If the multiverse exists, then somewhere therein is a planet just like ours where sexism and sexist oppression have been conquered. It is a place where race, class, and social privilege have been deconstructed and true, prejudice-free equality is the norm. Perhaps, on that far-off planet, sisterhood among feminist women exists.

Here, on our little planet, sisterhood seems a lofty and unattainable goal.

There is plenty of discourse in feminist spaces about the need for sisterhood, unity, and cohesion among women in the feminist movement. However, scholars of feminist theory have, for decades, pointed out that these conversations happen almost exclusively in white feminist spaces (hooks, 2014). White, heterosexual feminists with material wealth and class privilege tend to emphasize sex- or gender-based oppression as the singular axis of feminist advocacy, which serves to further marginalize or even erase multiply marginalized women (Billups et al., 2022; Crenshaw, 1991, Sesko & Biernat, 2018).

To further complicate these matters, American women of all identities have been raised under white supremacy and patriarchy. Many of us have not done the necessary work to deconstruct these indoctrinated ideas. As a result, even exclusively female spaces cannot be entirely safe, especially for women with multiple interlocking marginalized identities. Indeed, women’s spaces are often replete with various -phobias and -isms that continue to make non-white, trans, queer, disabled, neurodiverse, or economically disadvantaged women feel unwelcome and misunderstood.

How can there be sisterly solidarity when women fighting oppression on more than one front feel like no one is listening? And even when good faith efforts to listen are made, the different ways we experience the world can impede our ability to empathize and understand.

For example, in her book Hood Feminism, Mikki Kendall points out that although some white feminists view men as the........

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