My long-term relationship with intersectional feminism

A few months ago, I changed my Twitter bio to include that I am a “proud Intersectional Feminist ” and I’ve since received a number of comments and questions about what that means. To be honest, I didn’t know the concept was so left-of-field to my follower base, nor did I realise how few people seem to think about the implications of social oppression.

​Intersectionality represents the idea that multiple identities intersect to create an entirety of experience that is uniquely composed and can’t be reduced or understood in any of its single parts. Basically I accept the theory that social inequality is multidimensional, and that there are multiple axes of oppression that any individual or group can experience such as racism, homophobia, fatphobia, sexism, classism, xenophobia and other forms of bigotry. If you’re a lesbian woman for example, you are likely to have very different experiences if you are white or black, cis or trans, rich or poor, thin or fat. Being aware of these nuances is important so we are able to more thoroughly consider the ways that systemic injustice is created and maintained within society.

As for most of my social-justice-minded allies, this isn’t some kind of PC bandwagon I jumped on as an adult: it’s the consequence of witnessing many difficult things I disagreed with throughout life, realizing that…