Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Fall 2024

Blog Post # 2

In the second units of our class we will examine Black Feminist History and Intersectionality. By the end of each unit you are to select one or two challenging and/or relevant concepts presented in the readings and write 300-500 words engaging the concepts in your own words while drawing on examples from contemporary society or history. The intended audience for this writing should be a peer who is not taking this course but is interested in what you are learning in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Each concept will be posted in the thread for each unit on our shared Emory Scholar Blog page. The objective of these posts are to synthesize your own interpretation of the course material with course discussions. This assignment will make your notes about our discussions and readings accessible to future students of gender and sexuality across the internet. You have until the end of each unit to post your blog post. In each post you are expected to adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style.

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Victor Omni

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  1. Lauren Purnell

    I was first introduced to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies through the lens of art. Unsurprisingly, I found myself particularly drawn to the pieces by Barbara Smith and Alice Walker. It should not be forgotten that Walker is a novelist and a poet. Viewing social, cultural, and political issues through the lens of art (literature is included in this category) is revolutionary in a world where art is cast aside and viewed as entirely separate from activism or any substantial social change. Walker highlights how the artistic voices of Black women have been stifled by forces outside of their control, putting it as such: “…when we [Black women] have asked for simple caring, we have been handed empty inspirational appellations, then stuck in the farthest corner.”1 This passage highlights the lack of care shown to Black women by society, which directly impacts the mental state of Black women. Even today, how many Black women are so burdened by racism, misogyny, and daily responsibilities that they cannot pursue the activities that make them feel human? While visual, writing, music, etc. are typically considered skills, they are fundamental to the health of the human soul. The desire to create, while not being able to, is frustrating and exhausting. 

    Interestingly, Smith’s article, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism,” captures the ideas articulated by Kimberlé Crenshaw in her 1989 piece on intersectionality. However, Smith engages with the sexual politics surrounding Black women in a way Crenshaw does not: through the lens of lesbians. Furthermore, while Crenshaw examines intersectionality through the legal system, Smith analyzes Sula, a novel by Toni Morrison. She points out the ways in which the relationship between Sula and Nel challenges “the heterosexual institutions of male/female relationships, marriage, and the family.”2 Of course, there are multiple ways to effectively discuss social justice issues, but art tends to be the most accessible. 

    1. Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, by Alice Walker (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983), 237. 
    2. Barbara Smith, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism,” in The Radical Teacher, No. 7 (University of Illinois Press, 1978), 23. 

    Reply
  2. Jasmine Zhou

    Scholar Blog Post 2:Black Feminist History and Intersectionality

    Intersectionality and multiple jeopardies are inherently different concepts but are often mistakenly considered synonymous when discussing the complex layers of oppression experienced by Black women. Intersectionality, first introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, is a framework that explores how individuals’ social and political identities, such as gender, race, and class, intertwine and overlap to create unique forms of discrimination and privilege. In contrast, multiple jeopardies, such as ‘double jeopardy’ coined by Frances Beal, where racism meets sexism, and the ‘triple jeopardy’ later refined by Deborah King, stress the multiplicative and additive effects of layered forms of discrimination.

    King critiques early models that address racism, sexism, and classism independently for being oversimplifications of the issues that Black women face. Mainstream feminism, particularly White feminism, fails to incorporate the needs of Black women because they must also contend with multiple forms of oppression, such as racism and classism, along with gender discrimination. The experience of oppression for Black women is a combination of social forces rather than separate factors.

    Throughout history, Black women have suffered from intersecting forms of oppression involving race, gender, and class. They have continued to be economically marginalized due to gender and racial discrimination, forced into low-paying and dehumanizing jobs. Claudia Jones, in An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman, states, “super-exploitation of the Negro woman worker is revealed not only in that she receives, as a woman, less than equal pay for equal work with men, but also in that the majority of Negro women get less than half the pay of white women.” Even in contemporary societies, Black women still earn 70% as much as White men, while White women earn around 83% as White men. Although the wage gap has narrowed over the years, it has done so more for White women than for Black women, suggesting the economic marginalization of Black women cannot be fully addressed by examining gender or race alone.

    Stereotypical representations of Black women, such as the “mammy” or domestic servant figure, are prevalent in media and popular culture. For example, in “Gone with the Wind,” Mammy is depicted as a loyal and dutiful Black servant who sacrifices her needs to serve the White O’Hara family. These portrayals reinforce Black women’s subordinate positions in society. Additionally, Black women have historically faced sexual violence and exploitation, yet their safety is often neglected or disputed. The Rosa Lee Ingram case, in which Rosa Lee Ingram and her sons were imprisoned for defending themselves from a White man’s assault, symbolizes the systemic violence and injustice Black women have endured in the legal system.

    It’s not enough to address the issues of sexism, racism, and classism independently to liberate Black women when they are deeply intertwined. Crenshaw’s intersectionality reveals how these forms of oppression are interdependent, while Beal and King’s concept of multiple jeopardies examines the compounding effects of different forms of discrimination. Correctly distinguishing the two frameworks establishes the cornerstone for eliminating the root of oppression.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Black Women’s Manifesto,
    1970.
    Jones, Claudia. “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” Political
    Affairs 28, no. 5 (June 1949): 28-39.
    King, Deborah. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black
    Feminist Ideology.” Signs 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.
    Parker, Kim, and Juliana Menasce Horowitz. “The Enduring Grip of the Gender Pay Gap.” Pew Research Center, March 1, 2023. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/03/01/the-enduring-grip-of-the-gender-pay-gap/.

    Reply
  3. Miriam Kayemba

    Scholar Blog Post #2: The Invisibility of Black Women
    Kimberlé Crenshaw looked at the invisibility of black women through the lens of intersectionality to describe the unique way black women experienced oppression. Intersectionality acknowledges that forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, and classism affect black women independently and intersect to create a compounded discriminatory experience in the lives of black women. Crenshaw’s work involved analyzing legal cases that illustrated how the experiences and struggles of black women were undermined because they did not fit perfectly under the umbrella of either racial or sexual discrimination only. As a result, black women are ignored in social justice movements both historically and in our modern-day society.
    As aforementioned, Crenshaw evaluated legal cases that demonstrated the concept of intersectionality. One of the most notable examples is the 1976 case DeGraffenreid v General Motors in which a group of black women alleged that they were disproportionately affected by the company’s layoffs. The court claimed they could not look at a case that involved both race and gender discrimnation. This illustrates how America’s legal system fails to recognize the intersectionality of black women’s identities, essentially making them invisible.
    The invisibility of black women did not just start there, it can be dated even further back. In her essay Lynch Law in America Ida Wells-Barnett exposed the harsh reality of lynching in the United States and how it was used as a weapon of terror to uphold white supremacy. Although the essay primarily focuses on the lynchings of black men, Ida B. Wells does not fail to acknowledge that black women were also victims of both racial and sexual violence. Despite this, anti-lynching campaigns hardly recognized the atrocities black women also faced. What Wells is bringing to light is what Crenshaw later deems as intersectionality. It reinforces their invisibility because even within racial justice movements their sufferings were sidelined.
    Examples of this issue are present in contemporary society through the #SayHerName campaign that launched on social media during the Black Lives Matter movement. The purpose was to shed a beacon of light on black women who were victims of police brutality but are often left out of mainstream media. While names such as George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery have gained national recognition, the names of women such as Breonna Taylor or Sandra Bland never received the same media attention. The #SayHerName campaign is a powerful initiative to put an end to this disparity and push people to understand how black women are more vulnerable to police violence because of both their race and gender.
    An understanding of Kimberlé Crenshaw’s idea of intersectionality along with an analysis of historical and contemporary forms of discrimination allows us to grasp a better understanding of why black women are invisible in fights against discrimination. By failing to acknowledge the unique intersection of race and gender, society continues to fail black women. In addition to that, we must work to destroy instiutions that further perpetuate discrimination and work to build those that promote inclusivity and equality for all.

    Bibliography
    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics [1989].” Feminist Legal Theory, February 19, 2018, 57–80. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429500480-5.
    Wells, Ida. “(1900) Ida B. Wells, ‘Lynch Law in America’ •.” (1900) Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in America” •, September 20, 2019. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1900-ida-b-wells-lynch-law-america/.

    Reply
  4. Mahdia Rahman

    When exploring Black Feminist thought, Double Jeopardy and Intersectionality are two crucial frameworks that emphasize the complexities of discrimination faced by Black women. These concepts help to highlight how race, gender, and identities combine to create various forms of oppression, which are so frequently overlooked in broader social movements.
    Frances Beal’s concept of “Double Jeopardy” addresses the oppression Black women face due to both their race and gender. In her time, the mainstream feminist movements mainly catered to white women, focusing on gender-based issues, while the civil rights movement focused on racial oppression, however, catering mainly for Black Men. Therefore, Black women stood at the crossroads for both movements, fighting intensely for racial equality and gender justice. This is what was known as dual oppression and was termed “Double Jeopardy” by Beal.
    This concept, I believe, is still highly relevant today. The disproportionate rates of maternal mortality among Black women in the United States is an example of the contemporary world. Having read current studies, Black women have been revealed to be three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to white women. This statistic is not only a reflection of racial bias in healthcare systems but also the gendered nature of how women’s health concerns are addressed. This is where Beal’s concept of double jeopardy comes in and shows how those two forms of oppression converge to place Black women at quite a disadvantage in healthcare settings.
    While Beal’s’ Double Jeopardy focuses on race and gender, Kimberle Crenshaw’s concept of Intersectionality expands these frameworks by bringing forward multiple overlapping factors. In her essay “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex,” Crenshaw critiques the way that the legal system and social movements treat issues like race and gender as separate. She suggested that Black women’s experiences cannot be understood fully by examining race or gender by isolating them. These identities should rather intersect, along with other factors too, such as class, sexuality, and disability, to create a better form of marginalization.
    When exploring Black Feminist thought, Double Jeopardy and Intersectionality are two crucial frameworks that emphasize the complexities of discrimination faced by Black women. These concepts help to highlight how race, gender, and identities combine to create various forms of oppression, which are so frequently overlooked in broader social movements.
    Frances Beal’s concept of “Double Jeopardy” in her essay “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female” addresses the oppression Black women face due to both their race and gender. In her time, the mainstream feminist movements mainly catered to white women, focusing on gender-based issues, while the civil rights movement focused on racial oppression, however, catering mainly for Black Men. Therefore, Black women stood at the crossroads for both movements, fighting intensely for racial equality and gender justice. This is what was known as dual oppression and was termed “Double Jeopardy” by Beal.
    This concept, I believe, is still highly relevant today. The disproportionate rates of maternal mortality among Black women in the United States is an example of the contemporary world. Having read current studies, Black women have been revealed to be three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to white women. This statistic is not only a reflection of racial bias in healthcare systems but also the gendered nature of how women’s health concerns are addressed. This is where Beal’s concept of double jeopardy comes in and shows how those two forms of oppression converge to place Black women at quite a disadvantage in healthcare settings.
    While Beal’s’ Double Jeopardy focuses on race and gender, Kimberle Crenshaw’s concept of Intersectionality expands these frameworks by bringing forward multiple overlapping factors. In her essay “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex,” Crenshaw critiques the way that the legal system and social movements treat issues like race and gender as separate. She suggested that Black women’s experiences cannot be understood fully by examining race or gender by isolating them. These identities should rather intersect, along with other factors too, such as class, sexuality, and disability, to create a better form of marginalization.
    To again bring a contemporary example here, the experiences of Black transgender women should be highlighted. They face discrimination not only because they are Black and transgender but also due to societal gender norms and economic instability. These intersecting identities lead to them being at a higher risk of violence and discrimination. Crenshaw’s intersectionality framework shows how the overlap of these different identities leads to more marginalization, making it clear that focusing on just one identity doesn’t help capture the full picture.
    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Black Women’s Manifesto,
    1970.
    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” In The University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. 1989.

    Reply
  5. Chelsea Hong

    The term, Jeopardy, had never been foreign, but I had also typically correlated this term with the game show: Jeopardy! Other than the game show, I had not expected the greater depth that this word would hold in my introduction to the WGSS course.
    During this Unit’s reading, I had gained the most impact through Deborah King’s writing, “Multiple Jeopardy”. Deborah King’s “Multiple Jeopardy” explores the intersections of race, gender, and class, as well as focusing on how Black women typically face this compounded form of disparity. King’s writing, “Multiple Jeopardy”, highlights the three social identities: race, gender, and class. Furthermore, these three identities multiply to one another, and attribute to the root cause of racism, reflecting the mistreatment towards Black women. This can be further proven with current events, for example, the healthcare disparities maternal Black women have to face.
    Healthcare disparities maternal Black women are forced to endure are ultimately caused by systemic racism. The root of systemic racism itself, are the internal social and political policies created that were based off of racism. And King’s, “Multiple Jeopardies” highlights the various social identities, like race, gender, and socioeconomic status, and how they interact: multiplying, rather than adding. “Multiplicative” is a metaphor that King utilizes, and the multiplication of the jeopardies that Black women have to face epitomizes how the mistreatment is not added, but compounded; instead it amplifies and gets much larger whilst not being linear. King’s writing emphasizes the experiences and oppression that Black women have to face, as being a woman and a person of color. Due to these instances, maternal Black women are faced with mistreatment and negligence, “The CDC noted in a review of maternal mortalities in the US from 2017 to 2019, that 84% of the recorded maternal deaths were preventable. “These are preventable, which means that we know what to do, for these deaths not to happen,” said Monifa Bandele of MomsRising, an advocacy group” (Sainato). The quote states how these deaths were preventable, which indicates that the healthcare system had not done enough to further prevent these deaths. Further indicating the treatment of maternal Black women, and how it differs from other maternal women: maternal Black women facing negligence, and lack of care. The compounded forms of discrimination and oppression that Black women face are reflected by the maternal mortality rates for Black women: high mortality rates-due to being subjugated to the concept of “Multiple Jeopardy”. And in order to create a change in systemic racism, we need to ensure systemic equality. King’s points of the multiple jeopardies that Black women have to face would be the first step to end the constant cycle of the internal racism that occurs in policies and society as a whole.

    References
    Sainato, Michael. “‘A Critical Emergency’: America’s Black Maternal
    Mortality Crisis.” The Guardian, July 23, 2023.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/23/america-black-
    maternal-mortality-crisis

    Reply
  6. Chelsea Hong

    Scholar Blog Post 2:

    The term, Jeopardy, had never been foreign, but I had also typically correlated this term with the game show: Jeopardy! Other than the game show, I had not expected the greater depth that this word would hold in my introduction to the WGSS course.

    During this Unit’s reading, I had gained the most impact through Deborah King’s writing, “Multiple Jeopardy”. Deborah King’s “Multiple Jeopardy” explores the intersections of race, gender, and class, as well as focusing on how Black women typically face this compounded form of disparity. King’s writing, “Multiple Jeopardy”, highlights the three social identities: race, gender, and class. Furthermore, these three identities multiply to one another, and attribute to the root cause of racism, reflecting the mistreatment towards Black women. This can be further proven with current events, for example, the healthcare disparities maternal Black women have to face.

    Healthcare disparities maternal Black women are forced to endure are ultimately caused by systemic racism. The root of systemic racism itself, are the internal social and political policies created that were based off of racism. And King’s, “Multiple Jeopardies” highlights the various social identities, like race, gender, and socioeconomic status, and how they interact: multiplying, rather than adding. “Multiplicative” is a metaphor that King utilizes, and the multiplication of the jeopardies that Black women have to face epitomizes how the mistreatment is not added, but compounded; instead it amplifies and gets much larger whilst not being linear. King’s writing emphasizes the experiences and oppression that Black women have to face, as being a woman and a person of color. Due to these instances, maternal Black women are faced with mistreatment and negligence, “The CDC noted in a review of maternal mortalities in the US from 2017 to 2019, that 84% of the recorded maternal deaths were preventable. “These are preventable, which means that we know what to do, for these deaths not to happen,” said Monifa Bandele of MomsRising, an advocacy group” (Sainato). The quote states how these deaths were preventable, which indicates that the healthcare system had not done enough to further prevent these deaths. Further indicating the treatment of maternal Black women, and how it differs from other maternal women: maternal Black women facing negligence, and lack of care. The compounded forms of discrimination and oppression that Black women face are reflected by the maternal mortality rates for Black women: high mortality rates-due to being subjugated to the concept of “Multiple Jeopardy”. And in order to create a change in systemic racism, we need to ensure systemic equality. King’s points of the multiple jeopardies that Black women have to face would be the first step to end the constant cycle of the internal racism that occurs in policies and society as a whole.

    References

    Sainato, Michael. “‘A Critical Emergency’: America’s Black Maternal Mortality Crisis.” The Guardian, July 23, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/23/america-black-maternal-mortality-crisis

    Reply
  7. Hemangini Chawla

    Scholar Blog Post 2: Black Feminist History and Intersectionality

    In the late 1800s, activist Sojourner Truth famously exposed her breasts to silence those who questioned her gender. It’s shocking to realize that, 165 years later, Black women still find a need to secure their femininity in the eyes of society. The challenges begin even before birth, as gender-based discrepancies already subject women to misogyny, such as wage gaps and unequal access to education. However, this is where intersectionality plays a critical role. When a woman is also a person of color, has a disability, or comes from a low-income society, she faces additional layers of oppression because another facet of her identity is marginalized by society. Intersectionality, coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, highlights how multiple forms of oppression intersect, creating unique barriers for individuals. For Black women, these barriers are visible in everyday life, from the workplace to healthcare.

    In contemporary society, the media has amplified the challenges of intersectionality for Black women by continuously reinforcing stereotypes. These portrayals tend to focus on specific tropes, such as the “strong Black women” or the “angry Black women,” which erases the nuanced experiences of individuals who face both racial and gender-based oppression. As Francis Beal explains in her essay, ‘Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” Black women face a “double burden” of racial and gender-based discrimination, which complicates their experience in both work and medical fields. For instance, when we witness a black woman expressing anger, we claim that she has an angry disposition and not because of an external attribution of an unfair situation that leads to her frustration. (Beal,167)

    According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2020, white women with only a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $888, while Black women earned just $653. This affects racial and gender discrimination where black women are marginalized not only as women but also as members of a racial minority. The pay gap, therefore, isn’t merely a gender issue but rather an intersectional problem that limits their financial mobility and exacerbates broader economic inequality.

    ​​ I aim to use the concept of intersectionality to reshape the feminist dialogue, moving away from a framework that predominantly reflects the concerns of white women. As Rafia Zakaria aptly points out, “This approach often universalizes women’s issues while sidelining the unique experiences of women of color.” It is crucial to recognize that discrimination, marginalization, and oppression persist due to the structures of “white dominance.”

    Historically, many Indigenous cultures embraced gender identities that transcended the male-female binary. For instance, the Two-Spirit people of various Native American tribes were celebrated for embodying both masculine and feminine qualities. However, European colonization imposed a strict gender binary that disrupted these traditional practices and erased these identities from the dominant narrative. This historical context underscores the importance of intersectionality in crafting policies sensitive to these intersecting identities. Moreover, it also emphasizes the necessity of moving beyond one-size-fits-all solutions to address the varied experiences of marginalized communities.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians, vol. 8, no. 2, 2008, pp. 166–76. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338758. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.

    U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021, September). Highlights of women’s earnings in 2020. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-earnings/2020/ Accessed 12 Oct. 2024.

    For centuries, two-spirit people had to carry out native traditions in secret. Now, they’re ‘making their own history.’. (2022, April 28). VCU News. https://news.vcu.edu/article/2022/04/for-centuries-two-spirit-people-had-to-carry-out-traditions-in-secret. Accessed 14 Oct. 2024.

    Rafia Zakaria against white feminism. (2023, March 31). Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. https://signsjournal.org/zakaria/ Accessed 13 Oct. 2024.

    Reply
  8. Grace Cho

    It is demonstrated of Black Feminist’s significance as mentioned in Deborah King’s Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex. This is due to black feminists’ role as an essential critique regarding feminist and both their anti-racist and mainstream movements. Such writings emphasize the repeated outcome of failure for more traditional movements as they oftentimes do not succeed in the addressing of the overlapping and complex systems of oppression that Black women are confronted with because of their background whether it regards their gender, race, or class. This overlap of oppressive systems in experiences of marginalized groups is defined as ‘intersectionality’ as Kimberle Crenshaw states.

    This differs from Deborah King’s idea of “multiple jeopardy” as it instead refers to the simultaneous experience of sexism, racism, and oppression of economics for Black women. Deborah King provides the analysis of the tendency to prioritize a certain axis or aspect of identity over the other when referring to either the Black liberation or feminist movement. This may greatly hinder the awareness of the struggles of Black women due to the ambiguity of one’s identity during such movements. King argues the necessity of “multiple consciousness” as it allows for the comprehension of Black women and their stance within the overlapping oppressive systems. Therefore, allowing for this awareness to act as a major factor of empowerment.

    This can be seen throughout history for Black women through events like the Civil Rights Movement with figures like Fannie Lou Hamer as she was marginalized and her contribution was downplayed. However, these women continued to strongly navigate their identities while declining having to choose the fight for gender equality or racial justice. Crenshaw’s idea of intersectionality supports King’s argument as it illustrates the way in which feminist theory and legal framework fail to protect Black women. She explains this by mentioning legal cases where Black women were compelled to choose between seeking justice for their gender or racial identity. One example can be the DeGraffenreid v. General Motors case since the court insisted on the division between racial and gender discrimination, which resulted in Black women not being able to initiate a case of discrimination. Crenshaw continues to speak of the failure of systems in power as they don’t consider the Black women’s experiences as people who are marginalized between the overlap of multiple identities.

    In terms of contemporary society, intersectionality is essential for the comprehension of Black women and their unique struggles, which is shown through movements like #SayHerName. This movement highlights the ignorance regarding Black women’s experiences in police violence.

    Overall, it can be concluded that both King and Crenshaw provide the structure that calls for Black women’s experiences and its necessity to be recognized for the fight for social justice. By merging the ideas of intersectionality and multiple consciousness into efforts for anti-racist and feminist movements, the more inclusive and equitable path to society is ensured in the fact that it confronts all forms of oppression.

    References
    Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.” *University of Chicago Legal Forum* 1989, no. 1 (1989): 139-167.

    King, Deborah. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.

    Reply
  9. Jason Zhang

    Frances Beal’s Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female introduces the concept of “double jeopardy” to explain the compounded oppression Black women face due to both racism and sexism. Beal argues that Black women are marginalized on two fronts: by a racist society that dehumanizes them as Black individuals, and by a patriarchal system that subordinates them as women. This dual burden leads to their struggles being overlooked in both the Black liberation and feminist movements.

    While the Black liberation movement fights racial oppression, it often disregards the sexism Black women endure. Beal critiques this dynamic, explaining, “Those who are asserting their ‘manhood’ by telling Black women to step back into a domestic, submissive role are assuming a counter-revolutionary position” (Beal 2008, 170). Here, she highlights how some Black men, while pushing for racial equality, simultaneously reinforce patriarchal values that further oppress Black women. This dynamic perpetuates the same systems of subjugation they aim to resist.

    The feminist movement, on the other hand, tends to center its struggles on issues faced by middle-class white women, often overlooking the systemic racism that shapes Black women’s experiences. Beal points out that while white women advocate for equality in careers or domestic life, Black women are fighting for basic survival within a capitalist system that exploits their labor. Beal reinforces this by citing wage disparities, showing that Black women earn significantly less than both white women and Black men: “Non-white women were the lowest paid group, with wages significantly below both white males and females” (Beal 2008, 171). This economic marginalization, ignored by both the feminist and civil rights movements, demonstrates how Black women’s distinct struggles go unaddressed.

    Beal’s analysis of intersecting oppressions remains highly relevant, particularly for groups like lesbian women in China, who experience a similar “double jeopardy.” These women are oppressed both as women and as LGBTQ+ individuals, facing the dual burden of traditional expectations imposed on women in Chinese society and the stigma surrounding their sexual orientation. They are pressured to conform to heteronormative roles, such as marrying men and bearing children, and their failure to comply brings further discrimination and isolation.

    Furthermore, because their relationships lack legal recognition, lesbian women are vulnerable in crucial areas such as inheritance, child custody, and healthcare. For example, they have no legal rights to their partners’ property or the ability to make medical decisions in emergencies. This erasure of their relationships from the law exacerbates the discrimination they face as women and LGBTQ+ individuals, forcing them into the margins of both family and social life. These challenges echo Beal’s critique of the compounded struggles Black women face, reinforcing the necessity of addressing both gender and sexual identity in the fight for equality.

    In conclusion, Beal’s Double Jeopardy provides a critical framework for understanding how intersecting forms of oppression, such as racism and sexism, create unique struggles for marginalized groups. Her insights remain crucial in contemporary discussions about social justice, emphasizing that liberation movements must address the specific experiences of those who exist at the intersection of multiple oppressions to achieve true equality.

    Reference:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166-176.

    Reply
  10. Betty Belew

    Two of the most interesting concepts from the readings are intersectionality and double jeopardy. I found the exploration of intersectionality especially engaging because it offers society an alternative and more effective way of thinking about how different aspects of our identities like race, gender, and class interact to shape our experiences. Intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, highlights the limitations of analyzing discrimination through a single lens. For example, race and gender are often treated as separate categories, but Crenshaw argues that for Black women, these identities overlap in ways that create unique challenges. This concept sheds light on why Black women’s experiences often fall through the cracks in legal and social frameworks. Crenshaw cites the case of DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, where five Black women sued for discrimination but were denied because the court refused to see their claims as distinct from either race or gender alone. The court, like much of today’s society, couldn’t grasp that being both Black and female compounded their experiences of discrimination. This issue of compounded oppression is still painfully relevant and visible in areas like the wage gap. We hear a lot about women earning 82 cents for every dollar a man makes, but Black women earn only 63 cents compared to white men. This disparity isn’t just about sexism or racism in isolation but is also about how these systems interact, putting Black women at a particular disadvantage. Intersectionality reminds us that solutions to inequality can’t be one-size-fits-all but instead need to address how overlapping identities create different experiences of injustice. Frances Beal’s essay Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female also builds on this idea by examining how Black women are doubly oppressed by both racism and sexism. Beal describes how Black women have historically been pushed into grueling, low-wage jobs, expected to juggle both paid labor and domestic work without the privileges often granted to white women. While white middle-class women were idealized as housewives, Black women had to work outside the home to survive. This “double jeopardy” meant that Black women were not only economically exploited but also denied the societal protection offered to others. Even today, Black women are overrepresented in low-wage jobs, balancing economic survival with the unpaid labor of caregiving, which reflects the historical burdens Beal describes. The experiences of Black women, for example, can’t be understood fully without recognizing how these identities overlap and create a distinct set of challenges. By embracing intersectionality, movements can push for more nuanced solutions that address the complex realities of oppression. What I find so powerful about intersectionality and double jeopardy is that they force us to rethink how we approach justice and equality. It’s not enough to look at race, gender, or class individually, we need to see how they work together to create systems of power and inequality. By doing so, we can push for changes that reflect the true diversity of human experience, making the fight for equality more inclusive and effective.
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy.” Meridians 8, no. 2 (March 1, 2008): 166–76.
    https://doi.org/10.2979/mer.2008.8.2.166.
    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and
    Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.” Living with Contradictions, March 8, 2018, 39–52. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429499142-5.

    Reply
  11. Isabella Chow

    Intersectionality is one of the first words that comes to mind when discussing women and gender studies. After all, the quote “if your feminism isn’t intersectional, it’s bullshit” from Feminist scholar Flavia Dzodan is well known across college lecture halls and academic discourse. I first learned about intersectionality during my high school Women’s Voices class, a course dedicated to “examining power dynamics, representation, and gender roles from an interdisciplinary female perspective through modes of literature.” While only an introductory level class, this term of intersectionality was one emphasized as the foundation of our analysis of literature, and one frequently thrown around classroom discussions. However, we never learned of Kimberlee Crenshaw nor the development of the term through the Combahee River Collective’s call towards interconnected struggles or Frances Beal’s concept of double jeopardy. I don’t think I ever truly understood the term nor the weight it carries.

    Jennifer Nash’s black feminism reimagined after intersectionality, critiques how intersectionality has been voided of its historical backing, used to defend the practice of feminism and publicize the move away from upper-class, white feminism. Nash’s concept of intersectionality being collapsed into missions of diversity is particularly compelling. Nash explains how “naming intersectionality is often imagined to stand in for performing a kind of intellectual and political work” (Nash, 2019). In the academic and educational world, intersectionality is frequently used in general institutional diversity appeals. As social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and Books Unbanned gain traction, higher education institutions continue to tread lightly with their stances – only making a decisive statement when public opinion is overwhelmingly one direction. As the public is demanding institutions to be more inclusive, institutions respond with vague and loaded terminology, and as Nash puts it, “insert[ing] bodies into existing structures and even to engage in “rebranding an organization” (Nash, 2019). In alliance with Nash’s thinking, these temporary band-aid solutions misconstrue the ever-present institutional reinforcement perpetrated by complacent higher institutions, the ongoing grapple of un-naming and image-protecting, and diminish historically developed language into meaningless slogans. Do higher education institutions have policies in place to address interlocked individuals? Or do our higher education institutions resemble our legal system by being “race OR gender” structured (Crenshaw, 1989).

    Nash critiques intersectionality in its treatment as a progress narrative, that this acknowledgement of intersectionality is the solution to feminism. Higher education institutions implement these mission statements without genuine investigation or questioning into the structures that reinforce. With the overturning of Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, higher education institutions are navigating new admission standards and initiatives to address diversity outside of explicitly stating one’s race. This decision has a plus side: expanding on solutions and addressing the causal factors in lack of diversity. Institutions are seeking ways to expand college awareness, offer application fees and waivers, focusing on Black and Hispanic urban communities, etc. While not a cover-all solution, these new methods emphasize a new approach – demonstrating steps towards a Nash-approved, constantly progressing address of intersectional oppression.

    Sources:

    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” In the University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. 1989.

    Colleen E. Wynn, Elizabeth Ziff. “Too Many Efforts for Racial Justice Remain Performative (Opinion).” Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2022/06/24/too-many-efforts-racial-justice-remain-performative-opinion.

    Nash, Jennifer “A Love Letter from a Critic, or Notes on the Intersectionality Wars” in Black Feminism Reimagined. Duke University Press, 2019. Selections.

    Pham, Hoang, Imani Nokuri, Fatima Dahir, and Mira Joseph. “Students for Fair Admissions V. Harvard FAQ: Navigating the Evolving Implications of the Court’s Ruling.” Stanford Law School, December 13, 2023. https://law.stanford.edu/2023/12/12/students-for-fair-admissions-v-harvard-faq-navigating-the-evolving-implications-of-the-courts-ruling/#:~:text=The%20Supreme%20Court’s%20decision%20in,to%20pursue%20their%20diversity%20goals.

    Welle, Elissa. “Making Diversity Stick Is a Challenge for Higher Ed. New Research Suggests Ways to Get There.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2023. https://www.chronicle.com/article/making-diversity-stick-is-a-challenge-for-higher-ed-new-research-suggests-ways-to-get-there.

    Reply
  12. Katie Katerndahl

    Before studying this concept, I had often thought about oppression in terms of either race or gender, but never fully grasped how they could combine to form unique challenges. Double jeopardy, as introduced by Frances M. Beal in her essay “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” highlights how Black women face simultaneous oppressions based on their race and gender. Beal points out that Black women are often overlooked by both the feminist and civil rights movements, which tend to focus on either race or gender, but not the intersection of both. This dual marginalization leaves Black women without a full platform in either movement.

    Double Jeopardy emphasizes that Black women are subjected to both racism and sexism, creating an “additive” form of oppression that is greater than what Black men or white women face individually. Black women are left to navigate both systems of discrimination simultaneously, often without sufficient support from feminist or racial justice movements. In this way, Beal’s framework helps explain how Black women are rendered invisible as their specific experiences are not fully captured by either movement’s focus on a singular form of oppression, leaving them vulnerable. This concept helps us understand how Black women are marginalized across multiple fronts, such as the workforce. Black women continue to experience wage gaps that reflect both racial and gender-based discrimination, as both Black men and white women earn a higher wage than Black women do, to which neither racism nor sexism alone fully explains the disparities.

    Kimberle Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality builds on this understanding by demonstrating how multiple forms of oppression are not merely additive but intersect in many ways. While double jeopardy focuses on the dual marginalization from racism and sexism, intersectionality widens the scope to include other identities such as class, sexuality, and disability to reveal that oppression is a multifaceted experience. Crenshaw argues that traditional approaches to fighting discrimination are often too narrow, overlooking the unique experiences of those who have multiple marginalized identities. As Crenshaw states, “Discrimination, like traffic through an intersection, may flow in one direction, and it may flow in another. If an accident happens in an intersection, it can be caused by cars traveling from any number of directions and, sometimes, from all of them” (Crenshaw, 1989). Discrimination can take forms in multiple means with Black women being disproportionately impacted when systems only address single categories of identity.

    An example using both double jeopardy and intersectionality can be seen in the healthcare system, revealing the vulnerabilities Black women face. Black women in the U.S. are around three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. Using double jeopardy, we can understand this disparity as a result of racial and gender biases that cause Black women to be dismissed or mistreated by healthcare professionals. For instance, studies show that Black women’s concerns about pain or complications are often minimized or ignored, leading to inadequate treatment. However, intersectionality adds to our understanding by revealing that even affluent Black women, like Serena Williams, have experienced life-threatening complications during childbirth. Despite wealth and access to resources, Black women can struggle to receive adequate care because of implicit bias. Race, gender, and class all intersect to create a more complex form of oppression, one that affects Black women regardless of socioeconomic status. As Crenshaw’s framework emphasizes, focusing only on one axis of identity–like race or gender–fails to capture the interdependent nature of discrimination. In this case, addressing just one factor, like gender, cannot solve the pervasive issues of racial injustice Black women face in the healthcare field.

    By looking at both double jeopardy and intersectionality, we can gain a better outlook on the challenges Black women face. Beal’s framework offers insights into the compounded nature of race and gender oppression, while Crenshaw’s theory causes us to examine how multiple identities intersect to create unique forms of marginalization.

    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338758

    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” In The University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. 1989.

    Njoku, Anuli, Marian Evans, Lillian Nimo-Sefah, and Jonell Bailey. “Listen to the Whispers before They Become Screams: Addressing Black Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in the United States.” Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), February 3, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9914526/.

    Reply
  13. Viraj Shivadevuni

    The deeper we dive into the complexities of modern feminism, the more the crucial truth emerges- the combined forces of racism and sexism have consistently undermined the fight for Black women’s rights. These various forms of oppression, though not always talked about with the urgency they deserve, still manifest in many current systemic inequalities, such as wage gaps and workplace discrimination. Black women, at the juncture of these intertwined systems, are made to suffer the marginalization of both.
    Frances M. Beal’s analysis of the term “double jeopardy” is a representation of how compounded oppression faced by Black women originates because of their race and gender. Her essay “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” exposes how civil rights and feminist movements have continuously sidetracked Black women in society (Beal, 2008). I found her arguments intriguing as she explained that social movements focused on Black men and White women, and failed to cover the experience of Black women. Beal furthers her explanation by elaborating that racial and gender inequalities must not be tackled separately but should be considered as an interlinked form of oppression.
    As for double jeopardy, one particular aspect that Beal focuses on is the treatment of Black women under the capitalistic economy. “Statistics from the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor show that the wage scale for white women was even below that of black men, and the wage scale for non-white women was the lowest of all” (Beal, 2008, 170). I think this quote epitomizes the concept of double jeopardy because we can see how economic oppression is interlinked with racial oppression and gender oppression. Because black women are assigned jobs that are undervalued and underpaid, they are put in an unfair disservice within the workplace, such as a lack of promotions and pay raises within their company, stifling their success.
    Black women also face a lack of workplace leadership positions, as well as greater levels of racial and gender harassment compared to any other demographic. Specifically, a 2018 PBS report by Leslie Hunter-Gadsden depicted that Black women receive fewer promotions than White men and White women, even if they have identical qualifications (Hunter-Gadsden, 2018). Moreover, Black women are often labeled as “angry” in workplace settings, fostering negative work relationships with their colleagues. I believe this causes Black women to be more stigmatized in the workplace, causing employers to hire other demographics over Black women. Moreover, these negative characteristics are tied to Black women’s race and identity, imprisoning them in a cycle of oppression. This showcases that Beal’s argument is still prevalent in modern-day society and double jeopardy is still an imminent issue that Black women continue to tackle.
    Beal’s perspective was highly fascinating to me and her concept of double jeopardy and how race and gender are compounding aspects appealed to me. Her call to action still needs to be addressed in modern-day society as Black women continue to be oppressed due to their race and gender in workplace settings.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.”
    Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166–76.
    http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338758
    Hunter-Gadsden, Leslie. “Report: Black Women Less Likely to Be Promoted, Supported by Their Managers.” PBS, November 12, 2018. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/report-black-women-less-likely-to-be-promoted-supported-by-their-managers#:~:text=Based%20on%20this%20year’s%20survey,to%20think%20about%20going%20elsewhere.

    Reply
  14. Viraj Shivadevuni

    The deeper we dive into the complexities of modern feminism, the more the crucial truth emerges- the combined forces of racism and sexism have consistently undermined the fight for Black women’s rights. These various forms of oppression, though not always talked about with the urgency they deserve, still manifest in many current systemic inequalities, such as wage gaps and workplace discrimination. Black women, at the juncture of these intertwined systems, are made to suffer the marginalization of both.
    Frances M. Beal’s analysis of the term “double jeopardy” is a representation of how compounded oppression faced by Black women originates because of their race and gender. Her essay “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” exposes how civil rights and feminist movements have continuously sidetracked Black women in society (Beal, 2008). I found her arguments intriguing as she explained that social movements focused on Black men and White women, and failed to cover the experience of Black women. Beal furthers her explanation by elaborating that racial and gender inequalities must not be tackled separately but should be considered as an interlinked form of oppression.
    As for double jeopardy, one particular aspect that Beal focuses on is the treatment of Black women under the capitalistic economy. “Statistics from the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor show that the wage scale for white women was even below that of black men, and the wage scale for non-white women was the lowest of all” (Beal, 2008, 170). I think this quote epitomizes the concept of double jeopardy because we can see how economic oppression is interlinked with racial oppression and gender oppression. Because black women are assigned jobs that are undervalued and underpaid, they are put in an unfair disservice within the workplace, such as a lack of promotions and pay raises within their company, stifling their success.
    Black women also face a lack of workplace leadership positions, as well as greater levels of racial and gender harassment compared to any other demographic. Specifically, a 2018 PBS report by Leslie Hunter-Gadsden depicted that Black women receive fewer promotions than White men and White women, even if they have identical qualifications (Hunter-Gadsden, 2018). Moreover, Black women are often labeled as “angry” in workplace settings, fostering negative work relationships with their colleagues. I believe this causes Black women to be more stigmatized in the workplace, causing employers to hire other demographics over Black women. Moreover, these negative characteristics are tied to Black women’s race and identity, imprisoning them in a cycle of oppression. This showcases that Beal’s argument is still prevalent in modern-day society and double jeopardy is still an imminent issue that Black women continue to tackle.
    Beal’s perspective was highly fascinating to me and her concept of double jeopardy and how race and gender are compounding aspects appealed to me. Her call to action still needs to be addressed in modern-day society as Black women continue to be oppressed due to their race and gender in workplace settings.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.”
    Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166–76.
    http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338758
    Hunter-Gadsden, Leslie. “Report: Black Women Less Likely to Be Promoted, Supported by Their Managers.” PBS, November 12, 2018. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/report-black-women-less-likely-to-be-promoted-supported-by-their-managers#:~:text=Based%20on%20this%20year’s%20survey,to%20think%20about%20going%20elsewhere.

    Reply
  15. Khushi Vakta

    The concept of multiple jeopardy, developed in Deborah K. King’s essay “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology” dives into how identity’s axes, which include race, gender, and class among others, do not merely add more layers of oppression but multiply them. I believe this concept is crucial to understanding how Black women experience overlapping and intensifying forms of marginalization. Perhaps one of the most powerful contemporary applications of King’s theory involves police brutality, where the triple jeopardy of race, gender, and class all combine making Black women both more vulnerable to violence and invisible to justice.
    I found that these early models of oppression framed racism, sexism, and classism as different categories of discrimination and instead stressed the ways these systems intersect in having a deep impact on Black women. This is an important framework to consider in terms of police brutality as the primary focus has been on racial violence against Black men, though it overlooks particular ways in which Black women are targeted.
    According to the article “The Intersectionality Frame: #SayHerName and Exposing the Overlapping Double Discrimination of Racism and Sexism” by Emerald M. Archer the cases of Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, and Atatiana Jefferson display the brutal murder of unarmed black women subjected to extreme violence by police officers. These are prime examples of how Black women are susceptible to an added layer of vulnerability in the case of state-sanctioned violence, as their stories are often not brought to light within mainstream discourse on racial justice.
    The multiplicative nature of triple jeopardy in my opinion is seen when considering police violence. Black women, in particular those of low socioeconomic status, face discrimination based not only on race but also sex and class. In a system where Black lives are devalued and the rights of women are disregarded, police officers often operate with the view that Black women are criminals, thus resorting to disproportionate and deadly force. This dehumanization is reflected in the way Black women are treated when interacting with police, from excessive use of force to neglect in custody. Furthermore, Black women’s experiences of police brutality often go unacknowledged or are minimized. Movements like Black Lives Matter try to correct this invisibility by centering experiences of Black women, but I think Black women must fight not one but many systems of oppression at once. The product is a special sort of cognition regarding injustice, where the marginalization of Black women goes unnoticed, not in law enforcement alone but rather within mainstream feminist and civil rights movements.
    With the framework of multiple jeopardy, a solution to police brutality must take into account the particular vulnerabilities of Black women. Their experiences of violence are complicated by the interlocking systems of racism, sexism, and classism, thus requiring solutions that take those intersections into consideration. It is then within this context of police brutality that violence against Black women will continue to be managed poorly without an intersectional approach, and continue these cycles of injustice.

    References:
    Archer, E.M. 2022. “The Intersectionality Frame: #SayHerName and Exposing the Overlapping Double Discrimination of Racism and Sexism.” In: Marques, J., Dhiman, S. (eds) Leading With Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Future of Business and Finance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95652-3_23

    King, D. K. 1988. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(1), 42–72.
    https://doi.org/10.1086/494491

    Reply
  16. Isabella Madariaga

    In the introduction of her book Black Feminism Reimagined, Jennifer Nash describes how intersectionality has become the center of women’s studies. She explains how intersectionality is treated as a critique of white feminism, and how doing so reduces it to an intervention within feminism that can be used and discarded. Within universities, Nash argues that black women are often used to symbolize the evolution of women’s studies. Together, the misuse of intersectionality as a solution that can be utilized and discarded as well as the exploitation of black women in women’s studies has led to black feminist defensiveness of intersectionality. Nash claims that this defensiveness traps black feminism and black feminists into an unproductive “intersectionality war” where attempts are made to define correct uses of the term and clarify its history. Instead, Nash proposes that black feminists let go of intersectionality and move beyond it, as well as encouraging them to resist performing black feminism.
    This reading was incredibly eye-opening and brought to mind concepts I have encountered in previous classes discussing black feminism, particularly intersectionality. As a student, I appreciate how Nash highlights how universities capitalize on teaching intersectionality as an indication of diversity and inclusion. It is crucial to re-evaluate ideas in evolving fields, so I value her critique of what is often viewed as the solution or central idea of feminism. Moving forward, I plan to engage more critically with discussions around intersectionality and be mindful of the contexts in which it is taught. Above all, I want my understanding of black feminism to go beyond intersectionality and encompass the full range of experiences, ideas, and struggles it addresses. Ultimately, this will help me develop a more nuanced and engaged approach to the ongoing evolution of feminist thought.
    Nash, Jennifer. Black Feminism Reimagined: After Intersectionality. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2019.

    Reply
  17. Anooshka Rao

    Strong, persistent, hard-working are all characteristics often associated with big, burly men. However, these qualities best fit the most resilient people historically-known: African American women. Their creative voices which can be heard across a variety of forums – politics, music, and social media platforms- are not the aspect that is chosen to be highlighted, but rather the old stereotype that was placed on them decades ago. Their tight-knit community bonded by the ever-lasting injustices fosters a community of acceptance and a sense of sisterhood among themselves. In order to attempt to understand the struggles of African American women, intersectionality must be understood first. As Frances M. Beal describes in her work, – “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female”- intersectionality of black women can be summed up by the phrase: “a slave of a slave”. This example she gives truly encompasses the meaning as it describes how black women must not only withstand problems that come from not only being black but also being a woman; this is the very essence of what intersectionality is. The stereotypes that procure from this tend to present itself in the daily aspects of their lives. The sexism is seen in gender pay gaps and preconceived, racist attitudes about black women which cause them to be viewed in an aggressive perspective by their co-workers.

    This dual oppression is best captured by the term “double jeopardy” discussed by Frances M. Beal. She captures how this predicament black women are automatically placed in affect their lives in healthcare, standard of living, education, and socioeconomic status. One example Beal raises that was quite concerning was the history of using black women as “guinea pigs” for birth control testing. She wrote, “it (birth control pill) was tried out on Puerto Rican women and selected black women…to evaluate its effect and its efficiency”. She goes on to explain how this past background has imprinted itself on black women today by not going to clinics or hospitals even if it is needed. Reproductive rights is a common topic being fought for in the feminist movement as it has constantly been overlooked and overruled by white men in charge. This combined with the unequal access to proper healthcare and facilities African Americans face are just a few factors that shed light on the many layers oppression that come together against black women.

    Sources:

    Frances M., Beal. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female”. 2006. Meridians, Vol. 8, No. 2.

    Reply
  18. Maheen Khan

    Feminism is viewed through a variety of different lenses – some broad and others more nuanced. The broader lenses tend to be the more approachable route, focusing on one issue at a time and compartmentalizing each version of oppression through gender, sexuality, and race as issues to be addressed separately. The nuanced lens, however, includes the idea of intersectionality – a term primarily devised by Kimberlé Crenshaw, to describe how the interconnections of various forms of oppressions interact with each other to form an experience unique to each oppressed person and contribute to differing social dynamics based on such.

    To put these lenses into perspective, in Crenshaw’s TED talk, she begins by mentioning the names of black men who were killed by the police in recent years, telling audience members to sit down when hearing a name that wasn’t familiar. Many people stayed standing throughout each name, but the moment Crenshaw switches to names of black women killed by the police, most of the audience sat down. This is key to understanding the importance of recognizing the intersectionality of oppressions faced, rather than marginalizing those oppressions. The reason those men were known/remembered was because of a lack of intersectionality – those men were known for being oppressed and violently acted upon due to their race, and solely for their race.

    To truly understand the oppression that a black woman faces, the intersections of each form of oppression must be taken into account, and failure to do so belittles the experiences of oppression from race, gender, sexuality, etc. they must otherwise endure in silence. When Crenshaw states “This focus on the most privileged group members marginalizes those who are multiply-burdened and obscures claims that cannot be understood as resulting from discrete sources of discrimination,” (Crenshaw, 140) she emphasizes that this tendency to “marginalize” and separate each form of oppression faced by black women leads to not just distortion, but also erasure of the many layers of complexity weaved within the experiences of black women.

    An example that effectively illustrates this erasure that marginalization causes can be seen across workforces in the US, and the overall lack of employment rates for black women in particular as compared to other demographics. A workplace may hire plenty of women and black men, but there’s still a lack of black women. While other hired women only face one form of oppression in the workplace – gender, and black men face racism as a form of oppression, black women must endure both forms of oppression, making it significantly harder for them to be hired and represented in the workplace, as the two forms of oppression intersect. This example showcases the failure to acknowledge the oppressions faced by black women due to the intersectionality between race and gender, and how this erasure causes harm to their visibility and invalidates their experiences.

    References

    Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” In The University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. 1989. http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8.

    Kimberlé Crenshaw, “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” TED Talks, December 7, 2016, video, 18:49, https://youtu.be/akOe5-UsQ2o?si=69nwoY-DVCsqJ2ba.

    Reply
  19. Julianna Janke

    Jeopardy has always been my favorite trivia show. The contestants answer as many questions as possible to earn as much money as possible. The second part of the show is called “Double Jeopardy”. The questions are worth more money, but if you get the answer wrong, it’s a bigger cost. This is not necessarily the ”Double Jeopardy” referenced by Frances M. Beal in her piece “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Beal’s essay describes what it is like being a black woman and showcases the wars fought on two fronts, being a woman and black.

    Beal introduces her argument by first describing “masculinity” and “femininity” in the United States’ capitalist society. Women stay home and take care of the children while men work hard and earn money. Beal remarks, “America has defined the roles to which each individual should subscribe” (Beal 2). However, these roles were designed for a white model. Most black women become the “breadwinner” of their household, being a cook, nurse, or maid. This doesn’t adhere to the white precedent, leaving Beal to express feeling “… relegated to us quickly dissipated this mirage of ‘womanhood’” (Beal 2). Because of black women being a provider, some black men feel as though “… they have been castrated by society but that black women somehow escaped this persecution and even contributed to this emasculation” (Beal 3). Black women take on a money-maker persona to provide for their family and the double jeopardy ensues. She loses her womanhood because she cannot fit into the white model of femininity, but that causes black men to feel emasculated. Being a black woman puts her into her own category, a Black Woman.

    Beal moves forward by speaking on monetary oppression of black women. Both women’s rights groups and civil rights groups advocate for their respective equal pay. When each group is advocating, they place white women and non-white men over non-white women. Beal presents statistics showing that out of the groups, non-white women make the least. Non-white women have to deal with the racism from employers that favor white workers and the sexism that women workers face. This contributes to the idea of double jeopardy, having to fight racism and sexism at the same time.

    Similarly, Beal includes “Bedroom Politics” (Beal 6), which discusses how Black and Puerto Rican women were used as lab rats in creating birth control. While focusing more on racism, Beal calls attention to the sterilization camps in non-white communities. These camps focus on encouraging non-white women into undergoing sterilization procedures as birth control. However, Beal calls this “nothing but a method of outright surgical genocide” (Beal 7). This racism is also clear in the testing of the birth control pill in Puerto Rico and black communities. Letting these women die in order to save white lives.

    The idea of double jeopardy is fascinating. Beal demonstrates the endless battle between being a woman and black. Showcasing the complexities of being a Black Woman.

    Reply
  20. Samir Jamdar

    In the 1970 essay, “To be Black and Female” by Francis M. Beal, the unique concept of Double Jeopardy was first introduced to the ongoing discussion surrounding the oppression and injustices black women faced during this time. In a period of extreme upheaval and tumult, double jeopardy provided the framework to characterize the bilateral nature of the discrimination as black women were often marginalized on the basis of gender and race. By providing insight into the principal problems associated with double jeopardy, Beal not only critiques the pre-existing societal structures, but also urges black women to recognize that they must adapt a collective approach to addressing their oppression rather than focusing on one sole issue.

    Throughout her piece, Beal makes a repeated reference to the motif of economic slavery which highlights that black women have been taken advantage of as result of the patriarchal society. Entrapped by the capitalist culture at the time, Beal asserts that “the black woman likewise was manipulated by the system, economically exploited and physically assaulted” (Beal, 1970, 166). In this sense, black women were consistently subjugated and ultimately deprived from their goals of attaining economic liberty. Thus, the combination of both race alongside gender relegated black women to the lowest levels of society, essentially dehumanizing these individuals and labeling them as enslaved people.
    Moreover, prior to the feminist movements described by Beal, this concept of Double Jeopardy persisted in the early 20th century, despite the passage of the 19th amendment in 1919 which granted women’s suffrage. Before the ratification, women did not possess the right to vote, and this was even more so the case in black women since they were frequently threatened and disenfranchised. In fact, even after the amendment was ratified, “literacy tests, poll taxes, voted ID requirements, and intimidation tactics all remained obstacles for black women” (PBS). Through Beal’s framework, it is evident that black women were selectively targeted and outcasted from the rest of their society despite having the means to vote due to deeply rooted gender and racial biases.

    In response to the issues centered around double jeopardy, Beal offers a measured approach that may inspire progress in fostering a greater future for black women. For true liberation to occur, Beal emphasizes the need for solidarity and unity within the entire black freedom movement as she notes that “the mutual commitment of black men and black women alike…requires the total involvement of each individual” (Beal 1970, 176). In conjunction with a united approach, Beal highlights that combatting the economic exploitation which has undermined black women at the benefit of white individuals is extremely critical if black women want to restructure society for the better in the long term. Once these two feats occur, only then black women will be able to leverage against their hardships to eradicate the oppression and exploitation they face. In doing so, they will be able to lead more fulfilling and positive lives relieved of the complications associated with Double Jeopardy.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. 1970. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians 8 (2): 166–76. https://doi.org/10.2979/mer.2008.8.2.166.
    PBS. 2020. “Not All Women Gained the Vote in 1920 | American Experience | PBS.” http://Www.pbs.org. July 6, 2020. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/vote-not-all-women-gained-right-to-vote-in-1920/.

    Reply
  21. Angelina Chiang

    The concepts of intersectionality and multiple jeopardy are crucial frameworks for understanding the complexities of identity and oppression that Black women experience; however, before reading through this unit, I often confused these two distinct concepts as equivalences.
    What does it mean to be standing at the intersection of different roads? Probably a place where traffic laws are often ignored. A place where car accidents happen more frequently. This is the metaphor Kimberlé Crenshaw used when she coined the concept of intersectionality in her essay, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.” Each road represents a different form of oppression: race, class, sexuality, gender identity, and so on. However, the intersection of these “roads” is often overlooked. This distinct place of oppression that is unique to Black women was never given a name. Thus, never recognized. Through this metaphor, Crenshaw argues that traditional feminist and anti-racist frameworks fail to consider how race and gender interact to shape the experiences of Black women. She mentioned how intersectional experiences are not a single-axis framework nor just “the sum of race and sex discrimination” but rather a form of discrimination that occurs specifically “as Black women” (Crenshaw 1989, 149).
    This distinction is not just theoretical but deeply connected to ongoing social issues. For example, the Black maternal mortality crisis is a critical intersectional issue. Black women in the U.S. face disproportionately high rates of complications in childbirth. This is a result not just of racism or sexism individually but of their interaction. Crenshaw’s metaphor highlights that addressing just one axis of oppression — whether racism in healthcare or sexism in medicine — will fail to resolve the problem unless these forces are considered together.
    Now, imagine standing at that intersection with four cars coming toward you. How helpless and overwhelmed would you feel? To me, this imagery aligns with Deborah King’s concept of “multiple jeopardy.” The oppressions make the person standing at the intersection exceptionally vulnerable, and the impact becomes even more severe when all the cars collide. This illustrates how different forms of oppression can compound and intensify. While both concepts — intersectionality and multiple jeopardy — are similar, they differ in their own ways. While intersectionality focuses on the interaction of multiple identities at a specific point, multiple jeopardy emphasizes the cumulative and multiplying effect of oppression over time. King states how “multiple” not only refers to the several forms of oppression faced by Black women but also to the “multiplicative relationship” of “racism multiplied by sexism multiplied by classism” (King 1988, 47). This idea of multiple jeopardy continues to be seen in economic inequalities faced by Black women in the workforce, where both race and gender compound wage gaps.
    In conclusion, both intersectionality and multiple jeopardy are vital concepts that enable us to analyze and address the interconnected nature of social injustices critically and to make meaningful progress toward equity.

    References
    Crenshaw, Kimberlé. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. In The University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. no. 1 (1989): 139-167.
    King, Deborah K. Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.

    Reply
  22. Lucero Alvarado

    In Frances M. Beal’s “Double Jeopardy: To be Black and Female”, the reader is introduced to the profound idea that oppression black women face is multiplicative. The phrase/term, “Double Jeopardy”, explores the concept that gender and race affect the experiences of black women’s lives in society. Race and gender intersect, and as Beal states, “The economic system of capitalism finds it expedient to reduce women to a state of enslavement” (Beal, 2008, 170). Here, Beal emphasizes that economic and capitalistic systems also contribute to the exploitation of black women. Gender, race, and economic systems intersect, creating multiple jeopardies that predominantly affect black women. Forms of labor and financial oppression are evident in the chart provided by Beal, showing that non-white women make the lowest in terms of wages on the scale. This financial exploitation, which is because of both gender and race, shows the impact of economic systems of oppression on black women. Beal emphasizes how economic exploitation is not separate but intensifies the experiences that black women face from race and gender inequalities.
    In addition, Beal states “The white women’s movement is far from being monolithic. Any white group that does not have an anti-imperialist and anti-racist ideology has absolutely nothing in common with the black women’s struggle”(Beal, 2008, 174). Beal critiques white feminism because white feminists simply fail to address the interconnected struggles of racism and economic oppression that black women face. An example of this in the present time is how systems continue to ignore black women’s experiences. Across the United States, school systems fail to teach intersectionality and what it means to be affected by several forms of oppression at once. In white feminism there is that lack of understanding and full-out ignorance as well, black women’s struggles are overlooked because white women refuse to acknowledge them and do not experience them because of their privilege.
    In conclusion, Beal conveys that the oppression of black women is not singular, but instead includes race, gender, and economic exploitation (all intersecting). White feminism and society even today, fail to connect and ignore intersectionality and how it affects black women. There must be a deeper understanding of these intersections to fully understand black women’s experiences and how they are put at a disadvantage.

    References

    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338758.

    Reply
  23. Emily Chen

    I first heard the term “intersectionality” when I read Kimberlé Crenshaw’s essay. The concept of intersectionality, introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in her 1989 essay “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex,” provides a framework for understanding how overlapping systems of oppression, such as racism and sexism, shape the experiences of individuals with multiple marginalized identities. Crenshaw uses the metaphor of a street intersection to demonstrate how, rather than viewing identity through a single-axis prism, various factors, gender, and class intersect to create unique and compounded forms of oppression. Her essay highlights the urgency of recognizing how different identities interact rather than viewing them as separate.

    Building on this, Black feminist scholar Frances Beal introduced the concept of double jeopardy in her 1970 essay “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Double jeopardy highlights how Black women experience the compounded effects of racism and sexism simultaneously. Beal emphasizes that Black women face heightened vulnerability to capitalist and racist exploitation, which address inequalities created by broader structural forces that affect their economic, social, and reproductive lives. She writes, “The oppression of women acts as an escape valve for capitalism” (Beal, 1970, 170). Here, Beal suggested that capitalism benefits from the exploitation and subjugation of women, using their marginalized status to maintain social and economic control.

    A clear example of double jeopardy can be found in the workplace, where black women typically experience both racial and gender bias at the same time. In the workplace, they are more likely to be placed in lower-paying jobs with fewer opportunities for promotion, and their contributions are often undervalued. Connected the reading to reality, Beal’s double jeopardy helps us recognize how Black women are not only marginalized as women but also as Black individuals, facing compounded discrimination. The concept of intersectionality, as introduced by Crenshaw, further deepens our understanding by highlighting how race, gender, and class converge to create unique forms of oppression. It also allows us to see that Black women’s experiences in the workplace are shaped by the overlapping effects of these identities (race, gender, class), exacerbating the cycles of inequality that limit their career advancement and economic mobility. Understanding both double jeopardy and intersectionality reveals the structural injustices that Black women face as capitalism perpetuates this negative cycle, leaving them overworked, underpaid, and undervalued.

    Overall, Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality and Beal’s double jeopardy offer powerful frameworks for understanding how systemic oppression strongly affects Black women. The inequities in the workforce reveal the compound nature of Black women’s challenges and further underscore how the interplay of race and gender has contributed to the development and persistence of these harmful narratives.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Black Women’s Manifesto, 1970.
    Crenshaw, Kimberlé “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989, vol. 140, 139-167.

    Reply
  24. Kaitlin Liu

    Multiple Jeopardy
    Kaitlin
    Intersectionality describes social identities such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and class, which interact to produce multiple layers of discrimination. Kimberle Crenshaw first coined this term in 1989 to describe how different aspects of an individual’s identity come together to create distinct forms of discrimination. In Deborah K. King’s “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology,” King highlights the oppression faced by Black women by introducing the idea of “multiple jeopardy.” Intersectionality and multiple jeopardy are essential conceptual frameworks for comprehending the complexity of oppression and identity faced by women of color. Rather than additive, these oppressions based on multiple social identities of black women are often multiplicative, creating a more complex form of discrimination. This model of “multiple jeopardy” delves deeper into the intersectionality framework, which traditionally focused only on race and gender.
    King emphasized the importance of addressing different forms of oppression altogether rather than focusing on one each time. Black women have long played essential roles in both racial and feminist movements, however, their experiences have often been overlooked in each of these movements. King’s concept is a more comprehensive framework for looking at this systemic issue, and such a concept remains relevant today.
    In the legal system, for instance, in 2015, the African American Policy Forum started the #SayHerName initiative to draw attention to the reality that Black women are frequently marginalized in conversations about police brutality. Black women like Korryn Gaines and Sandra Bland were left out of this discussion, despite the fact that Black men like George Floyd have become a national symbol for the struggle against police violence. Black women are particularly vulnerable due to the combination of racism, gender, and class; nonetheless, their experiences are sometimes overlooked within the larger movement.
    In John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight episode discussing traffic stops, John Oliver highlights how Black people are routinely stopped without a valid reason. He uses the phrase “driving while Black” to explain this disturbing phenomenon. While Oliver presents compelling cases of racial profiling through such practice, I found it interesting that he did not present any specific examples of Black women who also face similar biases during these encounters.
    In the healthcare system, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has presented another example of King’s argument. The maternal mortality rate for Black women has significantly increased since, and this is true across socioeconomic classes. This reflects systemic neglect in the healthcare industry, as Black women are often not taken seriously when reporting symptoms or seeking care (Njoku et al. 2023). These examples resonate with King’s argument that the marginalization of Black women is not just about individual factors like race or gender, but about the ways these identities intersect.

    References:
    King, Deborah K. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Dartmouth Digital Commons. Accessed October 16, 2024. https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/2073/.

    LastWeekTonight. “Traffic Stops: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).” YouTube, October 10, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ygQ2wEwJw.

    Njoku, Anuli, Marian Evans, Lillian Nimo-Sefah, and Jonell Bailey. “Listen to the Whispers before They Become Screams: Addressing Black Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in the United States.” Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), February 3, 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9914526/.

    Reply
  25. Sofia Rahman

    The ideologies of double, triple, and multiple jeopardy all emerged as a response to monastic social movements. Feminism and civil rights movements in the 20th century, intentionally or otherwise, tended to exclude Black women from their community and cause. Even those who touted inclusivity often confined Black women and their experiences to the result of just one marginalized identity. Oppression, they claimed, was due either to their status as Black or to their status as a woman, never a result of both.
    In order to contest this viewpoint, Frances Beal formed the idea of a double jeopardy. She argued that a Black woman’s race and gender are not differentiable when it comes to injustices. The economic exploitation she encounters is not simply a result of her gender, and the forced sterilization and eugenic policies she faces cannot be chalked up to her race. Beal targets these points towards the larger feminism movement of the time, declaring that as long as they do not acknowledge and address the plights of Black women, unity is impossible. They have nothing to do with the Black struggle, and therefore have nothing to do with Black women.
    Nearly two decades after Beal’s publication, Deborah King coined the term multiple jeopardy to add complexity to the notions of double and triple jeopardy. In the years between the two writings, triple jeopardy had become a common phrase used to include economic class as a contributor to discrimination. Though Beal had explored the effects of class on prejudice, she had mostly equated it to those of race because of their undeniable link to one another. Triple jeopardy takes economic class and turns it into its own contributor. The equation of sex + race = double jeopardy became sex + race + class = triple jeopardy. Deborah King, however, criticizes both concepts. She claims that they oversimplify the incredibly complex experiences of Black women. Though she agreed that a Black woman’s race, gender, and class are not separable when examining the cause of her discrimination, she claimed that the previous terms used to describe this interconnectedness fundamentally misinterpret them. The various factors that result in discrimination are not additive; they are multiplicative, and their combination forms a model of identity and injustice unique to every person.
    In today’s world, the multiple jeopardies black women face are more relevant than ever. Though double and triple jeopardy were essential to critiquing uninclusive movements and encouraging Black women to engage with their unique identity, they are no longer the best way to describe the roots of oppression. A Black woman’s experience in the US is not so easily explained by an additive equation. Every injustice committed against her is not one committed on a Black person or on a woman. She is a Black Woman, and her experiences reflect this uniquely. But this is not where her identity ends. Understanding that the compounding interplay between Black women’s many different jeopardies is dynamic by its very nature is essential to understanding and resisting the oppression of the marginalized.

    Deborah K. King, “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology,” Signs 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.

    Frances M. Beal, “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166-176. Originally published in 1969.

    Reply
  26. Sofia Rahman

    The ideologies of double, triple, and multiple jeopardy all emerged as a response to monastic social movements. Feminism and civil rights movements in the 20th century, intentionally or otherwise, tended to exclude Black women from their community and cause. Even those who touted inclusivity often confined Black women and their experiences to the result of just one marginalized identity. Oppression, they claimed, was due either to their status as Black or to their status as a woman, never a result of both.
    In order to contest this viewpoint, Frances Beal formed the idea of a double jeopardy. She argued that a Black woman’s race and gender are not differentiable when it comes to injustices. The economic exploitation she encounters is not simply a result of her gender, and the forced sterilization and eugenic policies she faces cannot be chalked up to her race. Beal targets these points towards the larger feminism movement of the time, declaring that as long as they do not acknowledge and address the plights of Black women, unity is impossible. They have nothing to do with the Black struggle, and therefore have nothing to do with Black women.
    Nearly two decades after Beal’s publication, Deborah King coined the term multiple jeopardy to add complexity to the notions of double and triple jeopardy. In the years between the two writings, triple jeopardy had become a common phrase used to include economic class as a contributor to discrimination. Though Beal had explored the effects of class on prejudice, she had mostly equated it to those of race because of their undeniable link to one another. Triple jeopardy takes economic class and turns it into its own contributor. The equation of sex + race = double jeopardy became sex + race + class = triple jeopardy. Deborah King, however, criticizes both concepts. She claims that they oversimplify the incredibly complex experiences of Black women. Though she agreed that a Black woman’s race, gender, and class are not separable when examining the cause of her discrimination, she claimed that the previous terms used to describe this interconnectedness fundamentally misinterpret them. The various factors that result in discrimination are not additive; they are multiplicative, and their combination forms a model of identity and injustice unique to every person.
    In today’s world, the multiple jeopardies black women face are more relevant than ever. Though double and triple jeopardy were essential to critiquing uninclusive movements and encouraging Black women to engage with their unique identity, they are no longer the best way to describe the roots of oppression. A Black woman’s experience in the US is not so easily explained by an additive equation. Every injustice committed against her is not one committed on a Black person or on a woman. She is a Black Woman, and her experiences reflect this uniquely. But this is not where her identity ends. Understanding that the compounding interplay between Black women’s many different jeopardies is dynamic by its very nature is essential to understanding and resisting the oppression of the marginalized.

    References:
    Deborah K. King, “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology,” Signs 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.

    Frances M. Beal, “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166-176. Originally published in 1969.

    Reply
  27. Atharva Abhyankar

    When discussing the oppression that marginalized communities face, I would often find myself viewing different forces in isolation. For instance, I would mistakenly focus specifically on either the racial or gender aspect of discrimination, and then try to analyze the oppression of those demographics in a vacuum. This persisted until I encountered the work of Frances Beal, who developed a concept known as Double Jeopardy.
    Beal notes, “It is the depths of degradation to be socially manipulated, physically raped, … and to be powerless to reverse this syndrome” (Beal, 1969, 168). Beal specifically argues that due to societal norms and structures, Black women are particularly subject to horrifying oppression at the intersection of both their race and gender. Rather than isolating each aspect of gender and race, Double Jeopardy argues that both forces are at a crossroads, creating a unique oppression.
    Further deepening my understanding, Deborah King expands on Beal’s concept, introducing the way in which these forces combine. As King writes in her work “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology”, the oppression that Black women face is not additive: “The modifier “multiple” refers not only to… simultaneous oppressions but to the multiplicative relationships among them as well…. the equivalent formulation is racism multiplied by sexism …” (King, 1988, 47). King effectively argues that in Beal’s conceptual framework, the oppressive nature of being a woman and being Black cannot simply be added to understand the total oppression; rather, the intersection of race and gender is multiplicative, interacting in a complex way to create a unique form of marginalization.
    One clear application of this Double Jeopardy is in employment discrimination. When Black women apply for jobs, they encounter hiring biases where their backgrounds or experiences are neglected for more “traditional” white, male stereotypes. This racial bias is exacerbated for Black women, as they are seen as more “aggressive” and less nurturing than their white counterparts, affecting their ability to be fairly hired. More specifically, the mechanisms underlying the treatment of Black women are their non prototypical categorization and attributes. (Ponce de Leon and Rosette, 2022). This distinct oppression is not a reflection of race or gender isolated alone, but rather a compounded, multiplicative effect at the intersection of the two. Thus, understanding the multiplicative nature of oppression faced by Black women through the lens of Double Jeopardy allows us to see how race and gender intersect to create unique and profound forms of marginalization.

    References

    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians. Vol. 8. Duke University Press, 2008. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40338758.
    De Leon, Rebecca Ponce, and Ashleigh Shelby Rosette. “‘Invisible’ Discrimination: Divergent Outcomes for the Non Prototypicality of Black Women.” Academy of Management Journal 65, no. 3 (February 8, 2022): 784–812. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2020.1623.
    King, Deborah K. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs. Vol. 14. The University of Chicago Press, 1988. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3174661.

    Reply
  28. Miriam Brem

    In 1851, Sojourner Truth, a formerly enslaved woman, gave a speech in front of the Women’s Rights Convention in Ohio. Since Truth was never taught to read or write, she delivered her speech orally and had others transcribe it. Soon after the event, the written version of the speech “I am a woman’s rights” was published. However, twelve years later, another version of the speech titled “And ain’t I a woman?” was published.

    Both versions of the speech have the same general message. They discuss the double standards surrounding the sexist treatment of women. In both speeches she asks, if women are truly lesser than men, why would giving them rights be a threat? Some people say that women should not have power because they, like Eve, would use that to drive people to sin. However, these people forget that a woman also gave birth to Jesus. Women are not inherently bad, even biblically, they have influenced both the good and the bad.

    In the original transcription, Truth even discusses how, by asking Jesus, Mary and Martha are partially responsible for inspiring Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead. However, the newer version of the speech does not reference Lazarus. It only alludes to a base understanding of the bible. In fact, the newer version of her speech is altered to present an inaccurate life story, add a non-existent accent, and include lines such as “Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it?” All together, this speech makes Truth seem less intelligent and it caters to many of the stereotypes surrounding black women. However, this newer version of the speech is much more popular and is often referenced in feminist literature.

    This is because of confirmation bias, people are much more likely to believe and to take notice of things that fit their view of the world. Because of that, even feminists ignored the original transcription of the speech in favor of the edited version. For years, feminists working towards equality were simultaneously perpetuating racist ideas and stereotypes. Many modern feminists address the complexities of layers of oppression, however, many still do not know about Truth’s real speech.

    References:
    Truth, Sojourner. “Ain’t I A Woman?” Learning for Justice. Accessed October 15, 2024.

    Reply
  29. Kalp Soni

    I find the development of Black feminist thought, specifically the evolution of intersectionality and its relation to Black women, so interesting. Starting with proto-Black feminism, intersectionality transformed from a concept of exposure and awareness of the realities faced by Black women to a more contemporary role centered around activism and change. This transformation was shaped by the lived experiences of Black women, with early figures laying the foundational ideas that would later inform intersectional activism.

    Maria W. Stewart, an abolitionist and women’s rights activist, was one of the first figures to introduce proto-Black feminism. Her 1832 speech, “Why Sit Ye Here and Die?” sheds light on the grim oppression of both gender and race that Black women faced at that time. Stewart asserts that “there are no chains so galling as those that bind the soul,” emphasizing the psychological and societal limitations placed on Black women (Stewart 1832, 62). This idea relates directly to the struggles explained by other leaders in the 19th century, like Sojourner Truth and Anna Julia Cooper, who criticize the multi-faceted oppression Black women face due to their racial and gender identities. Stewart’s ideas led the way for an intersectional framework that would later be further developed by Black feminists in the 20th century.

    In the late 20th century, Kimberlé Crenshaw advanced these early ideas into intersectionality, a term that describes how multiple social identities overlap to create obstacles. In her essay “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex,” Crenshaw argues that Black women have a unique place in society, caught at the crossroads of traditional frameworks, specifically feminist and abolitionist movements. She points out that the “single-axis framework erases Black women in the conceptualization, identification, and remediation of race and sex discrimination” (Crenshaw 1989, 140). This observation reveals how traditional frameworks overlook the compounded discrimination Black women experience, reinforcing their increased marginalization.

    Today, we see Crenshaw’s idea evident in movements like #SayHerName, which she helped found in 2014. The movement brings attention to how Black women face both racial and gender discrimination that is often overlooked by more widely known social justice movements like Black Lives Matter. Similarly, I realized that my own thinking was biased to prioritizing other Black men over Black women that had been subject to police brutality. After listening to Crenshaw’s TED Talk on “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” I recognized names of Black men like George Floyd and Eric Garner but had never heard of Black women like Michelle Cusseaux or Tanisha Anderson. Therefore, Crenshaw stresses the importance of using intersectionality as a tool for increasing justice and visibility for minority groups like Black women.

    However, intersectionality also includes domains like class and disability status. For example, in the climate justice movement, women are disproportionately affected by climate change, with consequences varying for women with disabilities, older women, migrant women, and those living in under-resourced areas (Gender Inequality and Climate Change Are Not Separate Challenges 2023). These intersecting identities shape how individuals experience environmental problems, illustrating the broader reach of intersectionality in society and offering a tool to address inequalities for communities beyond Crenshaw’s focus on Black women.

    References

    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” The University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989, no. 140 (1989): 139-167.

    “Gender Inequality and Climate Change Are Not Separate Challenges,” January 10, 2023. https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/social-sustainability/gender-inequality-and-climate-change-are-not-separate-challenges.

    Stewart, Maria W. “Why Sit Ye Here and Die? / Lecture Delivered at Franklin Hall.” In Maria W. Stewart, America’s First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches, edited by Marilyn Richardson, 62-66. Blacks in the Diaspora. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

    Reply
  30. Yo-Chia Tseng

    When discussing the challenges that Black women faced, the terms “double jeopardy,” “multi jeopardy,” and “intersectionality” are often used to describe the overlapping oppression. These terms all are used to explain the interaction of marginalized identities, however, “double jeopardy” and “multiple jeopardy” does not equal “intersectionality”. The difference between these terms can be demonstrated through the writings of Francis Beal, Deborah King, and Kimberle Crenshaw.
    In Double Jeopardy, Beal posits that while White women experience sexism and Black men experience racism, Black women endure dual oppression from both, making them more vulnerable in society. Beal emphasizes that these forces combined create a unique and stronger form of oppression that should be addressed as a distinct issue, rather than integrated into feminist and civil rights movements. King’s Multi Jeopardy expands on Beal’s idea by incorporating additional sources of oppression, such as class and sexuality. King underscores the importance of recognizing various marginalized identities, including LGBTQ+ status and disability, and the multiplicative effect of their intersection to fully understand individual experiences of oppression.
    Kimberle Crenshaw’s Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex provides a different perspective on the issue of diverse marginalized identities. Her concept of intersectionality perceives that the impact of these multiple sources of oppression, such as racism, sexism, exploitation, etc., are not simply stacked on top of each other but are intertwined, producing different forms of discrimination that should be addressed respectively and simultaneously.
    As multi-jeopardy evolved from the earlier concept of double jeopardy, the only difference seems to be the amount of sources of oppression faced. However, the deeper difference is that double jeopardy views dual oppressions as an additive effect, while multi jeopardy views them as multiplicative, in which different forces intensify each other, leading to more severe conditions under systemic discrimination.
    Looking at the terms, “multi jeopardy” and “intersectionality” seem to describe the same concept of how people experience multiple forms of oppression. However, the difference lies in that multi-jeopardy sees these oppressions as forces that create multiplicative disadvantage, and intersectionality focuses on how these forces intertwine and interact, creating distinct experiences of oppression that cannot be addressed separately.
    When discussing a disabled Black transgender woman’s experience in the healthcare system, each approach would lead to different conclusions about her challenges. From the double jeopardy approach, we might focus on the intersection of racism and sexism, recognizing that she may encounter discrimination for being a Black woman, and receiving less health care compared to white men. However, from the multi-jeopardy views, we might see how her race, gender identity, disability, and transgender status multiply the oppressions she faces, creating unique barriers to healthcare distinct from white transgender women, able-bodied Black women, and Black cisgender men encounter.
    Understanding the distinction between multi-jeopardy and intersectionality is important for effectively coping with social justice issues. Multi-jeopardy helps us recognize the variety of oppression, but intersectionality goes deeper, revealing the complexity of how identities intersect and shape unique forms of oppression.
    Reference:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Black Women’s Manifesto, 1970.
    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.”, 1989.
    King, Deborah. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.

    Reply
  31. Emma Li

    “Double Jeopardy” and “multiple Jeopardy” are two frameworks to describe the systematic oppression faced by Black women. “Double jeopardy”, a concept developed by Frances Beale, refers to the oppression of racism and sexism experienced by Black women in the capitalist society (Beale, 2008). However, Deborah King argues that this framework viewed the effects of these forms of oppression in simplistic ways whereas “multiple jeopardy” better captures the multiplicative effects of different forms of oppression. King specifically stated that the oppression includes “racism multiplied by sexism multiplied by classism” (King, 1988).
    Beale argued that Black women’s racial and sexual oppression was tied to capitalist economic exploitation. In 1940, the median earnings for white women were more than twice those of Black women, who earned less than $500 annually (Jones, 1949). This demonstrated how Black women were sexually and racially discriminated against in underpaid jobs—earning less than men and white women alike. Moreover, stereotyped as humble family caretakers, Black women were excluded from most professions, confined to domestic and personal services, and often pushed into unemployment. This worsened their economic burden as they struggled to support their families. King adds that this economic disadvantage wasn’t solely due to racial oppression but also to classism. The “lowest wages” and “poorest” conditions endured by Black women highlight how economic oppression compounded their struggles, although even the triple jeopardy concept, including racism, sexism, and classism, fails to fully capture the complexity of their experience (King, 1988).
    To better conceptualize Black women’s oppression, it’s crucial to identify which factors—racism, sexism, or classism—are most significant in specific socioeconomic contexts. Historically, Black women and men in slavery faced brutal physical labor and punishment, but Black women also endured sexual exploitation. As Angela Davis notes, while men were flogged and mutilated, women suffered the same and were raped (King, 1988). In this context, sexism plays a key role in Black women’s oppression. Additionally, when 20% of women in colonized Black neighborhoods were used as test subjects for birth control, it reflected reproductive violence rooted in both racism and sexism, uniquely targeting Black women’s inferior status in Western society (Beale, 2008).
    Using “double” or “multiple jeopardy” to interpret Black women’s oppression can highlight their invisibility in capitalist society, where they were often silenced. Black women should be recognized for their economic roles, managing multiple responsibilities as mothers and workers. As King emphasized, Black women’s activism has always been central to fighting both racial and gender oppression, but a “monist” approach addressing only one form of oppression is inadequate (King, 1988). A call for the Black feminist ideology in a society that includes all womanhood, including white women, would better strengthen Black women’s visibility, dignity, and self-determination.
    References:
    Beale, Frances M. 2008. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians 8 (2): 166–76. https://doi.org/10.2979/mer.2008.8.2.166.
    Jones, Claudia. 1949. An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!
    King, Deborah K. 1988. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs 14 (1): 42-72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174661.

    Reply
  32. Melanie Liu

    Intersectionality is a concept of intertwining forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, classism, and other categories that make “people vulnerable to various forms of bias (Crenshaw, 2008, 3).” This idea is explored in Kimberlé Crenshaw’s “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex” and Claudia Jones’ “Beyond Containment,” in which they address the need to acknowledge how different identities interact instead of seeing them as separate factors, particularly for black women who face multiple layers of marginalization.

    Jones advocated for the integration of gender, race, and class in work for justice. In the past, “negro and working-class women are concerned – not equality, but degradation and super-exploitation (Jones, 1949, 75).” Black women were among the most economically vulnerable groups, often trapped in low-paying and precarious jobs. Jones asserted that black women experience a more extreme level of exploitation compared to other groups as they face multiple forms of oppression simultaneously. Intersectionality is reflected in her argument that black women’s oppression cannot be understood by only their race or gender in isolation. She criticized some feminist movements that failed to address how racism impacted black women’s experience of sexism, leading them to face economic inequality and being super-exploited. Today, the dynamics hold the same, with Black women earning only 69.8% of what white men make, while white women earn 83.1 % of white men’s wages. The wage differences show that to fully address the system inequalities, race and gender must be considered together, not separately.

    Similarly, Crenshaw illustrates how Black women are often overlooked because of a single-axis approach to addressing discrimination. She noted that when black women face bias, the law usually fails to protect them since it doesn’t account for the interconnected nature of their identities. For instance, in a case when black women raise the issue of exclusionary hiring practices, the court argues that since white women are hired, gender discrimination does not exist, and because black men are employed, racial discrimination isn’t a factor, leaving black women who experience both racism and sexism without legal recourse. Crenshaw’s critique of the system’s inability to recognize the overlapping oppressions faced by black women is relevant to contemporary issues of the #MeToo movement in 2017 that focused heavily on the sexual harassment experience of white, wealthy women in Hollywood. Ironically, the movement was actually founded by a black woman, Tarana Burka, in 2006 to call for the experiences of black girls in low-income communities who had experienced sexual violence and abuse. She recognized how intersectionality of the compounded effects of race, gender, and class leave black women particularly vulnerable to abuse. Nevertheless, the mainstream version of #MeToo failed to center the voices of black women face.

    Overall, Jones’ triple oppression and Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality address the complexities of biases that black women face. Whether in legal systems, social movements, or everyday experiences, their idea challenges us to think beyond single categories of identity and work toward justice that accounts for the full spectrum of inequality.

    Reference
    Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.” *University of Chicago Legal Forum* 1989, no. 1 (1989): 139-167.
    Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “A Primer on Intersectionality.” African American Policy Forum, 2008: 1-11.
    Jones, Claudia. “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” Political Affairs 28, no. 5 (June 1949): 28-39.
    Gould, Elise. “Gender Wage Gap Persists in 2023: Women Are Paid Roughly 22% Less than Men on Average.” Economic Policy Institute. March 8, 2024. https://www.epi.org/blog/gender-wage-gap-persists-in-2023-women-are-paid-roughly-22-less-than-men-on-average/#:~:text=White%20women%20and%20AAPI%20women,for%20a%20full%2Dtime%20worker.
    Brown, Anna. “More Than Twice as Many Americans Support Than Oppose the #MeToo Movement.” Pew Research Center, September 29, 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/09/29/more-than-twice-as-many-americans-support-than-oppose-the-metoo-movement/.

    Reply
  33. Rowan Walther

    This month in class, we read Deborah King’s response to Frances M. Beal’s writings on the concept of “double jeopardy”. Through the race-sex analogy, Beal argues that black women experience both race and gender discrimination, which combine to form a double jeopardy. In her response, King expresses that black women are poorly represented by this model, which assumes that there is no difference between being a black woman and being black or a woman. King argues for a new idea, “multiple jeopardy”, to be used as a framework for identifying the discriminations that black women face.
    The issue with double jeopardy, according to King, is that it tends to focus on the experiences of black men and white women. Black women are rarely considered as a group separate from these, they are simply seen as part of a larger group (women or black people). King argues that what makes black women different from those groups is exactly what sets apart black womanhood. “Most applications of the concepts of double and triple jeopardy have been overly simplistic in assuming that the relationships among the various discriminations are merely additive”, she states. In saying this, King is highlighting that the experiences of black womanhood are not simply the summation of the experience of being black plus the experience of being a woman. Thus, double jeopardy neglects that black women’s struggles are compounded, rather than additive.
    King’s interactive model, which she dubs “multiple jeopardy”, refers to the interactive relationships among the factors that influence black women’s experiences. Instead of being an additive model, King proposes that the factors be multiplicative. Because the institutional context surrounding race and gender is interconnected, the discrimination experienced by a black woman is closer to the discrimination experienced by white women multiplied by that experienced by black men.
    A good example of this is how race and gender have impacted socioeconomic status in the United States. For every dollar that the average white man makes, a white woman will make 79 cents. A black man, on the other hand, makes 87 cents. In comparison, black women make only 63 cents to a white man’s dollar (AAUW, n.d.). If we were to simply add the deficits in black men’s and white women’s pay, according to double jeopardy, black women should make 66 cents– more than they actually do. This is just one example of how the socioeconomic status of black women is compoundly impacted by both their race and gender combined. Multiple jeopardy is important when considering what factors may be affecting a person’s experience; it is necessary to consider how discriminations vary depending on how the socioeconomic factors present relate to one another.

    References

    AAUW : Empowering Women Since 1881. “Race and the Pay Gap,” n.d. https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/race-and-the-pay-gap/.
    King, Deborah K. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 14, no. 1 (October 1988): 42–72. https://doi.org/10.1086/494491.

    Reply
  34. Sean Yang

    As I was wrapping up my blog post, it hit me something crucial was missing: I had overlooked such intersecting struggles encountered by my closest family member, our home caregiver, whom I’ve called “auntie” since I was two.

    In Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, overlapping systems of oppression—such as race, gender, and class—combine to create unique disadvantages for marginalized individuals. This theory is particularly relevant to understanding the experiences of Southeast Asian migrant workers, who often face compounded discrimination as women, as low-wage laborers, and as immigrants in foreign countries.

    As a Southeast Asian migrant domestic worker, she left the Philippines to support her family financially, sacrificing her company for her kids’ growth. While I’ve always treated her like family, it is undeniable that she has long endured layers of oppression because of her gender, ethnicity, and economic status in a foreign land and her country.

    The issue of intersectionality with Southeast Asian migrant workers is urgent and complex. These workers, from Indonesia and the Philippines, face multiple jeopardies—being women, Southeast Asians, and low-wage migrant laborers. However, the multiple jeopardy has been overlooked and simplified, despite the severity of their intersecting challenges.

    Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality, combined with Beal’s and King’s “jeopardy,” could merely explain how Southeast Asian female migrant workers experience disadvantages that are specific to their identities. These women often leave their home countries to work as domestic helpers abroad, where they are subjected to racial and gender-based discrimination, as well as economic exploitation, including the lack of legal protections, isolation from support networks, and vulnerability to exploitation. These inequalities are just additive consequences but not a holistic view of their encounter.

    However, more precisely as Crenshaw argues, the intersectional experience is “greater than the sum of racism and sexism,” indicating that these women’s oppression cannot be fully understood by simply adding up these factors (Crenshaw 1989, 140). Their vulnerabilities are not the result of being Southeast Asian, women, or laborers; instead, these identities “intersect” to produce new forms of oppression, which may be invisible, such as being compelled into submission by the fear of losing their jobs, leaving blot, or even being deported, which could end up breaking up a family. This kind of oppression, as Crenshaw’s theory highlights, can only be fully understood through an intersectional lens, which reveals how their vulnerabilities are shaped by the overlapping systems of race, gender, and economic exploitation.

    “Their labor is important, yet they are treated as disposable.”

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Black Women’s Manifesto, 1970.
    Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum, no. 1 (1989): 139-167.
    King, Deborah. “Multiple Jeopardy, Multiple Consciousness: The Context of a Black Feminist Ideology.” Signs 14, no. 1 (1988): 42-72.
    Lin, Yumei. “Southeast Asian Migrant Workers in Taiwan: Human Rights and Soft Power: New Perspectives on Asia.” CSIS, September 28, 2023. https://www.csis.org/blogs/new-perspectives-asia/southeast-asian-migrant-workers-taiwan-human-rights-and-soft-power.

    Reply
  35. Adison Smith

    A cornerstone of modern academia is the integration of multiple perspectives to deepen the understanding of complex subjects. This approach is used across various fields, such as the sciences, history, and mathematics, where diverse viewpoints contribute to a greater understanding of the material. However, the synthesis of different concepts is not exclusive to academics, and it plays a crucial role within society by identifying and understanding disparities faced by minority groups. In Kimberle Crenshaw’s essay “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” she coined this idea as intersectionality. Employing a Black Feminist perspective, Crenshaw describes intersectionality as the junction of different identities (race, gender, class, etc.) that result in a person’s discrimination or privilege in society. The individual identities overlap and magnify the outcomes, and Crenshaw claims that merely isolating and targeting one facet would not be enough to understand the magnitude of the issue at hand. Intersectionality reveals the need to address these interconnected identities to fully understand the source of societal issues and how to fix them, much like in modern academia.
    Kimberle Crenshaw uses this idea of intersectionality to highlight the unique inequality faced by Black Women. She argues that traditional frameworks and singular perspectives fail to capture the complexity of their lived experiences, pointing out that Black Women face discrimination due to the intersection of both gender and race, not just one. In her essay, she says, “Black women can experience discrimination in ways that are both similar to and different from those experienced by white women and Black men. Black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women’s experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Black men. Yet often they experience double-discrimination-the combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race, and on the basis of sex” (Crenshaw 1989). Major movements like the antiracist and feminist movements often overlook this compounded discrimination. Crenshaw highlights how those movements exclude Black Women because they lack the depth and precision to target Black Women’s specific needs. The antiracist and feminist movements tend to prioritize the struggles of Black Men and White Women, leaving a gap where Black Women’s unique experiences are overlooked. By using intersectionality, Crenshaw demonstrates how analyzing issues from the perspective of multiple identities can reveal shortcomings within society and raise more nuanced and effective solutions. Without an intersectional approach, these expansive, one-size-fits-all movements will continue to exclude Black Women and other marginalized groups and fail to address the issues resulting from compounding identities.
    Commonly used examples of how intersectionality intensifies issues for Black women can be found in areas such as healthcare disparities, police violence, and employment discrimination; however, with a rapidly evolving society, new instances have been recorded. In the study “Racial, skin tone, and sex disparities in automated proctoring software” by Yoder-Himes et al., researchers found that automated proctoring software—ones used for online tests and AI flagging—disproportionately flagged Black Women for having suspicious activity in comparison to White Men and Women and even Black Men. They demonstrated how the facial detection AI algorithms showed bias against skin tone and gender through video and detection. Another issue is that school systems use these programs without questioning their validity. Thus, Black Women face compounded discrimination in the classroom due to these types of softwares targeting both their gender and race.
    Ultimately, the idea of intersectionality proves vital in addressing the many factors contributing to minority disparities. When only one identity is focused on, a gap is created that excludes marginalized groups. Crenshaw identifies intersectionality and explores it through Black Female discrimination where she finds that the issues faced are a culmination of many different facets. This is even seen today in fields like algorithm coding, where discrimination is thought to be absent because computers cannot think or see. The biases embedded in these technologies reveal how systemic inequalities persist when the intersection of identities is ignored, highlighting the need for an intersectional approach to achieve true equity in all facets of life.

    References:
    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” In The University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. 1989.
    Yoder-Himes, Deborah R., et al. “Racial, Skin Tone, and Sex Disparities in Automated Proctoring Software.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 24 Aug. 2022, http://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.881449/full.

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  36. Aixmar Parra

    Society has recognized the achievement and fortitude of groups like white women and Black men, yet fails to appreciate Black women. They have continuously had their demands ignored and lacked the support needed by their sex and race. Both Black men and white women have overlooked the resilience and empowerment of African American women. In the essay “Woman as Leaders”, the journalist and activist Amy Jacques Garvey emphasize the need to see Black women’s strength as powerful, while holding acknowledgment of their contributions to society. However, the strength within Black women is sometimes deemed as an overpowering appeal that is wrong, as some men expect women to possess gentleness. Yet, the endurance around the hardships that Black women have faced has set them up to be strong, breaking the past expectations of the delicate female. Freedom of Black women has historically been stripped away, as even their own empowerment is discouraged. Hence, standing up by demonstrating their fortitude with pride will be the key to liberation and fulfillment of power.

    In the end, the appreciation of African American women’s strengths will bring forth a new style of leadership for women, one that accounts for their attributions. For instance having the same respect as White women for reaching equal opportunities, independent work, and forming a society to her standards (Garvey). Black women must have a space to be accepted for their own establishment and power to influence society, rather than diminished by Black men when it comes to recognition.

    Today, there is a continuation of Black women being undervalued as modern-day workplaces do not appreciate their hard work. The community faces microaggression within their race and gender, as they face occupational segregation when being paid, as they earn less than white women and Black male co-workers. This leads to microaggressions in the workforce as Black women will point out this issue, yet are seen as “aggressive” and “over-demanding” (Barratt). The community has faced experiences that have built resilience in them, however when standing up to modern-day issues around pay they are still facing neglect. They are stripped away from the freedom of holding power to stand up for themselves, and empowerment of their demands. Moreover, Black women are failed in being recognized for their contributions at work, as their pay is unequal. Our modern society must begin appreciating the work of Black women and acknowledge their power to stand up against standards.

    Bibliography:

    Barratt, B. (2024, February 20). The microaggressions towards black women you might be complicit in at work. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/biancabarratt/2020/06/19/the-microaggressions-towards-black-women-you-might-be-complicit-in-at-work/.

    Garvey, Amy Jacques. “Women as Leaders”. Words of fire: An anthology of African-American feminist thought, edited by Beverly Guy-Sheftall, 91-94. New York: The New Press, 2011.

    Reply
  37. Aixmar Parra

    Society has recognized the achievement and fortitude of groups like white women and Black men, yet fails to appreciate Black women. They have continuously had their demands ignored and lacked the support needed by their sex and race. Both Black men and white women have overlooked the resilience and empowerment of African American women. In the essay “Woman as Leaders”, the journalist and activist Amy Jacques Garvey emphasize the need to see Black women’s strength as powerful, while holding acknowledgment of their contributions to society. However, the strength within Black women is sometimes deemed as an overpowering appeal that is wrong, as some men expect women to possess gentleness. Yet, the endurance around the hardships that Black women have faced has set them up to be strong, breaking the past expectations of the delicate female. Freedom of Black women has historically been stripped away, as even their own empowerment is discouraged. Hence, standing up by demonstrating their fortitude with pride will be the key to liberation and fulfillment of power.

    In the end, the appreciation of African American women’s strengths will bring forth a new style of leadership for women, one that accounts for their attributions. For instance having the same respect as White women for reaching equal opportunities, independent work, and forming a society to her standards (Garvey). Black women must have a space to be accepted for their own establishment and power to influence society, rather than diminished by Black men when it comes to recognition.

    Today, there is a continuation of Black women being undervalued as modern-day workplaces do not appreciate their hard work. The community faces microaggression within their race and gender, as they face occupational segregation when being paid, as they earn less than white women and Black male co-workers. This leads to microaggressions in the workforce as Black women will point out this issue, yet are seen as “aggressive” and “over-demanding” (Barratt). The community has faced experiences that have built resilience in them, however when standing up to modern-day issues around pay they are still facing neglect. They are stripped away from the freedom of holding power to stand up for themselves, and empowerment of their demands. Moreover, Black women are failed in being recognized for their contributions at work, as their pay is unequal. Our modern society must begin appreciating the work of Black women and acknowledge their power to stand up against standards.

    Bibliography:

    Barratt, B. (2024, February 20). The microaggressions towards black women you might be complicit in at work. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/biancabarratt/2020/06/19/the-microaggressions-towards-black-women-you-might-be-complicit-in-at-work/.

    Garvey, Amy Jacques. “Women as Leaders”. Words of fire: An anthology of African-American feminist thought, edited by Beverly Guy-Sheftall, 91-94. New York: The New Press, 2011.

    Reply
  38. Hemani Patel

    “Double Jeopardy” was a term I recently stumbled upon that surprised me. In her 1969 essay “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” Black feminist Frances Beal coined the term to highlight the unique realities that Black women face in American society and beyond. Beal draws on the legal definition of double jeopardy, as outlined in the Fifth Amendment, to illustrate the experiences of Black women. In U.S. law, double jeopardy refers to the constitutional protection that prevents a person from being retried for the same crime once they have been acquitted or convicted, thus safeguarding against unfair legal practices. Beal argues that Black women bear the dual burden of being both Black and female. This concept has become a foundational element of Black feminist scholarship, providing a framework for understanding the overlapping identities of Black women and the discrimination they encounter as a result.
    Beal highlights “Double Jeopardy” through the example of “Bedroom Politics,” which focuses on Black women’s struggle to attain reproductive rights. Beal notes the lack of access to legal abortions for Black women (172). Wealthy white women could access abortions with minimal struggle or interference from authorities—a privilege not extended to Black women. Instead, Black women faced significant risks to their health due to oppressive measures aimed at controlling their reproductive rights. “The lack of the availability of safe birth control methods… and the inability to obtain legal abortions are all symptoms of a decadent society that jeopardizes the health of Black women…” (172-173). Beal argues that Black women should have the right to access safe birth control methods and legal abortions as basic human rights. However, they are often denied these rights due to the patriarchal and racist society that perpetuates prejudiced beliefs. As Beal articulates, Black women are tried twice for the crime of existing when it comes to their reproductive health.
    Despite the realities that Beal brought to light, reproductive health and justice remain ongoing struggles for the Black community today. Before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Black women were five times more likely to seek out and obtain an abortion than white women (Guttmacher Policy Review 1). Yet, Black women are less likely to use highly to moderately effective birth control (cite). Financial and geographical barriers limit many Black women’s ability to access quality healthcare and sexual health education, which is primitive in the long run. Furthermore, many of the most effective contraceptives, such as an IUD, tend to be the most expensive. This leads to compounded effects that hinder Black women’s ability to exercise their reproductive rights. With the new impositions on reproductive rights, Black women are the most severely affected, facing fewer avenues for dealing with unwanted pregnancies. Similar to the experiences of Black women that Beal highlighted in 1969, we can see history repeating itself with the prejudices and discrimination Black women consistently face based on gender and race.

    Beal, Frances, 1940- author. Double Jeopardy: to Be Black & Female. Detroit, Mich.:Radical Education Project, 19AD

    Cohen, Susan A., “Abortion and Women of Color: The Bigger Picture”.
    https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2008/08/abortion-and-women-color-bigger-picture

    Fuentes, Lisa “Inequity in US Abortion Rights and Access: The End of Roe Is Deepening Existing Divides.”
    https://www.guttmacher.org/2023/01/inequity-us-abortion-rights-and-access-end-roe-deepening-existing-divides

    Reply
  39. Saketh Amaravai

    When I first started thinking about how Black women experience oppression, I knew that this was different from the experiences both Black men and white women faced, but I never really understood there being not just multiple oppressions but interwoven ones as well.

    Frances M. Beal’s Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female first introduced me to the idea she calls double jeopardy. This is the concept that Black women are marginalized by both their race and gender as well. Her writing allowed me to realize not only how this combination creates a unique experience of oppression but also how that oppression has existed and impacted Black women throughout history and continues to be in effect today.

    Beal writes that Black women face “the worst kind of economic exploitation” (Beal 1970,169). She explains how their struggles are often at the compound of racial and gender-based violence; that reminded me of today’s healthcare system. It has been shown that black women are actually three to four times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. To me, this is a clear example of double jeopardy. The medical system often dismisses Black women’s pain, judging them and assuming that they are somehow stronger or more resilient, leading to their concerns and issues being taken lightly and not seriously.

    Beal really captures this idea of exploitation when she states, “forced to serve as the white woman’s maid and wet nurse for white offspring” (Beal 1970, 169). She talks about how Black women were essentially forced into these roles while their own needs were being neglected. This made me think about how, even today, Black women are constantly pushed to the margins, and this example shows how this combination creates a not only specific but also dangerous vulnerability for Black women. The healthcare system’s failure to properly meet the needs of Black women is exactly what Beal refers to as double jeopardy. It’s not just about being a woman or being Black, but about how these identities work together and multiply the impact of the discrimination that Black women face. Beal’s work made me think more deeply about why Black women’s struggles are often overlooked in broader movements. Feminist movements have often ignored race, and civil rights movements have often ignored gender. As Beal mentions throughout her piece, this forces Black women into a position where they are trying to navigate both oppressions, yet neither system seems to value them for either their race or their gender.

    In all honesty, Beal’s writing opened my eyes to how much more work we should have done in order to address the marginalization of Black women in society. Her writing is a constant and powerful reminder that if we are serious about fighting oppression, we can’t treat race and gender as separate issues and that we have to address the double jeopardy together.

    References:
    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” In The Black Woman: An
    Anthology, edited by Toni Cade Bambara, 166-176. New York: New American Library, 1970.

    Reply
  40. Kennedy Nieves

    The idea of intersectionality and multiple jeopardy lay the framework for Frances M. Beal’s essay, “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female,” which sheds light on the unique and compounded struggles that Black women face in society. The concept of “double jeopardy” is about how the intersection of race and gender creates a distinct set of challenges for Black women, and the importance of not only understanding but actively advocating against inequality and injustice.

    Frances M. Beal argues that Black women experience overlapping forms of discrimination that are distinct from those faced by Black men or white women. There is this idea that while Black men face racial discrimination and white women experience gender discrimination, Black women endure both simultaneously, resulting in a unique experience of marginalization. Through her essay Beal is able to explain this intersectionality and show exactly how it affects every aspect of their lives, from economic opportunities to social treatment.

    Frances M. Beal’s essay is still extremely relevant today. In fact, a lot of the activism of Black women during the 1960s and 1970s laid the groundwork for movements like Black Lives Matter and #SayHerName, which aims to both highlight and fight against the systemic injustices faced by Black women. These movements among many others are inspired by Beal’s insights.

    In today’s society the effects of “double jeopardy” are more apparent than ever. For instance, Black women experience significantly higher maternal mortality rates compared to their white counterparts. According to the CDC, they are three times more likely to die from complications related to pregnancy. This statistic exemplifies how systemic inequalities manifest in life-and-death situations, underscoring the need for intersectional approaches in healthcare that specifically address these disparities.

    It is also important to note the role that representation plays in shaping perceptions of Black women. While there has been some progress in the media like in the movie “Hidden Figures,” the stereotypes still exist. This is important because their representations often fail to capture the complexity of Black women’s experiences.

    In summary Frances M. Beal’s exploration of double jeopardy offers vital insights into the complexities of identity and oppression. By better understanding the intersection of race and gender, we can better advocate for social justice and ensure that the voices of Black women are heard and valued which can only be achieved through continued advocacy and policy.

    Reference:

    Beal, Frances M. “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female.” Meridians 8, no. 2 (2008): 166-176.

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2021. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2021/maternal-mortality-rates-2021.htm

    Reply
  41. Ella Mysinger

    Intersectionality is an important topic that has gained a lot of “buzz” in the last few years, however, it is an idea that is heavily debated in its interpretation. In Kimberlé Crenshaw’s writing, she critiques how anti-discrimination laws often fail Black women by treating race and gender as separate categories. This “single-axis” idea erases Black women’s experiences, who face compounded oppression due to the intersection of both race and gender. In today’s society, Black women continue to face systemic issues that are due to compounded forms of discrimination (Crenshaw 1998). Black women engage in an “invisible” space within the scope of public discussions. They are too Black for mainstream feminists and too female for Racial Justice conversations. The origin of this exclusion emphasizes the urgent need for intersectional frameworks that are able to encompass different dimensions of identity as well as oppression equally.

    In a Ted Talk, Crenshaw discussed the urgency of intersectionality today in a powerful exercise where it becomes apparent to the viewer that the awareness of the level of police violence that Black women experience is exceedingly low (Crenshaw 2016). This is due to a compounded issue of violence against African Americans and violence against women, however, when we think about who is affected by these problems, Black women do not come to mind. Even social movements against police brutality unintentionally prioritize certain narratives-those of Black men or white women leaving Black women marginalized within both spheres. Crenshaw states a powerful example about Emma DeGraffenreid, a Black woman, whose case was wrongfully dismissed because the judge was unwilling to acknowledge the idea of intersectionality and how her race and gender prevented her from getting a job because African-Americans are hired for industrial jobs which are all men, however, white women are only hired for front-office jobs, which are unavailable to Black women (Crenshaw 2016). This case shows the limitations of legal frameworks that treat categories like race and gender as separate, showcasing the importance of rethinking the justice system to address inequality.

    Jennifer Nash offers a critique of intersectionality’s evolution, arguing it has become commodified from its radical origins. She argues how intersectionality has shifted from being a transformative tool of resistance to a buzzword that scholars, especially within white-dominated feminist spaces, use performatively (Nash 2019). Nash urges that intersectionality should not be simply referenced to without action. Her writing challenges scholars to reexamine their work to see if it is only reinforcing these structures of power they originally sought to fix (Nash 2019). Prior to this conversation, I viewed the word intersectionality as an issue dealing with women and race, however, I didn’t understand its origins or its theoretical framework, my understanding was mainly through discourse in the media and not from a historical perspective. This unit really grounded my understanding and put the word into context with the systemic injustices Black women face daily.

    Bibliography
    Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” In The University of Chicago Legal Forum, vol. 140. 1989.
    Nash, Jennifer “A Love Letter from a Critic, or Notes on the Intersectionality Wars” in Black Feminism Reimagined. Duke University Press, 2019. Selections.

    Reply