Intersectionality, Power relations and Abuse of Women with Physical Disabilities

This paper which was presented at the 13th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma at San Diego on September 15-17 2008 illustrates the usefulness of the theoretical perspective of intersectionality in analyzing power relations in abusive situations with regard to women with physical disabilities. In part one of this paper, I introduce the concept of intersectionality as it has been applied by de los Reyes and Mulinari with regard to their research on power relations and inequality. In part two, I illustrate my use of the concept by some cases from my own qualitative study and present the results of the analysis of abuse in different social contexts. I close with some concluding remarks on the value of using the concept in analyzing power relations in abusive situations in general.