Intersectional Vulnerabilities and the Banality of Harm: The Dangerous Desires of Women of Color Activists

Abstract:In this article we examine how intersectional vulnerabilities are experienced and made sense of by women of color activists in Europe. We name intersectional vulnerabilities as a broad, sometimes contradictory, set of emotions, all tied to activists’ complex experiences of insecurity and community. Intersectional vulnerabilities are those risks and rewards, derived from women of color activists’ positioning in relation to race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and legal status, which shape the possibilities of women of color’s activist labor. These vulnerabilities are Janus-faced, in that they are experienced as social harms that oftentimes lead to community. Our article grapples with the bittersweetness of vulnerability and how the banality of harms meted out to women of color nevertheless contains the seeds of resistance, solidarity, and self-love.