“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”

Audre Lorde, “Sister Outsider”

What are the master’s tools? Patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity—all the ways we’re taught to understand others as either the “default” or “outsiders.” Thinking inside this paradigm keeps us tethered to a system that doesn’t serve us. 

Intersectionality is a framework that helps us understand the varying ways in which our identities dictate our lived experiences. We all face different sets of challenges based on our race, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, and more among the cornucopia of identifiers that make us human. Intersectionality has been indispensable in helping many of us uncover unwritten histories, analyze overlooked social problems, and address failures in human rights. From Black women fighting the twin threats of state violence and high maternal mortality rates to queer youth of color protesting the censorship of LGBTQ+ and anti-racist books, an intersectional framework can empower us all to push towards liberation. 

Today, we invite you to contemplate how your identity in its full complexity may affect your experience, as well as those around you. And to consider how you might use the prism of intersectionality to see and think differently about real world problems you encounter.

TODAY’S PRACTICE: Watch The Urgency of Intersectionality with Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Consider joining the global community of over seven thousand scholars, artists, human rights workers, teachers, authors and more who stood up in defense of intersectionality in a powerful Open Letter.