Intersections and Privilege: Uncovering the Genesis of False Universalizations

This paper explores how social locations of privilege and disadvantage can affect perceptions of oppression. It hypothesizes that oppression can appear less intersectional from the standpoint of privilege. People with multiple social group privileges are situated as to be liable to miss the intersectionality of oppressions; the perspective from their positions can lead them to instead to focus exclusively on the idea that oppressions are separate in their causes and effects. And if, on that basis, writers simply assume that other forms of oppression are separate, additional burdens, the way to perceiving the interactions of oppressions is blocked.