Gender Study Communication: Intersectionality, Feminism, and Society

This essay delves into the realm of communication within gender studies, employing an intersectional lens to dissect the multifaceted nature of social identities and power dynamics. It commences by elucidating the concept of intersectionality, emphasizing how individuals experience social structures differently due to overlapping identities such as gender, race, and sexuality. The essay then examines the application of intersectionality within subcultures, highlighting challenges in understanding identities and oppression. A significant portion focuses on the intersection of gender and sexuality, particularly in the context of feminism and transgender issues. The essay analyzes the perspectives of various scholars and media examples, such as the debates within feminism regarding transgender women and their inclusion in women's rights movements. It explores the complexities of heterosexuality as a site of intersection and the challenges of group comparisons. The analysis extends to the exclusion of transgender individuals in feminist movements and the need for an intersectional approach that recognizes differences and similarities. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of embracing multiple identities within feminism to challenge power structures and promote social justice, particularly for transgender individuals. It also underscores the significance of acknowledging gender in daily interactions and the role of intersectionality in comprehending a wide array of social interactions and hierarchies. The provided references support the arguments and analysis throughout the essay.

Running head: COMMUNICATION IN GENDER STUDY
COMMUNICATION IN GENDER STUDY
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Part 1
Intersectionality is considered as the acknowledgement that within groups of individuals
with common identity. These common identities range from attributes related to gender,
sexuality, religion or racial characteristics. Yuval-Davis has noted that each individual is likely
to experience social structure differently as the intersection of identities tends to signify an
interaction of overlapping oppressions. As a result, varied generalizations regarding the struggle
of power of specific social group shows incompetence in identifying individuals in the group
further belong to other social groups and tend to experience other forms of seclusion and
marginalization. The concept of intersectionality particularly relates to the formulation of
multifaceted inequalities witnessed in relations of hierarchisation and stratification. Such forms
of inequalities mainly incorporate unequal resource of allocation along with scales of value in
addition to practices related to ethics, principles, morality and stigma. Meanwhile, Cooper has
expanded that intersectional approach which has been stating that subcultures require addressing
the issues of class, race and ethnicity along with sex and gender, social ecology in addition to the
issues related to adolescence and human growth and development which have already been
intersecting. However, de Vries, Kylan has noted when scholars show incompetence in
embracing intersectional approach to sub cultural studies; they tend to show a risk of undervalue
identities and misinterpreting oppression which contribute to practices of subculture. On the
other hand, Schilt and Lagos have discussed certain theoretical and methodical challenges of
perceiving gender, sexual orientation and power through an intersectional lens. Meanwhile, there
is an abundance of recent writing on concept of intersectionality which has indicated to the
limitations of certain existing intersectionality frames and further attempting to offer improved
theoretical as well as methodological foundations.

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von Doussa, Power and Riggs have cited example of hip hop culture which shows the
highly multifaceted and contradictory identities which create legitimacy within a subculture
closely associated with music and media. According to Haupt, hip hop has been historically a
form of black cultural expression as illustrated by the typical race-based distinction of which
individual is ‘permitted’ to use certain language. The renowned word ‘nigga’ is linked to one of
the most powerful word of hip hop culture and is considered as valuable as a status symbol as
well as resource for the individuals who have the allowance to use it facility and a means of both
dividing authentic singers from fake and creating race based distinctions between diverse groups
of rappers. Nonetheless, in the view of Johnson and Boylorn such a norm for legitimacy does not
necessarily position black women above white men. Haupt has noted that the value of
intersectionality sheds light on the social change and further proposes the term transactional
intersectionality. von Doussa, Power and Riggs have noted that the positions taken scope from
the notion stating that intersectionality has been considered the most effective means of
exploring the multidimensional as well as complex articulation of forms of social division and
identity. Such explorations tend to perceived through the view that intersectionality serves as a
constructive slogan but fails to aim of having theoretical aspects. Moreover, as per Stewart, Frost
and Edgell, intersectionality is likely to condense all forms of divergences and serves them with
utmost equivalence.
Part 2
Several feminist scholarships have recognised the varied ways through which gender,
race, ethnicity, status along with other diversity indicators have leveraged the preferences
individuals make. According to Bilge, the way to capture collectively intersecting points of
socially ascribed categories of difference is known as intersectionality. At this point of the

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discussion, factors related to transgender sections through lens of intersectionality can be
evaluated by focusing on the position of transgender women in contemporary feminism. Report
revealed by Bateman has stated that over the last few years, renowned New Zealand feminists
have gone into a debatable point with transgender activists over the issues of biological sex as
well as self identification. At this juncture, gender mainstreaming is identified as a well-analysed
strategy which has cultivated substantial amount of knowledge over the years. According to von
Doussa, Power and Riggs, women, men and individuals who fail to recognize themselves as
woman or man tend to encounter various types of conditions in life as well as society relying on
ethnic belonging, age as well as functionality. An example has been cited from the case study
which claims that in recent times, extensive range of sophisticated and high-status feminists have
casted off the idea that transwomen have the authority to claim womanhood and consequently be
included in women’s rights activism. Additionally, Bateman of the news article has mentioned
that every political party has been disregarding women on the basis of gender identity primarily
because of the rising `rate of misogynist nature in the society. Drawing relevance to this media
example, authors have noted heterosexuality should not be viewed as a simple form of sexual
expression. It is not only regarded as a fundamental site of intersection between gender and
sexuality, but also aims to disclose the interconnections rising between sexual as well as non-
sexual facets of social life (Johnson and Boylorn).
The intellectual and ethical imperatives of intersectionality despite of the prevailing
approach to comprehend individuals in the context of groups rely on emphasizing the
comparison of group differences and similarities. Meanwhile, Bateman in the news article has
noted that other activists have shed light on the propensity that facilitating transgender with the
right to self-recognize if they fail to have reassignment surgery or consumed hormones which

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will led the men to get involved in realm of women under the appearance of 'identifying as a
woman'. At this point, Schilt and Lagos have claimed that the naturalization of gender categories
has fostered an approach to gender exploration in psychology whereby the aim lies on
identifying gender differences. Furthermore, in feminist theory which is regarded as the most
comprehensive theoretical orientation towards concept of intersectionality has a highly relaxing
relation to qualitative than quantitative work, particularly when that quantitative work is
embedded in experimental method as well as hypothesis testing (Else-Quest and Hyde). Yuval-
Davis have noted that race and socio-economic position typically tends to intersect as axes of
power, nevertheless the social processes that create and uphold them are not inevitably identical.
Moreover, Else-Quest and Hyde have noted that gendered images exhibit racial domination,
although racial domination can barely be recognized with the factors of gender inequality. The
example of Black men’s inferiority has been cited as an example which has been highlighted
through the constructions of hyper-sexuality in addition to Black women’s low standard which
gets highlighted through sexualized images such as Jezebel or welfare queen.
Furthermore, by shedding light on the revelation made by Bateman it can be noted that
several female MPs have publicly condemned the approach of secluding transgender individuals
from the political movement. Moreover, it has been noted that transwomen are women and rather
men have been seen as severe threats that intervene women spaces. Schilt and Lagos have noted
that exclusion of transgender can be observed in certain factions of the feminist movement.
However, it is highly apparent that why the transcommunity specifically transwomen are likely
to take offence to such level of oppression as transwomen are recognized as women and further
should not be precluded from spaces. Meanwhile, Stewart, Frost and Edgell have noted that
intersectional approach highlights differences instead of focusing on similarities. On the other

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hand, Feminists tend to emphasize on intersectionality typically as a way to establish that they
are not racists or classists. Drawing relevance to report revealed by von Doussa, Power and
Riggs, it has been noted that transwomen show greater propensity of encountering highest rates
of sexual violence as well as physical brutality which severely illustrates an intersected approach
of the contemporary feminism in New Zealand. However, according to Phoenix, in order to
overcome these power structures, feminists require to efficiently distinguish and embrace the
power structures which tend to carry more than the burden of gender and further include these
multiple identities into Feminism. Moreover, Johnson and Boylorn have noted that when the
benefits of the Feminist movement are proficiently shared with various demographics and
constituencies, realization of the intrinsic agreement of humanity shows a propensity to increase
and the driving force for change will intensify. Thus, by acceptance of an intersectional
feminism, activists can change the existing structures of oppression ranging against transgender
individuals in political movement. However, de Vries, Kylan has suggested that within daily
interaction the acknowledgment of gender tends to appear to have superiority in what individuals
typically recognize someone as male or female prior to making any assumptions on the subject
of heterosexuality or homosexuality. In addition to this Cooper has claimed that the transgender
distinction primarily relies on socially significant gender categories of being able to properly
identify trans-individuals and provide them a position into political movements. Even though, the
concept of intersectionality originated as a way for black women to adapt and narrate to
feminism, but the lens of intersectionality can further be applied to comprehend an extensive
range of social interactions and complex social hierarchies.

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References
Bateman, Sophie. "Feminist Mps Throw Support Behind Transgender Women". Newshub, 2018,
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/09/feminist-mps-throw-support-behind-
transgender-women.html.
Bilge, Sirma. "Whitening intersectionality." Racism and sociology 5 (2014): 175.
Cooper, Brittney. "Intersectionality." The Oxford handbook of feminist theory. 2015.
de Vries, Kylan Mattias. "Transgender people of color at the center: Conceptualizing a new
intersectional model." Ethnicities 15.1 (2015): 3-27.
Else-Quest, Nicole M., and Janet Shibley Hyde. "Intersectionality in quantitative psychological
research: I. Theoretical and epistemological issues." Psychology of Women Quarterly 40.2
(2016): 155-170.
Haupt, Adam. "Queering Hip-Hop, Queering the City: Dope Saint Jude’s Transformative
Politics." M/C Journal 19.4 (2016).
Johnson, Amber, and Robin M. Boylorn. "Digital media and the politics of intersectional queer
hyper/in/visibility in Between Women." Liminalities 11.1 (2015): 1.
Meyer, Doug. "Resisting hate crime discourse: Queer and intersectional challenges to neoliberal
hate crime laws." Critical Criminology 22.1 (2014): 113-125.
Phoenix, Ann. "Unsettling intersectional identities: historicizing embodied boundaries and
border crossings." Ethnic and Racial Studies 40.8 (2017): 1312-1319.

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Schilt, Kristen, and Danya Lagos. "The development of transgender studies in
sociology." Annual Review of Sociology43 (2017): 425-443.
Stewart, Evan, Jacqui Frost, and Penny Edgell. "Intersectionality and power: Notes from the
editors." Secularism and Nonreligion 6 (2017).
von Doussa, Henry, Jennifer Power, and Damien Riggs. "Imagining parenthood: the possibilities
and experiences of parenthood among transgender people." Culture, health & sexuality 17.9
(2015): 1119-1131.
Yuval-Davis, Nira. "Situated intersectionality and social inequality." Raisons politiques 2
(2015): 91-100.