Smith was the first scholar to coin the term "identity politics", which she used to describe the intersecting modes of identity that create unique forms of oppression for women of color, especially Black lesbian women. From that conception of identity politics, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw developed the idea of intersectionality that has gained popularity and recognition in the last 20 years. Smith was critical of second-wave feminism for often neglecting and sometimes intentionally excluding Black women's experiences. If feminism did not include all women, she claimed, it was not feminism so much as "female self-aggrandizement".