Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics

by Kimberlé Crenshaw

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Gender, Theory, Womens, Activism, Race

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Kimberlé Crenshaw (also writes as Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw) is a professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School. A leading authority on civil rights, black feminist legal theory, and racism and the law, she is a co-editor of Critical Race Theory (The New Press). Crenshaw is a contributor to Ms. Magazine, The Nation, and the Huffington Post. She lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Cole Shiflet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself both challenged and frustrated by this text.

While I certainly found myself disagreeing with Crenshaw in some areas, the argument based on the experience of the five Black women in DeGraffenreid v General Motors was challenging and allowed me to understand Crenshaw's foundational argument in the need for an intersectional approach to understanding race and gender.

Crenshaw ends with these words,

"It is somewhat ironic that those concerned with alleviating the ills of racism and sexism should adopt such a top-down approach to discrimination. If their efforts instead began with addressing the
needs and problems of those who are most disadvantaged and with restructuring and remaking the world where necessary, then others who are singularly disadvantaged would also benefit. In addition, it seems that placing those who currently are marginalized in the center is the most effective way to resist efforts to compartmentalize experiences and undermine potential collective action. It is not necessary to believe that a political consensus to focus on the lives of the most disadvantaged will happen tomorrow in order to recenter discrimination discourse at the intersection. It is enough, for now, that such an effort would encourage us to look beneath the prevailing conceptions of discrimination and to challenge the complacency that accompanies belief in the effectiveness of this framework. By so doing, we may develop language which is critical of the dominant view and which provides some basis for unifying activity. The goal of this activity should be to facilitate
the inclusion of marginalized groups for whom it can be said: 'When they enter, we all enter.'"

[em petlev · Rating 5 out of 5]

critical feminist theory that is surprisingly legal (well not surprising based on where it was published but surprising to ppl like me who only came across it due to its coining of intersectionality)

[ella :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://philpapers.org/archive/CREDTI...
Single axis framework erases black women - marginalises those who are multiply-burdened
Lack of intersectionality - erases many people’s experiences
The continued insistence that black women's demands and needs to be filtered through categorical analysis that completely obscure their experiences guarantees that their needs will seldom be addressed
Black women are regarded either as too much like women or Blacks and the compounded nature of the experience is absorbed into the collective experiences of either group or as two different comma in which case black women's blackness or femaleness sometimes has placed their needs and perspectives at the margin of the feminist and black liberationist agendas
Top down strategy - use a ‘but for analysis’
Sex and race discrimination have come to be defined in terms of the experiences of those who are privileged but for their racial or sexual characteristics
White feminist discourse - critique of the role that law has played in establishing bounds of normative sexuality and in regulating female sexual behaviour
Within this discourse - statutes against rape are to maintain a property-like interest in female chastity. OVERSIMPLIFIED AND INADEQUATE. Reflects white males and white females. Historically, there has been absolutely no institutional effort to regulate Black female chastity. Also, while it was true that the attempt to regulate the sexuality of white women placed unchaste women outside the law's protection, racism restored a fallen white woman's chastity where the alleged assailant was a black man. No such restoration was available to black women. Rape was used as a weapon of racial terror. Black women were raped by white men - their femaleness made them sexually vulnerable to racist domination, while their blackness effectively denied them any protection.
Historical fact - The protection of white female sexuality was often the pretext for terrorising the black community. the lynching of black males was legitimised by the regulation of white women's sexuality.
‘When they enter, we all enter’

[Nikolai Bayro · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you even rate the seminal work that coined intersectionality as a concept?
Where many critical theorists allow themselves to roam the fields of abstract thought, Crenshaw is concrete. This makes for a compelling, grounded, somber case. In a no-nonsense way, she constructs a single stronghold of an argument around the idea that Black women are and, at the same time, are not Black + women. With that simple arithmetic, which is supported by a plethora of case studies, from court cases to cultural analyses of TV shows, the author manages to support the creation of a framework that is applicable across the continuum of oppression. Preaching by example, creating language, voicing questions unasked.

Also a wonderful compilation of relevant discussions on race and sex.
Woot woottt!!!

[Komal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black women are dismissed by the feminist community which centres white women and by the black community which centres black men. Both communities that they are a part of, that are meant to support them refuse to see they are also causing them harm. Crenshaw’s work is critical to any anti racist or feminist.

[Becki C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This essay is a critical piece of reading, especially for any person who is interested in social justice issues. Crenshaw's infamous essay broke barriers and laid fundamental groundwork for modern day activism.

[Michaela Y-M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crenshaw’s work is foundational to contemporary Critical Race Theory (CRT) and intersectionality and this paper is no exception! A must read for anyone interested in the legal sides of discrimination or the history of CRT.

[Walkingbutterfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

" For white women, claiming sex discrimination is simply a
statement that but for gender, they would not have been disadvantaged. For them there is no need to specify discrimination as white females because their race does not contribute to the disadvantage
for which they seek redress." This.

[Amber Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great foundational analysis of intersectionality.

[Tia Hines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immaculate. Chef’s kiss.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

and you already know she’s just barely skimming the surface

[Katelyn Kerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

read for thesis needs no explanation cornerstone text for intersectionality studies