Radical Feminism Essay

The word “Feminism” has been re-discussed many times, and is one of the most prevalent and ubiquitous topics amongst us in the 21st century. Although it is such a simple word that can be blurted out by anyone, it carries such a heavy weight. Unknowingly, we have altered the definition of feminism. Some could say that “Feminism” means females get the upper hand and should rightly be treated better. However, others could say that “Feminism” means men should be the more respected sex.

(Schmalleger, F. 137) The first form is Radical feminism proclaims that the patriarchal societies of men control the law and that the women are defined as subjects and holds that any significant change in the social status of women can be accomplished only through substantial changes in social institutions such as the family, law, and medicine. (Schmalleger, F. 137) The second form is Liberal feminism they proclaim that gender inequalities arise from separate and different domains of influence and traditional attitudes about the appropriate role of men and women. Also holds that the concerns of women can be incorporated within existing social institutions through conventional means and without the need to drastically restructure society.

The old feminism is crumbling because it simply does not answer the needs and questions of the 21st-century women. “Women are the equals of men. Men and women are not separate political classes” (Socialist Alternative, 2). Anyone who shares the desire to reduce inequality and promote opportunity must embrace feminism. “If the future is men and women dwelling as images of each other in a world unchanged, it is a nightmare” (Greer, 2).

According to Eastern Kentucky University on women and gender studies, “feminism is the issue of equality based on gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex, and sexuality as understood through social theories and political activism”. Feminism

Lesbian feminist separatists worked against misogynistic attitudes and practices in the gay liberation movement, and anti-lesbian discrimination in the women’s liberation movement. “Emerging lesbian feminist collectives, such as The Furies and Radicalesbians. Argued specifically for a separate ‘Lesbian Nation’ (Johnson)” (Alexander, Gibson, and Meem 74). The group Radicalesbians created a manifesto called “The Woman-Identified Woman” to challenge all feminists to reconsider their conception of lesbians and lesbianism.

Feminist is ‘a political position’, the female is ‘a matter of biology’ and feminine is ‘a set of culturally defined characteristics’. The representation of women in literature is one of the most important forms of ‘socialization’ and it provided the role models which indicated to women and men to constitute an acceptable version of the ‘feminine’. (122) There are three waves of feminism: the first wave was in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the second was in the 1960s and 1970s and the third from the 1970s to the present. The first wave refers mainly to “women’s suffrage” movements (mainly concerned with women’s right to vote).

It has become an ordinary practice within feminism speculation to claim that women’s lives are established by multiple intersecting structures of oppression. This insight of oppression is not committed by a single authority or a political relation, but is better acknowledged as established by various assembled or interwoven systems. Dynamics that have been repeatedly overlooked include the differing distribution of wages, socioeconomic background of individuals, rights of transgenders, and reproductive rights. This oppression includes neglection of political and social justice because anti-racism activists are developed by men of color and anti-sexist reforms are developed by white women. Therefore the benefits are not applied to them, as

The first wave feminists may have been classified as ‘Wowsers’ by some, due to people’s perceptions in the way they used the ideas of society, and behaviour of men, during the late 19th to early 20th century to oppose their exclusion from social and political life, and to improve society’s views of women and women’s rights. This essay will argue that the first wave feminists were not ‘Wowsers’, and that the women’s movement needed to act against the behaviour of men and society’s ideologies to improve women’s rights. This will be demonstrated by examining the social construction of gender role expectations and masculinity. While also focusing on societies views of sexuality and sexual morality and the impact this had on women and young girls

Radical Feminists believe that the men in control of government is the source of women’s oppression. Ecofeminists believe it is the man’s control of the land. And Separatist Feminists believe that men are so lowly that women should become lesbian. Let’s be honest, when you log onto your social media and see a feministic post, what is it generally about? Man-shaming.

“On the one hand there was liberal feminism; on the other hand, there was women’s liberation. People also sometimes talked about that wing as comprised of radical feminism and socialist feminism, with radical feminists regarding women’s oppression as the root of all oppression and socialist feminism placing women’s oppression within the other context of other forms of oppression, particularly race and class” (Finsterbusch, 2013, p.147). Epstein goes on to suggest that the women’s movement currently has narrowed its politics and as the women’s movement has aged it has become vulnerable to absorbing the current trends within its own class and as a result this has led to the movement not taking center stage. Epstein concludes that we need to “return to a sort of revised version of radical feminism and place feminism within the demand of an egalitarian society and a demand for a society that respects human connection and communities and promotes them rather than destroying them” (Finsterbusch, 2013,

Each culture of the feminist movement have its uniqueness, and for the society of women to raise the issue, such as Sudan 's genital mutilation (genital this leaves, see female circumcision) or North America the glass ceiling effect, and Chinese women 's political participation, women low labor remuneration; laid-off and unemployed women with a high proportion; abortion and abandonment of baby girls; marriage to live problem of inequality between men and women in the groom 's family brought; the patriarchal media and social values (patriarchy) Patriarchy thought residual problems etc.. And such as rape, the rape of the female and the female is a universal issue. Around the world , China is a traditional and historical country , and in our Chinese world, female social class and family class always takes the lower class .With development of time, feminist has improvement but it is still a sensitive topic in China although Chinese female have unfair treatment. when we talk about the feminist represent , fist one in my mind is Emma Watson who is an popular actress but give up her job to support the feminist development and get the speech to the world to awaken the female who suffering unfair treatment and the male who treat the female

This instruction comes directly from the Bible, and in essence, solidifies the belief that women should be subordinate to their husbands. This idea was to be carried on for centuries later, until at least the 1800s, where women were finally afforded certain rights with the emergence of the Women’s Movement in 1848. The Movement is a political and social movement that sought for the equal rights and opportunities for men and women in areas such as politics, economics, and especially in areas such as their personal lives (Burkett, 2015). It also gave rise to the ideology of feminism and a second-wave movement of feminism in the latter part of the second half of the 20th century. Prior to this, women’s positions remained undermined in a largely

With the “Women’s Liberation” movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s, Feminism became even more powerful. Women of this movement believe, among other things, that they should be equal to men in every manner. In its present form Feminism is a dangerous and unenthusiastic approach. Actually it derision womanhood by implying that as a woman I’m not good enough and that I must be equal to a man. Men and women have equal poise in reality but only different

Moreover, it challenged the compulsory heterosexuality, a woman can only be successful in society if she is married to a man and be a good ‘housewife,’ which consolidates patriarchy. Radical Feminism challenged many social ideas from reproductive rights to workplace which inevitably led them to examine the traditional gender roles. Finally, Third Wave Feminism, or Transversal Feminism, ultimately seeks to overthrow essentialism, that there exists a single definition of man-ness and woman-ness. Instead, gender is a spectrum of

Sometimes feminism is interpreted like “a creature with many faces”. There are liberal feminists, socialists, the radicals .. the list continues. The major issues we confront today , were fought by previous women in last two waves. Continuously, they work to vanquish distinction between men and women in all spheres of life (Dorey-Stein, 2015).