Feminism is becoming more and more of a hot-button topic in the public sphere every day, transcending both politics and pop culture. We have our feminist "icons" who are generally white women who dominate dialogue and set precedents for people's understandings of feminism. Truth is, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was obscenely racist and Taylor Swift probably couldn’t define intersectionality if you asked her. So, in no particular order, here are some badass intersectional feminist activists to talk about instead.
1. Bell Hooks
Hooks is an author, feminist and social activist focused on the intersectionality of race, capitalism, gender and class domination.
2. Audre Lorde
Lorde was a writer and poet devoted to discussing issues related to civil rights, feminism and the exploration of black female identity.
3. Betty Friedan
Friedan was a writer and activist at the forefront of the second wave of feminism, best known for her book "The Feminine Mystique," which investigated the unhappiness of women as housewives.
4. Malala Yousafzai
Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in Pakistan. In 2014, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work and bravery.
5. Adrienne Rich
Rich was a poet and essayist, credited by the Poetry Foundation with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse."
6. Patricia Hill Collins
Collins is a professor at the University of Maryland whose work mainly focuses on feminism and gender within the African-American community, and is known for her book "Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment."
7. Alice Walker
Walker is novelist, short story writer, poet, activist, and author of "The Color Purple." She also coined the term “womanism,” a movement that takes into consideration the experiences of black women and black culture.
8. Toni Cade Bambara
9. Angela Davis
Davis is a scholar, author and counterculture activist who worked closely with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Her research focuses on feminism, African-American studies, Marxism, social consciousness and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons.
10. Janet Mock
11. Kiran Gandhi
Gandhi is a musician and feminist activist, drumming for M.I.A and Thievery Corporation, as well as her own project called Madame Gandhi. She partners with menstrual health organizations improve women’s access to affordable and safe menstrual care, working to eliminate the luxury tax on tampons.
12. Ida B. Wells
Wells was a journalist, suffragist, sociologist, an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement and one of the founders of the NAACP. She documented and exposed lynching in the 1890s and was was active in women's rights and the women's suffrage movement.
13. Simone de Beauvoir
de Beauvoir was a writer, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist who had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory. She is known for her work "The Second Sex," a detailed analysis of women's oppression.
14. Rupi Kaur
Kaur is a poet, photographer, designer and illustrator whose work focuses on femininity, love, loss, trauma, abuse and healing. One of her most notable works is her photo-essay on menstruation that challenges societal taboos on menstruation.
Here, I provide you with a very brief overlook of their work and focus, so I encourage you to do some research for yourself about the individuals that have done and are continuing to do incredible work in their spaces!
