Intersectionality

A recognition that groupings such as gender, race, class and sexual orientation are interconnected social constructs. Illuminates how categorizations of people have historically been defined and used to bestow higher power, status and privilege to some while enabling the exploitation, discrimination and oppression of others. Complex trauma is itself an intersectional construct, asserting that its symptoms, behaviors and impairment cannot be understood separately from the adversity experiences that led to and frequently necessitated their emergence. In turn, societal marginalization of particular groups of people intersects with complex trauma to increase risk of exposure, magnify its effects, and decrease availability of protective and reparative resources.