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In Kimberlé Crenshaw’s TED Talk, “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” she seeks to disrupt the common ideology of feminism that does not include the experiences of those within a multitude of marginalized groups. In her discussion, she recognizes that from a communication standpoint, it is difficult for people to understand the intersections of one’s identity because it does not fit into a box that is easy to understand. By educating people on intersectionality, Crenshaw urges the audience to look at an individual’s identity through a lens that allows them to understand all intersections that prohibit their just treatment in this country. In this essay, I will perform a feminist criticism in which I examine the ways Crenshaw’s TED Talk used rhetorical strategies to disrupt “the structures of common thinking” (Foss 144). Crenshaw’s TED Talk is a direct challenge to the feminist ideals that are hegemonized by white women who do not believe the movement needs to expand past the desire for equality for women. 

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Historically, the feminist movement has left Women of Color, trans women, and women from heavily discriminated groups out of the focal point of the movement. Feminism has been a hegemony of white women who only focused on rights that pertain to them as women of a privileged race. It is the argument of many critics of feminism that the movement does little to benefit women that face major oppression that is layered on top of the discrimination women face. As Crenshaw puts it in her TED Talk, this is a “trickle down approach to social justice” in which if women gained equality, that equality would have a less beneficial impact as the women affected had identities deeper within marginalized groups. And by only fighting for issues that involve women in general, without acknowledging the need to fight for women in marginalized groups, feminists created a social hierarchy in which their suffering was on the forefront as white women. As stated in Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, “women on the margins of US society… argue that feminism and queer communities must grapple with how cultural difference shape people’s everyday lives if they are to be inclusive and work together for social change” (Saraswati 13). By making feminism feel exclusive based on one’s race, gender, or sexuality, the movement has become whitewashed and may not function in asserting social justice to its highest potential. This is a notion that is also present in Aja Martinez’s “Critical Race Theory,” as she explains that “color blind racism” allows people to not recognize the struggles people of color face and therefore, there are no efforts to combat the racism even in movements like feminism that work towards gender equality (16). In this text, the author also cites Crenshaw as someone who has focused on critical race theory and color blind racism that “insists that ‘dismissing the importance of race is a way to guarantee that institutionalized and systematic racism continues and even prospers’” (qtd. in Martinez 17). This ideal of intersectional feminism is what Kimberlé Crenshaw discusses in her TED Talk that has the potential to uproot the current system of feminism and make it less hegemonized. 

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Kimberlé Crenshaw’s TED Talk from 2016 is a reflection of her study of intersectionality as it pertains to feminism, while also centering the conversation around gun violence that has been prevalent in the past several years. Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in 1988 in order to explain the experience of Women of Color that are discriminated against on two planes because they are a minority race and also women (Saraswati 13). Throughout her TED Talk, she appeals to the pathos of the audience; the central themes of guilt and sadness are prevalent throughout her presentation, starting at the beginning when she makes the audience feel guilty for not knowing the names of black girls killed by police, all the way until the end when she shows footage of their deaths. The reason there is little light shed on these deaths is because of those women’s intersectional identities; they are not “framed” correctly, as Crenshaw puts it, but rather they are underrepresented in movements and “fall through the cracks” as the movements ignore the many facets to their identities. Her argument explains the majority of women in the feminist movement, or in any movement, have disidentified with members of their own movement. By assuming that a black woman faces the same oppression as a white woman, the white woman has taken power away from the black woman to fight for the injustices that plague her race. And similarly, in black activist movements, by not recognizing the added danger a black person faces as someone who is also a woman leaves this woman misrepresented and unable to make strides towards equality. To ignore the complete narrative of a woman who may also be a person of color, or gay, or transgender, or disabled, is to exclude them from a movement that strives for equality and assume that their narrative begins and ends with “woman.” 

 

Because of this inability to frame other women, a faulty identification has been formed between the typical “white feminists” and those who have intersectional identities. Although identification often means finding commonalities between people or groups of people, it can also ignore differences in a way that overshadows their existence. By allowing “woman” to be the focal point of feminism, we create an identification that “…makes space for personal agency and commonalities but not for differences” (Radcliffe 58). Radcliffe criticism of identification heavily overlaps with Crenshaw’s criticism of feminism. Instead of pretending that holding the commonality of “woman” is enough, feminists must listen to those marginalized communities in order to understand the ways their intersectional identities are being oppressed. Without knowing how a woman is affected by not only being a woman, but also by being trans, black, queer, disabled, or lower class, there is no way to help her overcome the systems that oppress her. 

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By watching “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” the audience can gain a better understanding of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s ideals as they relate to the feminist movement. Without intersectionality in the movement, there is little room for Women of Color or others to overcome oppressive systems, even if feminists work towards equality for women. Because of the disidentification that occurs in the movement, white women are often unaware of the ways the movement excludes other women that are oppressed. Crenshaw seeks to enlighten the audience on the intersections of one’s identity that make framing them just as women impossible in order to achieve true equity. Crenshaw’s TED Talk and her work with intersectionality are massive breakthroughs in feminism that challenge its hegemony and create a movement more open to helping women of different identities.                                                  

                      

Works Cited
 

Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “The Urgency of Intersectionality.” TED, Oct. 2016, https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality#t-36096. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism. 5th ed., Waveland Press, Inc., 2018, pp. 319-338.

Martinez, Aja Y. “Critical Race Theory: Its Origins, History, and Importance to the Discourses
and Rhetoric of Race.” Frame, 2014, pp. 10-27. 

Saraswati, L. Ayu, Barbara L. Shaw, & Heather Rellihan. Introduction to Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches. Oxford University Press, 2018, pp 11-17.