What is Radical Feminism? Explained

In the previous post we learned about Liberal feminism. The understanding of radical feminism is outlined in this post, along with some of its fundamental principles. At the end of this post the reader will be able to:

Learn the fundamental principles of radical feminism
Recognize the various points of view present in this school of thinking.
Gain knowledge of the applicability and criticism of radical feminist theory.

Introduction
Radical Feminism: A background
Perspectives Underlying Radical Feminist Thought

Androgyny
Sex/Gender system
Sexuality
Pornography
Lesbianism
Reproduction

Critique of Radical Feminism
Summary

Introduction

Radical feminism is a viewpoint within feminism that contends patriarchy is the main institution that oppresses women because of their sex. Radical feminism holds that the only way to create a society that values equality between men and women is through a radical restructuring of society that eliminates male supremacy and challenges social norms. This is in contrast to those strands of feminism (liberal feminism) that sought to address gender inequality through reforming the current socio-political-legal system. Radical feminists have different viewpoints on a variety of topics, including reproduction and motherhood, prostitution and pornography, and sex and sexuality.

Radical Feminism: A background

Feminists associated with traditional women's rights organisations like the National Organization for Women in the 1960s and 1970s held the view that gender equality could be accomplished by systemic reform, and their major objective was to secure equal rights for women. However, at the same time, there were feminists who thought that the system needed to be completely restructured by tearing down patriarchal power structures. These women saw themselves as revolutionaries, and their desire to better the status of women was inspired by their involvement in radical social movements where they were denied equal power by the males leading these organisations (Tong 2009).

They established the technique of awareness raising, in which women gathered to relate their experiences as "women," and were known as radical feminists. They declared that "personal is political" with the idea of global sisterhood after realising that personal experiences are not particular to individual women. They held that the most fundamental type of oppression, in which men dominate women's sexual and reproductive lives, is the fact that women are oppressed simply because they are "women." There are various ways to understand this, say Alison Jaggar and Paula Rothenberg. First of all, women were historically the first oppressed group. Second, women are oppressed in almost every society today. Thirdly, it cannot be addressed, for example, by abolishing the class structure because it is the most difficult type of oppression to erase. Fourth, recognising one type of oppression can help you understand other types of oppression (Allison Jaggar 1984). Although it is widely acknowledged that sexism is the core of oppression, there was disagreement among radical feminists as to what exactly constitutes sexism and how to combat it. They were divided into radical-libertarian feminists and radical-cultural feminists based on their points of view. The opinions they hold on topics like parenthood, sexuality, and reproduction are discussed in the section that follows.

Perspectives Underlying Radical Feminist Thought

Androgyny

Radical libertarian feminists pushed women to embrace androgyny, or embodying both masculine and feminine traits, arguing that a purely feminine gender identification is harmful to women's development as complete human beings. Other radical feminists disputed this assertion since they thought that being androgynous required adopting largely masculine tendencies, and occasionally the worst of the masculine ones. But they recognised that this was an effort to give women more freedom to express and select their own gender identities. In order to essentialize the "female nature" that is shared by all women across a variety of socio-cultural-political contexts, radical cultural feminists suggested that women embrace their femininity and celebrate those values that are culturally associated with being women in opposition to this model of androgyny (Tong 2009).

Sex/Gender system

The sex/gender system is a "series of arrangements by which a society turns biological sexuality into results of human action," according to radical-libertarian feminist Gayle Rubin (Rubin 1975). This indicates that culture, which is connected with patriarchal standards, transforms certain biological traits of being male and female into a system of masculine and feminine identities that establish a hierarchical power relationship between men and women. Being a male is connected with having masculine characteristics such as assertiveness, independence, and practicality, which are valued more highly than feminine characteristics such as emotionality, reliance, and submissiveness. The freedom of individuals to express their gender identities, if they differ from their biological identities, is constrained by the naturalisation of these social creations as biological or inherent to them. For instance, the proverb "boys don't weep" restricts young people's ability to express their emotions without fear of humiliation.

So in essence, radical libertarian feminists asserted that gender and sex are distinct, and that inflexible gender roles are attempts by patriarchal society to control women. Because it meant that both men and women might choose to embody a variety of gender identities and traits at whim, the majority of them embraced the idea of androgyny. This section has reviewed four texts by radical feminists to help readers comprehend the variety of viewpoints present in this branch of feminism.

According to Kate Millet, the sex/gender system is the source of women's oppression, and in order to overcome oppression, gender must be abolished. This is stated in her 1970 book Sexual Politics. This is so that patriarchy, which imposes naturalised gendered standards, may justify male dominance through complex social sanctions of institutions like church and family. She anticipates an androgynous world but cautions against adopting unfavourable male and feminine characteristics (Millet 1970). According to Shulamith Firestone's book The Dialectic of Sex (1970), the reproductive roles of men and women are at the heart of patriarchal tyranny. By replacing biological reproduction with artificial reproductive procedures and dismantling the practise of biological heteronormative families, women must be "freed" from these duties in order to achieve emancipation. Although she too advocates for an androgynous future, she sees it as the total destruction of the male and female gender systems rather than the synthesis of both (Firestone 1970).

Marilyn French, on the other hand, believes that traditionally feminine traits are better to masculine ones and relates male-female distinctions more to genetics than to society. She has hypothesised that because the oldest cultures coexisted peacefully with nature, they were likely matricentric (mother-centered). But as evolution progressed, males aimed to dominate nature and, consequently, women. French held that one must reject male attributes and embrace feminine ones in order to end sexism and oppression (French 1985).

In her book Gyn/Ecology, Mary Daly denies androgyny and argues that patriarchy is responsible for the construction of all traditional feminine characteristics, both positive and negative, and that women must deprive themselves of their femininity in order to end oppression. Then they will be able to embrace their prepatriarchal female beauty and power (Daly 1978).

Sexuality

Rosemary Tong has drawn upon Ann Ferguson’s work in understanding the difference in perspective of radical libertarian and radical cultural feminists in terms of understanding sexuality,and this is what she has to say(Ferguson 1984):

Radical Libertarians

Heterosexual as well as other sexual practices are characterized by repression. The norms of patriarchal bourgeois sexuality repress the sexual desires and pleasures of everyone by stigmatizing sexual minorities, thereby keeping the majority “pure” and under control.

Feminists should repudiate any theoretical analyses, legal restrictions, or moral judgments that stigmatize sexual minorities and thus restrict the freedom of all.

As feminists we should reclaim control over female sexuality by demanding the right to practice whatever gives us pleasure and satisfaction.

.The ideal sexual relationship is between fully consenting, equal partners who negotiate to maximize one another’s sexual pleasure and satisfaction by any means they choose

Radical Culturals

Heterosexual sexual relations generally are characterized by an ideology of sexual objectification (men as subjects/masters; women as objects/slaves) that supports male sexual violence against women.

Feminists should repudiate any sexual practice that supports or normalizes male sexual violence.

As feminists we should reclaim control over female sexuality by developing a concern with our own sexual priorities, which differ from men’s—that is, more concern with intimacy and less with performance.

The ideal sexual relationship is between full consenting, equal partners who are emotionally involved and do not participate in polarized roles.

While the majority of radical libertarian feminists held that sexual practises should not be judged (as being good, healthy, or normal as opposed to terrible, unhealthy, or abnormal), radical cultural feminists held that monogamous lesbianism is the only clear-cut type of sexuality for women. They held the opinion that in order to eradicate sexual oppression, the system of patriarchy must be abolished since it forces women into heterosexual partnerships.

Pornography

Radical libertarian feminists argued that as long as pornography aids women in overcoming their phobias of sex, fosters fantasies, and other positive female behaviours, it need not necessarily be terrible or harmful to them. This means that, if they so choose, women should be free to find enjoyment in pornography, including violent depictions of male-female relationships. Radical cultural feminists disagree, asserting that any type of sexual objectification or representation of women as such in the bedroom promotes patriarchal agendas by enforcing feminine gender roles. Thus, they contend that pornography is harmful to women because it normalises male dominance and female subordination, opening the door for sexual abuse (Tong 2009).

Lesbianism

According to Ann Koedt's essay, "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm," many women believe that orgasm during heterosexual sex comes from the vagina when in fact it comes from the clitoris. As a result, men worry that they will become sexually disposable if clitoris takes the place of the vagina as the site of female sexual pleasure. In light of this anxiety, Koedt notes that some women will still select men for psychological reasons even though they are not physiologically required by them.

Radical cultural feminists and radical libertarians had extremely different perspectives on this piece. The former read this argument as supporting women's non-compulsory heterosexuality, which implies that since women don't require a male body for sexual pleasure, they will only have heterosexual relations if they choose to. Radical cultural feminists, on the other hand, claimed that since women did not require men for sexual fulfilment, there was no legitimate 'feminist' psychological reason to prefer heterosexuality. In other words, lesbians who "choose" to date men are not "genuine" feminists; instead, they are not feminists at all (Tong 2009). Although they concurred with radical cultural feminists that heterosexuality as an institution has hurt many women, radical libertarian feminists maintained that it would still be unfair to impose lesbianism in the same way that patriarchy has imposed heterosexuality. Additionally, they contended that the patriarchal system was the fundamental adversary rather than specific males. Women need to address individual males about their patriarchal values and privilege rather than separating themselves from them.

Reproduction

Radical libertarian feminists held that artificial forms of reproduction should take the place of biological reproduction, enabling women to engage in other pursuits, because reproductive roles and female bodies serve as the sites of women's oppression. Radical cultural feminists, on the other hand, argued that men's need on women to procreate is a cause of patriarchy and that taking away a woman's ability to procreate will play right into patriarchal's hands. They argued that artificial reproduction would deprive women of their power and invert it by giving males control, rendering women unnecessary (Tong 2009).

Radical cultural feminists contend that men's enviousness of women's reproductive capacity, not the biology of women, is what leads to oppression. Men have been feeling excluded from the process of natural reproduction, which has led them to want control over women's bodies. Male doctors (replacing female midwives) have effectively been instructing women the "proper" way to become pregnant by seizing control of the reproductive process and frequently rejecting their (women's) own intuitions about their own bodies. Artificial reproduction thus ensures that the experience of reproduction for women is just as alienating as the experience for men (Tong 2009).

Critique of Radical Feminism

Both radical libertarian and radical cultural feminism have come under harsh criticism from non-radical feminists as well as from one another. Radical libertarian feminism has come under fire for emphasising "choice" too much. While the concept of women's freedom of choice is empowering, critics contend that in a patriarchal society, this freedom is severely restricted. By limiting the options accessible to them and giving them the appearance of "free choice," patriarchy forces women to support patriarchal norms when in fact they are socially conditioned to act in a particular way as a result of patriarchal social conditioning. Radical cultural feminists, on the other hand, have come under fire for essentializing masculine and feminine features as being universal. In the same way that essentialism has previously been used to legitimise other forms of oppression (racism, colonialism, and slavery), radical cultural feminism runs the risk of doing the same by forcing women into restrictive roles (Tong 2009). It is oversimplified to portray all men as oppressors and all women as victims when patriarchy is actually a complex structure of institutions and social punishments. Additionally, this overlooks the complex connection that, in India, sexism has with other types of oppression like racism, classism, or casteism. In other words, when one or more of these oppressive axes are introduced into the equation, the power hierarchies become unstable. For instance, it is not sufficient to generalise that "all males are oppressors" when analysing the direction of oppression between a white woman and a black man or between a woman from a higher caste and a guy from a lower caste. Radical feminism threatens to represent only one kind of feminism, that of a white, western feminism, by denying the varied socio-cultural contexts that different women emerge from and preaching universal sisterhood via shared experiences. Other types of feminism, such as feminism of colour, postcolonial, and third country feminism, evolved precisely in this environment of essentialism and being viewed as largely a feminism of white, middle class women.

Summary

In light of patriarchal control over women's sexuality and reproductive work, radical feminist philosophy analyses women's subjugation largely from this perspective. Radical feminism focuses on raising awareness of systemic and patriarchal injustices as well as praising womanhood and sisterhood in order to address women's oppression and vulnerability.

Reference

Allison Jaggar, Paula Rothenberg (ed). 1984. Feminist Frameworks. New York: Mcgraw Hill.
Daly, Mary. 1978. Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism. Boston: Beacon Press.
Ferguson, Ann. 1984. "Sex War: The Debate between Radical and Liberation Feminists." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 10, no. 1 Autumn,: 06-135.
Firestone, Shulamith. 1970. The Dialectic of Sex. New York: Bantam Books.
French, Marilyn. 1985. Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals. New York: Summit Books.
Millet, Kate. 1970. Sexual Politics. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday.