How does the telling of this story approach gender issues?

Intersectionality is the study of how different forms of oppression, like sexism and classism, combine and reinforce one another. In Bastard Out of Carolina, Bone experiences discrimination because of her socio-economic status and also because of her gender. Her gender shapes her experience of poverty, and her working-class background shapes her identity as a woman. Bone observes that Boatwright women age quickly, and must tolerate their the whims and drunken outbursts of the men around them. Dorothy Allison also briefly addresses the ways in which race and poverty collide when Alma moves into a primarily African American neighborhood. Bastard Out of Carolina presents a unique and heartbreaking exploration of "the intersection of class, race, and gender, and how that intersection of social forces is lived, felt and resisted" (Gamson, 449).