Intersectionality in Feminist and Queer Movements

Happy International Women's Day! This week we look at intersectionality and inclusion in global movements

Posted on March 8, 2021 in Review of the Week

Intersectionality in feminist and queer movements: confronting privileges

ed. by Elizabeth Evans and Eléonore Lépinard Routledge, 2020
312p index, 9780367257859 $160.00, 9781000744217

In this book about the messy details of inclusion, each chapter presents a case study of a feminist or queer social movement in which activists and organizations invoke intersectionality in different—and, not surprisingly, often contradictory—ways. In some movement organizations, actors adopt the term intersectionality as a badge to express why they should be set apart from non-intersectional organizations. Others use the term as a prompt to form coalitions with other movement organizations. Most commonly, though, intersectionality is used as a strategy to prioritize inclusivity and confront privilege. Social movement actors wonder whether their marches are intersectional enough, or whether the issues they cover are too selective, and the editors astutely contemplate whether intersectionality is ever “achieved” in these movements. The volume is a fascinating set of insider tales of feminist and queer movements in such varied countries as Cyprus, Belgium, the US, Morocco, Sweden, and Ecuador, among others. Readers gain access to very specific movement activities, such as collective vaginal self-examinations in France, multilingual brokering among feminist organizations in the Congo, and Moroccan feminists’ “invasion[s]” of public spaces with drawings of clitorises with Arabic labels. An exciting read.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.
Reviewer: I. Ken, George Washington University
Subject: Social & Behavioral Sciences – Sociology
Choice Issue: Jun 2021

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