One of the major issues with the mainstream segments of the Second Wave was thei

One of the major issues with the mainstream segments of the Second Wave was their lack of intersectionality – specifically, their exclusion of black women and the LGBTQ+ community. In response to these absences and gaps, authors like Audre Lorde criticized the movement and authors like Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple and a Second Wave activist in her own right) developed the idea of “womanism,” which she first describes in her collection, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens. Groups like the Combahee River Collective also developed their own theories of gender rights that counteract these patterns.