Home > JFS > Iss. 10 (2016)

Towards a New Theory of Feminist Coalition: Accounting for the Heterogeneity of Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality through an Exploration of Power and Responsibility

Holly Jeanine Boux, Georgetown University

Abstract

This paper develops a novel theory of feminist coalition that centers and redefines the concepts of power and responsibility. After outlining several key ways in which feminist coalition work has been addressed by both theorists and practitioners, it goes on to explore how accounting for the complex experiences of identity rooted in factors such as race, class, gender, and sexuality continues to complicate the process of coalition building and theorizing. From these foundations, the article develops a theory of feminist coalition that speaks to how such a movement—or organizations within such a movement—can drive the political will for transformation and turn this will into political action without glossing over vital differences in people’s daily experiences of gender as it intersects with other systems of domination and oppression. The key argument made herein is that an explicit focus on power and responsibility can help us develop more functional answers to critical and still pressing questions, such as: Who is included—explicitly or implicitly—in feminist coalitions? And what issues, or agendas, are we working towards changing through these coalitions?

Recommended Citation

Boux, Holly J.. 2016. "Towards a New Theory of Feminist Coalition: Accounting for the Heterogeneity of Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality through an Exploration of Power and Responsibility." Journal of Feminist Scholarship 10 (Spring): 1-22. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jfs/vol10/iss10/2