Intersectional Privilege: Class, Gender, Race, and Religion

Sor Juana was simultaneously privileged and oppressed. She was born into Mexican criollo nobility, which gave her access and education. She was embedded in the Catholic Church, which provided institutional shelter and intellectual resources. Yet she was a woman in a patriarchal system, a colonized creole in a Spanish-dominated hierarchy, and defined as the property of institutions. Her relative privilege as a noblewoman did not protect her from gendered intellectual silencing; her Church position did not exempt her from male clerical authority. This concept applies intersectionality—the understanding that people occupy multiple social positions simultaneously, each bringing different privileges and oppressions. Acknowledging Sor Juana's privilege requires acknowledging these intersections. She was not simply 'privileged' or 'oppressed.' She benefited from noble birth and Church protection while suffering under patriarchy and colonialism. This complexity matters because it shows that acknowledging privilege is not about sorting people into categories but understanding how systems of power distribute resources, authority, and freedom unevenly across multiple dimensions of identity.