Angela Davis offers a history of the social and political impact of whiteness and elitism on the feminist movement, detailing the activism from abolitionists to the modern feminist movement. For example, although many Black women participated in activism for women's suffrage, many white women sided with male white supremacists for short-term political gain rather than incorporating an intersectional approach to all women's equality. In this context, Davis shows how abandoning the intersection of race and class in feminist discourse inevitably created obstacles to the full empowerment of women of color. Davis demonstrates how the prioritization of white women in feminist discourse influences contemporary debates over rape, reproductive freedom, domestic care work, and childcare. Without an intersectional approach to feminism, which recognizes the connections between race, class, and gender, contemporary feminism will inevitably leave some behind.
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