Intersectionality is a theoretical framework that posits that multiple social categories (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status) intersect at the micro level of individual experience to reflect multiple interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the macro, social-structural level (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism). Public health’s commitment to social justice makes it a natural fit with intersectionality’s focus on multiple historically oppressed populations. Yet despite a plethora of research focused on these populations, public health studies that reflect intersectionality in their theoretical frameworks, designs, analyses, or interpretations are rare. Accordingly, I describe the history and central tenets of intersectionality, address some theoretical and methodological challenges, and highlight the benefits of intersectionality for public health theory, research, and policy.

The Problem With the Phrase Women and Minorities: Intersectionality—an Important Theoretical Framework for Public Health

Intersectionality, the mutually constitutive relations among social identities, is a central tenet of feminist thinking and has transformed how gender is conceptualized in research. In this special issue, we focus on the intersectionality perspective in empirical research on gender. Our goal is to offer a “best practices” resource that provides models for when and how intersectionality can inform theory and be incorporated into empirical research on psychological questions at individual, interpersonal, and social structural levels. I briefly summarize the development of the intersectionality perspective, and then review how the realization of its promise has been diverted by preoccupation with intersectionality as a methodological challenge. I conclude with a discussion of why intersectionality is an urgent issue for researchers invested in promoting positive social change.

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Gender: An Intersectionality Perspective

The politics of life itself Biomedicine, power, and subjectivity in the twenty-first century

R. W. Connell’s path-breaking notion of multiple masculinities (Connell, 1995) and hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1987, 1995) have been taken up as central constructs in the sociology of gender. Although there has been a great deal of empirical research and theory published that has built upon and utilized Connell’s concepts, an adequate conceptualization of hegemonic femininity and multiple femininities has not yet been developed. To redress this, the author presents a theoretical framework that builds upon the insights of Connell and others, offers a definition of hegemonic masculinity and hegemonic femininity that allows for multiple configurations within each, and that can be used empirically across settings and groups. The author also outlines how hegemonic masculinity and hegemonic femininity are implicated in and intersect with other systems of inequality such as class, race, and ethnicity.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4501776.pdf

Recovering the feminine other: masculinity, femininity, and gender hegemony

This article demonstrates the credibility and rigor of yarning, an Indigenous cultural form of conversation, through its use as a data gathering tool with two different Indigenous groups, one in Australia and the second in Botswana. Yarning was employed not only to collect information during the research interview but to establish a relationship with Indigenous participants prior to gathering their stories through storytelling, also known as narrative. In exploring the concept of yarning in research, this article discusses the different types of yarning that emerged during the research project, how these differences were identified and their applicability in the research process. The influence of gender during the interview is also included in the discussion.

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Yarning About Yarning as a Legitimate Method in Indigenous Research

Em Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins contribui para a consolidacao do Pensamento Feminista Negro propondo uma teoria centrada na teoria critica na qual se privilegia o ponto de vista das mulheres negras. Para desenvolver o argumento e as estrategias da construcao do seu marco teorico, Collins busca na vivencia e na experiencia da mulher negra norte-americana o trama principal da teoria. Trata-se de um trabalho necessario para a construcao de uma sociedade plural e polifonica cujas diversas vozes podem e devem ser acomodadas no mundo do conhecimento e das ciencias. O trabalho de Collins articula diversas correntes teoricas como estudos de genero e etnia, classes sociais, sociologia da ciencia, pensamento social marxista, teoria critica. Ela se inspira na Perspectiva Feminista de Sandra Harding, dos estudos da sociologia da ciencia, nos trabalhos de Angela Davis, uma das principais referencias dos estudos de genero e etnia e nas historias de vida das mulheres negras que Collins coleta ao longo da pesquisa. O livro de 335 paginas e dividido em tres partes. E na primeira parte que ela constroi a base teorica do Pensamento Feminista Negro que inclui com parte da Teoria Social Critica. De acordo com a autora, a teoria social critica permite analisar a situacao da mulher negra, assim como entender a supressao e a desvalorizacao do Neide Mayumi Osada

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Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

International nonprofit foundations are acknowledged for their role in supporting scientific research, training human resources (physicians, public health professionals, and nurses), and creating science institutions and health services in developing countries. Focusing on the work of foreign institutions like the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, the current study aims to highlight several innovative and pioneering initiatives, considering their areas of action, priorities, diversification of activities, changes in guidelines, and partnerships with international and Brazilian institutions during the Pre- and Post-War periods. The study also analyzes how these foundations readjust their agendas as a function of the presence of new players, institutions, and objectives.

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Cooperação científica internacional: estilos de atuação da Fundação Rockefeller e da Fundação Ford

[14C]-labelled palmitic acid (PA), oleic acid (OA), linoleic (LA) and arachidonic (AA) acids were transferred from macrophages (M phi) to lymphocytes (LY) when equal numbers of the two cell types were co-cultured. The relative degree and amounts of the fatty acids transferred from M phi to LY are as follow: AA (368.57 +/- 21.62) = OA (274.52 +/- 15.41) > LA (42.11 +/- 8.31) = PA (36.53 +/- 2.45). The transfer units are nmol/10(10) M phi/10(10) LY and the values are mean +/- SEM for 7 experiments. The [14C]-radioactivity transferred was mainly directed to the phospholipid fraction of the lymphocytes (85% by PA, 86% by LA, 83% by OA and 79% by AA). In the same order as above, phosphatidylcholine was the phospholipid moiety most heavily labelled (82% by PA, 71% by LA, 66% by OA and 47% by AA). The amount of [14C]-radioactivity transferred to stimulated lymphocytes of thioglycollate treated animals remained unchanged for LA, PA and AA but reduced for OA (71%). The significance of these observations for the immune functions of the cells and resolution of the question of whether some of the [14C]-isotope transfer involves a component of exchange or is unequivocally net fatty acid mass transfer are still being investigated.

https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15216549700204961

Evidence for the transfer in culture of 14c- labelled fatty acids from macrophages to lymphocytes

This paper analyses the presence of women and men in Biological Sciences, specifically at the Fapesp Genome Project. Considering the Social Studies of Sciences and Gender Studies, this article highlights the barrier and prejudices women face in their scientific carrier and show how this reproduces a situation in which men advance faster than women.

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A construção social de gênero na Biologia: preconceitos e obstáculos na biologia molecular

Incorporation and oxidation of fatty acids (FA) were investigated in resident and thioglycolate-elicited (TG-elicited) rat macrophages (Mphi). Both cell types presented a time-dependent incorporation of [14C]-labeled palmitic acid (PA), oleic acid (OA), linoleic acid (LA), and arachidonic acid (AA) up to 6 h. The total amount of [14C]-FA incorporated by resident Mphi after 6 h was: AA > PA = LA > OA. TG-elicited cells presented a 50% reduction in the incorporation of LA, PA, and AA, whereas that of OA remained unchanged as compared to resident Mphi. The FA were oxidized by resident Mphi as follows: LA > OA > PA > AA. TG elicitation promoted a reduction of 42% in LA oxidation and a marked increase in AA oxidation (280%). The increased oxidation of AA in TG-elicited cells may account for the lower production of prostaglandins in Mphi under these conditions. The full significance of these findings for Mphi function, however, remains to be examined.

Maria Conceição da Costa

Papers

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment

Cooperação científica internacional: estilos de atuação da Fundação Rockefeller e da Fundação Ford

Evidence for the transfer in culture of 14c- labelled fatty acids from macrophages to lymphocytes

A construção social de gênero na Biologia: preconceitos e obstáculos na biologia molecular

Thioglycolate‐elicited rat macrophages exhibit alterations in incroporation and oxidation of fatty acids