In society there are many different categories someone can belong to, and sometimes one can belong to more than one. One can be a disabled migrant woman or a gender noncomforming homeless Roma person.
Intersectionality is the idea that when some people belong to several categories, this creates unique problems, discrimination, and privilege. In social groups and activist movements, such people face unique challenges and may feel excluded (Taylor & Hassan, 2022).
This is Nikki Obernik’s experience based on his life in Finland. Nikki belongs to several categories: he is a gay, migrant, cosmopolitan, married man who can’t come back to the source country and who has a Russian background.
“I saw many Russian circles who provide a niche for Russians who feel excluded from Finnish society and yet if you are gay, oppose Putin’s regime and cosmopolite, you’d feel that you can’t share some parts of your own identity or if you do, you’d feel misunderstood or even separated, which can lead to people stop helping you and being nice to you.
I couldn’t become part of LGBTQ+ circles which are often Finnish. Of course, being a Finnish LGBTQ+ person looks like privilege in comparison with a migrant, who has to deal with their resident permits, salary thresholds, employment, migrant/ethnic/racial discrimination in general, language barriers etc – a whole world that isn’t so much familiar or even interesting for Finnish queer people. What I faced was often the lack of solidarity and indifference when I talked about how temporary residence permit holders can’t get married in Finland or what a horror it is to be constantly worried about your residence when you only have temporary work contracts, feel exhausted, and can’t go back.
Refugee circles mainly focus on those who have the official status of refugees or asylum seekers, yet again not everyone who flees from the real or potential danger of prosecution applies for asylum. This group excludes other migrants who come on the basis of work or studies and yet feel that they can’t go back. Renewing our residence permits and facing restrictions on where we can work or study feels different from those who get an asylum-based residence permit. In turn, migrant circles don’t pay much attention to those who are afraid of potential deportation due to threats in the source country and whose experience of migration is again different.
Does it really make sense to make more and more very specific groups for disabled migrant gays from India, cosmopolitan unemployed people with mental issues, or divorced mothers of color? Probably not, because there is indefinite number of combinations of categories you may belong and no group focusing on just one specific issue will ever be enough.”
References:
Taylor, S., and Hassan, I. (2022) ‘Identities’, in Clarke, J., Doyle, Z., Hassan, I., and Woodward, K. (eds) Understanding social lives, part 2. 2nd edn. Milton Keynes: The Open University, pp. 1-44