Intersectional Feminism

Chloe Lippert        

Helen McClure        

ENG 101, #2214

2/14/17

Word Count: 902

Colorful Feminism

        Feminism, the movement that pushed women’s rights forward, and continues to fight for equality. But recently we’ve taken a step back and began to see the more exclusive ways of feminism, the most prominent being white feminism^[1]. Though a new term known as intersectionality has risen to challenge white feminism and its damage to the inclusive feminist movement. Feminism is the fight for equality for all women, and intersectionality helps us recognize where we stand in the struggle for freedom, as well as where we stand to help others, who are far less privileged than us. Intersectional feminism seeks to give proper notice to other underrepresented groups of people within the larger community of women, including those with a non-binary understanding of gender. In my essay I will discuss the importance of intersectional feminism, what it is, how you can utilize it and why one should. I will also review the history of intersectionality, and how it came to be, as well as challenge counter arguments, such as white feminism. 

The absence of addressing the distinct forms of oppression faced by women of color and women lacking other privileges is one of the main issues with white feminism. Until recently individuals who were not white, cisgender^[2], heterosexual, and able-bodied lacked a voice in the feminist movement, however this changed when intersectionality was formally introduced. Intersectionality is a newer term coined in 1989 by African American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. To put it simply, intersectionality in feminism is the understanding that women and others experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. One of the reasons intersectionality is so important is the unfortunate white privileged history of feminism.

Women of color were casted out of the feminist movement since it first began; because of this, the only women granted rights would be white. Author, feminist, and social activist Bell Hooks explains this notion in her book Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, “Every women’s movement in America from its earliest origin to the present day has been built on racist foundation – a fact which in no way invalidates feminism as a political ideology. -The first white women’s rights advocates were never seeking social equality for all women; they were seeking social equality for white women” (Hooks,124). As evident as racism was in early feminism, it remained prominent in second and third wave feminism as well. Again, this wave of feminism seemed to be fronted by white women and again tended not to consider issues specifically relating to women of color, and other marginalized women. Today, modern day feminism has focused more on intersectional perspectives of women, though is far from full intersectionality.