discrimination has affected me.
Although those are concrete experiences, the challenges I face affect me everywhere I go. Recently I was riding my bicycle in downtown Saratoga, and some man asked me if I needed a push. Actually, that happens to me quite frequently.
In case you are curious why I wrote this article, I’ll tell you; but first, I want to tell you all the reasons I did not write this article. I did not write this article because I want to be pitied; nor did I write this article so you could call me an “inspiration.” I also did not write this article so that I could prove to you that I know how it feels to be a Black woman in this country. To be clear, I don’t. If you are thinking any of those, in fact, you have missed the whole point of my article. In reality, I wrote this article to talk about different ways people experience intersectionality. Being a disabled woman, I have experienced discrimination in a way able-bodied women and disabled men do not experience. I encourage you to listen to people’s experiences with double discrimination, and how they differ from what you have seen and/or experienced.
**Important note on language: I use person-first language interchangeably with identity-first language on purpose. This article is trying to explain my experiences with my identity, which I think would be more difficult to do by hiding my identity through person-first language. With that said, you should respect people’s preference of words you use to identify them.