Intersectionality

Intersectionality is a framework, coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in a 1989 article, for understanding how multiple forms of discrimination interact and compound rather than acting separately. Crenshaw introduced it to explain the experiences of Black women, whose treatment could not be fully understood through race or gender alone because antidiscrimination law tended to consider only one axis at a time. The concept has since broadened to cover how race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, and other identities intersect to shape privilege and oppression. In LGBTQ+ contexts it means recognizing that, for example, a Black transgender woman faces distinct challenges that anti-racism or anti-transphobia work alone cannot address. It has become foundational to contemporary social justice thinking.