The fact that many do not know the true story of the orange on the Seder plate shows how sometimes even groups working for equality (in this case, feminists) end up erasing or ignoring the contributions of other marginalized groups. This can happen when feminists ignore the struggles of transgender and queer people facing homophobia or transphobia, or people of color facing racism. Or when LGBTQ communities ignore the realities of people facing ableism (discrimination against people with disabilities). This is why it is so critical that our work towards freedom be what is called “intersectional” (term originated by civil rights activist and scholar Kimberle Crenshaw). That means we acknowledge that everyone has multiple identities and we are not just one thing, and those identifies shape our expeirneces in the world. Specifically, that many people face multiple types of oppression (e.g. an Asian lesbian woman may face sexism, homophobia, and racism). So, for example intersectional feminism means that in addition to addressing sexism, we must address racism and homophobia, ableism, classism, etc. and understand how they intersect with each other. 


haggadah Section: Introduction