A Brief History of Intersectional Feminism
The ethos of Pandora is to espouse and further intersectionality in everything we do. But what is intersectionality? In this article, we will briefly run down the development of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, and the impact it has had on the development of fourth-wave feminism.
First-, second- and third-wave feminism largely focused on the oppression of the white middle-class woman, the perpetuation of which has now been coined ‘white feminism’. ‘White feminism’ does not necessarily refer to white people who practise feminism and espouse feminist values. It applies to the critique that, even within movements for advocacy and change, white voices and narratives are held in higher regard and listened to. Therefore, the application of ‘white feminism’ does apply to white people when they fail to extend the same advocacy to the global majority, immigrants, the poor, the disabled, who are marginalised for the factors which define them in the eyes of society. While the theory of intersectionality was developed around third-wave feminism, it is during the fourth-wave, beginning around 2012, which has focused on and developed, using the theory of intersectionality.
The global development of first-, second-, and third-wave feminism occurred out of step with one another. However, because of the use of social media in spreading the fourth-wave of the movement, there was a level of cohesive movement on a global scale. It became popular in the US, UK, Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Pakistan, Philippines, Spain and South Africa around the same time, through the use of hashtags deriving from and inspired by #MeToo.
Latin America also engaged with fourth-wave feminism, with the Ni una menos (Not one woman less) movement. In Latin American fourth-wave feminism, is not derived from the theory of intersectionality, but a similar concept: that of transversality. According to Aude Langlois, it refers to a “form of feminism that addresses a wide range of issues in an effort to represent the heterogeneity of society”.
But, what is intersectionality?
Kimberlé Crenshaw, the American civil rights advocate, scholar of critical race theory and professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, coined the term intersectionality in her 1989 paper, ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics’. Beginning as an exploration of the oppression of black women, and the ways in which they exist at the intersection of race and gender, today intersectional analysis has expanded to encompass many more characteristics which influence social identity. Intersectionality works by identifying characteristics of advantage and disadvantage, for example: gender, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, weight, and physical appearance. Characteristics add and detract from the individual’s social value.
In Crenshaw’s words: “Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there.”
The overlap, or intersection, of these characteristics means that everyone goes through life differently. A straight cis-man will have a difference experience from a straight cis-woman, because of their gender. A white lesbian will have an inherently difference experience from a black lesbian, because of their race. A black cis-woman and a white cis-woman will face misogyny, but the intersection with race means that the black woman will face misogynoir: a category of misogyny towards black women which is inextricably linked with race. As Crenshaw pointed out in 1989, in the 1976 case DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, in which the plantiffs alleged that hiring practises discriminated against black women, it could not be described as racial discrimination or sexual discrimination alone.
What is fourth-wave feminism?
Fourth-wave feminism began in the early 2010s, with most agreeing that it began in 2012. Fourth-wave feminists argue for equal pay, equal opportunities, dismantling gender norms for men and women, and are characterised by the desire to uplift marginalised voices. This has led to further examination of how systems of power are used against those most marginalised in society. Fourth-wave feminism emphasises the social stratification of historically marginalised groups, like women of the global majority and trans-women.
The development of fourth-wave feminism occured via the media and internet, but did not emerge from structured studies of previous feminist literature. It emerged from the collective goal of ending violence against women, tracing it’s roots back to the mid- and late-90s. However, it was through social media that the movement has reached it’s peak. It also allowed for greater mobilisation of female protestors. For example, in Argentina, the peak around the abortion rights issue saw thousands of women in green scarves (pañuelo verde) take to the streets. (Abortion was legalised in December 2020.)
However, not every branch of fourth-wave feminism is interested in the betterment of the masses. The emergence of #girlboss, capitalist feminism has some defining fourth-wave feminism as the ability to make the narrow rubric set out for women at birth work for you, and you alone. It promotes the idea of more women in the position to abuse their power, holding roles traditionally filled and abused by men. In this type of feminism, though it is arguable that by definition it is not, it is seen as successful self-empowerment to be able to stomp on the rights of others. This ‘self-empowerment’ feminism has been disavowed by Jessa Crispin, author of Why I’m Not A Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto.
On a wider scale, fourth-wave feminism centralises the importance of dismantling institutional and structural issues that make life harder for all marginalised people. Intersectionality has also influenced alliances and allies between privileged and underprivileged groups. This is the idea that (cis-) men and other privileged groups can enact social change within their communities, by using their privilege to educate others.
Editor’s Note: Here is a link to Daniel Lim’s article ‘I’m Embracing the Term ‘People of the Global Majority’,’ in which he explains the term ‘global majority’, as used in this article. In short: it is a way of avoiding centring whiteness in an attempt to be an “affirming identity label for non-white people”.
