**Tl;dr: Intersectionality should be a useful tool to understand the impact of inequality but the lack of understanding surrounding it renders it ineffective in today’s society.** As a relatively new term, intersectionality is often unknown or misunderstood. [Kimberlé Crenshaw](https://time.com/5786710/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality/), who originally coined the term in 1989, explains it as: “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other”. Yet this definition has been [distorted](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/30/intersectional-feminism-jargon) by its supporters as well as its critics, to a point where it becomes hard to remember its original purpose. This is largely because the very definition requires thought and research. In a world full of inequalities, each experience is unique and many different factors should be accounted when analysing the discrimination people face. To its critics, it’s either too complicated to understand, and thus pay attention to, or a good word to distort and use against the feminist movement. To its advocates, there is little consensus, and the infighting only gives it less legitimacy. While in a perfect world we could tackle all inequality at once; and indeed, in a perfect world, inequality would not exist at all; we don’t, and we can’t. Prioritising may seem hard in today's society, were there is a seemingly endless list of issues to take on, but we must if we want any hope of making progress. Intersectionality is a good theory which should provide guidance and understanding. But the lack of a united front to defend it only serves to show society is not ready for it.

Intersectionality is an obscure term. Many individuals think of human co-existence or political correctness, depending on where they lie on the political spectrum. The term, as Sofia points out, was coined in 1989 by Professor Kimberle Crenshaw to describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics coexist with each other, or intersect. Right-wingers view intersectionality as a system that prefers non-whites to move up the social ladder of the class system simply because of their race rather than hard work. Other right-wingers who are more extreme view intersectionality as a system simply meant to disadvantage white people. But intersectionality is about leveling the playing field so that no one, regardless of their race, class, gender or sexuality, is displaced. I argue that society is ready for intersectionality because we are long overdue for it. Kimberle's ideas did not go mainstream until 2015 when, according to Joan Coaston on Vox, when the Oxford English Dictionary. Furthermore, organizers of the 2017 Women's March pushed the term against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, which they deemed as an attempt to preserve the status quo. Kimberle, discussing the term directly to Crenshaw, explains she does not "want to replicate existing power dynamics and cultural structures just to give people of color power over white people...She wants to get rid of those existing power dynamics algother--changing the very structures that undergird our politics, law, and culture in order to level the playing field." Basically, intersectionality is diversity. It is creating an equal world for individuals of all races, genders, class, and sexuality. That's something society has been ready from the very beginning. CITATION Coaston, Jane. “Intersectionality, Explained: Meet Kimberlé Crenshaw, Who Coined the Term.” Vox, 28 May 2019, www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination.