IV. Multi-colored feminisms: Two young Latinas’ stories of emerging feminist identities

Abstract

What is a young feminist? The response to that is loaded with an overwhelming blend of factors that have changed the face of feminism in the past years: politics, religion, pop culture, and the many stories of women before us that have shaped the way we understand and adopt feminisms. Not long ago, we were introduced to a group of empowered women doing feminism in the most inspiring manner. These women seemed to share a sense of solidarity, a sense of understanding the inequalities that women across the globe face on a daily basis, and a passion for creating change in this unbalanced society. Some of the most stirring words we took away with us were that once your feminist lenses are on, it is impossible to take them off. This statement became incredibly real to us, and we were left to struggle with—or better yet embrace—the complex nature of what this means for us not only as women, but as single, heterosexual, bicultural, bilingual, Catholic, Latina students in the field of psychology. Identification with a string of labels has come as a result of our enthusiastic motivation to take on these feminist lenses that were handed down to us by the women before us. As we continue to engage in our own processes of molding our feminist identities, we have inevitably come face to face with the parts of us that influence, guide, and inspire the way we do feminism. In a sense, this means that our feminist lenses are multi-colored: the different shades representing the intersection of our multiple identities. It is the work of feminists like Kimberle Crenshaw and Aida Hurtado that give a name to the way we navigate through