WORDS ~ Weaponized, Intersectionality, Microagression.

I've been noticing some newly "fashionable" words cropping up frequently during my online political reading rambles:

Intersectionality
Weaponized
Microaggression

It's easy enough to look up definitions in online dictionaries or at Wikipedia, harder to be sure the meaning has been grasped ten minutes later, or next time one meets these words!



Weaponized is probably the easiest of the three to understand. Traditionally the word means "adapt for use as a weapon". In current journalese they're not talking about weaponizing a pitchfork or carving knife for use in injuring somebody, but about using specific information to affect the reader's or recipient's perception about something or someone, with the intention to cause harm or warp understanding. Here's a headline as example;
How Fox News Is Weaponizing the Harvey Weinstein Scandal


Microaggression - "a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority)".
Wikipedia offers a lot of detail.
For helpful illustrated examples of various forms of microaggression see HERE.


Intersectionality - I try to remember what this means by thinking of it (in a slang nutshell) as referring to someone who experiences a "double-whammy" or even a "triple-whammy" due, basically, to "who they are".
Borrowing from care2.com

What Is Intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a sociological theory describing multiple threats of discrimination when an individual’s identities overlap with a number of minority classes — such as race, gender, age, ethnicity, health and other characteristics.

For example, a woman of color may face sexism in the workplace, which is compounded by pervasive racism. Similarly, trans women of color face exceptionally high levels of discrimination and threats of violence. Looking through the lens of intersectionality, it’s not hard to see why: these women potentially face anti-trans prejudice, sexism, misogyny, racism and — due to the ignorance surrounding trans identity — homophobia.

While intersectionality is traditionally applied to women, a person of any gender may be affected by this phenomena of overlapping minority status. A man from a Hispanic background could face xenophobia in today’s America despite being a naturalized citizen. If that Hispanic man is in his 50s, ageism might add to the discrimination he could face in trying to secure employment.