Writing Diverse Characters > Writing Identity [again]

 

 

What is intersectionality?

Put simply, intersectionality is the concept that all oppression is linked. More explicitly, the Oxford Dictionary defines intersectionality as “the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage”. Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc. First coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw back in 1989, intersectionality was added to the Oxford Dictionary in 2015 with its importance increasingly being recognised in the world of women’s rights.

Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color 

Kimberle Crenshaw

Consider the ways the characters in your own writing have multiple identities.  How do these multiple identities complicate the ways this character negotiates power in the story?  How do these multiple identities influence the characters thoughts, words, actions, and physical description?