A year before the the hashtag #MeuPrimeiroAssedio would go viral, black feminists began working across Brazil to organize women who don’t generally participate in activism. Their efforts culminated in the Black Women’s March Against Racism and Violence and in Favor of Living Well in Brasilia, the capital. There, 50,000 Afro-Brazilian women of all ages and backgrounds came together to denounce violence against black women – not just sexual violence but also deadly abortions, mass incarceration and medical neglect. It was the first ever national march of black Brazilian women.

In the letter, which introduces the club's first read of 2018, Reni Eddo-Lodge 's Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, she addresses her white privilege and "white feminism," writing, "When I gave my UN speech in 2015, so much of what I said was about the idea that “being a feminist is simple!” Easy! No problem! I have since learned that being a feminist is more than a single choice or decision. It’s an interrogation of self."

American black women aren’t just more likely to identify as feminine; research shows they are also more likely to embrace feminism. This was highlighted in a 2007 study that found that black women were more interested in traditionally feminine behaviors such as wearing attractive clothing than their white counterparts, and also were more likely to describe themselves as feminists. The researchers point to decades of previous studies showing that black women tend to identity as feminists more than white women.

Americans say they look up to masculine men more than feminine women, according to a Pew study released this month. But it’s not just gender that dictates these beliefs. Racial makeup and political affiliation play a role: Republicans are more likely than Democrats to describe themselves as masculine. Black men and women are also more likely than whites and Hispanics to identify as “very masculine” or “very feminine,” Pew found from its survey of 4,573 people across the nation.

For feminism to truly embody a message of empowerment and hope for society, it has to include all women. An exclusionary form of feminism is like an elite club. It picks a select few and shuns the rest; it spotlights one group and shuts the door on everyone else.

How can these women who live at the proverbial intersection of race and sexism, who grew up crossing that corner, ever be a part of the national #MeToo conversation when they can’t be heard in their own community? The intersection of race, class, sexism and power is dangerous, and the most vulnerable women among us must navigate it alone.

The food and dining industry is where the most vulnerable workers are women and folks of color. It houses a value system of normalized exploitation, euphemistically defanged with a “this-is-just-the-way-things-are” mea culpa. The industry needs to embrace a new agenda of black feminism, which shifts power away from corrosive whiteness and masculinity, and toward a fresh generation of leaders.

Women who grew up in an area where women held a higher share of patents in a certain field were more likely to themselves get patents in that area when they grew up. Strikingly, it was especially important for children to see people who looked like them as innovators for them to pursue the same career path—girls in an area with a lot of male innovators wouldn’t necessarily envision themselves in the same career, while boys would. If girls were as exposed to female inventors as boys are to male inventors, the gender gap between male and female inventors would fall by half, the researchers estimate.

The recent cultural reckoning over sexual assault and harassment has highlighted the dangers women face in workplaces throughout Hollywood, media organizations and in public office. The growing number of accusations has put a spotlight on high-profile men's abuse of power, many times with white men being accused by white women. But what about stories from women of color?

In 1963, Hamilton was arrested for picketing and brought before the court for sentencing. Once again, officials refused to call her Miss Hamilton. She refused to answer. The judge — muttering lewd comments about what he'd like to do to her if she were in his kitchen — ordered her to answer the prosecutor and apologize. But Hamilton was buoyed by rage at the judge's dismissiveness, and by the support of the lawyer assisting her. She refused. She was fined and sentenced to a few days in jail for contempt of court.

“It takes an incredibly strong person to come forward, period,” Reign said. “But women of color have a disincentive to come forward because they don’t have the same support system that white women have, and it has a chilling effect.”