Importance of Intersectionality
The first time I came across the term, “UndocuQueer,” I was moved by the work of visual artist, Julio Salgado. Salgado is queer and undocumented and as an artist and activist based out of the Bay Area and Los Angeles, his work represents the diverse narratives of a community that fall along the intersections of immigration status and LGTBQIA (Lesbian Gay Transgender Bisexual Queer/Questioning Intersex Asexual/Ally), or Queer identity, which represent any sexual and gender identities other than straight and cisgender. Intersectionality is the study of multiple or intersecting social identities that people carry with them. For example, how racial/ethnic identity intersects with gender identity, sexuality, class background, etc. to shape the experiences of women of color. Furthermore, intersectionality examines the intersecting structures of power (such as white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism) that limit, marginalize, or oppress people based on race, class, gender, gender identity, immigration status, national origin, sexual orientation, language, religion, spirituality, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, age, and other notable markers of difference. Such intersecting oppressions might extend to an institutional level, interpersonal level (between individuals) or an internalized level (i.e. believing racist and sexist stereotypes about self-worth).
One of the more forceful works of Salgado’s that I have used in my classroom is a poster titled “Illegal Faggots For the Destruction of Borders.” The first image you may notice is a shirtless brown-skinned man with sunglasses flipping us off with both hands. He’s standing in front of what could be inferred as a fence that’s part of the U.S./Mexico border; a desolate desert landscape is beyond the metal fence/border. On the fence is taped a tank top that’s labeled maricón - a derogatory Spanish term for gay people - a translation for the word “faggot.” And then lining the poster on the left is a poem which reads: “When your body is queer and brown/ they will want to build fences around you/ choose a side/ brown or queer/ but borders are not natural to us/ we are both moon and sun/ we are everything in between/ you can not divide land and you can not make me choose/ I am manifestation that all borders will fall.”
In a blog interview where you can check out the poster I referenced earlier, Salgado shared that he uses humor to address xenophobia in his art. He was once called “an illegal faggot” and his poster was a response to this comment (Barrón, 2017). With talent and wit, Salgado eviscerated hateful comments and created artwork with an important message about intersectionality, the invalidation of national borders, the falsehood of manifest destiny, colonialism, and landtheft, and of the surveillance and criminalization of the very human act of migration.
This chapter on intersectionality will expand on the origin of this framing, recognizing the legacy of intellectual work produced by Black feminists and women of color feminist writers and activists. It will highlight how women and queer people of color have emerged through the interlocking channels of power and oppression with the audacity to organize for social transformation and envision a future for themselves without sexism, violence, war, or institutional control over our racialized and gendered bodies. First, we’ll review the concept of intersectionality and examine earlier works by women of color or Third World feminists. Then the chapter will apply an intersectionality lens on two areas: reproductive justice and self-love.
