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This article is from the Feminism References FAQ, by Cindy Tittle Moore tittle@netcom.com with numerous contributions by others.

Feminism and Women of Color:

In _feminist theory from margin to center_ (1984), bell hooks

writes of "militant white women" who call themselves "radical

feminists" but hooks labels them "reactionary" . . . Hooks is

refering to cultural feminism here. Her comment is a good

introduction to that fractious variety of feminism that Jaggar and

Rothenberg find hard to label any further than to designate its

source as women of color. It is a most vital variety, covering

much of the same ground as radical feminism and duplicating its

dynamic nature. Yet bad timing kept the two from ever uniting.

For more information you might want to also read hooks' book and

her earlier reader, _ain't i a woman?_ Whereas radical feminism

was primarily formulated by educated white women focusing on

women's issues, this variety was formulated by women who would not

(because they could not) limit their focus. What is so

extraordinary is that the two converged in so many ways, with the

notable exception that the women of color were adamantly opposed

to considering one form of oppression (sexism) without considering

the others. [JD]

I think an important work in the history of feminism and women of

color is Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga's anthology, _This

Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color_. It's

my belief that the unique contribution of women of color, who

experience at least two forms of discrimination daily, provides

balance and reality to much of the more theoretical forms of

academic feminism favored by educated white women. [EE]