Intersectional Identities

[Page 965]For decades, feminists and critical race theorists have acknowledged the limitations of examining social identities (e.g., race, gender, class) in isolation from one another, particularly when seeking to understand the life experiences of women. All individuals simultaneously belong to multiple social groups linked to sociocultural identities, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, religious orientation, and disability, which may mutually affect one another. For example, a Black woman’s identity as a woman may be influenced by her race, while her identity as a Black individual is influenced by her gender. Some authors have described this as an additive process, in which being Black, for example, adds additional concerns to those already present for that individual as a woman. However, recently, many authors have ...