On Feminism III: Radical Feminist Theory

Radical Feminists are the ones most people are familiar with, but who are rarely understood.

Sure, people see Radical feminists as the feminazis who think marriage is legalized rape. However, most people don’t stop to realize that this is the most extreme view under this umbrella theory, nor do they attempt understand the theoretical reasoning behind these assumptions. Part of this is the media mis-representation and simplification and part of it is that Radical feminism is a theory based more on politics and emotions than Liberal feminism or Marxist feminism, and therefore offers much more emotionally charged solutions to problems.

Basically this theory revolves around two of the core concepts discussed above: “the personal is political” and Women's Experience (both discussed in a previous post). In a nutshell, Radical Feminists argue that women are a collective sisterhood who share a universal experience of oppression. They believe that women’s oppression is the most widespread form of oppression in the world. They fight for the liberation of women’s bodies from male control and reclaim the notion of “innate femaleness” – that women are essentially different from men.

They argue for equitable not equal treatment – because equal treatment would imply that women and men are the same. You may say that sounds a lot like ‘Separate but Equal’ – and to some Radical feminists, that's exactly what it means. Where Liberal feminists want to reform the current system to get "a bigger piece of the pie," Radical feminists think “the whole pie is rotten*” and argue for a complete overthrow of the current system which they see as based completely on patriarchal social relations.

Some Radical feminists define heterosexual marriage as the same oppressive system on a smaller scale and therefore reject the traditional family system. The most extreme of the Radical feminists are the Separatist Feminists. I won’t get into detail, but basically these women reject men and feel that any woman who doesn’t reject men is part of the problem. Charlotte Bunch’s 1972 essay “Lesbians in Revolt” is a good read for those of you interested in knowing more.

Though I disagree with some of the ways this theory is taken to extremes, I also have to defend it from people who criticize it without thinking critically about some positive things this set of theories has brought for women. Where Liberal Feminism has been decried as trying to make women into men, Radical feminism allowed women to criticize the systematic oppression of women in societies without telling women that in order to be free they had to do what men do. This allowed women to embrace feminine traits while rejecting the social system that tossed them aside as worthless and weak.

Radical feminism also addresses the dominant views of masculinity, and was one of the first social theories to argue that men are socialized to believe they are better, stronger, and more important than women. It's not an inherent trait that men are bad - it's that they are taught to be bad.

Without extreme views grabbing the attention of the nation in the 60s & 70s and making people stop and think about how their personal relationships and actions had political meaning, the modern women's movement may never have gotten off the ground. These were the women that insisted that when a woman is beaten by her husband that it is a social problem, not a personal family problem. Though every theory has its faults and every group has its wingnuts, to toss this theory aside as a whole without examining the meaning of its parts is, to me, irresponsible.

I will stick with using prostitution as the subject of analysis for each of the theories:

To a true Radical feminist, because women's oppression permeates every aspect of our society, a prostitute or sex worker is never acting of her own free will, but is the victim of either direct or subtle coercion. Subtle coercion could be the pervasive message in our society that tells girls they are merely sex objects for men. The Barbie doll that says "Math is hard," the sexualized bathing suits for grade-school girls... the list goes on. If a girl internalizes this message and truly believes that all she is good for is to please a man, then the obvious outcome is to realize her "destiny" as an object for men to enjoy - the sex worker. The images often seen in pornography are also strong issues to Radical Feminists. They see pornography as endorsing violence toward women, enforcing they myth that men are inherently more powerful than women and should dominate women.

Indeed, sex itself to a Radical Feminist is a politically charged act that often promotes male dominance. To some radical feminists, this is why heterosexual marriage is seen as a legal form of prostitution - a woman giving up her autonomy for economic security. This has changed somewhat, but remember that in many places in the world (and some states in this country), women are still considered subservient to their husbands.

Radical Feminism is also most guilty of trying to universalize women's experiences into some global collective. To argue that all women, everywhere - regardless of economics, race, religion or social status, experience oppression in the same way and to the same degree is what sparked the third wave of feminism that emphasizes the importance of these differences. For some women in the world, the economic devastation of their nation by global, imperial capital is the greatest hurdle they face in achieving freedom. For many poor and minority women in the United States, their men are also oppressed by the current system - so to say that they should stand together with the middle-class white women to fight the oppression of men was utterly ridiculous. But without the Radical Feminists as the catalyst, we might not be talking about these matters at all.

Kreps, Bonnie. “Radical Feminism 1”. 1970. Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives. Ed. Carole R. McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim. New York: Routledge, 2003. 45-49.

For anyone interested in an anthology that gives a great overview of many different types of feminist issues, I highly recommend the book above Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives. The authors went to great care to select essays and articles from a variety of viewpoints, and give good summations of each type of theory in their section introductions.