Psychology, we need intersectionality. There's no racial equity without it. There's no gender equity without it. There's no equity without it, period. Intersectionality is not *an* issue. It's *the* issue. 1/

Imagine that your garden is full of weeds. You want to get rid of those weeds, right? You want to destroy them all. No one likes weeds. Let's think of systems of oppession - racism, sexism, cis- & hetero-normativity, ableism & classism - as the weeds. 2/

The weeds are entangled below the soil's surface. Now, you can try to get rid of them one by one. You can pull up some weeds of the patriarchy. A few privileged women will gain freedom. (Side note: is this how you deal with weeds? I have no idea. My garden is terrible). 3/

But racism will continue to spread. Transphobia will continue to spread. You may even reinforce those systems & make them stronger. And *most* of the people who were suffering under the patriarchy are still trapped. Your garden is still just a pile of weeds. 4/

What if, instead, you pulled everything up, by the roots? Pick the points at which all of these systems intersect and focus all your energy and strength on pulling up those entangled roots. Wouldn't that be more effective? More efficient? 5/

This means intentionally centering the experiences and futures of Black women, Black trans and queer folx, and women from the Global South, not adding them in under a subheading or referring to their exclusion as a "limitation." 6/

(I fear my gardening metaphor is getting out of hand, but bear with me.) My point is: there is no point without intersectionality. You can try to get rid of one type of weed, but you really should be focusing on where the roots are entangled. 6/

Otherwise, we're just going to find ourselves back here in our garden, surprised that things have not gotten better and asking, "now, how do we get rid of these weeds?" 7/

My lack of gardening skills aside, this is so important if you are working on social justice in psychology. 8/

I'm being intentional about speaking to psychological scientists because of what I see in our field. Intersectionality is vastly under-used and mis-applied. Yet, there are plenty of folks doing rich, intersectional research in psych. Their work is under-valued. 9/

So, if you are doing social justice work, I encourage you to be intentional about this. Reach out to people leading the way on this front & collaborate with them. And learn about the her-story of intersectionality and Black feminism! Follow @citeblackwomen as a start. /end

Adding: I didn't anticipate that many may be new to an intersectional analysis, and may not know what I mean by "her-story." Dr. Crenshaw's work is required reading and should be front and center, always. https://twitter.com/citeblackwomen/status/1303680052085874688?s=20