Intersectional feminists realize and acknowledge that feminism has a history of focusing primarily on the empowerment of white middle and upper class women. But, even though feminism from the 1800s onward was a reflection on the racial and other stratifications of it's time, that was never explicitly a part of the movement, whereas cultural norms for men not only allow but condone aggression, domination, and control of women as well as sexual entitlement to them. That's the difference.

In addition, the early feminist movement was deeply intertwined with the abolitionist one — so feminism, despite some places where it absolutely needed to be more inclusive doesn’t have overlap with the places where white women put the lives of Black men in jeopardy.