Chicana feminism

Chicana feminism, also called Xicanisma, is a sociopolitical movement in the United States that analyzes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economic intersections of Mexican-American women that identify as Chicana. Chicana feminism challenges the stereotypes that Chicanas face across lines of gender, ethnicity, race, class, and sexuality. Most importantly, Chicana feminism serves as a movement, theory and praxis that helps women reclaim their existence between and among the Chicano Movement and American feminist movements.

Emerging out of the identity movements of the 1960s, Chicana feminists created a distinctive trajectory and mapping of feminist political thought and practice that centered their unique experiences with gender, race, class and sexuality. Since many feminist methodologies are similar in practice, Chicana feminists distinguished themselves from other feminists by centering their unique lived experiences with gender, race, class, sexuality and nationalism – offering critiques and responses to their exclusion from both the mainstream Chicano nationalist movement and the second wave feminist movement. One important way they were able to do this was through the inclusion of different varieties of the Spanish language, a vital component to the preservation of Chicano/a culture.

"Social upheaval dominated the 1960's and 1970's as newly mobilized communities fought for equality in the U.S. As domestic protests against the Vietnam War increased, civil rights organizations would win important political battles against institutional racism, while "Second Wave" American feminism would emerge from its infancy as a full-fledged movement. The Chicano movement gained similar momentum during this time, but within it many women felt their unique identity – both intertwined with their brothers in struggle, but specifically distinct as Chicano women was being ignored. A Chicana feminist movement galvanized in reaction to the complexities of Latina empowerment, often facing resistance from male Chicano leaders and organizers.

While many forms of gender inequality exposed by mainstream American feminism were relevant to women of color, the race and class experiences of white and brown women did not correlate. White feminists enjoyed access to racial privileges and simply did not speak to the injustices experienced by women of color. Moreover, they often failed to define themselves in terms that positively or proactively involved men, while many Chicanas remained invested in the struggles of the men in their community despite the patriarchy of traditional Mexican-American culture. Chicana feminists saw that the sexism within the Chicano Movement intersected with racism in the larger society, and as a result, they adressed both simultaneously as a central component to their ideology."

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