The practice of strategically establishing intellectual, emotional, and social boundaries to protect identity development and autonomy amid overlapping systems of control.
Sor Juana maintained fierce boundaries around her intellectual independence, her time for study, and her right to remain unmarried, even at great cost. She refused certain demands not from isolation but to protect her capacity for authentic work. In intersectionality, boundary-work is essential survival practice. People managing multiple oppressed identities often face constant demands for emotional labor, explanation, and accommodation from both dominant systems and sometimes from their own communities. Setting boundaries—saying no to conversations about representation, limiting availability, refusing to educate others—is not selfish but necessary for maintaining psychological integrity and creative capacity. This concept validates boundaries as intersectional practice, recognizing that protecting one's energy, attention, and autonomy is foundational to sustainable resistance and self-determination.
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