The Chicana Feminist movement developed between 1970 and 1980.  Chicana Feminists addressed issues and concern of Chicanas by interweaving issuses of race, class, and gender oppression.  In the Chicano Movement, Chicanas worked to gain gain equal status in the male dominated movement.  This was to no avial, women were kept in supporting roles, and the men continued to dominate the movement.
As a social movement Chicana Feminism is a way to improve the position of Chicanas in American society (Alma Garcia- from Chicana Feminist Discourse)
    In addition to challenging the Chicano Movement, Chicana Feminists were also responsding to the exclusion Chicanas faced in the Euro American woman's movement.
 
 

Chicana Feminist Lesbians
Chicana feminist lesbians challenged Chicano ideology on a greater scale.  Lesbians were attacked by men, as well as women, in the movement.  The reasons for the attacks were based on the cultural nationalist ideology that had images of Chicanas as wives and mother (Alma Garcia). Lesbians (as well as gay men) are seen as vendidas/os to the Raza because they do not fit the specific gender roles that have been set in place by Chicano culture.
 

For further readings on Chicana Feminism:
                         " Chicana Feminist Discourse" by Alma Garcia
                    Borderlands by Gloria Anzaldua
                    Loving in the War Years  by Cherrie Moraga
 
 
 

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