Intersectionality

Intersectionality in Queer Media

Intersectionality refers to the interactivity of social identity structures such as race, class, and gender in fostering life experiences, especially experiences of privilege and oppression (Gopaldas, 2013) This theory can be traced back to black feminist thought and helps us look more deeply into how to integrate race, social class, sexuality and life experiences into our worldview.

How Does Intersectionality in Media Operate?

Intersectionality in media continues to be neglected, with many non-white queer film makers being cast aside in room filled with white folk. Historically within major streaming spaces, there been visible queer people of color, especially queer women of color in the space. 47 LGBT characters in 126 major studio film releases in 2015, 34 were white, according to GLAAD’s (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) annual report. (Kumar, 2017)

GLAAD is a LGBTQ non profit organization that focuses on LGBTQ advocacy and aims to properly represent LGBTQ people in media. In the recent years, GLAAD reported that over half of all LGBTQ characters across platforms were people of color (POC), with 304 out of 596 (51 percent of all LGBTQ characters) being POC which is a huge number increase in the past decade. (GLADD, 2023)

Interviews and Survey Research

While researching for this project, we decided that it would be best to reach out to our peers and people well versed in queer media spaces. In these forms of research, we gained insight on what it means to integrate all realms of a person's identity and how queer representation in media has affected them.

In our interview with LGBTQ non binary comedian, Mae Martin, we asked them the following:

How has your personal experience being queer shaped how you engaged with media (queer and non queer) and how has that impacted your art?

"Hmm I’m not sure how being queer has impacted HOW I engaged with media growing up, but I’m sure it impacted WHAT media I engaged with. I was drawn to shows like Buffy and movies like Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it was slim pickings in the 90s/early 2000s. I was very lucky to find comedy and was obsessed with a lot of comedy. Sometimes I think that perhaps the lack of conversation and representation around queerness and transness - although it massively slowed down my self discovery and made me feel alienated - had one upside. And that’s the fact that I wasn’t able to name my identity, and thus didn’t have to defend it or take on the burden of being an activist at a young age, which meant that I was able to develop other parts of me."

Who Helped Develop This Theory?

Intersectionality in general is a new theory that takes its roots from various black feminist scholars, to showcase the struggle and authenticity of an individuals story, especially when dealing with racism, sexism, etc. Black feminist thought formed its roots in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and started to ground itself in the 1970's in New York City within the group, National Black Feminist Organization. In formulating the theories of intersectionality that is structured today, the Combahee River Collective shares their ideals in how black feminist politics can reshape how we imagine black feminism by stating that, "the fact that racial politics and indeed racism are pervasive factors in our lives did not allow us and still does not allow most black women, to look more deeply into our own experiences and define those things that make our lives what they are and our oppression specific to us." (Combahee River Collective, 1977) The idea of "looking within" to understand how black women operate in the world, is the start of many early ideas of intersectionality and continues to hold power in this theory today.

Moonlight (2016)

Story about a young black boy from Florida that spans along three different phases of his life while he lives through rough situations at home, in relationships and into his adulthood.

The Handmaiden (2016)

A story about two women living in South Korea in different economic groups, at a time where sexism and rigid home structures were forced upon them. They grapple with family dynamics related to inheritance and try to save one another from the men that threaten their freedom.

Where Do We Go From Here?

In the recent years, representations of queer people has included more people of color and features all avenues of queerness. Reports of queer people of color being shown on TV has definietly increased in the past couple of years, but as Tre’vell Anderson, LGBTQ activist and editor for the queer media outlet Xtra, stated, “Until there’s every type of LGBTQ person represented on screen, there’s still work to be done, every member of the LGBTQ community deserves well-developed, well-written, nuanced depictions of their lived experiences written by and portrayed by members of their own community — and these stories should be written by storytellers beyond the same four creators.” (Dawson, 2021) In other words, these stories of nuance can only be conducted by someone who knows about these past histories, and not by a system of white people that only use queer POC identity as performance to show they add different stories than their owns. Bridging the gap between performative diversity and stories about real communities is one way queer media can continue to thrive.

Gopaldas, A. (2013). Intersectionality 101. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 32, 90–94. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43305317

Combahee River Collective. (1977). Women's Studies Quarterly. 42, 271-280. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24365010

Kumar, Rashmee. (2017). So often we get pigeonholed': how queer women of color found a voice online. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/feb/15/brown-girls-195-lewis-queer-women-of-color-web-series

GLAAD. (2023). About GLAAD. GLAAD.org. https://glaad.org/about

Dawson, Lamar. (2021). LGBTQ representation on TV down but queer racial diversity up, report finds. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-representation-tv-down-queer-racial-diversity-report-finds-n1254422

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