Intersectionality and Privilege

We are proud of our diverse community and work hard to create an environment where our students can thrive. We also acknowledge that our students come from many different backgrounds and won’t share all of the same experiences.

By thinking about your own privileges, and how those intersect and are articulated with others, you can help to overcome some of the barriers to building a welcoming community for all. This will improve the experience of peers and better prepare yourself for living and working successfully in an increasingly globalised, diverse and international world.

What is ‘privilege’? 

'White privilege' is the concept that skin colour can affect your lived experience by being an advantage or barrier to almost all areas of life. In the UK and other majority White countries, if you are ‘white’, your experiences and outcomes are hardly ever effected by your skin colour. ‘Privilege’, in this case, doesn’t mean that you have special advantages, it simply means that don’t have the disadvantages associated with having a darker skin tone. If you are White, it also means you may not even be aware of the disadvantages that Black and Minority Ethnic people experiences or the advantage(s) that White people have.

What is Intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a term coined in the late 1980s by American academic Kimberlé Crenshaw. It describes how race, class, gender and other personal characteristics ‘intersect’ with one another and overlap. She wanted to remind people that when thinking about equality, we need to think beyond singular attributes like skin colour and gender, and recognise that all humans have more than one characteristic that may be subject to discrimination or hostility. For example, while a woman may experience sexism, a black lesbian may be at risk of experiencing not only sexism but also racism and homophobia. However, by listening to and respecting people when they share their lives with you, you can being to understand their intersectional experiences. 

Understanding Your Privilege

Privilege isn’t limited to skin colour. There are many other attributes that can confer privilege such as class, gender and sexuality. Unlike your accomplishments and achievements which can give you an earned advantage, privilege stems from the way that society has developed through time to create innate advantages for certain groups of people, which have existed for so long that we don’t even notice them. For example, if you are heterosexual you probably don’t realise how strong the idea that heterosexuality 'is normal’ (heteronormativity) is and how most of the messages and structures of society are aimed at heterosexual people. However, if you are a queer person, this is something that you would experience almost every day.

There are two main ways you can engage with the idea of ‘privilege’. The first, is to acknowledge the ways that you might be advantaged through how society is set up. The second, is to become aware to the fact that other people may not have these advantages. Once you do these, you can then explore how to use your privilege for the good of others.