resources on intersectional feminism
Brief Overview | Resources | Support | Suggestions
Brief Overview
What is intersectional feminism?
Kimberlé Crenshaw—famed scholar, lawyer, and activist—coined the term “intersectional” in her 1989 paper “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.”
In it, she argues that Black women are often excluded from both feminism and antiracism conversations because they don’t account for the lived experiences a woman of color faces both as a woman and as an individual of color. A white woman won’t experience racism; a Black man won’t experience sexism. But a Black woman will experience both. Intersectionality, then, is a lens that accounts for how individuals of color belonging to more than one marginalized community, such as gender, ability, class, and immigration status, might experience the world. It considers how oppression overlaps to create new forms of oppression.
“I argue that Black women are sometimes excluded from feminist theory and antiracist policy discourse because both are predicated on a discrete set of experiences that often does not accurately reflect the interaction of race and gender...Because the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.” - Kimberlé Crenshaw
Why should you care?
Because you can’t be a true feminist until you work to ensure ALL women, non-binary, queer, and femme folks are equal. But don’t take it from us, take it from some of the leading writers on intersectional feminism:
"When feminism does not explicitly oppose racism and when anti-racism does not incorporate opposition to the patriarchy, race and gender politics often end up being antagonistic to each other and both interests lose." Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color.”
“Erasure is not equality, least of all in a movement that draws much of its strength from the claim that it represents over half of the world’s population.” Mikki Kendall, Hood Feminism.
“Ignoring the differences of race between women and the implications of those differences presents the most serious threat to the mobilization of women's joint power. As white women ignore their built-in privilege of whiteness and define woman in terms of their own experience alone, then women of Color become "other," the outsider whose experience and tradition is too ‘alien’ to comprehend.” Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider.
“White feminists have only attempted to foil one half of the equation that is their own subordination. Sexism and racism go hand in hand in the West: as long as the myth of sex-crazed, aggressive, inferior subject races is allowed to fester, then so too will the implication that white women need to be protected from them.” Ruby Hamad, White Tears, Brown Scars.
What can you do?
While ad astra serves as a place to learn and discuss these critical issues, we cannot rely on that alone to make change, dismantle white supremacy, and empower intersectional feminism. Take what you learn from this site and share it with others, especially those that believe otherwise; invest in organizations, whether through time or donations, that support intersectional feminism (we’ve included a few of our favorites below); and vote for local, state, and nationwide leaders that promise to make change— and then hold them accountable.
Books & Stories
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
Women, Race & Class by Angela Davis
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson
Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century edited by Alice Wong
Fairest by Meredith Talusan
Documentaries
RBG “An intimate portrait of an unlikely rock star: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With unprecedented access, the filmmakers explore how her early legal battles changed the world for women.”
Note: We also encourage watching this film in tandem with reading this article on the history of Ginsburg’s statements on race.
Knock Down The House “A young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner's daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada, and a registered nurse in Missouri build a movement of insurgent candidates to challenge powerful incumbents in Congress. One of their races will become the most shocking political upsets in recent American history.”
13th Ava DuVernay’s documentary on America’s prison system. While it doesn’t focus solely on feminism, equality won’t occur without looking at America’s flawed, racist prison industrial complex.
Period. End of Sentence Fights against the stigma of menstruation by following a group of Indian women who fight to have better access to sanitary care.
YouTube Videos
Essays, Academic Texts, & Articles
Gloria Anzaldúa: "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
Audre Lorde: "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House"
Audre Lorde: “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression”
Kimberlé Crenshaw: "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics"
Columbia Law School: “Kimberlé Crenshaw on Intersectionality, More than Two Decades Later”
Podcasts
Two Dope Queens “Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams are funny. They're black. They're BFFs. And they host a live comedy show in Brooklyn. Join the 2 Dope Queens, along with their favorite comedians, for stories about sex, romance, race, hair journeys, living in New York, and Billy Joel. Plus a whole bunch of other s**t.”
America Did What? “We have to work together to make America a more perfect union. But it’s hard to address things that you don’t know about. so, we are here to help. In every episode you will learn about something outrageous that America has done, backed by research.”
“AAPF and Kimberle Crenshaw present: Intersectionality Matters! The podcast that brings intersectionality to life.”
Code Switch: “Remember when folks used to talk about being "post-racial"? Well, we're definitely not that. We're a multi-racial, multi-generational team of journalists fascinated by the overlapping themes of race, ethnicity and culture, how they play out in our lives and communities, and how all of this is shifting.”
Organizations to Support
The Loveland Foundation “Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. We are becoming the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
SisterSong “SisterSong is a Southern based, national membership organization; our purpose is to build an effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities.”
Trans Women of Color Collective “Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC) was created to cultivate economic opportunities and affirming spaces for trans people of color and our families, to foster kinship, build community engage in healing and restorative justice through arts, culture, media, advocacy and activism.”
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women “Our mission is to stop violence against Native women and children by advocating for social change in our communities.”
National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities “Builds bridges and connections among research, practice and policy to advance effective responses to eliminate domestic violence and to promote healthy relationships within Latin@ families and communities.”
Justice for Migrant Women “Engaged in educating lawmakers and other officials globally and throughout the U.S. about some of the issues that prevent migrant women from reaching their full potential and, even worse, pose a threat to their safety and security.”
Asian American Feminist Collective “We engage in intersectional feminist politics grounded within our communities, including those whose backgrounds encompass East, Southeast, and South Asian, Pacific Islander, multi-ethnic and diasporic Asian identities. Through public events and resources, we seek to provide spaces for identity exploration, political education, community building, and advocacy.”
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network “AWN Network is dedicated to building a supportive community where we can share our experiences in an understanding, diverse and inclusive environment. AWN is committed to recognizing and celebrating diversity and the many intersectional experiences in our community.”
Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights “A feminist fund that protects, strengthens and sustains women and transgender human rights defenders at critical moments.”
Black Mamas Matter Alliance “Black Mamas Matter Alliance is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance. We center Black mamas to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice.”
Black Women Lead “Black Women lead is committed to being at the front lines of the human rights movement, while amplifying Black Women’s and the underrepresented voices and leadership abilities, within their own communities in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.”
