Feminism is a political and social movement that emerged in the 17th century that involves the awareness of women as a group or collective that suffers oppression and domination by the collective of men, as well as a fight for liberation and freedom. empowerment of their sex. Since then, the feminist movement has been nourished by different internal currents and has evolved in its approaches. One of the currents that emerged in the 60s is radical feminism, which we will talk about throughout this Psychology-Online article: What is radical feminism or radfem with examples and phrases to better understand this feminist movement.
What is radical feminism or radfem
He radical feminism It is a current of feminism, that is, one of those that emerges at the end of the 60s, in a time of protest movements such as the fight for civil rights or against the Vietnam War. It was born at a time when it is pointed out that the system is governed by racist, sexist, classist and imperialist values.
Why is it called radical feminism?
The term radical, of Marxist inspiration, etymologically refers to the root, since intends to search for the roots of the domination and oppression of women. Therefore, locate where to solve the problem. Therefore, the term radical feminism does not receive this name because it is extreme feminism, but because it is focused on the root of the problem.
Radical feminists, or radfemthey maintain that the origin of women’s oppression It is patriarchy, that is, the system or form of political, economic, religious, social and sexual organization that is based on the idea of authority and leadership of men, giving rise to his domination over women. This scheme is considered to be the basis for other dominations, such as class and race. Likewise, patriarchy is conceived as a system or structure of power relations.
Definitions related to radical feminism
In addition to the concept of patriarchy, this current defines other terms that have been essential for feminist analysis: gender and sexual caste. He gender refers to the social construction of femininity that gives rise to unequal social relations between men and women, while the sexual caste refers to the existence of a common and shared experience of oppression and subordination lived by all women.
Furthermore, based on the theorization about gender, the term sex-gender system, whereby gender is basically a social construction and sex is determined biologically. The tax assignment of gender based on sex gives rise to an entire system of social relations of domination and subordination between men and women, since the attribution of the roles, behaviors and values that make up gender is unequal and patriarchal.
Authors of radical feminism
Theoretically, radical feminism is based on tools typical of Marxism, and anticolonialism. Furthermore, in their analysis of the power relations between women and men they were based on the racial model, which indicated that the relationship between races is political, just as the Black Power movement inspired and marked radical feminist militancy or radfem. The theoretical framework of feminism was also inspired by two of the considered fundamental works of radical feminism: Sexual Politics of Kate Millet and The Dialectic of Sex Shulamith Firestone. In this article you can see the authors representing each feminist wave.
Examples of radical feminism
One of the objectives of radical feminism was to show all the mechanisms that maintain female oppression and subordination. Below, we explain some of the contributions and new approaches made by women belonging to this current and that are still valid today. In this way, some examples of radical feminism are:
- In-depth analysis of sexual objectification, rape culture and pornography. Positioning contrary to the stereotyping of women as a mere sexual object, breaking with the traditional model of femininity and consequent expansion of this and vindication of the diversity of women and bodies.
- Criticism of prostitutionsince they consider that this reinforces inequality between the sexes based on the availability of female bodies at the will of male desire, as well as contributes to rape culture.
- Consideration of sexuality and desire as a political construction, as well as the introduction of lesbianism and feminist theory.
- Visibility of gender violence in the domestic sphere, considered private. In the following article you will find the different ones.
- Analysis of sexual violence and its political implications, which is why a conception of rape and sexual harassment is developed as a patriarchal device through which women’s mobility is reduced in certain places and at certain times. It is considered a mechanism for maintaining power in the public space by men.
- Criticism of androcentrism, which is why the male bias and its vision are denounced in all areas of society, culture and knowledge, where man has been the universal subject. The gender perspective and feminine epistemology are used and generalized.
- Contributions within the area of female sexuality such as increasing sexual education, family planning and contraceptive methods. All of this contributed to women acquiring greater control, autonomy and empowerment of their bodies. It also highlights the vindication of women’s sexual pleasure, the clitoral orgasm and the denunciation of the denial of female sexuality by male domination.
- In the field of motherhood There is a separation of motherhood from sexual practice and a demand for free motherhood and the fruit of desire. Likewise, it was criticized for the first time that care and upbringing tasks fell to women due to their reproductive capacity.
- Analysis of the sexual division of laborcriticism of the attribution and imposed allocation of domestic work on women, as well as its non-remuneration because it is not considered productive in itself.
Radical feminist phrases
Many radical feminists or radfems They have left us famous feminist phrases. Below you will find a selection of radical feminism phrases:
- “Feminism is hated because women are hated. Antifeminism is a direct expression of misogyny; “It is the political defense for hatred towards women.” Andrea Dworkin.
- “Taking care of myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is why it is a political act.” Audre Lorde.
- “One of the first things we discovered in these groups is that personal problems are political problems. There are no personal solutions at this time. There is only collective action for a collective solution.” Carol Hanisch.
- “Men’s physiology defines most sports, their health needs largely define insurance coverage, their socially designed biographies define job expectations and the guidelines for a successful career, their prospects. and concerns define the quality of knowledge, their experiences and obsessions define merit, their military service defines citizenship, their presence defines the family, their inability to tolerate each other – their wars and their dominions – defines History, their “image defines god and his genitals define sex” Catherine Mackinnon.
- “The personal is still political. The feminist of the new millennium cannot help but be aware that oppression is exercised in and through her most intimate relationships, starting with the most intimate of all: the relationship with her own body.” Germaine Greer.
- “All forms of human inequality arose from male supremacy and the subordination of women., that is, sexual politics, which can be considered the historical basis of all social, political and economic structures.” Kate Millet.
- “Radical feminist theory is the product of a community of feminists and emerges from the interaction of theory and praxis. While there are differences between our various theoretical perspectives, there is one thing we all agree on: the collective and individual power of patriarchy is the foundation of women’s subordination. Kathleen Barryn.
- “No two of us think the same, and yet it’s clear to me, that question underlies the entire movement, and all our little skirmishes for better laws, and the right to vote, will still be swallowed up by the real question.” , namely: Does a woman have the right to herself? For me, the right to vote, to own property, etc., is very little if I cannot maintain my body and its uses in my absolute right. Not one in a thousand wives can have that now.” Lucie Stone.
- “Women, although extremely visible as sexual beings, remain invisible as social beings.” Monique Witting.
- “Masculinity cannot exist without femininity. “Masculinity itself has no meaning because it is half of a set of power relations.” Sheila Jeffreys.
- “Unlike economic classes, sexual classes result directly from a biological reality; men and women were created different and received unequal privileges.” Shulamith Firestone.
- “You are not born a woman, you become one.” Simone de Beauvoir.
Radical feminism books
In addition to the aforementioned works, sexual politics by Kate Millet and The dialectic of sex by Shulamith Firestone, others radical feminist writers have carried out the following books about radical feminism:
- Essential Essays (Adrienne Rich, 2019)
- Female Sexual Slavery (Kathleen Barry, 1979)
- Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Catharine MacKinnon, 1989)
- The Prostitution of Sexuality (Kathleen Barry, 1995)
Difference between radical and liberal feminism
He radical feminism It arises as a reaction contrary to liberal feminism. He liberal feminism It is a current that describes the situation of women as inequality, not as oppression or exploitation. Its objective is to achieve equal rights or formal equality for women. However, once equal rights have been achieved in several countries, it is observed and identified by radical feminists that abuse, inequality and exploitation continue to exist in the private sphere, which is why their slogan ends up being the personal is political. With this argument it is revealed that patriarchal domination exists in all areas of life and society, both in the public and private spheres.
The fact is that the former are reformist and advocate the emancipation of women through legal equality, while the latter are revolutionary and showed that the causes of oppression were much more complex and deeper than a lack of formal equality, since even if it were…