The Self as Contested Territory

Sor Juana's body and choices were claimed by the Church, the colonial state, patriarchal law, and religious ideology—each system insisting on control over her sexuality, her labor, her intellectual output. The self becomes contested territory when multiple oppressive systems assert simultaneous claims. In intersectional practice, recognizing the self as contested means acknowledging that autonomy cannot be assumed but must be actively defended and reclaimed. This applies to bodily autonomy (medical racism, reproductive control), emotional labor (emotional taxation, performative allyship demands), intellectual output (whose work gets credited), and spiritual practice (whose beliefs are validated). Practitioners work to help people map which systems are making claims on their selves, and then develop strategies for reclamation—whether through community care, legal action, spiritual practice, or creative expression. This transforms self-care from individual luxury into intersectional resistance.