Intersectionality Roadtrip
Project Sonrisa's 'Intersectionality Roadtrip' is our project with the aim of researching the importance of intersectionality in mental health. We want to understand and explore topics such as; representation particularly in the media and the impact that has on mental health awareness and advocacy, as well as the barriers groups of people face in accessing support and why a person-centred approach in mental health services is so important.
Mental Health, Representation and Intersectionality: A Project Sonrisa Report
After 3 months of public consultation we received 432 survey responses, each with their own unique backgrounds, identities and experiences of mental health spaces.
Mental Health, Representation and Intersectionality A Project Sonrisa Report-compressed.pdfOur survey respondents gave us some clear messages;
The need for intersectional representation in mental health spaces. 90% of people we surveyed said they were more likely to feel seen and heard when they can relate to someone else's story and/or experiences however only 32% of respondents felt like they had actually seen themselves represented in mental health related media.
Current mental health spaces aren’t perceived to be person centred - Only 7% of people who responded to our survey said that mental health services do consider multiple aspects of intersecting identity, individual needs and barriers.
Demand for intersectional approaches to policy making - There is a need for targeted intersectional interventions and policies aimed at addressing systemic barriers to representation and access within mental health spaces in Scotland.
But what actually is intersectionality?
Intersectionality, as a concept, is a way of understanding how different aspects of inequality and oppression 'intersect' and often relate to each other. In taking an intersectional approach, it is understanding that issues are not binary in nature. Different aspects of an individuals experiences or issues in wider society overlap and link in with each other, identities simply do not stand alone. Groups of people can experience inequality in different ways.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of using critical race theory explains intersectionality;
"Black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women's experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Black men. Yet often they experience double discrimination—the combined effects of practices which discriminate on the basis of race, and on the basis of sex. And sometimes, they experience discrimination as Black women—not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as Black women."¹
Situational context is important to intersectionality.
One of the main criticisms of intersectionality is that it can sometimes overlook complex understandings of oppression into statistics of tick-boxing. This can become performative and be a way of showing inclusivity and progressive ideas. That is why it is important to take into account context as well as people's real-life experiences.
References
¹ Crenshaw, Kimberle (1989) "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics," University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989, Article 8.
Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8