Radical feminism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"To call a man an animal is to flatter him; he's a machine, a walking dildo." --"SCUM Manifesto" |
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Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts.
Radical feminists view society as fundamentally a patriarchy in which men dominate and oppress women, and seek to abolish the patriarchy in order to liberate everyone from an unjust society by challenging existing social norms and institutions. This includes opposing the sexual objectification of women, raising public awareness about such issues as rape and violence against women, and challenging the very notion of gender roles. Shulamith Firestone wrote in The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970): "[T]he end goal of feminist revolution must be, unlike that of the first feminist movement, not just the elimination of male privilege but of the sex distinction itself: genital differences between human beings would no longer matter culturally."
Early radical feminism, arising within second-wave feminism in the 1960s, typically viewed patriarchy as a "transhistorical phenomenon" prior to or deeper than other sources of oppression, "not only the oldest and most universal form of domination but the primary form" and the model for all others. Later politics derived from radical feminism ranged from cultural feminism to more syncretic politics that placed issues of class, economics, etc. on a par with patriarchy as sources of oppression.
Radical feminists locate the root cause of women's oppression in patriarchal gender relations, as opposed to legal systems (as in liberal feminism) or class conflict (as in anarchist feminism, socialist feminism, and Marxist feminism). Gail Dines, an English radical feminist, spoke in 2011 about the appeal of radical feminism to young women: "After teaching women for 20-odd years, if I go in and I teach liberal feminism, I get looked [at] blank ... I go in and teach radical feminism, bang, the room explodes."
See also
- D. A. Clarke
- Feminist views on transgender and transsexual people
- Florence Rush
- Identity politics
- Gloria Steinem
- New York Radical Women
- Nikki Craft
- Kate Millett
- Rosetta Reitz
- Shulamith Firestone
- The Gender War (2005) Evin Rubar
- Valerie Solanas
Radical feminists
- Wim Hora Adema
- Chude Pam Allen
- Ti-Grace Atkinson
- Kathleen Barry
- Rosalyn Baxandall
- Linda Bellos
- Julie Bindel
- Judith Brown
- Susan Brownmiller
- Phyllis Chesler
- D. A. Clarke
- Nikki Craft
- Mary Daly
- Christine Delphy
- Gail Dines
- Andrea Dworkin
- Melissa Farley
- Shulamith Firestone
- Marilyn Frye
- Carol Giardina
- Germaine Greer
- Carol Hanisch
- Merle Hoffman
- bell hooks
- Sheila Jeffreys
- Robert Jensen
- Lierre Keith
- Anne Koedt
- Marjorie Kramer
- Audre Lorde
- Catharine MacKinnon
- Sheila Michaels
- Kate Millett
- Robin Morgan
- Irene Peslikis
- Janice Raymond
- Kathie Sarachild
- Alix Kates Shulman
- Valerie Solanas
- John Stoltenberg
- Michele Wallace
- Marilyn Salzman Webb
- Ellen Willis
- Harriet Wistrich
- Laura X
Groups
- Chicago Women's Liberation Union
- Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
- Deep Green Resistance
- Lesbian Organization of Toronto
- Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
- Mountain Moving Coffeehouse
- New York Radical Feminists
- New York Radical Women
- Redstockings
- Stop Porn Culture
- The Feminists
- The Furies Collective
- Women Against Pornography
Key issues
- Abolition of gender
- Child sexual abuse
- False consciousness
- Feminism
- Gender role
- Male privilege
- Patriarchy
- Political lesbianism
- Pornography
- Prostitution
- Reproductive rights
- Sexism
- Social construction of gender
- Violence against women
Media
- The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (Template:Smaller
- Sexual Politics Template:Smaller
- Sisterhood Is Powerful Template:Smaller
- The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm Template:Smaller
- The Female Eunuch Template:Smaller
- Lesbian Nation Template:Smaller
- Woman Hating Template:Smaller
- Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape Template:Smaller
- Pornography: Men Possessing Women Template:Smaller
- Ain't I a Woman? Template:Smaller
- Against Sadomasochism Template:Smaller
- Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center Template:Smaller
- Sisterhood Is Global Template:Smaller
- The Spinster and Her Enemies Template:Smaller
- Intercourse Template:Smaller
- Feminism Unmodified Template:Smaller
- Toward a Feminist Theory of the State Template:Smaller
- The Straight Mind and Other Essays Template:Smaller
- Only Words Template:Smaller
- Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation Template:Smaller
- Sisterhood Is Forever Template:Smaller
- The Industrial Vagina Template:Smaller
Other
- off our backs Template:Smaller
- SCUM Manifesto Template:Smaller
- She's Beautiful When She's Angry Template:Smaller
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