Race and Gender Intersections

Abstract

In the 1980s and 1990s there has been a proliferation of writing by and about women of color that challenges heretofore accepted theories of society. Yet this theorizing remains imbedded in the margin. In 1985, Stacy and Thorne co-authored a seminal article entitled The Missing Feminist Revolution in Sociology, arguing that while a great deal of feminist research had been written to challenge existing sociological theory, these findings had had little to no impact on its formation. Currently, in every social theory text, gender is either segregated into a section on feminist theory, or ignored completely. Yet, while ‘feminist theory’ remains marginalized, or ignored, the theorizing by and about women of color remains marginalized within the margins. In sociological theory texts, the few women of color that are cited, are segregated into subsections within the feminist theory section. Lest we think that the position of marginalization within the margins is simply a byproduct of white male hegemony, this pattern, while less prevalent, is also present in feminist theorizing. While, certainly, most edited volumes now include articles by and about women of color, such scholarly works have had a bifurcated influence on the development of feminist theory. As many women of color scholars note, there is a ‘high’ and ‘low’ theory, and the former still continues to exclude much of the experientially based theorizing of women of color. Thus, US women of color remain relegated to the margin in the margin. Yet, it is clear that the theorizing of women of color has had a major impact on feminist theory with the development of ‘Intersectionality Theory’ that challenges multiple levels of oppression, and has the theoretical potential to further our understanding of social phenomena.