(CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of sexual violence and transphobia.) Feminism, in its most simple form, simply means to advocate for gender equality. A feminist doesn’t have to believe in any specific social or political movement, they simply just have to advocate to end discrimination on the basis of sex.
This loose definition has inspired women to find subsets within the feminist movement, one of which is radical feminism.
Radical feminism originated in the late 1960s in the United States and Europe. While traditional feminism focused more on gaining legal rights for women and focusing on individual acts of oppression, radical feminism wished to get to the root of sex inequality. Radical feminists believe that, for women to be completely equal to men, society itself must completely change. In the eyes of a radical feminist, sex equality is impossible in the social and political systems humans have today.
One of the core beliefs of this branch of feminism is the patriarchy. The patriarchy is a social hierarchy that emphasizes men as dominant and gives them all the societal, political, and economic power. The patriarchy is very prominent today, even as more women enter the workforce.
Working women today do have power in society, but not nearly as much as their male counterparts. A working woman still has to put on a full face of makeup before entering the office to look presentable, while a working man gets more leniency on his appearance. A working woman must remain pleasant and kind to gain workplace approval, while a working man is judged more by the quality of his work than his ability to smile.
This is just one of the six structures of patriarchy introduced by Sylvia Walby, a British sociologist. According to Walby, the five other structures of patriarchy include the state, housework, sex, violence, and culture. Each of these structures deeply affects and influences all women today, keeping them trapped in a society where men retain all the power.
The second core belief of radical feminism follows the idea of gender. Specifically, radical feminists believe that gender is a social construct in the sense that no person can act “like a woman” or “like a man.” Instead, to act like a woman is to fit into society’s box of what a woman should be. To a radical feminist, gender is completely separate from sex and biology.
Thirdly, radical feminism emphasizes that sexism is a systemic issue. The oppression of women isn’t just on an individual basis, but an issue deeply ingrained into society. Following back to the idea of a patriarchal society, patriarchy is exactly what makes gender inequality deeply systemic.
These systemic issues take root deep within education, the workplace, and politics. From a young age, women are taught to be ashamed of their sexuality. Sex education is still insufficient in many parts of the United States, and young women are shamed as they grow and develop among young men who are taught to shame and harass them. When these women enter the workplace, be it as teenagers or young adults, they find themselves among the men teaching the next generation to continue to shame women. They continue to be shamed, no matter how they act because a woman can never fit into positions of power the way a man can so long as the patriarchy exists. In politics, women fought immensely hard for the right to vote. Now, a woman and a man may both be able to vote, but when both politicians are men who harass women and fight against reproductive rights, what choice does the woman truly have?
The last value of radical feminism is to prioritize the fight against sexual violence. To radical feminists, this is the central point of the movement. This issue takes front and center because of how prevalent it truly is.
Over half of women experience sexual violence in their lifetime. One in four has experienced attempted or completed rape.
Men do experience sexual violence as well, and their struggle is essential to discuss as well. Anyone can be a victim of sexual violence, no matter their biology or gender identity. However, it’s clear to see that the main victims of sexual violence are women. Despite being such a horrific crime, it’s disturbingly common.
These acts of violence don’t just affect women on an individual basis. Societally, sexual violence impacts women worldwide. Women are often too afraid to live individually, shackled to the realistic fear that going outside by themselves could lead to their assault or death.
The women who do end up experiencing sexual violence have the odds stacked against them. For every one case of rape that is reported, two more cases go unreported. These reported cases rarely led to prosecution, much less conviction. It’s estimated that less than 1% of rapists are actually convicted of felony charges.
A woman can do everything “right,” and take all the measures to protect herself. She can only leave her home in groups, can carry pepper spray, and dress modestly. Even so, she is still likely to be a victim of sexual violence.
Even if she reports her case and gets her assaulter convicted, she may still be mocked by the public. May still be told that she should have dressed differently or tried harder to protect herself. She will most definitely still be impacted by the event, perhaps for the rest of her lifetime.
Radical feminism is a complex branch of feminism, with core values that each radical feminist chooses for themselves. Some radical feminists, for example, also believe in separation, and try to create women-only communities.
By far, the worst core belief held by many radical feminists is that transgender women should be separated from the feminist movement. This idea, largely called transgender exclusionary radical feminism (TERF), argues that because gender is a social construct, no individual person can have a “female” or “male” brain. To the TERF, transgenderism is impossible because the only difference between a man and a woman is that of their sex.
To even consider this idea is an insult to transgender people worldwide. An insult to transgender women, who have fought their whole lives to be recognized by society only to be met with hostility from other women.
To be any sort of feminist is to embrace intersectionality. One cannot claim to fight for women's rights while only fighting for white women, or while excluding transgender women. TERF almost seems like too kind of a term, including ‘feminism” in its title.
The rapidly increasing existence of TERFs has greatly impacted the name of radical feminism, as now the term is almost interchangeable with transgender exclusionary radical feminism in some circles. Radical feminism itself is not without its faults, but being grouped with a hateful community has only made the movement less sympathetic to women all around.
To be a feminist and to care about women, a person doesn’t have to find a specific label of feminism that they fit into. They just have to advocate for gender and sex equality.
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