The Versatility of Intersectionality in Journalism and Mass Communication Research

Abstract

Multiple and overlapping forms of oppression-what Black feminist legal scholarKimberlè Crenshaw (1989) called intersectionality-is slowly emerging in the scholarship of journalism and mass communication (JMC).Intersectionality is particularly used to reveal the structural relations of power that denote hierarchies of privileges and punishment.Crenshaw (1989) argued that oppression is a complex phenomenon whose analysis must consider multiple characteristics of identity, including gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, physical ability, and so on.In the process of adaptation, JMC scholars tend to apply the term variously as a concept, a theory, a methodology, and even praxis.Crenshaw herself opened the door to various categorizations of the term.In one of her early statements, she insisted that intersectionality was not being offered "as some new totalizing theory of identity" but rather as a provisional concept linking politics with postmodern theory and suggesting a methodology to "disrupt the tendencies to see race and gender as exclusive or separable" (emphasis added) (Crenshaw, 1989(Crenshaw, , p. 1244, note 9), note 9).This forum began as a session at the AEJMC conference in Detroit in August 2022, organized by George L. Daniels, for the purpose of broadening scholarly discourse on the use of intersectionality in JMC research.The authors of this Forum, who were presenters at that session, illustrate the range of possibilities in these synopses of longer papers presented at that session.Carolyn M. Byerly was the discussant and Bey-Ling Sha was the moderator for that conference session.Rachel L. Grant's essay emphasizes intersectionality's utility as both theory and praxis in her race and gender analysis of news messages about gymnast Simone Biles and former Miss U.S.A. Cheslie Kyst.George L. Daniels applies intersectionality as a theoretical framework to examine race, gender, sexuality, and class in his study of masculine identity among men of color.Mikayla Pevac's essay illustrates how intersectionality can be used as a normative theory by organizations doing preventive education on gender-based violence, which offers a framework for creating messages for diverse audiences.Carolyn Nielsen's essay emphasizes the importance of examining multiple identities in mass media research, showing in the process the utility of intersectionality as both a theory and a method for studying media messages and audience effects.

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