Intersectional feminism, brought to you by pizza

Writer and comedian Akilah Hughes has created a brilliant explanation of intersectionality, using the ever timeless metaphor of pizza. That’s right. Pizza.

Using a creative key of burgers, deluxe pizzas, and cheese pizzas, Akilah breaks down Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory in an easy to digest video. (That pun was absolutely intended)

While obviously we would all love to live in a world where we could talk about intersectionality without having to resort to food metaphors, Akilah’s work offers us the chance to laugh, sigh, and hope that just maybe the next time feminism makes the national news inclusivity won’t continue to an after-thought.

So today as you read up on Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for 2016 and her feminism, ask yourself: Can we have more than cheese, please?

 

Transcription below:

“Akilah Hughes: Hi Youtube, it’s @AkilahObviously! Today I wanted to talk about an issue that’s been neglected on Youtube and in pop-culture, specifically when we talk about Patty Arquette and her Oscar’s speech and Nellie Andreeva at Deadline who thinks that diversity is over-taking Hollywood and that there are no roles for white people anymore.

Today we are going to talk about intersectionality and feminism. What better way to talk about this issue this big than to talk about pizza! It’s a little cheesy.

Say you’re born a Cheese Pizza but the world is made for Burgers. You can go anywhere and get a Burger, Burgers are the go-to fast food pretty much anywhere in the world. So you are trying to say, “Hey! Pizza is just as good as Burgers, Pizza is just as satisfying as Burgers, Pizza deserves the same rights as Burgers.” And that’s all fine and good.

But then there are pizzas like me, Deluxe Pizzas, who happen to have different toppings and features than Cheese Pizzas and who have their own problems to face because they are pizzas and have different toppings. We’re like, “What about us?”

Cheese Pizzas are by far the most celebrated pizzas in society. If you go anywhere, there is going to be a Cheese Pizza. In any facet of society, where it’s art, media, education, finance, history, Cheese Pizzas are the only Pizzas that are mentioned. You know, Cheese Pizzas are so celebrated that there are snacks that celebrate that flavor like Combos and Pringles and even Bagel Bites! Cheese Pizza is highly visible.

Meanwhile this is not the case for Deluxe Pizza, alright? Our features are often seen by the untrained eye as extra weight and too much of a problem and we are left to crumble because the crust does not support us. It is much more difficult to be a Deluxe Pizza in a burger world.

So when Deluxe Pizzas found that Cheese Pizzas wanted to join forces and fight for their rights for all Pizzas, they were stoked! Until they found that all discussions about Pizzas would be about Cheese Pizzas exclusively. In fact, Cheese Pizzas were like, “We’re going to get to your rights but only after we achieve ours.” And so now there are tons of videos and articles that talk about how Cheese Pizza is tired of being told by Burgers to shave their crust and how Cheese Pizza is getting called all these slurs because of what they choose to put in their pie hold. Deluxe Pizzas would love the privilege to care about things so menial.

Historically when Deluxe Pizzas rise through the pop-culture ranks and use their platform to promote pizza rights, Cheese Pizzas will shame them and then turn around and say, “Look at this Cheese Pizza, she’s got the right idea,” [picture of Emma Watson’s UN Speech] even when she saying the extra same thing that the Deluxe Pizzas has been saying all along [picture of Beyoncé’s Feminist performance].

Deluxe Pizza’s unique features are often celebrated when they occur unnaturally on Cheese Pizzas. In fact, when they occur naturally on Cheese Pizza’s they are often shamed. “Look how big your sausages are, why is your pepper so curly?” [Cheese Pizza with sausage, labeled as Kendall Jenner]

And Deluxe Pizza’s are unfortunately a little jaded. They fall onto room temperature waiting for us to fight for their rights when they have been fighting for Cheese Pizza’s rights too strong for too long. So how do we solve this problem? You know, I think it’s called Intersectionality!

When we talk about Pizza rights, we need to be talking about all Pizzas, not just Cheese Pizzas that are deemed socially acceptable, worthy of saving, and worthy of having a place in popular culture. We need to be talking about Pizzas who are sexually atrracted to other Pizzas, Pizzas who aren’t sexually attracted to anything, Pizzas who identify as Burgers, and Pizzas who have different toppings. Because as great as it is to uplift Cheese Pizzas, the world could use a lot more flavor.

Thank you for watching and I’ll see you soon with another video.”