What is radical feminism?

One of the most influential political and ideological movements in the fight against inequality.

In the article on the types of feminism we already saw that it is quite complicated to talk about feminism as an ideological or political current with common objectives and ideology; after all, that is why we talk about feminisms, emphasizing their plurality.

The radfem current appeared in the context of the second wave of feminism.The first wave of feminist movements began in the 1970s in Western countries. Until then, the feminist movements belonging to the first wave had focused on denouncing sexist discrimination expressed directly in laws and institutional rules; however, this new generation of feminists understood that oppression of women was not limited to formal sexism and embodied in rules, but permeated all aspects of life.

That is, while the first feminists recognized institutionalized sexism as a fundamental problem, the second wave of feminism pointed out that the problem was of a much more complex and profound nature than that. Sexism was not only in the laws, but also in power relations, in informal treatment and, moreover, in the material disadvantages faced by women as a result of centuries of subjugation to men.

The problem, then, was strongly rooted both in the material conditions of survival (men with much more property and more capacity to hire, for example) and in the minds (popularization of the idea that women must please men, etc.). In order to put an end to this system of oppression, called patriarchyradical feminism was born: the one that aimed to go to the root of sexism.

The characteristics of the ideology

Now then... what exactly does radical feminism consist of? Fundamentally, it is a broad current of feminism that contains other smaller variants, and its basic characteristics are as follows.

1. Collectivism

The liberal feminism that defined the first members of feminisms understands that the problems of discrimination that affect women do so on an individual basis: a particular situation affects a particular womanThe feminist movement, which seeks out others who have gone through the same thing to, together, exert pressure from their individualism.

In radical feminism, however, sex and gender inequality is a collective problem that must be addressed collectively. This means that great importance is given to the need to weave networks of solidarity that go beyond oneself. This is a characteristic born of the influence of Marxism and which can be seen, for example, in the way in which the emphasis of the problems is not placed on specific individuals, but on the social phenomena that are believed to perpetuate certain actions and attitudes.

For example, in the case of the appearance of scantily clad women in television products, it is very common to blame the actress, singer or presenter in question.

However, radical feminism stresses the need to ask why the body is constantly exploited. why women's bodies are constantly being exploited as if it were just another audience tool, something that happens less frequently with men. Even if women who appear scantily clad get money for it, the people who benefit most from this transaction are the network's top managers, among whom female representation is scarce.

In short, we are constantly talking not about individual decisions, but about what creates pronounced patterns of inequality: men do not need to use their appearance to gain notoriety, but it is more difficult for women and, in any case, they will never have real power over what happens.

2. The private is political

From the point of view of liberal feminism, oppression is coercive, that is, it is expressed only through direct imposition and violence. For example, the fact that by law many women could not start working without their husband's permission if they did not want to commit a crime was an example of what this movement rejected.

For radical feminism, however, sexism is not only expressed through clear and directly expressed impositions, but also through and directly expressed as such, but it is also in the customs, the ideals of beauty, etc. That is why in this current the private sphere is analyzed as a political fact, since it is understood that the dynamics of relations that oppress women are also reproduced in this sphere.

For example, if all the big Hollywood blockbusters make movies in which women always have the same psychological profile and the same plot role as "damsels in distress" in love who need the help of the hero, this will be seen as a political problem by radical feminism, even though it is expressed on the basis of the private property of the big companies that offer their products.

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3. A historical approach based on patriarchy.

In radical feminism, patriarchy, which is theoretically formulated as the root of sexism, is not only composed of laws, but also of the cultural and material heritage that has been bequeathed by previous generations.

Radical feminism considers that the fact of being a man or a woman irremediably conditions one's role in the political debate. That is why this current emphasizes the need for non-mixed groups composed only of women to work on feminist consciousness and to find ways of analyzing problems that are not affected by the male point of view.

The idea of finding new ways of expressing femininity that do not start from the male point of view is very much stressed is very much emphasized especially by the feminism of difference, one of the main variants included within radfem.