Intersectionality and the Subjective Processes of LBQ Migrant Women: Between Discrimination and Self-determination

Abstract

The article examines the identity profiles of LBQ migrant women living at the intersection of several factors of discrimination and oppression (related to gender, cultural affiliation, skin colour, sexual orientation, etc.). We combined two theoretical approaches – intersectionality and queer theory – to examine the identity strategies that these women put in place in their various relational circles of belonging, exploring how women react to the ‘labelling’ attempts by mainstream society, the network of compatriots, and the wider LGBT community. This highlights the power relations underpinning these relationships, the stigmatisation processes experiences, the attempts at accommodation and resistance undertaken by women to express – with regard to ethnic and sexual identity – both the need for belonging and that for self-determination.