Intersectionality, term coined by law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in the early '90s, is a term that many academics in the field of Women's & Gender Studies are familiar with. Crenshaw revolutionized feminist theories by challenging the notion that racism and sexism are not mutually exclusive, but rather overlap. But what about those of us who have multiple racial identities? Research on multiracial identities and feminism does not challenge or critique Crenshaw’s work on intersectionality but rather expands on it and showcases the unique challenges of people with multiple racial identities whose narratives are often overlooked or untold. 

 

See also Chicana Feminism and LGBTQ Communties. For a more detailed definition of intersectionality see Introduction to Intersectionality.  

 

Multiracial Identities and Feminism

 

Through my research on multiracial feminism and identities, one commonality was that many biracial and multiracial people, specifically women, also had other multiple identities and that many of them were bisexual. The intersections of their identities make their lived experiences complicated and messy while simultaneously making it much easier for them to come out as bisexual having already experienced being an outsider in a dichotomous world. In her article titled “Fence Sitters, Switch Hitters, and Bi-Bi Girls: An Exploration of ‘Hapa’ and Bisexual Identities,’” Beverly Yuen Thompson writes, “[...] in addition to my mixed heritage, I am also bisexual, which brings with it additional complications and permutations around my identity formation and self-understanding. "Hapa" is used to describe a person who is of mixed race of Asian/Pacific Islander descent. The process of identity formation, especially of multiple identities, is complex and lifelong, and my experiences have been no exception” (Thompson 171). Beverly Yuen Thompson recalls her experiences growing up as biracial and bisexual while living in a world that told her she had to choose between her identities. While she always knew she was mixed race, Beverly Yuen Thompson did not develop a full understanding of her two racial identities until she was much older. Same was said for her bisexual identity after years of questioning her sexuality. She writes, “Then, at seventeen, I first began to call myself bisexual after two years of questioning my sexuality and believing that the only options there were available were either a lesbian or straight identity” (Thompson 172). 

 

In her article, “Biracial, Bicultural, Bisexual: Bisexuality and Multiple Identities,” Sari H. Dworkin examines the intersections of women with multiple identities such as race, sexuality, religion, and age. She found in a study conducted by Fukyuama and Ferguson in 2000, that very few people identify as only one identity. Identities may be unicultural, bicultural, and/or multicultural. Very similar to Beverly Yuen Thompson’s  what Sari H. Dworkin also found that women with multiple identities felt more comfortable when coming out as bisexual. Like Thompson, Sari H. Dworkin’s research, she cites early sexual identity models that also assumed that sexual identity was dichotomous and that people were either heterosexual or homosexual with no in-between. “These models certainly are a helpful stepping stone in the understanding of sexual identity development but their limitations are now recognized. These older models foreclose any recognition of the development of a bisexual identity” (Dworkin 96). These models of sexual identity are outdated and leave no room for bisexual identities or any sexual identity fluidity whatsoever. Not only do they fail to recognize other sexual identities, outside of heterosexual and homosexual, but they also fail to recognize the intersections of identities such as race which Dworkin points out in her research. “These models typically were developed on white gay men and do not accommodate the realities of ethnic and cultural differences. For instance, for many lesbians, gays, and bisexuals of color to be closeted within their ethnic community may be a healthy decision” (Dworkin 96). 

 

Outdated models of sexual identity leave many people, who do not identity as either heterosexual or homosexual, feeling like they have to choose. “The messages that I received from both the lesbian community and dominant straight society was the same: choose” (Thompson 174). This same idea of having to choose between identities can also be applied to people who identify as biracial or multiracial. In her YouTube video “6 Things Not To Say To a Mixed Race Person,” Marina Watanabe lists, “Just pick a side already,” as one of the six things not to say to a mixed race person. Telling a person of mixed races to just pick a side already perpetuates the idea that biracial and multiracial have a choice. Marina Watanabe explains in her video how statements like, “Just pick a side already” completely disregard the nuances of multiracial identities. She says, “You don’t get to decide for a person how they’re allowed to identify with their heritage. One person may identify with one side of their ethnic identity more than the other or others or they might identify with them equally or not at all. But that is completely up to them to decide” (Watanabe). Likewise, in Aliya Khan’s article “Don’t Erase My Race: 4 Affirmations to Remember When Reclaiming Your Multiracial Identity,” she writes about how while she could not really identity as being a Pakistani because she had a White mother, that others do not get to determine how she understands her race. She writes, “My identity doesn’t hinge on how others see me. My race is mine to determine” (Khan). 

 

When biracial and multiracial people are not being told to pick a side, their identities are chosen for them. In Aliya Khan’s article “Don’t Erase My Race: 4 Affirmations to Remember When Reclaiming Your Multiracial Identity,” she also talks about her frequent encounters with others when it comes to her mixed raced identity. “If I’m not being read as white, people describe me as ‘racially ambiguous.’ Sometimes, my race is ignored completely. Other times, folks make assumptions about my origins, ranging from every continent of the world” (Khan). Much like models of sexual identity, models of racial identity are also outdated and leave no room for any other options. We live in a world that loves to categorize people, and racial identities are no exception. You are categorized as either white or other. “Most people are not okay with the ambiguity; they either want to categorize me as ‘White’ or ‘Other.’ They want to tell me what I can and can’t identify as” (Khan). Aurora Chang’s article “Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How Some Multiracial Students Become Racial Atravesados/as,” says, “Students who claim a Multiracial identity cross the boundaries of normative monoracial constructions by identifying with more than one race, locating them in a Multiracial borderland - the land of ‘the mongrel, the mulatto, the half-breed,’ but this claiming of Multiracial identity is not solely a borderland of racial deviance per se, but also a space of agency” (Chang 26). 

 

In her article, Beverly Yuen Thompson talks about the segregation of multiple identities when it comes to theories of race and gender. This segregation of multiple identities leads to a person’s lack of self-understanding when society tries to separate one’s gender from race and sexuality. “It is a painful experience to seek out a community based on race, gender, or sexuality only to have other identities denied and rejected” (Thompson 176). Identities are not mutually exclusive and when individuals do not identify as one singular identity it can make things much more complex and leave one feeling left out of their communities. “As a hapa bisexual, I am constantly seeking out inclusion and acceptance of my sexuality in the Asian American community as well as acceptance of my racial identity in the bisexual and queer community” (Thompson 176). One of the women Sari H. Dworkin interviews in her article who is a 23 year-old African American said, “I’m still in the process of deciding like which discrimination is more important. In the African-American community being bi as a woman really doesn’t make that much difference because bi behavior is common. But, I’m more comfortable in the gay and lesbian community, because gay and lesbian people aren’t really accepted in African American communities so that kind of pushes me to the women in the gay/lesbian community” (Dworkin 102). She also touches on the subject of intersecting multiple identities that can cause multiple stresses (Dworkin 102). "Much has been written about the fact that lesbians and gay men of color, Caucasian lesbians, disabled lesbians, and other lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (LBG) who belong to multiple oppressed groups experience multiple oppressions and multiple stresses” (Dworkin 100). People with multiple identities are often burdened with the belief that they have to hide certain aspects of their identities. This burden can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental and physical problems (Dworkin 100).  

 

Identifying as biracial, multiracial, bisexual and/or all of the above can bring about a lot of internal conflicts surrounding identity, but it can also bring about a great deal of inner strength. “Identifying as biracial, bicultural, and bisexual can have many benefits,” (Dworkin 100). Blending different identities can also make it easier for individuals to accept their bisexual identity. In Sari H. Dworkin’s article she writes, “Biracial, bicultural, and bisexual people bridge more groups than mainstream individuals” (Dworkin 100) and in Beverly Yuen Thompson’s article she cites a quote from Paula C. Rust’s book Bisexuality in the United States. "Many bisexuals of mixed race or ethnicity feel a comfortable resonance between their mixed heritage and their bisexualty” (Cited in Thompson 177). In Dworkin’s article, she interviews a 32 year-old Chinese Jewish woman who said, “I realized it’s actually been much easier for me in my life to embrace a feminist identity and a bisexual identity than it has been for me to see myself as a woman of color. So you know when I think about it, I think, okay, you know I’m biracial/bicultural. Does that somehow help me to identify myself as bisexual? And in some ways it may have, just because I’m used to not fitting into a category that readily exists,” (Dworkin 101). Likewise, Beverly Yuen Thompson writes, “for myself, I find comfort in the middle ground, in the ability to transgress and question lines of demarcation and challenge systematic segregation.” Aurora Chang would describe this as “atravesados/as” which is Spanish and refers to “[...] people who are irreverently bold, crossing the lines of social normativity, making others feel uncomfortable, even slighted” (Chang 27). This ability to cross the lines of societal norms can be used as a survival mechanism, or as a sixth sense as Aurora Chang describes it, “[...] a sixth sense that developed as a response to others’ racism, homophobia, sexual violence, and general intolerance" (Chang 28). Chang cites a quote by Gloria Anzaldúa who wrote, “It’s a kind of survival tactic that people, caught between the worlds, unknowingly cultivate" (Chang 28). 

 

Living in a dichotomous world presents more challenges for people who do not fit within the two categories. When individuals do not fit into the neatly labeled categories that society presents, it can lead to a lot of discomfort, but like Beverly Yuen Thompson said, “I am comfortable in other people’s discomforts” (Thompson 178). What I found in my research of multiracial identities and multiracial feminism is that those with multiple identities struggle with finding a place in this world and then eventually find comfort in their inability to choose between their multiple identities. The fight for an all inclusive feminism continues and until we, as a society, recognize that those who lie on the outskirts of singular identities (i.e. biracial, multiracial, and/or bisexaulity) as valid identities, our fight will continue. “I want to see a movement against oppression that does not trivialize or deny me any aspect of my identity, that recognizes the interconnectedness of my sexuality, race, gender, and politics” (Thompson 178). 

 

References

 

Chang, Aurora. "Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How some Multiracial Students Become

Racial Atravesados/as." The Urban Review 46.1 (2014): 25-46. ProQuest. Web.

 

Dworkin, S. H. (2002). Biracial, Bicultural, Bisexual: Bisexuality and Multiple Identities.

Journal Of Bisexuality, 2(4), 93.

 

Khan, A. (2015, February 24). Don't Erase My Race: 4 Affirmations to Remember When

Reclaiming Your Multi-Racial Identity. Retrieved from Everyday Feminism.

 

Rust, Paula C. Bisexuality in the United States. “Managing Multiple Identities,” 69-70. New

York: Columbia UP, 2000. Print.

 

Thompson, B. Y. (2000). Fence Sitters, Switch Hitters, and Bi-Bi Girls: An Exploration of

"Hapa" and Bisexual Identities. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 21(1/2),

171–180.

 

Watanabe, M. (Writer). (n.d.). 6 Things Not To Say To a Mixed Person [YouTube Video].

 

Annotated Bibliography: Selected Sources on Intersectionality and Multiracial Identities and Feminism

 

Chang, Aurora. "Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How some Multiracial Students Become

Racial Atravesados/as." The Urban Review 46.1 (2014): 25-46. ProQuest. Web. 2 May

2016.

 

Aurora Chang writes about her own personal experiences of being multiracial while attending the University of California Berkeley (a predominately white campus) as an undergraduate in her article “Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How some Multiracial Students Become Racial Atravesados/as.” Chang herself is Guatemalan, Chinese, and Italian. She writes about her struggle of having to choose between her multiple racial identities.

 

Dworkin, S. H. (2002). Biracial, Bicultural, Bisexual: Bisexuality and Multiple Identities.

Journal Of Bisexuality, 2(4), 93.

 

In her article “Biracial, Bicultural, Bisexual: Bisexuality and Multiple Identities,” Sari H, Dworkin explores the intersections of biracial identities and other identities such as sexuality, religion, age differences, and political differences. She interviews several women who are primarily mixed raced and also have other multiple forms of identity. This article in particular focuses in on women who are of multiple races as well as other cultural aspects of their identity such as their bisexual identity, religion, age, and politics. Dworkin also examines how all of these multiple forms of identity impact women’s bisexual identities.

 

Harnois, C. E. (2005). Different Paths to Different Feminisms? Bridging Multiracial Feminist

Theory and Quantitative Sociological Gender Research. Gender and Society, 19(6),

809–828.

 

In Catherine E. Harnois’ article “Different Paths to Different Feminisms? Bridging Multiracial Feminist Theory and Quantitative Sociological Gender Research,” Harnois takes a look at the limitations of sociological research surrounding feminist identities and ideologies that widely ignore the intersections of identities such as race and gender. Harnois asks, “Do women’s racial statuses mediate the relationship between particular life events and experiences and the extent to which they embrace feminism? And to what extent are racial differences important when considering what women understand feminism to be?” In order to answer these questions, Harnois put together a multiple group analyses of structural equation models in order to analyze data from a 1996 General Social Survey.

 

Khan, A. (2015, February 24). Don't Erase My Race: 4 Affirmations to Remember When

Reclaiming Your Multi-Racial Identity. Retrieved from Everyday Feminism.

 

Aliya Khan wrote her article “Don’t Erase My Race: 4 Affirmations to Remember When Reclaiming Your Multi-Racial Identity,” about her own personal experiences being Pakistani and white. She writes about the struggles many biracial/multiracial people face such as how to identity and reclaiming your identities as your own. In addition to her own personal narrative, Khan also offers four affirmations to remember when reclaiming your biracial/multiple identities.  

 

Lucas, L. S. (2014). Undoing Race? Reconciling Multiracial Identity with Equal Protection.

California Law Review, 102(5), 1243-1301.

 

In Lauren Sudeall Lucas’ essay “Undoing Race? Reconciling Multiracial Identity with Equal Protection,” takes a look at multiracial identities through the lens of the California law. With a rapid number of multiracial individuals here in America increasing, the need for equal protection for biracial and multiracial individuals is more prominent than ever. Lucas writes about the multiracial movement and how it is distinguishes itself from other movements. She expands on the multiracial movement and its quest for identity rather than a quest for political, social, or economic quality as is the driving force behind most major movements.

 

Martinez, S., & Mejia, C. (2015). IV. Multi-colored feminisms: Two young Latinas’ stories of

emerging feminist identities. Feminism & Psychology, 25(1), 24-29.

 

Susana Martinez and Claudia Mejia’s article “IV. Multi-colored feminisms: Two young Latinas’ stories of emerging feminist identities,” are recollections of their own experiences embracing their multicolored lenses, mestiza consciousness, and feminism. Susana Martinez talks about her struggles as a “young” feminist and allowing her voice to be heard. She talks about her attempts at creating bridges between the traditional gender roles of her mother and the new roles that she wanted for herself. Claudia Mejia talks about how she recently began identifying herself as a feminist. She talks about the disconnect between herself and early feminist theories that did not resonate with her own personal experiences. It was not until she discovered women like Aida Hurtado and Gloria Anzaldúathat where she finally found her Latina voice reflected in feminist theories.

 

Mezey, N. J. (2005). Conducting Multiracial Feminist Family Research: Challenges and Rewards

of Recruiting a Diverse Sample. Feminism & Family Life, 10(1), 45-65.

 

Nancy J. Mezey stresses the importance for sociologists to place identities such as race, class, gender, and sexuality at the center of their research in her article “Conducting Multiracial Feminist Family Research: Challenges and Rewards of Recruiting a Diverse Sample.” Mezey talks about multiracial feminism and the social structural and social constructionist approach that challenges white-middle class who are feminists. She writes about how multiracial feminism critiques earlier feminist theories for making women of color invisible and distorting their lives.

 

Nishimura, N. (2004). Counseling Biracial Women: An Intersection of Multiculturalism and

Feminism. Women & Therapy, 27(1/2), 133-145.

 

In her article “Counseling Biracial Women: An Intersection of Multiculturalism and Feminism,” Nancy Nishimura writes about the unique challenges that biracial/multiracial women face in society and how to counsel a biracial/multiracial women in therapy. Nishimura focuses on certain aspects of biracial/multiracial women such as mother-daughter relationships, interracial marriage, physical features, romantic partners, and clinical focus. She also includes sections on multicultural counseling and therapy and feminist therapy as well as a multicultural feminist counseling perspective.

 

Sadeghi-Movahed, N. (2013, September 02). Multiracial Feminism: Acknowledging Adversity

through Color and Culture.

 

In the article “Multiracial Feminism: Acknowledging Adversity through Color and Culture,” Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed attempts to break down our understanding of multiracial feminism and what it fights for. A message that Sadeghi-Movahed echos throughout her article is that feminist issues are not a “one size fits all” and that women have different experiences depending on their identities. Multiracial feminism, as defined in this article, is a feminism that is based on the understanding of the social constructs of race, ethnicity, tradition, and culture. According to Sadeghi-Movahed, the ultimate goal for the new generation of multiracial feminists is to simultaneously increase awareness of similarities and differences in women of all backgrounds.

 

Sing, J. (2016, April 19). What I Have Learnt From Being (Occasionally) White-Passing.

gal-dem.

 

In her article for gal-dem “What I Have Learnt From Being (Occasionally) White-Passing” Joanna Sing talks about being a mixed-race girl of Chinese descent. Sing herself talks about how she always thought of herself as sticking out like a sore thumb, especially as a child, growing up in a predominately white neighborhood.

 

Thompson, B. (2002). Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave

Feminism. Feminist Studies, 28(2), 337.

 

In “Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism,” Becky Thompson writes about the rise of multiracial feminism. Second Wave Feminism is often linked to Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique as well as the founding of the National Organization for Women which was founded back in 1966. Both of these examples are thought of as the starting points of Second Wave Feminism. However, Thompson, critiques Second Wave Feminism and how it is not sufficient in telling the stories of multiracial feminism.

 

Thompson, B. Y. (2000). Fence Sitters, Switch Hitters, and Bi-Bi Girls: An Exploration of

"Hapa" and Bisexual Identities. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 21(1/2),

171–180.

 

In Beverly Y. Thompson’s article “Fence Sitters, Switch Hitters, and Bi-Bi Girls: An Exploration of “Hapa” and Bisexual Identities,” Thompson recalls her own personal experience of growing up biracial and bisexual. She writes about how many biracial and multiracial women find it easy to come out as bisexual because of their biracial and multiracial identities. Thompson talks a lot about her own personal struggles of self-identifying.  

 

Townsend-Bell, E. E. (2012). Writing the Way to Feminism. Signs: Journal Of Women In

Culture & Society, 38(1), 127-151.

 

In Erica E. Townsend-Bell’s article “Writing the Way to Feminism,” Townsend-Bell writes about the ways in which feminism and particularly multicultural feminism has been expanded through writing. Townsend-Bell argues that while there has been much progress that has been made, especially throughout the 60s and 70s, that women of color were/are still being overlooked and underappreciated and not being given credit in written form.

 

Watanabe, M. (Writer). (n.d.). 6 Things Not To Say To a Mixed Person [YouTube Video].

 

Marina Watanabe is a feminist, YouTuber, and frequent contributor to Everyday Feminism. In her video, “6 Things Not To Say To a Mixed Person,” Watanabe addresses the questions and comments (‘AKA’ microaggressions) people of mixed ethnicities face. She gives examples, many of them of which she has encountered herself being a biracial woman. Along with these examples, she also gives explanations on why it is not appropriate to ask or say certain things, such as “What are you?” She also provides alternatives to these comments and questions that are much less offensive and can open the dialogue to create constructive conversations.  

 

Zinn, M. B., & Dill, B. T. (1996). Theorizing difference from multiracial feminism. Feminist

Studies, 22(2), 321.

 

“Theorizing difference from multiracial feminism” by Maxine Zinn, Dill Baca, and Bonnie Thorton talks about how women of color have been challenging feminism that has been socially constructed primarily around white-middle class women. They talk about the widespread concern about the exclusion of women of color in everything from feminist scholarship to the misinterpretation of their experiences.

 

This page was created by Alexis Renae Griggs. Please send additions or corrections to griggsalexisrenae@gmail.com.