Feminism was born at the end of the 17th century, as a social and political movement. There have always been women who have claimed and fought to improve their rights and position within society, so the history of feminism goes back decades. Its historical beginning took place after the French Revolution, this moment being considered the first wave of feminism in the fight for rights and legal equality. The first organized movements were born in the second wave of feminism, which took place until the 1960s, with the first suffragettes. Later, the third wave called “contemporary feminism” appeared, in which we find ourselves today.
Throughout this historical trajectory, various feminist currents have stood out, in which we find liberal feminism and radical feminism. In this Psychology-Online article, we will see what liberal feminism is and what radical feminism is and we will do a historical and conceptual review of the differences between radical and liberal feminism.
Contemporary feminism was born in third wave of feminism, arising as a result of the revolutions of the 60s. This movement understands society as a system composed of social classes and sexes, which drives the movement to liberate the role of women. In the third wave or contemporary feminism, many aspects of feminism are born, highlighting among others liberal feminism and radical feminism. However, there are many others today, such as transfeminism or .
In this article you can see the history of the feminist movement through .
Liberal feminism was promoted in 1966 by Betty Friedan, who has been considered the highest representative of said movement in the National Organization for Women (NOW). Liberal feminism does not focus its attention on the possible oppression or exploitation of women, but rather on placing the position of women as a situation of inequality. Faced with this, the objective of liberal feminism is to achieve a reform of the system to obtain equality between both genders.
One of the main objectives to achieve equality in the system was to guarantee inclusion of women in the labor market and they sought to promote a change in the political sphere, allowing women to hold political positions. However, the emergence of radical feminism captured the attention of younger women, gaining much prominence in the 1960s and 1970s.
He begins to gain weight in the sixties. It is born from the idea that although there is a legitimation of rights, The system continues to be governed by sexist, classist, racist and imperialist values.. This reality motivated the creation of the New Left and radical social movements, among others radical feminism.
The main characteristic of radical feminism is based on its countercultural character, on which they did not seek a reformist policy, as in the case of liberal feminism, but rather on forge new forms of society.
The first decision of this movement was to establish an autonomous women’s organization, establishing a separation from the male gender. Although all people who followed radical feminism agreed on the need to separate from men, they were in opposition regarding the nature and purpose of separation. Faced with this, there was first division of radical feminism, on which two subgroups were forged: “political” feminists and “feminists.” However, despite its theoretical and practical differences from the different developed subgroups of the movement, it maintains common approaches.
- Policies. They highlight the idea that the oppression that women have suffered is due to capitalism or the system. In this aspect, feminism was considered another part of the left.
- Feminists. They were against subordination to the left, because they classified men as the main beneficiaries of their domination. This position defends that the oppression of women is not based solely on the system, but rather they understood that the system of which they were part was a specific system of domination by men, which defined women in terms of men. On the contrary, the policies conceived of man as another victim of the system.
The main objection of radical feminism is based on patriarchy, described as a system of sexual denomination that oppresses women and on this basic scheme, other dominations such as class and race are born. The most representative of their movement was the slogan: “the personal is political,” indicating that patriarchal domination was also practiced in areas of personal life, such as family structure and sexuality. This group highlights that men, and not just a group of them, receive sexual, economic and, above all, psychological gains from the patriarchal system.
It is worth highlighting in the radical movement, the organization of self-awareness groups. In them It sought to raise awareness among all women about the oppression of women in society, from their own experiences and not from ideological constructs. This group was also the driving force behind revaluing our way of speaking.
On the other hand, it is worth highlighting the activism of said group, which organized massive demonstrations, as well as acts of protest and sabotage to highlight the position of women in the patriarchy, carrying out actions such as the public burning of bras, thereby ensuring that the voice of the movement resonated throughout society. In addition to this set of protest acts, they were the establishment of alternative help and self-help centers, health centers, daycare centers, self-defense centers,… Demanding in the self-awareness groups a fundamental characteristic in them, equality and anti-hierarchy: no woman could position herself above the other. Because of this premise, many leaders were expelled from the movement and it was the diversity of opinions within the group towards the lack of structure of the movement, which led to its decline. Finally, the wear and tear of the movement due to its characteristics contributed to the end of the movement in the mid-seventies.