Radical Feminism Beliefs: the basics
“Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts. Radical feminists view society as fundamentally a patriarchy in which men dominate and oppress women.”
Prostitution
Purchased consent is not consent, it’s coercion. Sex work is dehumanizing and traumatizing for women, and fueled by sex trafficking. The commodification of female sexuality is a mix of misogyny and capitalism.
Pornography
Prostitution on camera. See above for key points. Additionally, female sexuality should not be monetized and sold for male entertainment. The industry is rife with rape, abuse, coercion, trafficked women, drugged women, and CP. It harms not only the women involved in the videos (physically and mentally), but it also harms the viewers in the long run.
Surrogacy
Similar to prostitution and pornography in the sense that women’s bodies become acquirable products for sale or rent. A woman's organs should not be for rent, as it creates a perverse incentive. Most surrogacy is outsourced to disadvantaged women in developing nations, where they are made to sign contracts they can't read and undergo poor treatment.
Bodily Autonomy
Understanding that a woman should have complete and utter control of her reproductive system; including abortion, birth, and sterilization. Understanding a woman should have access to informed and accurate medical care. Understanding a woman should have complete control over when and if she engages in sex with a partner. Understanding that PIV is often an unequal act.
Nuclear Family
This allows for the isolation of women, both emotionally and financially. The family unit, ideally, includes a large safety net of family and friends who assist in child rearing. Women should not be financially dependent on men, as this open the potential for abuse and difficulty leaving via power imbalance.
Capitalism
The system that allows the commodification of women and their bodies. Women shouldn’t have to sell or rent out their bodies in order to survive.
BDSM/Kink
Wherein the majority of subs are women and the majority of doms are men. Fetishization of slavery, power imbalances, rape, incest, pedophilia, and abuse. Hurting your partner does not suddenly become healthy if you can orgasm to it. Power imbalances that lead to physical and emotional abuse and trauma.
Patriarchal Religions
All holy books were written by men and serve to maintain and legitimize patriarchal power structures. Patriarchal religions falsely attribute the gift of creation to men when in reality every man on earth was molded from the flesh of women.
Postmodernism/Queer Theory
Radical feminism is based on materialism. Women are oppressed because of their biological reality, which is not subjective, subjectable to changes or personal interpretations. Postmodernism and queer theory are.
The Beauty Industry
Fills up the pockets of men who make money by ever-changing standards of female beauty. Keeps women insecure, low self-esteem, their value and self-worth forever dependent on their physical appeal (to men). Demands women change how they appear (makeup, shaving, dieting, cosmetic surgeries) to appear prepubescent (lithe, hair free, firm not soft) which is a part of what we identify as 'pedophilia culture'.
Marriage
Marriage would be described by some as the wheels on which patriarchy is carried onwards. Historically, marriage has been nothing but a transaction: a daughter, who belonged to her father, now belongs to her husband. Her reproductive labor, domestic labor, emotional labor, and physical labor all at his disposal. This is how marriage continues to work and act culturally in a majority of societies
Individualism
As opposed to class analysis. Arguably the most overlooked and hardest ‘’issue’’ to overcome. It’s understandable that most women gravitate towards liberal feminism because they don’t have to analyze the reasons behind their actions, they don’t have to come to difficult and unappealing conclusions, they don’t have to feel the need to take action and stop engaging in whatever they are doing that’s harming women as a class. Known as 'choice feminism', which affirms any choice as a personal one, despite what influenced that choice or how it may affect the female class at large (see: plastic surgery, "makeup makes me feel confident!", "I like being hurt during sex!")
Gender Critical/Gender Abolitionist
Gender is a social class applied to biology. Each individuals sex is innate, and gender is the series of roles, expectations, socialization, cultural practices, and personality traits applied to that sex. Sex is "this baby has a vulva" and gender is "so give that baby a pink blanket and a dolly". Therefore, radical feminists understand that gender is a means of oppressing women. They wish to abolish gender. This creates clashes with pieces of trans rights activism, which upholds ones gender as innate. Read more here on this topic.
The main clashing beliefs are as follows:
-Being dysphoric doesn’t automatically means trans, since transitioning is only a way of treating dysphoria, and there are many reasons someone might be dysphoric.
-Instead of “identifying as a man/woman/nonbinary”, we should abolish gender altogether.
- Males remain male and females remain female, even if they’re dysphoric/gnc. Biology is innate. Therefore, for example, a transwoman that rapes someone, is an male abuser. It is male violence.
- Males have male privilege, regardless of how they identify, because society is built upon upholding and amplifying males.
- Females will be opressed, regardless of how they identify, because society is built upon the females-as-a-resource model that holds us as sexual and reproductive resources for male pleasure and male heirs.
Radical Feminist Goals
Women's liberation via the dismantling of male power structures, and the rejection of a woman's "role" within society as a lesser class.
Ways to Achieve This
Separatism/Male Exclusion - simply deciding to center one’s life and actions around females in all possible aspects. The keeping and protecting of female only spaces. Ultimately, this might look like a female-only society that any girl or woman could enter or leave at will.
Introspection - analyzing one’s actions and maybe asking oneself: why do I want these things? What's drives this action? Is this the healthiest option for me, physically and mentally? Am I hurting a woman or girl if I partake in this option?
Raising Awareness - of all the issues mentioned above. Talking to women and girls about radical feminism. This is not a solution but a step towards finding or creating more solutions as a community.
Being Politically Active - political agency and action is essential for female liberation; especially concerning topics such as reproductive rights, legislation of prostitution, electing representatives ETC.
Male Reform - investing time and effort into making men aware of the issues, in the hopes that they’ll do their part for the liberation of women and do the same with their fellow men.
Childrearing - Focus on advocacy and action around raising girls and boys the same way, to begin to treat the class divide at the root. This is very difficult without full societal support.
Conclusion
Radical feminism is for female people, by female people. It's ideology goes beyond these tenets, but the ideas presented above should allow you to derive answers as to what that might be. Radical feminism is also referred to as second wave feminism, and is compatible with Marxist feminism and the original principles of intersectional feminism. Thank you for reading.
just bc i feel like were mostly seeing hotrible news and shit on radblr - these were the top comments on that post, and look at the likes!
the sex industry lobbyists and influencers bought by them who make their money off of pimping want to make you believe the opposite but there are actually loads of people who dont think hardcore pornography is a normal thing and natural part of human sexuality.
i can appreciate the sentiment behind the criticisms people have towards therapy and psychiatry meds but mostly rn i just find them annoying and tone deaf. can you guys stop making me more schizoaffective
all that bimbo girl dinner girl math “i’m too pretty to understand the economy” passenger princess shit is not subversive. it does not make men mad. it is not reclamation. the joke is on you. they are laughing at you, not with you, and the tradition of women who play to men’s most heinous views of women in order to get a bag is long and established. these women are apart of that legacy no matter what idiotic, hyperonline choice feminism spin they try to give it. it is never and never will be progressive to treat women as though we are naturally incompetent and incapable
I don’t think the point is necessarily to be subversive though, or to entertain men. Perhaps it’s just my bubble, but the primary audience that I see viewing these kinds of videos are women. I was under the impression that this was supposed to be a bit of an inside joke.
Regardless, these women are having fun. Why shame them just because we’re afraid of what the men are going to think of us? Respectability politics are not the move
absolutely nothing i describe here is respectability politics. you either do not understand what that term means or you are deliberately misusing it to act in bad faith. the world is not actually a bubble, neither is the internet, and when the new york times and other news outlets are literally covering these trends, they most certainly do not exist in a vacuum. but they are also entirely mainstream in their conceit and their execution. the women making these jokes, some of them, may be having “fun” but that’s irrelevant to my point. when you’re getting a lot of attention for being obnoxious on tik tok, i’m sure it’s quite exciting. but there are many women - and people - who engage in these harmful stereotypes as their full time schtick, to make money and amass online fame. that’s not “having fun,” that is throwing other women under the bus for your own personal gain. that is not a new conceit either. if you are unconcerned with how men see women, then why place so much stock in stereotypes they’ve created (the bimbo is one of their favorites) by building your entire online presence around them?
and by the way, when men are on dating profiles claiming to be looking for their “passenger princess,” to call this phenomenon an “inside joke” is itself a joke
its not “reclamation” … its regurgitation.
you cannot "we're just having fun!" your way out of everything y'all. this is real life. everything is not about you as an individual. and even if it was, why make degrading stereotypes your personality? why let men define you and other women? and in the worst way no less
"why shouldn't men be allowed in womens chess"
because they're men
"so you're saying women are worse at chess?"
no fuckhead thats a whole different sentence
So why can’t men and women play chess together op?
They can because the vast majority of chess tournaments are open category :)
Oh okay so there really is no point in chess being sex segregated at all then
So then… why do you think they started female-only competitions, if they didn’t have any reason to do so?
We’re not in the 1950s anymore, if you’re a feminist, you shouldn’t be pushing for sex segregation anymore. So yes, originally it was because men wouldn’t share with women. If we’re playing together now though, is there any reason?
Yes of course there is, good of you to insinuate women don’t have a good reason for wanting a select few tournaments to be female-only. Women are just ridiculous amiright!
The reason being, in 2023, women chess players are still getting harassed by men. In 2023, the ratio of male chess players to female chess players is 16-1. So of course women would like some tournaments where they don’t get harassed and there are actually spots for them. Because in 2023, men still don’t like women chess players and treat them badly, because they still don’t want to share.
So really, what’s your specific qualm with female-only events? Are you also against affirmative action to combat the disproportionate amount of white students admitted to college? Or is it just affirmative action for women you don’t think is necessary? Do you think going completely 100% gender-neutral will be beneficial to the boys or the girls in the chess world?
And furthermore, do you believe everything got solved in the 60s and the world is totally without prejudice now?
Maybe instead of focusing on separating the sexes you should focus on making men behave?
How do you propose we make men (including the men in charge of making sure the men behave) behave?
I always say this but osafems will see korean and chinese feminists going 6b4t and be like yass pussy boss queens so fucking kewl we need that stuff like this here too omggggg but when radfems here GENTLY suggest them to do the same or criticize het partnership esp the danger it poses to women in it then suddenly we're unrealistic and terminally online blackpiller lesbians who wants to convert them onto being lesbians.... When in reality 6b4t movement is vastly predominantly led by straight women and sometimes the community(including womad they are not perfect and not exempt from criticisms) is even dismissive towards bi and les women bc of THAT EXACT REASON but cool okay sure hunny just don't call yourself a radfem bc ur not then and THEY WON'T EVEN DO THAT..... and then they proceeds to spew the most homophobic and or spinless shit u heard from a self proclaimed "radfem" along with "YOU SAID WE ARE GONNA DIE WITHOUT KOK!!!!!" When someone points it out... L + ratio + that's what YOU said about yourself + that1betch clones + didn't ask + homophobes kys ^_^
And guess what??? Women practicing female separatism in said regions live with more social coercion to be with a moid and they have less legal and societal means of protecting themselves living as single women in such misogynistic society, compared to western women. And we still do that. It would be easier for you but you refuse to even admit that.
examples of populations of "privileged" women choosing separatism:
- korean women
- taiwanese women
- chinese women
- kenyan women (umoja village)
- egyptian women (al samaha village)
- syrian and kurdish women (jinwar village)
women that are apparently less privileged and cannot choose separatism:
- western, heterosexual white women on radblr
uh oh. i think im starting to like dad rock
