intersectionality

/ˌɪntərˌsɛkʃəˈnælɪti/

Other forms: intersectionalities

Intersectionality is the idea that everyone has several overlapping parts of their identity that affect the way they're viewed and treated in society.

The concept of intersectionality helps people understand that we all fit into more than one category, and that those intersecting identities can make some of us especially vulnerable to discrimination. A woman may experience bias not just because she's female, but also because of her race, religion, or sexual orientation, for example. Intersectionality takes all of those factors into consideration. The term comes from the intersection, or crossing, of all the complex identities that make up each individual person.

Definitions of intersectionality

1. noun

   an overlap of a person's different social characteristics like race, class or gender, particularly with respect to how those characteristics can lead one to be disadvantaged socially and in complex ways
2. noun

   the state of being connected
   synonyms: connectedness, connection, link

   types:

   contact

   the state or condition of touching or of being in immediate proximity

   concatenation

   the state of being linked together as in a chain; union in a linked series

   interconnectedness, interconnection

   a state of being connected reciprocally

   coherence, coherency, cohesion, cohesiveness

   the state of cohering or sticking together

   osculation

   (mathematics) a contact of two curves (or two surfaces) at which they have a common tangent

   tangency

   the state of being tangent; having contact at a single point or along a line without crossing

   consistency

   logical coherence and accordance with the facts

   continuity

   uninterrupted connection or union

   type of:

   unification, union

   the state of being joined or united or linked