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Home → Blog → Intersectionality: Let's talk about it?

Intersectionality: Let's talk about it?

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I just came across this article about intersectionality. One of the points that is raised, though the writer doesn’t directly address this, is how older women of colour (who are not black women) respond to the intersectional experience of being altogether black, woman and non-gender conforming. I am not quite sure what to make of the whole argument.

To me, intersectionality (a word that is being signaled as a spelling error) is crucial to any feminist debate because it should be the progression of the feminist movement: human equality. In this article I wonder if there might be a generational gap that causes contention between Salma Hayek and Jessica Williams. Hayek raises valid points about what it was like to be visibly Mexican when she was Williams’ age, and therefore she contends that she does not want to use that experience to victimize herself and separate herself from the larger movement. But it is also true that she had/has access to Eurocentric beauty privileges such as light skin tone and long, straight hair that prevents her from understanding Williams’ point. It is also frustrating to me that she persists her own argument about women standing together to create one movement of solidarity; yet at the same time that she "shuts Jessica Williams down", she undermines the experience of women who may actually have it worse than her. In so doing she doesn’t allow for a space of empathy which could help to strengthen the solidarity she wants –her actions seem to contradict her words. But in an effort to really try to understand Hayek’s argument and explore whether there is something there, I turn to anyone for help! Below is the link to the article:

http://blackgirllonghair.com/2017/02/salma-hayek-shuts-jessica-williams-down-for-talking-about-her-experience-as-a-black-woman/

Thoughts??? 

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