Radical feminism is an ideology within feminism itself which calls for the elimination of male supremacy in all cultural, economic and political contexts. Radical feminism gained popularity when it arose from the second- wave feminism during the 1960’s. Radical feminists, in the context of oppression, place the root of the problem of common gender roles in the society.

They also believe that it is men who are always the ones who have been the oppressors of women. Thus they portray men as sadistic humans who benefit from the oppression of women and portray women as the victims who had no choice but to submit to the will of the oppressors. We will discuss these points later in the paper. Another point worth noting is that all the arguments in this paper are in contrast to the radical feminism that is happening only in the United States of America, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Many radical feminists groups were formed all around the US during the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s with the most popular of them being the New York Radical Women, Redstockings, and the National Organization for Women( NOW). It is interesting to know that many of these groups went through splits after only a few years. Ti-Grace Atkinson formed a group called The Feminists, which were split from the National Organization for women. Another important group which was formed was the New York Radical Feminists which was formed by Shulamith Firestone and Anne Koedt. To be straightforward if the radical feminists wanted to be taken seriously then the splitting up of the groups quite early on in the movement was not a good idea.

Feminists have fought for women’s rights for decades. Radical feminists seclude themselves from this and go for a more radical approach and fight for women’s liberation instead. My statement is supported by Barbara A. Crow who says “Radical feminism named and associated itself with “women’s liberation” as opposed to “women’s rights” and saw themselves as part of a movement rather than a specialized interest group.”(Crow 2000, 2) They believe that women have been oppressed all throughout history because of male-dominated societies and the liberation of woman would be the only way to eliminate the patriarchy.

Radical feminist groups introduced the use of consciousness- raising (CR). These groups consisted of women from different spheres of the society and discussed how they had been the victims of male supremacy. Instead of discussing ways in which they can help women, the women discussing came to the conclusion that the only way to create a free and just society is the ending of patriarchy. In many ways, this method was a good system as even though they had very radical views, they managed to keep violence between them and the government to the minimum. Thus through the use of consciousness- raising, they managed to shift the idea of radical feminism from a personal and collective idea to a political ideology.

As mentioned before, Redstockings was a very important radical feminist group. It was started in 1969 by prominent radical feminists Ellen Willis and Shulamith Firestone. They have been credited for many notable essays with one of the most important and controversial pieces being the Redstockings Manifesto.  In this, they have portrayed all women as the ones who have been oppressed and all men as oppressors. They have also come up with some frankly ridiculous statements which we will discuss now.

In the Manifesto, they have written that “All power structures throughout history have been male-dominated and male-oriented. Men have controlled all political, economic and cultural institutions and backed up this control with physical force.”(Redstockings Manifesto, web copy). Clearly, the women who wrote this have not taken into consideration Cleopatra, who ruled ancient Egypt. They have also not taken into consideration all the women who have held high political positions throughout the years, most notably the rule of Queen Elizabeth II for over 60 years over the United Kingdom. As for institutions, they imply that all the institutions are male-dominated. Then what about the many radical feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and Redstockings itself. Aren’t they also institutions that are run by women? Yes, they are. So we can see the irony here.

It is also written in the manifesto that, “All men receive economic, sexual, and psychological benefits from male supremacy. All men have oppressed women.”( Redstockings Manifesto, web copy). This is a completely generalized statement which are portraying all men as oppressors. They have given a very controversial statement but they have also not given any proof for their statement. We cannot just believe what they are saying when they have not given any evidence from a reliable source.

They also wrote that “We identify with all women. We define our best interest as that of the poorest, most brutally exploited woman.”( Redstockings Manifesto, web copy). They claim to identify with all women but they fail to mention the women who are actually being oppressed in countries of the Middle East and the countries of Africa and Asia in any of their writings. They remain focused on their first world problems such as the objectification of women in video games but don’t mention the plight of women in the middle east who are still banned from driving and are forced to cover their body and wear a burka in very hot climate.

In the very last paragraph of the Redstockings Manifesto, they wrote that “We call on all men to give up their male privilege and support women's liberation in the interest of our humanity and their own.”( Redstockings Manifesto, web copy). I would like to point out that as we discussed earlier in the paper, there is also written that ‘all men are oppressors’. This would imply that all women must stand against men as they are the oppressors. Yet over here they are asking the same allegedly ‘oppressors’ to help them fight male supremacy. They also believe that it is men who have to change themselves to get rid of the patriarchy -“We also reject the idea that women consent to or are to blame for their own oppression. Women's submission is not the result of brain-washing, stupidity or mental illness but of continual, daily pressure from men. We do not need to change ourselves, but to change men.”( Redstockings Manifesto, web copy). Ti-Grace Atkinson, who is a radical feminist herself, proves my point by stating that- “What is extremely difficult and “unnatural,” but necessary, is for the Oppressed to cure themselves (destroy the female role), to throw off the Oppressor, and to help the Oppressor to cure himself ( destroy the male role).”(Crow 2000, 89).

Radical feminists are often known for their unusual way of protesting. They are also credited with coming up with the phrase ‘bra- burner’when they threw their bra’s while protesting against the Miss America pageant of 1968. It is probably though these instances that the popular term ‘feminazi’ came to be used. The person who is known to have coined this term is Rush Limbaugh, who was an American radio talk show host. We might ask the question- ‘Is the term ‘feminazi’ really the right term to use for radical feminists?’. The answer is no. While you have to give some credit to Rush Limbaugh for his creative skills, the term ‘feminazi’ is politically incorrect. The term is a combination of two words- feminist and Nazi. These two words are as opposite as north is to the south. That is because during Nazi Germany, feminism was banned and women were told to devote themselves to childbirth and child-rearing. It is because of this that many German feminists of that time either fled Germany or were sent to concentration camps.

I respect both the feminists and the radical feminists who truly fight for and support women who have been the victims of male supremacy. But over the years women have used that victim card to their own benefit. They do this especially in courts and in public spaces. This is because most of the courts are biased towards women. They use this to their advantage in many ways, such as false rape cases and for divorce. In the case of sexual harassment, many men have been subjected to the punishment due to false rape charges by women. Divorce laws are many times set in favor of women rather than men in many parts of the world. Usually, it is the men who are said to be the main reason for divorce and thus end up losing half of their entire savings and half of the properties they own. The court also favors women when it comes to child custody and they also demand high alimony payments. It is because of this that many times men have been the subject to shame by the public and are looked down and have to go to the court to prove their innocence. This is another instance how women cripple men psychologically. Dr. Carisa R. Showden proves my point as she states that- “women abuse the power that comes with“sugar and spice and that’s all nice” to render men impotent in the court of law and public opinion on issues such as sexual harassment, child custody, and education for example. On this account, the idea of women as victims is both bad for women and empirically false.”( Showden  2009, 6).

A very important movement that radical feminists participated in the movement for reproductive rights. This includes some rights that the radical feminists believe that they should have such as the right to abortion, the right to the usage of birth control, and the right to chose whether the woman themselves want children or not. I agree with many of the points that were put forward by them. I agree with them when they say that it should be their choice whether they want to have children or not. What I don’t agree is the right to legalize abortion. That is because they believe they should make the choice without the consent of either a certified doctor or the father of the unborn child. I feel that the father should have some say in the decision because without him conceiving the child would not be possible. If a couple does not want a child then contraceptives can always be used as they are not that expensive, and thus killing an unborn child should not be an option.  We might ask the question- ‘In the instance of a rape, if a woman gets pregnant, shouldn’t a woman be able to make her own decision then’? Yes, they should. As in the case of a rape, the female is not to be blamed for her impregnation and thus should be free to be able to make her own decision. I don’t agree with the concept of abortion, and I don’t agree with the radical view of dealing with abortion. Yet there are a few upsides with the use of the pill. For instance, if a working woman does not want to become pregnant as she only wants to focus on her work, she could use the pill. My point is further proved by this statement by Booth, Goldfield, and Munaker- “ Historically, there may have been an excuse for this role as part of a division of labor. Continuous pregnancies kept woman physically weak and less mobile than men. Now the pill enables people to control the timing and number of children they will have, the incessant childbearing role is a lame excuse for confining women to domestic chores.”( Crow 2000, 60).

As a conclusion, I would like to point out that the whole basis of radical feminism is that men have oppressed women. But they have failed to mention that in so many cases women have oppressed men. But as we notice, there is no movement defending men’s rights, except for some websites and a few social media accounts. So from all the instances mentioned in the paper, we can conclude that even if radical feminists think that they are a women’s liberation group, it would seem like they are more of a hate group.

BIBLIOGRAPHY-

1.     Crow, Barbara A., ed. 2000. Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader. New York and London: New York University Press

2.      Atkinson, Ti-Grace,“ Radical Feminism”, in Crow, Barbara A., ed. 2000. Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader. 82-89, New York and London: New York University Press

3.     Booth, Heather, Evi Goldfield, Sue Munaker, “Toward a Radical Movement”, in Crow, Barbara A., ed. 2000. Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader.57-64, New York and London: New York University Press

4.     Redstockings “ History is a weapon: Redstockings Manifesto”( July 7, 1969­), URL: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/redstockingsmanifesto.html, Accessed on 30^th November

5.     Showden, Carisa R. 2009. “What’s Political about the New Feminisms?”Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 30{2}: 166-198