This paper deals with how the intersectionality of oppression manifests in narratives of single mothers with experience residing in a homeless shelter. Oppression is of a structural nature and single mothers from homeless shelters encounter it in various forms and on various levels. Using a qualitative research strategy, in particular a participatory approach, it has been found that oppression is ever-present in the narratives of homeless mothers, and that their living experience can only be understood through the intermingling and intersecting of different forms of oppression, such as gender, motherhood, lone- parent families, andthe interrelated poor socio-economic situations, ethnicity, and homelessness. This intersecting of different forms of oppression leads to disabled identities, that resulting in segregation, marginaliszation, or social exclusion.
A great deal has been written about the causes of gender inequality, and much of this literature has tackled the role of language as a mechanism of social exclusion. More recent analysis of gender inequalities indicates how vital it is that we understand the impact that different social characteristics, including age, can have simultaneously on a person’s life situation. These factors should be examined together and at the same time, and as such they invite the kind of approach that is made possible by the concept of intersectionality. The aim of this article is to bridge the gap that exists between different streams of research. It approaches the analysis of gender and age from an intersectional perspective. It also draws on work on the reinforcement of gender inequalities through gendered language and engages with research on age-related social inequalities and especially on the specific gender bias of ageism and ageist language. We propose that an intersectional approach be brought to bear on the analysis of sexist and ageist language in order to draw these lines of inquiry together. In doing so we hope to contribute to a better understanding of the social position of women and men of different ages and the role of language in reproducing and reinforcing the inequalities of power created by attitudes to differences of gender and age. It is our belief that an intersectional approach has huge potential for future work in gender studies, sociolinguistic theory, and other avenues of research.
The author analyses the theoretical and empirical convergence between posthumanist studies and disability studies. She begins with an explanation of the philosophy and tasks that researchers on posthuman disability set themselves. She discusses this issue using the example of the movie Orchids. My Intersex Adventure by the Australian director Phoebe Hart and her autobiographical texts. In the last part of the article, the author focuses on the concept of hybrid theories based on intersectionality.
Social psychology and research on intergroup relations has long been dominated by an approach that favoured comparisons between one ingroup and one outgroup, ignoring the possible membership of the same person in multiple social categories. Research on multiple categorical membership and intersectionality is so far absent in Czech and Slovak social psychology. The main objective of this review is to present the theories, approaches and models through which international social psychologists have approached the investigation of the aforementioned concepts. The paper discusses their strengths and weaknesses and then formulates recommendations for further research in this area, with particular emphasis on intergroup relations in the Slovak context.
Zadie Smith’s latest novel, NW, presents a multiverse in which multiplicity is driven into homogeneization by the forces of those dominant discourses that attempt to suppress the category of the “Other.” This paper focuses on the development of the two female protagonists. Their opposing attitudes towards motherhood, together with their confrontation with their origins, bring to the fore the performativity found in the discourses of gender, sexuality, class, and race. Thus, this paper will explore authenticity and performativity in a contemporary context, where patriarchal and neocolonial discourses still apply.
Issues of sexuality have been considerably under-studied in the analysis of later life in social gerontology. Sexual identity was considered to have a minor impact on life and social inequalities in old age. Consequently, the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender older people have been largely unrecognised in the study of ageing. This paper argues for the need to incorporate the dimension of sexuality in the study of ageing. It points out the heteronormative biases that are part of the dominant discourses in gerontology. The theory of active ageing that has so far dominated representations of the ‘desirable’ way to age is used as a case example of this heteronormative imaginary of old age. The second part of the paper focuses on possible ways of conceptualising ‘LGBT ageing’. The aim of the paper is to discuss intersectional perspectives as a means of deconstructing the heteronormative imaginary of old age and as an analytical tool that may help us to conceptualise in a meaningful way the potential specificity of the experience of LGBT older people.
The dowry system originated in South Asia and the new patterns of household formation among Indian migrant minorities have been debated in the international literature, particularly in the UK. However, less attention has been paid to the pre-marital bargaining strategies used in the most recent Punjabi immigration to Italy (to date the largest Indian Diaspora in Europe) and to how a certain idea of kinship and a cultural code of spousal/parental relations are enacted through gift, exchange and favor. This article explores the “marriage market” among youth of Punjabi descent in Italy (between first and second immigrant generations), investigating the bride-groom selection procedures and the economic transactions which endorse a wedding agreement. Reports of ethnographic research just concluded in the northern rural districts of Bergamo and Brescia indicate that dissonant subjective narratives give voice to family and community conflicts across genders and ages in setting up new domestic groups, capturing the shifting local milieu after the economic crisis. Using an intersectional perspective, which highlights diversity in the Italian Punjabi community (with regard to class, caste and faith), we ascertain how categories of social difference are reproduced, contested and transformed throughout wedlock, and see how a traditional tempered endogamy has long become transnational and partly disrupted. Analyzing how young Indian Italians selectively resort to discourses about love/convenience, right/duty, control/autonomy, we will consider whether and how personal agencies may navigate hierarchical structures such as patriarchy, social inequality and capitalist development.
Despite their long history in the United States, relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to Asian Americans and their lived experience in sports. The purpose of this study was to give voices to Asian American men by focusing on their experiences in sports. In particular, this study examined the experiences of East Asian and Southeast Asian American male college students who were often perceived as “foreign” and “pejoratively feminine” racialized minority yet participated in sports that were associated with dominant masculinity in the U.S. The setting of the study was as a predominately White institution located in Upstate New York where Asian Americans make up about one percent of the total student population. Qualitative research method was employed for the study. Six Asian American male students were recruited through snowball and purposeful sampling methods. In-depth interviews were conducted to reveal the rich stories of these Asian American men. The research showed that the stories of Asian American male college students were much nuanced and complicated. Specifically, this study revealed that Asian American men were constantly otherized as “forever foreigners” who did not have a legitimate citizenship in the United States. Also, Asian Americans faced unique ideas about their manhood that either highlighted emasculated and feminized masculinity or hyper-masculinity. In dealing with these situations, Asian American men employed unique cultural strategies to challenge and resist racial stereotypes through sports.
You should/mustn’t be a mother: intersectionalities of gender and sexuality within non-heteronormative women familiesIn this paper I aim to illustrate the intersectionality of sexuality and gender within non-heteronormative women families with usage of intersectionality framework from the classical text of K. Crenshaw Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color, which analyzes the structural, political and representational intersectionalities. Taking into consideration the impossibility to embrace all identity constructs and intersections between them, I’m going to focus on two dimensions: gender and sexuality, which, as I will try to illustrate, are crucial for studying realities of inequalities faced by non-heteronormative women parents in Poland. Powinnaś/Nie wolno ci być matką: intersekcjonalność gender i seksualności w rodzinach nieheteronormatywnych kobietCelem artykułu jest przedstawienie intersekcjonalności seksualności i gender w rodzinach nieheteronormatywnych kobiet w oparciu o metodologię klasycznego tekstu K. Crenshaw Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color, w którym analizie poddana została intersekcjonalność strukturalna, polityczna i reprezentacyjna. Biorąc pod uwagę niemożność uchwycenia wszystkich konstruktów tożsamościowych i ich wzajemnych relacji, skupię się na dwóch aspektach: płci kulturowej i seksualności, które jak postaram się zobrazować, mają decydujący wpływ na nierówności napotykane przez nieheteronormatywne kobiety-rodziców w Polsce.
A Basic Income (universal basic income or citizen’s income) could contribute to the means for living a dignified ecologically- and socially-aligned life characterized by well-being, freedom, and equality. After laying out key definitions, I reflect on moral and ethical issues regarding Basic Income’s implementation, backed by supportive theory and evidence. These arguments organise around interdependence in eco-social systems and core requirements of ontogenesis as well as the intersection and intertwining of socio-cultural, political, and economic factors, known as socio-ecological determinants of global health and well-being. Following that, I briefly make the case for why intersectional and intersubjective aspects should be closely held in contextualized view of Basic Income’s democratised drafting and provision.
The article analyzes the transformational potential of the #MeToo movement in terms of personal experience, institutional and social transformations, looking first of all at the dynamics the movement has created in theatre in Poland and around the world. The author unveils the systemic dimension of violence encoded in invisible and standardized relations of domination and subordination, inscribed in the two models which are still very common in Polish theatre: the “master and apprentice” model defining the position of a director and the “feudal” model visible in institutional relations. Looking at the Gardzienice case and the reactions of the public to the testimonies exposing violence, the author also mentions examples of institutional and systemic reactions to similar situations in British and Belgian theatre. In this way, she outlines possible directions for action in Polish theatre. She asks questions about the transformative and emancipatory potential of the #MeToo movement, emphasizing the necessity to consider an intersectional perspective, to build alliances and to practice promiscuous care.
The article analyzes the transformational potential of the #MeToo movement in terms of personal experience, institutional, and social transformations, looking first of all at the dynamics the movement has created in theater in Poland and around the world. The author unveils the systemic dimension of violence encoded in invisible and standardized relations of domination and subordination, inscribed in the two models which are still very common in Polish theater: the "master and apprentice" model defining the position of a director and the "feudal" model visible in institutional relations.Looking at the "Gardzienice" case and the reactions of the public to the testimonies exposing violence, the author also mentions examples of institutional and systemic reactions to similar situations in British and Belgian theater. In this way, she outlines possible directions for action in Polish theater. She asks questions about the transformative and emancipatory potential of the #MeToo movement, emphasizing the necessity to consider an intersectional perspective, to build alliances and to practice promiscuous care.
Objective: Deeper understanding of depression amongst men in the gender context in the current research is missing (Emslie, Ridge, Hunt, 2006; Oliffe et al., 2010; Smith, 1999). This study aims to put the male experience of depression into gender framework, using gender as an analytical tool for better understanding of depression in men both in a social and cultural frame as well as a subjective experience. Method: Nine semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with men in Slovakia who are having or had a direct experience with depression. Gender was used as an analytical tool in order to contextualize the experiences of men with depression in a social context and power relations. Results: The research identified various gender aspects - from power, the influence of traditional male roles, concealing emotions, distancing yourself from yourself to 8 identified positive aspects of depression: awareness of their own vulnerability, realization that different emotions are part of the life, higher sensitivity and empathy towards others, social responsibility in raising awareness about depression, closer contact with oneself, new - adult identity, courage to seek help and courage to be vulnerable and sensitive. The research also indicates the presence of intersectionality, offers the possibility of applying research findings to practice, and highlights the need to pay closer attention to gender aspects when examining depression as well as for direct work with men who suffer from depression. Conclusion: Our findings recommend paying closer attention to gender aspects while examining depression as well as for direct work with men who suffer from depression.
The article actualizes the issue of political correctness and the need to develop tools for its further study. Political correctness is considered in the context of gender studies and power relations. The concept of attitudes towards political correctness is revealed, and an attempt is also made to reveal the mechanism of the formation of linguistic attitudes in the mass consciousness through the prism of the concepts of Stephen Lukes and Patricia Hill Collins. The historical and theoretical foundations of the formation of intersectionality are also considered. Intersectionality is focused on the study of hierarchical differences between individuals and groups, depending on the complex intersections of their position in society, determined by many parameters. Respectively, the intersectional approach to the analysis of power and language allows us to solve a number of methodological difficulties associated with the combination of macro and micro levels, which makes possible the further empirical analysis of political correctness directly as a social phenomenon, while taking it out of the linguistic sphere. Political correctness is studied as a formal embodiment of intersectionality, taking into account all the features of cross-identity in linguistic practices. The use of the intersectional method makes it possible to reveal political correctness not only as speech prescriptions, but as a multi-component phenomenon that must be considered in close connection with various kinds of discrimination. The role of power, as the main element, in the mechanisms of interiorization of attitudes towards political correctness is revealed. We highlight the role of symbolic power in ensuring voluntary consent, which is the basis for political correctness and ensures its relatively stable nature. The possibility of using discourse analysis as one of the main methods of studying political correctness is substantiated.
This article critically evaluates the use of an intergroup intersectional perspective in quantitative research on social inequalities and thereby helps to obtain deeper knowledge of the sources of inequality that impact chances of unemployment in the Czech Republic and contribute to the discussion of the benefits and limitations of using this approach. The advantage offered by the intersectional perspective is illustrated in an analysis of EU-SILC data. The analysis combines an additive and multiplicative (intersectional) approach to research on unemployment in the Czech Republic. An additive model of binary logistic regression is accompanied by binary logistic regression models with interactions. The aim is to identify the factors and the social positions that result from the interaction of these factors that together influence chances of unemployment. The analysis shows that one source of inequality in interaction with other sources can have an entirely different impact on chances of unemployment than individual factors have on their own. An example is the interaction of gender and parenthood, which creates different social positions for different subpopulations. Motherhood, fatherhood, and the absence of the need to care for a young child can generate specific (dis)advantages for women or men also depending on the nature of their employment.
Sarah Gubbins and Joey Soloway’s recent series “I love Dick” – an adaptation of a cult feminist novel by Chris Kraus – demonstrates a rare, visceral grasp of the deep roots of gender oppression. The response to this oppression is intersectional, anti-racist, gender-queer empowerment and feminist desire. It’s inspiring and must be defended from (misunderstanding vis-à-vis) the perspective of the heteronormative gaze, still dominant together with the masculinist and racist gaze in the maturing 21st century. In its deviations from the novel, the screen adaptation activates intersectional connections that remain underdeveloped in the original. If the novel mines sexual oppression and gives voice to feminist desire in its raw and terrific power, I read the series as excavating sexual oppression at the intersection of sex, gender, race and class, and giving voice to (gender-)queer desire in all its fantastic force.
In my article I am trying to explore ways in which Polish feminismcan expand its knowledge about woman living in the countryside. To this purposeI recall theories from black feminist thought and postcolonial studies which helpto enrich subaltern epistemologies. To renegotiate regimes of visibility, which limitour imagination, I use these theories to analyze pop culture representations of rurality(documentary Warszawa do wzięcia and docusoap Chłopaki do wzięcia). Referring tobell hooks’ theory of the margin and to postcolonial writings of Gayatri ChakravortySpivak and Donna Haraway’s concept of situated knowledges, which all helpto develop our knowledge about different kinds of oppression and their intersectionality,I want to draw attention to these dimensions of sexism which don’t fit intorigid categories of “problems faced by woman from big cities”.
PL
W moim artykule próbuję odpowiedzieć na pytanie, w jaki sposób polski feminizm mógłby poszerzać wiedzę i włączać w obszar swoich działań mieszkanki wsi. W tym celu przywołuję teorie z obszaru czarnej myśli feministycznej oraz postkolonializmu, które problematyzują epistemologię podporządkowanych. Aby renegocjować reżimy widzialności, które ograniczają naszą wyobraźnię, proponuję aplikację tych narzędzi do analizy popkulturowych reprezentacji wsi (film dokumentalny Warszawa do wzięcia oraz serial dokumentalny Chłopaki do wzięcia). Czerpiąc z teorii marginesu bell hooks, postkolonialnych krytyk Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak oraz idei wiedz usytuowanych autorstwa Donny Haraway, pomagających nam wzbogacać wiedzę o różnych rodzajach opresji i ich intersekcjonalności, chciałabym skierować uwagę czytelniczek na te wymiary seksizmu, które nie mieszczą się być może w wąskich ramach definicji „problemów kobiet z dużych miast”.
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