Hi everyone!

As you may know, March is Women's History Month, focused around celebrating the achievements of women through history and in the present. This month, I've been reflecting a lot on intersectional feminism, which is a brand of feminism that embraces intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, or the understanding that people experience multiple forms of inequality (and privilege) at the same time. Intersectional feminism aims to center the voices of those that experience oppression on multiple levels, rather than the straight cis white woman who has historically been positioned as the center of the feminist movement.

I think a lot of us aim to be intersectional feminists--at least, I definitely do. Personally, I think that I still have a lot to learn in order to truly be an intersectional feminist. I am constantly checking my ingrained biases and whether or not they help me be a better intersectional feminist. One activity that has been super helpful for me is growing more aware of all the kinds of power I hold, which makes me more aware of the experiences that I do not have access to and will never understand.  Being very aware of the specific kinds of privilege that I hold helps me get a sense of what I need to learn more about and how I can advocate for others. I think it also fundamentally helps me be more self-aware. As a brown woman and immigrant living in the United States, I feel like I tend to focus much more on the oppressive forces in my life, and this activity is a good reality check.

This activity is fairly simple. Open up a doc on your computer and start writing out all the kinds of privilege that you have: what do you not need to think about? What do other people grant you by virtue of you having a specific identity? What does society give you by virtue of you having a specific identity? To help inspire your list, I'm sharing my list in a spoiler below. I worked on this list for about half an hour a day every day for a few days, and each day, I felt my awareness of my position in the world growing. For example, it hadn't occurred to me that I have massive power in not being under active threat of displacement due to climate change until after I began writing the list; the thought occurred to me while I was listening to a podcast about wildfires. The realization hit me out of nowhere, and immediately humbled me, and made me more invested in learning about wildfires and all the bureaucratic failures that make them climate disasters.

My list:

I would love for others to share their lists too, if you're comfortable doing so! Alternatively, I'd love to hear your reactions to what it felt like to do this activity and what you learned about yourself.