Illuminating the Construct

Intersectional Growth, Bridging Identities

Reflection on how one relates to race, culture, age, social class, religion, (dis)abilities, and how it has influenced or challenged you, helps one deconstruct their socialized identity. This process is necessary to live an authentic life in alignment with your true Self. This is an ongoing self-reflection. This process is associated with increased empathy and acceptance for oneself and humanity. To bridge anyone on the path of discovery and expansion, I encourage people to become fluent in the language below. The first five describe the prevailing construct we live in, and systemically have negative consequences that cause trauma for individuals seeking mental wellness. These definitions provide a basic list to facilitate conversations among fellow humans. My background allows me intimate knowledge of how patriarchy, sexism, and institutional bias adversely affects mothers and children. I am especially passionate about supporting mothers who are marginalized due to patriarchal structures and children who have a lack of permission to hold a humane presence in our world due to adultism. I am aware and willing to share truths about the relativity of classism and the systemic substructures of inequity that perpetuate cycles of poverty and therefore oppression for specific members of our world. I am cognizant of the complexity of defining (dis)ability and neurodiversity. With an increased dialogue promoting acceptance and acknowledgment that the concept of “normal” is part of a construct that perpetuates inequity, we can move towards reimagining a world where things do not have to be defined and beings are allowed to be in and of the earth. In a world built partially out of the unconscious, we can consciously untether our own belief systems, and then the beliefs of the larger systems. In doing so, we can deconstruct, discern, and reconstruct. My intention is to help people gain awareness to self-heal. Healing of the micro ripples out to the macro web of interconnectedness. 

Exploring Intersections: Key Terms for Understanding Yourself and Others

A Glossary of Inclusion and Growth

Patriarchy: A system of power that centers, privileges and prioritizes masculinity. One of the most influential systems of power in our society, is practiced systemically in the ways and methods through which power is distributed in society (jobs and positions of power given to men in government, policy, criminal justice, etc.) while also influencing how we interact with one another interpersonally (gender expectations, sexual dynamics, space taking, etc.). 

As a colonial construct, patriarchy operates powerfully and hierarchically through exercising and enforcing white male supremacy. We see this, for example, in the way that masculinity exercises power over not only women and children, but also other forms of masculinity (racialized, poor, disabled, etc.). 

White supremacy: A historically based, institutionally sustained system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and people of color by White people and nations of the European continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege.

Classism: Classism is the systematic oppression of certain class groups maintained by attitudes that rank people according to economic status, family lineage, job status, level of education and other divisions. Race can be a major determinant of one’s social or economic class. Though closely connected, race and class each need distinct attention. 

Ablesim: Practices, assumptions and dominant attitudes in society that devalue and limit the potential and opportunities of people with developmental, emotional, physical or psychiatric disabilities. Ableism also includes prejudice or discrimination against people with disabilities and the attitudes, stereotypes, and institutional and cultural elements that promote this prejudice or discrimination. 

Ageism: Practices, assumptions and dominant attitudes in society that devalue and limit the potential and opportunities of people on the basis of age. Ageism also includes prejudice or discrimination against older adults and the attitudes, stereotypes, and institutional and cultural elements that promote this prejudice or discrimination. Ageism often refers to the experiences of older adults and is occasionally used to refer to younger people (the term “adultism” refers to age discrimination against young people).

Intersectionality: The idea that people who find themselves at the crossroads of multiple identities (for example, in terms of race, gender, or sexuality) experience discrimination in a way uniquely different from those who with whom they may only share one or some identities in common. For example, Black women will experience racism differently than Black men and sexism differently than white women, and the way they experience racism and sexism is informed by their unique intersectional identities. The term was first used in the context of feminism by civil rights scholar and advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw. 

Oppression: As defined by Iris Young in “Five Faces of Oppression,” oppression is when people reduce the potential for other people to be recognized as fully human. 

Exploitation: the act of using the labor of others for profit without fair compensation. 

Marginalization: the act of excluding or confining a group of people to a lower social standing or outer limit of society. 

Powerlessness: a lack of decision-making power, an inability to develop one’s capacities and exposure to disrespectful and harmful treatment. 

Cultural imperialism: when the culture of the ruling class or group is established as the norm. 

Violence: physical, psychological or emotional attacks intended to damage, humiliate or destroy a person. 

Bias: A particular tendency, trend, inclination, feeling or opinion in favor of or against one thing, person or group compared with another. Bias may be conscious or unconscious, see “Implicit bias.”

Privilege: A set of unearned advantages systemically conferred on a particular person or group of people. Privilege and oppression go hand in hand: they are two sides of the same power relationship, and both sides must be understood and addressed. People can be disadvantaged by one identity and privileged by another. White people are racially privileged even if they may be economically underprivileged. 

Social Construct: An idea that has been created and accepted by people in a society but is not founded in science. Race, class and gender are social constructs. 

Institutional racism: Institutional racism occurs on the level of institutions. This is when policies, practices, and systems within institutions create and sustain racialized outcomes. 

Structural racism: Racial bias across institutions and society. It is the system of structures, institutions and policies that work together to advantage White people and disadvantage people of color. It is the broadest manifestation of racism and encompasses multiple dimensions: Historical events, Culture, Interconnected policies and institutions. 

Misogyny: The hatred or dislike of women, girls or femininity; the denigration of women and characteristics deemed feminine. 

Sexism: Prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender and the attitudes, stereotypes, and institutional and cultural elements that promote this prejudice and discrimination. Historically and contemporarily, sexism refers to the oppression that privileges men and masculinity over women and femininity. The concept of sexism was originally formulated to raise consciousness about the oppression of girls and women.

Disability: Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). Discrimination: Act of making a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit.

Accommodation: An adjustment to make a program, facility, or resource accessible to a person with a disability.

Access barriers: Any obstruction that prevents people with disabilities from using standard facilities, equipment and resources.

Sex: Refers to anatomical, physiological, genetic, or physical attributes that define if a person is male, female, or intersex. These include both primary and secondary sex characteristics, including genitalia, gonads, hormone levels, hormone receptors, chromosomes, and genes. Sex is often conflated or interchanged with gender, which is more social than biological, though there is some overlap. 

Gender: A set of social, psychological, and/or emotional traits, often influenced by societal expectations, that classify an individual as man, woman, a mixture of both, or neither. 

Gender socialization: The process by which individual on is taught how they should behave as a boy or as a girl. Parents, teachers, peers, media, and books are some of the many agents of gender socialization. 

Gender spectrum: The concept that gender exists beyond a simple man/woman binary model, but instead exists on a continuum. Some people fall towards more masculine or more feminine aspects, some people move fluidly along the spectrum, and some identify off the spectrum entirely. 

Heteronormative: denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation.

Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology. (2012). Glossary of Disability-Related Terms. https://www.washington.edu/doit/search/node/Glossary%20of%20Disability-Related%20Terms.

City of New York. (2023). Race to Justice Toolkit Glossary. https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/race-to-justice.page.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cannon-v-University-of-Chicago

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/article/730061.