French and Multicultural Feminism

French feminist activism is more important than the American or British feminism. Most of the radical feminists like Simone de Beauvoir, Christine Delphy, Helene Cixous, Luce Irigary and Julia Kristiva are French. They developed many novel ideas and theories. They offered some ways to think beyond patriarchy. They initiated many activities in creating intellectual awareness. So, they have very important role in the field of feminism as a whole. The study of feminism is imperfect without knowing about the French feminists. The whole feminist activism of these women is known as French feminism. French feminism can be divided into two forms: materialist feminism and psychoanalytic feminism. Some talk about social and economic domination over them but others talk about their mental or psychological troubles. So, they are divided into materialist feminists and psychoanalytic feminists. Some of the important materialist feminists are Simone de Beauvoir, Christine Delphy and Colette Guillaumin and psychoanalytic feminists are Helene Cixous, Luce Irigary, and Julia Kristeva. 

Feminism attempts to create awareness in various fields of knowledge. But it has centered its attention on the experience of middle class white women. The mainstream feminism has ignored the experience of other marginal women such as the Asian women, African women, and the women of color in America, underclass women, undereducated women and many others. All these women are oppressed by patriarchy; and their experiences are ignored by mainstream feminism. So, the feminism initiated by these women is known as multicultural feminism. There is the need of multicultural feminism because the women from different backgrounds have different problems. If he experience of a black woman in patriarchy is associated with her experience of racism. The experience of an Asian woman in patriarchy is associated with her experience as a marginalization. Likewise, the experiences of lesbian and poor women are associated with their own troubles. So, there is the need of multicultural feminism. 

There are some basic relationship between French feminism and Multicultural feminism. First, both of these movements raise voice for the oppression over the women. Both of them try to defy the traditional patriarchal beliefs pose discrimination over them. Similarly, there are psychological French feminists and material French feminists. The psychological French feminists talk about the mental and psychological oppression over the women whether they are black or white, lesbian or straight. These psychological experiences are similar to the women of color and the lesbian identity which is related to Multicultural feminism. In the same way, material French feminists talk about the social status of the underclass women. They talk about how the lack of status affects the women. This is the subject of Multicultural feminism. Therefore, both French feminism and Multicultural feminism are closely related.