Identities and Intersectionality
Identities, Intersectionality, and Course and Content Design
Dr. Nick Winges-Yanez uses the Privilege Pie exercise in her courses. Listen as she discusses how learning about students' identities, as defined by them, helps her create more accessible, engaging courses.
Identity and Course Design with Dr Nick - Transcript.pdf Download Identity and Course Design with Dr Nick - Transcript.pdf
Dr. Nick Winges-Yanez
Nick Winges-Yanez, Ph.D., LMSW, is an assistant professor of instruction at the Texas Center for Disability Studies (TCDS) through the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin. She is the coordinator for the Critical Disability Studies program, teaching courses and facilitating programming. Her past research included sexuality and intellectual/developmental disabilities, sexuality education, and the intersections of the NASW Code of Ethics and person-centered practices.
What is Intersectionality?
In Dr. Nick's podcast, you heard the term "intersectionality." In an article by Kimberlé Crenshaw entitled Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, she discusses the idea of intersectionality. a term she coined.
She explains it as such "Discrimination, like traffic through an intersection, may flow in one direction, and it may flow in another. If an accident happens in an intersection, it can be caused by cars traveling from any number of directions and, sometimes, from all of them. Similarly, if a Black woman is harmed because she is in the intersection, her injury could result from sex discrimination or race discrimination."
Crenshaw, a lawyer, argued in her paper, which analyzed several discrimination cases based on race and gender that the courts recognized discrimination against women and recognized discrimination against Black men, but could not recognize discrimination that was unique to Black women. “Intersectionality was a prism to bring to light dynamics within discrimination law that weren’t being appreciated by the courts,” Crenshaw said. Here, you can read a Vox article about her work Links to an external site., and misconceptions related to it.
*Read Crenshaw's full article here: Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics Links to an external site. (optional)
Why Understanding Intersectionality Matters
Intersectionality acknowledges that a person's unique combination of identities can affect their experiences with marginalization in multiple ways at the same time, effectively rendering some people's marginalization invisible. For example, race and gender intersect and affect health outcomes for Black women that differ from those of Black men or White women. An example of this is Black maternal mortality rates, which are 2 to 3 times higher than White women's and are not an experience of cisgender Black men. This higher incidence of mortality was missed for years because doctors were not trained to look at how these identities intersect and affect health outcomes differently for those at that intersection.
Understanding intersectional identities can help educators and those who support them design educational tools that are useful for more students, especially those who are marginalized in today's systems.
Watch as Kimberlé Crenshaw goes in-depth about the impact of standing at an intersection. Trigger & Content Warning for police-sanctioned violence, death.
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