Complexities and complications: intersections of class and sexuality

Abstract

I explore some questions and dilemmas raised by considering social class, gender, and sexuality within the same interconnecting research framework. I begin with attention to the theoretical development of intersectionality, arising from feminist conceptualizations of "differences that matter," and the ways these are included in or excluded from research agendas. Arguing that interconnections between class and sexuality have often been neglected in such moves, I seek to progress beyond intersectionality as a theoretical paradigm, toward understanding intersectionality as a lived experience. I draw on a case study of working-class lesbian lives to bridge the gap between theorization of intersectionality and the research application of this.