The world we live in - Assignment Example

The World We Live In of Intersectionality In the human species, there are different types of individuals spread across the globe. People exist in diverse domains ranging from their ecosystems, character, looks, gender, believes to age. The diversity is so wide that it eventually covers all aspects of humanity. Everyone belongs to one group or another, and nobody is left out of the intersectionality web. Actually, intersectionality applies to everyone and not just some minority group or groups.

Every individual represents one identity or another. Intersectionality is always not just how we see ourselves, but more of how the world itself sees us. The world tends to see every one of us from points of views that define our gender, nationality, class, disability, ethnicity, sexuality and many other more (Barak, Leighton & Flavin, 2010). No one can escape all these frames of views.For example, gender is an example of an intersection that is purely of social construct. We live in a world where everyone assumes a binary representation as far as gender is concerned.

Some of these intersectional characteristics are badly defined – many people take them as fluid. For instance, everyone represents one gender or another, but for some other people, this is never the case. On the same page, sexuality is a fluid characteristic that echoes with a difference between tastes and preferences from one person to another. Some people can choose to be ‘straight ‘or heterosexual for the rest of their lives, others can be bisexual while the rest can be homosexuals: gays (Barak, Leighton & Flavin, 2010).

Everyone fits in one of these groups or another.Class is another aspect of intersectionality that applies to everyone. Class can be viewed from cultural and economic points of views. If an individual is not placed under the rich – high income groups, he or she will definitely belong to the middle income group or the low income group. One can either be poor, rich or in between. These sections cover other subgroups given that the magnitude of wealth is continuous (Barak, Leighton & Flavin, 2010).

Everyone falls under some sort of race. One can either be a Negroid, Mongloid or a Caucasian. No one fall out of these three components of race (Chow, Segal & Tan, 2011). These intersectional groups are judged differently. Some are viewed with prestige while others are despised. An individual does not take the picture, but can find his or herself in an intersectional identity that makes him or her feel liberated or oppressed. One can be privileged in one intersection and be oppressed in another.

Take a rich blind man, for example, he is privileged because he is healthy, but underprivileged because of his disability (Barak, Leighton & Flavin, 2010). Intersectionality can be as well important in different ways to people. However, this can only be possible when individuals understand their identity and partly appreciate the identities and experiences of others (Barak, Leighton & Flavin, 2010). Another application that makes the concept of intersectionality important is to notice and recognize how different identities interferes with or affects their experiences of liberation and oppression.

Finally, intersectionality should not only be taken or viewed to be an experience and need for liberation to certain groups in our societies, but it should be seen, as a reason, to celebrate and appreciate diversity (Chow, Segal, & Tan 2011). Intersectionality is a way nature tells us to see every individual as a combination of unique experiences and identities. It also invites us to realize that no one is perfect or special, in their uniqueness. This frame of thought can be liberating to all people – humanity, which is the center of intersectionality.

ReferencesBarak, G., Leighton, P., & Flavin, J. (2010). Class, race, gender, and crime: The social realities of justice in America. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.Chow, E. N., Segal, M. T., & Tan, L. (2011). Analyzing gender, intersectionality, and multiple inequalities global, transnational and local contexts. Bingley, UK: Emerald.