Follow-Up: Responding to Aridelle's Post 11/18/10

I enjoyed reading the article titled "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color" written by Kimberle Williams Crenshaw. This article raised some very interesting points in regards to identity politics. I have noticed, especially in my time at Colgate, the grouping together of certain peoples and the assumption that because they are in similar groups there aren't a lot of differences that exist between the people in the group. As a student athlete, I have noticed that people tend to assume that athletes are not very intelligent. For example, after my friend told her classmate that she was on the soccer team, her classmate gave her a look like she was stupid, and decided to play a more dominant role in the projects that they were working on because she second-guessed my friend's overall intelligence. Just as athletes are stereotyped at Colgate, so are women of color. Crenshaw discusses the tough situation that women of color are stuck in as a result of social constructs and society's perception of them. I really felt bad for the women that Crenshaw is describing because women who face domestic violence are in a very limiting, dangerous situation where they don't have a lot of influence over their well-being. I liked how this author went into such great detail in regards to each aspect of domestic violence towards women, and examined how society responds to this issue with their biases construing their views.