When it comes to my ongoing research, there are a few questions I want to address that play into a larger picture. First, I want to ask, “how does pre-conceived or subconscious bias affect those who are marginalized, and how does it affect them at an intersectional level?” Subconscious bias towards particular groups, specifically women, takes many emotional and physical tolls for them. Not only are women seen as the subordinate gender lower than men, but when race and sexuality come into the picture, women are even more oppressed and misunderstood. Second, I want to study if somehow bias was reversed if these intersectional factors would still feed off each other.
Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social categories, such as gender, race, class, and sexuality. The interconnected/ overlapping nature is due to systems made from discrimination or disadvantages towards those who are marginalized. So, I want to understand how bias came to be towards different social categories. If taken away or reflected upon, could intersectionality have less of a damaging impact and rather be understood? Could our corrupt systems be reversed, therefore creating an appreciation for women and all of the social categories they fall into?
I want to ask these questions because I have been curious about them since I took a Women and Gender Studies class with Dr. Depietro. Their class encouraged me to push the boundaries of my thinking and understand intersectionality and its massive toll on our lives. In this class, I have been very interested in bias, whether towards those with disabilities, or those within different social categories, which we have seen through various readings. I thought it would be fascinating to combine these two aspects and see how they bounce off each other. I want to challenge intersectionality and bias together and see how they overlap.
My course work will inform my classmates very well since I have recently learned a lot about intersectionality and its impacts on women of all social categories, so I am very eager to share my thoughts. Not only am I keen to share my thoughts, but my other professor’s, as well as ideas from scholars and marginalized women themselves. To see the clear picture, I believe it is crucial to hear real accounts from women and professional claims to help understand the reality. What excites me about this topic is that all readers can carry it with them in their lives, and I hope my work can create this impact. This way of thinking is crucial when it comes to understanding the systems that have led us here. By understanding the systems and how they started, perhaps with bias, we can hopefully dismantle them.
Looking at these as *systemic* issues provides you with some interesting avenues to explore, and the interplay of intersectionality and unconscious bias is an important one. As you proceed, I encourage you to think about how you can draw on your own knowledge and experience AND how you can offer something new to this conversation, perhaps in terms of the audience/purpose you identify for your research (which will be our focus in Unit 3).