Point of View

Moraga is a Chicana lesbian. Her identity is the focal point of this work, which is meant to examine those issues which most directly affect Chicanas and Chicana lesbians. Though both her race and sexuality are of tremendous importance to her self-understanding, she places a greater emphasis on her heritage. It is not that she believes that one's race is a more important fact than one's sexuality, but rather that one's race, and therefore one's cultural background, is the foundation upon which all other components of one's identity are built. This is why Moraga is so critical of the "white feminist" movement, a movement which is not explicit or even, probably, intentionally racist, but which nonetheless indirectly marginalizes the experience of women of color. The white feminists try not to consider problems of sexual oppression from a racial point of view, but, in so doing, they...