Radical feminism

Radical feminism is a branch of feminism that views women's oppression as a fundamental element in human society and seeks to challenge that standard by broadly rejecting standard gender roles. "Radical" (from Latin r?d?x, r?d?c-, root) in radical feminism is used as an adjective meaning the root; radical feminists seek the root cause of women's oppression. The traditional Radical feminist standpoint may be expressed as viewing the division in all societies as that between men and women and stating that men are the oppressors of womenhttp://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/femin.htm. These concepts were first developed in the late sixties as a significant part of second-wave feminism.

Radical Feminist Movement

Roots of radical feminist movement

Radical feminism emerged simultaneously within liberal feminist and working class feminist discussions. The use of consciousness raising groups (CR groups) in advanced Western countries brought intellectual, workers and middle class women together. Regardless of their political or social position, during these discussions women noted a shared and repressive system. It was not only the middle class nuclear family that repressed women, but social organisations which claimed to stand for human liberation (like the counter-culture, SDS or Marxist political parties). Often Marxist feminists found that their own parties effectively silenced them, and that the methods used were patriarchal. Women in counter-culture groups related that the gender relations present were very much those of mainstream culture.

Related Topics:
Consciousness raising - Middle class - Nuclear family - Counter-culture - SDS - Marxist

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The feminism which emerged from these discussions stood first and foremost for the liberation of women, as women, from the gender roles of society. This feminism was truly radical in both a political sense, and in the sense of seeking the root cause of the oppression of women. Radical feminism described a totalising ideology and social formation which dominated women in the interests of men. This formation was called patriarchy (government or rule by fathers).

Related Topics:
Radical - Patriarchy

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Social organisation and aims in the US and Australia

Radical feminists have generally formed small activist or community associations around either consciousness raising, or concrete aims. Many radical feminists in Australia participated in a series of squats to establish various womens centres, and this form of action was common in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the mid 1980s many of the original consciousness raising groups had dissolved, and radical feminism was more and more associated with loosely organised university collectives. Since that period, radical feminism has generally been confined to activist student ghettos, inspired in part by famous intellectuals. However, occasionally, working class groups of women have formed collectives dedicated to radical feminism.

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In many cases, due to state repression or cooption, the social organisations formed by radical feminists in the 1970s and 1980s were rendered ineffective. In Australia, many feminist social organisations accepted government funding during the 1980s, and the election of a conservative government in 1996 crippled these organisations.

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While radical feminists aim to dismantle patriarchal society in a total historical sense, their immediate aims are generally concrete. Common demands include expanding reproductive freedoms and changes to organisational sexual culture (a common demand in US universities during the 1980s).

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Radical feminist movement in the US