ABSTRACT
The terms "intersectionality" and "intersectional experience" are rooted to everyday life: traffic. Kimberle Crenshaw describes how discrimination may flow in different directions. Sexism enters from one direction, racism from another. Crenshaw's argument suggests that identity itself is more complex than we often conceive. Instead of thinking in strict gender or racial terms—one is a woman or one is Black—Crenshaw's argument recognizes a hybrid identity that is more complex than the sum of the parts. Although Crenshaw's essay focuses on Black women in legal contexts, the concept of intersectionality offers many opportunities to rethink identity, discrimination, and visibility. Crenshaw writes, "With Black women as the starting point, it becomes more apparent how dominant conceptions of discrimination condition us to think about subordination as disadvantage occurring along a single categorical axis". Building on Crenshaw's insights into the intersectional experiences of Black women, explore other forms of multidimensional identity and the compounding effect of discrimination that other identities encounter.
