Identity: Lesbian Lawyers in South Florida an Oral History

Individual identity is a key concept in legal classifications. However, the concept of identity has an identity crisis of sorts. Some theorists embrace identity—feminist theorists—and other groups eschew it— queer theorists. Identity inhabits realms beyond the theoretical—its spectrum continues all the way to the individual. Identity can be construed as biological, personal, public, legal, political, historical, and fluid among many other sometimes complementary, but often conflicting classifications. Therefore, identities are more complex than mere singular categories. Kimberle Crenshaw was the first to specifically discuss the ideas of intersectionality and identity in a discussion of violence against women, noting, “experiences of women of color are frequently the product of intersecting patterns of racism and sexism, and how these experiences tend not to be represented within the discourses of either feminism or antiracism.” ¹