Multiracial feminist theory

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Multiracial feminist theory is promoted by women of color (WOC), including Black, Latina, Asian, Native American, and anti-racist white women.^[who?] In 1996, Maxine Baca Zinn and Bonnie Thornton Dill wrote “Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism," a piece emphasizing intersectionality and the application of intersectional analysis within feminist discourse.^[1]

Women of color, such as Audre Lorde and bell hooks, challenged the second-wave feminist movement for placing women's oppression at the root of sexism, without any regard to other forms of domination.^[2] Generally speaking, women of color acknowledge that race acts as a foundational power structure that heavily affects their lives. The activist work of women of color has been erased from the second-wave movement.^[2] The term "multiracial" was used to illustrate the importance of race interacting with other forms of oppression to understand gender relations. With a focus on race, multiracial feminism acknowledges, "the social construction of differently situated social groups and their varying degrees of advantages and power."^[3] The definition of multiracial feminism, as given by Becky Thompson, is stated as, "an attempt to go beyond a mere recognition of diversity and difference among women to examine structures of domination, specifically the importance of race in understanding the social construction of gender."^[2] The central point of this perspective is to focus on the significance of race, institutionalized racism and struggles against racial oppression to understand how various forms of dominance influence women's experiences.^[3]