Intersectionality

[ellaoldie]

Can someone with more knowledge of feminist theory than me clear up a point of confusion. I've seen accusations that feminism which excludes trans women is not ( sufficiently) intersectional.

Surely the factor/axis that race, fertility, culture, age intersect with is biology? What other factor would connect all the groups? So a feminism that excludes biology as the common factor cannot by definition be intersectional. Is that right?
Or is thete another non-biological axis on which group "trans" intersects with group ""woman"? I'd be interested to hear from any experts in theory of feminism.

OH hell. Third time lucky:

I am no academic feminist but it seems to me that TRAs use adjectives in lieu of intellectual rigour. Look at the shite they post on Twitter; all verbiage; no logic

The TRAs are misreading Crenshaw, much as they misread biological scholarship.

An intersectional analysis of liberation movements would observe that even organizations founded on principles of social justice repeat the power relations of the society they arise from. So black women are disadvantaged within feminist organizations because of their race, and within anti-racist organizations because of their sex. Working class women are disadvantaged in feminist groups because of their class. Women are disadvantaged in LGB organizations because of their sex. Etc.

So a black woman has no space where neither her race nor her sex are sources of disadvantage, unlike black men or white women. So the disadvantage experienced by a black woman is not only the effect of being black plus the effect of being a woman, but also an intersectional effect from being both black and a woman.

The same analysis can be used to make some predictions too:

If a working class liberation movement, such as the Labour party, expands its membership to include middle class people, they will tend to dominate at the expense of the working class members.

If a feminist organization expands its membership to include men, the men will tend to dominate at the expense of women.

Pretty accurate I think.

They think they are using it correctly, because MTF trans people (however white, rich or middle class) are the mostest oppressed evah and both the LGBT and feminist movements should centre them.

all verbiage; no logic

Hahahahaha. This!

concupio - yes, exactly. Intersectionality is an analysis of class-based power relationships and hierarchy reproduction. Much of the extremist anti-woman activism is actually anti-intersectional. If any of them were educated in critical thinking rather than word salad production, they would see this.