With the increase in identity politics ( referring to those who align with their race or gender over traditional political beliefs) has created tension for social justice. Identity politics, though it is beneficial for some to feel part of a community, has reduced identity to a single experience; assumptions are made that those who are in a social group, e.g., women, all share a universal experience of what it means to live as women. This flattens the complexities of identities, ignoring the nuances that come with being black and a woman or poor and a woman, for example. When tackling the issues against women, identity politics can paradoxically marginalise black women when atrocities happen, as their experience is 'often shaped by other dimensions of their identities, such as race and class'(Crenshaw,1991). If a feminist focuses on the issues of women and an anti-racist focuses on the issues of race, unable to contextualise that race and gender can intersect, we negate the concerns of black women; in conversations around feminism and anti-racism, black women are not ' represented within the discourses of either feminism or antiracism'(Crenshaw,1991). The simplified approach to political identity often overlooks the experiences of black women as they are subject to both racism and sexism, which are separate issues but intersect more than people have originally argued; we should not be looking at these issues as independent of themselves. 

The lack of intersectionality has real-life consequences. Structural intersectionality, referring to the way that institutions fail to accommodate minority groups, means that often black women (who are affected by racism and sexism) who have been sexually assaulted do not receive adequate care. In the United States,' the stereotypical rape in most people’s imagination is of a Black man raping a white woman... Other rapes also occurred, some even more violent. But the victims of these other rapes were women of colour, and they were therefore excluded from sensationalist coverage. (Crenshaw 1991). For example, Crenshaw notes the Central Park case of 1989, which primarily focused on the white rape victim, ignoring that there were other black women who were assaulted that night as well. These women did not fit the narrative of white victim and black perpetrator, and so they were not featured in publicity. Media and even policy are centered around white women's rape, not to say that they are not important to seek justice for, but black women are often made invisible when we over-sensationalise one atrocity over another. If society creates a stereotype of rape victims, we run the risk of disregarding those who do not fit this stereotype of a white victim. 

This highlights why intersectionality is essential in understanding the layers of oppression that women of colour face. If we do not realise the intersecting identities of the oppressed, we fail to provide support for those who need it.