Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS): Feminist Theory

Background Research

  Try the handbooks, overviews, and philosophy resources listed here to find background information, keywords, and/or specific citations of materials you want to find.

Tips For Finding Books

  Use the video tutorials on the Finding Books page for help searching the catalog for books.

 Try searching the subject fields in the library catalog with the Library of Congress Subject Heading "feminist theory."

 Try searching the author fields in the library catalog to locate titles by a specific theorist. For books about a feminist theorist's work, try searching the author name in the subject field.

Tips For Finding Articles

  Use the Searching Periodicals video to locate articles from a specific citation.

  Use the Articles & Databases page to browse journals or find articles on a topic through searching in a database.

  Be sure to check the databases listed on the Articles & Databases tab as well.

The feminist framework of Intersectionality was coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989. Here are two early articles defining the term:

• Crenshaw, Kimberlé. "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics." University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989 (1989): 139-168.

• Crenshaw, Kimberlé. "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color." Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (July 1991): 1241-299.