View source for Feminismo Radical

{{draft}}

'''El feminismo radical' '' es una perspectiva dentro del [[feminismo]] que pide un [[Radicalismo político | radical]] reordenamiento de la sociedad en la que el [[androcentrismo | supremacía masculina]] sea eliminado en todos los contextos sociales y económicos , al mismo tiempo que reconoce que las experiencias de las mujeres también se ven afectadas por otras divisiones sociales como la raza, la clase y la orientación sexual. <ref name = "willis"> {{cite journal | last1 = Willis | first1 = Ellen | title = Radical Feminism y Radicalismo feminista | url = https: //www.jstor.org/stable/466537 | journal = Social Text | date = 1984 | número = 9/10 | páginas = 91–118 | doi = 10.2307 / 466537 | jstor = 466537} } </ref> <ref> {{Cite el libro | last = Giardina, Carol. | first = | url = http: //worldcat.org/oclc/833292896 | title = Libertad para las mujeres: Forjando el Movimiento de Liberación de las Mujeres, 1953 -1970 | date = 2010 | publisher = University Press of Florida | year = | isbn = 0-8130-3456-6 | location = | pages = | oclc = 833292896}} </ref> <ref> {{Cite web | last = Editors | title = Conciencia feminista: raza y clase - MEETING GROUND OnLine | url = http: // meetingg roundonline.org/feminist-conscienteness-race-and-class/|access-date=2020-09-15|language=en-US}} </ref>

Las feministas radicales ven la sociedad fundamentalmente como un [[patriarcado]] en el que [[Hombre | hombres]] dominan y oprimen a [[Mujer | mujeres]]. Las feministas radicales buscan abolir el patriarcado como un frente en una lucha por "liberar a todos de una sociedad injusta desafiando las normas e instituciones sociales existentes". Esta lucha incluye oponerse a la [[objetivación sexual]] de las mujeres, sensibilizar al público sobre cuestiones como la [[violación]] y [[violencia contra la mujer]], desafiar el concepto de [[roles de género]] y cuestionar lo que Las feministas radicales ven como un capitalismo racializado y de género que caracteriza a los Estados Unidos y muchos otros países. Según [[Shulamith Firestone]] en '' [[La dialéctica del sexo | La dialéctica del sexo: el caso de la revolución feminista]] '' (1970): "[E] l objetivo final de la revolución feminista debe ser, a diferencia de la del primer movimiento feminista, no sólo la eliminación del '[[Privilegio masculino | privilegio]]' 'masculino sino de la' 'distinción' 'sexual en sí misma: las diferencias genitales entre seres humanos ya no importarían culturalmente. "{{ sfn | Firestone | 1970 | p = 11}} Si bien las feministas radicales creen que las diferencias en los genitales y las [[características sexuales secundarias]] no deberían importar cultural o políticamente, también sostienen que el papel especial de la mujer en la reproducción debería reconocerse y adaptarse sin penalización en el lugar de trabajo, y algunos han argumentado que se debería ofrecer una compensación por este trabajo socialmente esencial. <ref> {{Cite web | last = Hanisch | first = Carol | title = Tareas domésticas, reproducción y liberación de la mujer - MEETING GROUND OnLine | url = http : //meetinggroundonline.org/housework-reproduction-and-womens-liberation-2/ | acc ess-date = 2020-09-15 | language = en-US}} </ref>

El feminismo radical temprano, que surgió dentro del [[feminismo de segunda ola]] en la década de 1960, {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 118}} típicamente veía al patriarcado como un "fenómeno transhistórico" {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 122}} anterior o más profunda que otras fuentes de [[opresión]], "no solo la forma de dominación más antigua y universal, sino la forma primaria" y el modelo para todas las demás. {{Sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 123}} La política posterior derivada del feminismo radical varió desde [[feminismo cultural]] a más [[sincretismo | sincrético]] políticas que colocaban cuestiones de [[clase social | clase]], [[economía]], etc. a la par con el patriarcado como fuente de opresión. {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | pp = 117, 141}}

Las feministas radicales ubican la causa raíz de la opresión de las mujeres en las relaciones patriarcales de género, a diferencia de los [[sistemas legales]] (como en [[feminismo liberal]]) o [[conflicto de clases]] (como en [[feminismo anarquista]] , [[feminismo socialista]] y [[feminismo marxista]]).

== Teoría e ideología ==

Las feministas radicales afirman que la sociedad es un [[patriarcado]] en el que la clase de hombres son los opresores de la clase de mujeres. {{Sfn | Echols | 1989 | p = 139}} Proponen que la opresión de las mujeres es la más forma fundamental de opresión, una que ha existido desde los inicios de la humanidad. {{sfn | Shelley | 2000}} Como escribió la feminista radical [[Ti-Grace Atkinson]] en su pieza fundamental "Feminismo radical" (1969):

<blockquote> Se dice que la primera división dicotómica de esta masa [la humanidad] se basó en el sexo: [[masculino]] y [[femenino]] & nbsp; ... fue porque la mitad de la raza humana soporta la carga del proceso reproductivo y debido a que el hombre, el animal `` racional '', tuvo el ingenio para aprovechar eso, los parientes, o las `` bestias de carga '', fueron acorralados en una clase política: confundiendo la carga biológicamente contingente en una política (o necesaria) penalización, modificando así la definición de estos individuos de humano a funcional o animal. {{sfn | Atkinson | 2000 | p = 85}} </blockquote>

Las feministas radicales argumentan que, debido al patriarcado, las mujeres han llegado a ser vistas como el "otro <ref> {{Cite book | last = Beauvoir, Simone de (Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand), 1908-1986. | Url = http: //worldcat.org/oclc/1105756674|title=The Second Sex | date = 2011 | publisher = Vintage Books | isbn = 978-0-09-959573-1 | oclc = 1105756674}} </ref> "para el hombre norma, y como tales han sido sistemáticamente oprimidos y marginados. Afirman además que los hombres como clase se benefician de la opresión de las mujeres. La teoría patriarcal no se define generalmente como la creencia de que todos los hombres siempre se benefician de la opresión de todas las mujeres. Más bien, sostiene que el elemento principal del patriarcado es una relación de dominio, donde una parte es dominante y explota a la otra en beneficio de la primera. Las feministas radicales creen que los hombres (como clase) usan sistemas sociales y otros métodos de control para mantener a las mujeres (así como a los hombres no dominantes) reprimidas. Las feministas radicales buscan abolir el patriarcado desafiando las normas e instituciones sociales existentes, y creen que la eliminación del patriarcado liberará a todos de una sociedad injusta. Ti-Grace Atkinson sostuvo que la necesidad de poder impulsa a la clase masculina a seguir oprimiendo a la clase femenina, argumentando que "la '' necesidad '' que tienen los hombres del papel de opresor es la fuente y el fundamento de toda opresión humana". {{ sfn | Atkinson | 2000 | p = 86}}

La influencia de la política feminista radical en el [[movimiento de liberación de la mujer]] fue considerable. [[Redstockings]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Welcome to Redstockings|url=http://redstockings.org/|access-date=2020-09-15|website=redstockings.org}}</ref> la cofundadora [[Ellen Willis]] escribió en 1984 que las feministas radicales "consiguieron que la política sexual fuera reconocida como un tema público", crearon el vocabulario de [[el feminismo de segunda ola]], ayudaron a legalizar el aborto en los EE. UU. " el primero en exigir la igualdad total en el llamado ámbito privado "(" las tareas del hogar y el cuidado de los niños & nbsp; ... necesidades emocionales y sexuales "), y" creó el clima de urgencia "que casi propició el paso de la [[Igualdad Enmienda de derechos]]. {{Sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 118}} La influencia del feminismo radical se puede ver en la adopción de estos temas por la [[Organización Nacional de Mujeres]] (NOW), un grupo feminista que anteriormente se había centrado casi por completo en cuestiones económicas. {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 138}}

== Movimiento ==

=== Orígenes ===

Las feministas radicales en los [[Estados Unidos]] acuñaron el término [[movimiento de liberación de la mujer]] (WLM). El WLM creció en gran parte debido a la influencia del [[movimiento de derechos civiles]], que había ganado impulso en la década de 1960, y muchas de las mujeres que tomaron la causa del feminismo radical tenían experiencia previa con la protesta radical en la lucha contra [ [racismo]]. Cronológicamente, puede verse dentro del contexto del [[feminismo de segunda ola]] que comenzó a principios de la década de 1960. <ref> Sarah Gamble, ed. El compañero de Routledge del feminismo y el posfeminismo (2001) p. 25 </ref> Las principales figuras de esta segunda ola de feminismo incluyeron a [[Shulamith Firestone]], [[Kathie Sarachild]], [[Ti-Grace Atkinson]], [[Carol Hanisch]], [[Roxanne Dunbar- Ortiz | Roxanne Dunbar]], [[Naomi Weisstein]] y [[Judith C. Brown | Judith Brown]]. A finales de los años sesenta, varios grupos de mujeres que se describían a sí mismas como "feministas radicales", como el Frente de Liberación de Mujeres de la UCLA (WLF), ofrecían puntos de vista diferentes sobre la ideología feminista radical. La cofundadora de la WLF de UCLA, Devra Weber, recuerda, "las feministas radicales se oponían al patriarcado, pero no necesariamente al capitalismo. En nuestro grupo al menos, se oponían a las llamadas luchas de liberación nacional dominadas por hombres". {{Sfn | Linden-Ward | Green | 1993 | p = 418}}

Las feministas radicales ayudaron a traducir la protesta radical por la igualdad racial, en la que muchas tenían experiencia, en la lucha por los derechos de las mujeres. Ellos asumieron la causa y abogaron por una variedad de problemas de mujeres, incluyendo [[derechos de aborto]], la [[Enmienda de Igualdad de Derechos]], acceso al crédito e igualdad de remuneración. {{Sfn | Evans | 2002}} Muchas mujeres de color estuvieron entre los fundadores del Movimiento de Liberación de la Mujer ([[Frances M. Beal | Fran Beal]], [[Cellestine Ware,]] [[Toni Cade Bambara]]); sin embargo, las mujeres de color en general no participaron en el movimiento debido a su conclusión de que las feministas radicales no estaban abordando "cuestiones de significado para las mujeres de minorías", [[mujeres negras]] en particular. {{sfn | Linden-Ward | Green | 1993 | p = 434}} Después de que se formaron [[concienciación]] grupos para reunir apoyo, el feminismo radical de la segunda ola comenzó a ver un número creciente de mujeres de color participando.

En la década de 1960, el feminismo radical surgió dentro de las discusiones feministas liberales y feministas de la clase trabajadora, primero en los Estados Unidos, luego en el Reino Unido y [[Australia]]. Los involucrados gradualmente habían llegado a creer que no era solo la [[clase media]] [[familia nuclear]] la que oprimía a las mujeres, sino que también eran los movimientos sociales y las organizaciones que afirmaban defender la liberación humana, en particular el [ [Contracultura de la década de 1960 (contracultura)], los partidos políticos [[Nueva Izquierda]] y [[Marxismo]], todos ellos dominados y orientados por hombres. En los Estados Unidos, el feminismo radical se desarrolló como respuesta a algunas de las fallas percibidas de ambas organizaciones de la [[Nueva Izquierda]] como [[Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática (organización de 1960) | Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática]] (SDS ) y organizaciones feministas como NOW. {{Cita necesaria | fecha = julio de 2008}} Inicialmente concentrada en grandes ciudades como [[Ciudad de Nueva York | Nueva York]], [[Chicago]], [[Boston]], Washington, DC, y en la costa oeste, {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 118}} <ref group = note> Willis (1984) no menciona Chicago, pero ya en 1967 Chicago era un sitio importante para la conciencia. levantamiento y hogar del '' Movimiento Voz del Movimiento de Liberación de la Mujer ''; ver Kate Bedford y Ara Wilson [http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/wilson935/chrono1.htm Lesbian Feminist Chronology: 1963-1970] {{webarchive | url = https: //web.archive.org/ web / 20070717042308 / http: //people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/wilson935/chrono1.htm | date = 17 de julio de 2007}}. </ref> Los grupos feministas radicales se extendieron rápidamente por todo el país de 1968 a 1972.

Al mismo tiempo, se desarrollaron tendencias paralelas de pensamiento fuera de EE. UU.: The Women's Yearbook <ref> El ensayo sobre "Tendencias feministas" en el Women's Yearbook (Frauenjahrbuch '76), publicado por la nueva prensa ofensiva de Frauen en Munich y editado por un grupo de trabajo del Centro de Mujeres de Munich en Myra Marx Ferree: Varieties of Feminism German Gender Politics in Global Perspective (2012) p.60 {{ISBN | 978-0-8047-5759-1}} </ref> de Munich da un buen sentido del feminismo de principios de la década de 1970 en Alemania Occidental:                                                                  
                                                                                                                                         
<blockquote> En su ensayo sobre el Anuario en nombre del movimiento feminista autónomo argumentó que el patriarcado era la relación de explotación más antigua y fundamental. De ahí la necesidad de que las feministas se separen de las organizaciones de hombres de izquierda, ya que solo usarían los esfuerzos de las mujeres para apoyar sus propios objetivos, en los que la liberación de las mujeres no contaba. Los editores de Frauenjahrbuch 76 también se distanciaron explícitamente del lenguaje del liberalismo, argumentando que "la igualdad de derechos define la opresión de las mujeres como una desventaja de las mujeres". Calificaron explícitamente la versión de igualdad de derechos del feminismo como querer ser como los hombres, rechazando con vehemencia las afirmaciones de que "las mujeres deberían entrar en todas las áreas de la sociedad dominadas por los hombres. ¡Más mujeres en la política! Más mujeres en las ciencias, etc. ... Mujeres debería poder hacer todo lo que hacen los hombres ". Su posición, y la de las feministas autónomas representadas en este anuario de 1976, fue la siguiente: "Este principio de que 'nosotros también queremos eso' o 'nosotros también podemos hacerlo' mide la emancipación contra los hombres y nuevamente define lo que queremos en relación con hombres. Su contenido es la conformidad con los hombres ... Porque en esta sociedad las características masculinas fundamentalmente tienen más prestigio, reconocimiento y sobre todo más poder, fácilmente caemos en la trampa de rechazar y devaluar todo lo femenino y admirar y emular todo lo que es se considera masculino ... La batalla contra el rol femenino no debe convertirse en la batalla por el rol masculino ... La demanda feminista, que trasciende la reivindicación de la igualdad de derechos, es la reivindicación de la autodeterminación. <ref> { {cite book | last1 = Ferree | first1 = Myra Marx | title = Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective | date = 2012 | page = 60 | publisher = [[Stanford University Press]] | location = Redwood City, California | capítulo = Las propias mujeres decidirán: autónomas Movilización feminista, 1968-1978 | isbn = 978-0804757591}} </ref> <ref> Frauenjahrbuch ’76 p 76-78 </ref>
</blockquote>

Las feministas radicales introdujeron el uso de grupos [[concientización]] (CR). Estos grupos reunieron a intelectuales, trabajadoras y mujeres de clase media en países occidentales desarrollados para discutir sus experiencias. Durante estas discusiones, las mujeres notaron un sistema compartido y represivo independientemente de su afiliación política o [[clase social]]. Sobre la base de estas discusiones, las mujeres llegaron a la conclusión de que el fin del patriarcado era el paso más necesario hacia una sociedad verdaderamente libre. Estas sesiones de sensibilización permitieron a las primeras feministas radicales desarrollar una ideología política basada en las experiencias comunes que las mujeres enfrentaron con la supremacía masculina. El aumento de la conciencia se utilizó ampliamente en las subunidades de los capítulos de la [[Organización Nacional de Mujeres]] (NOW) durante la década de 1970. El feminismo que surgió de estas discusiones representó ante todo la liberación de las mujeres, como mujeres, de la opresión de los hombres en sus propias vidas, así como de los hombres en el poder. El feminismo radical afirmó que una ideología totalizadora y una formación social - el "patriarcado" (gobierno o gobierno de los padres) - dominaba a las mujeres en interés de los hombres.

===Grupos===
[[Archivo:Redstockings.png|miniaturadeimagen|Logo de las Redstockings]]

Dentro de grupos como [[Mujeres radicales de Nueva York]] (1967-1969; sin conexión con la organización feminista socialista actual [[Mujeres radicales]]), que Ellen Willis caracterizó como "el primer grupo de liberación de mujeres en la ciudad de Nueva York ", {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 119}} comenzó a surgir una ideología feminista radical. Declaró que "lo personal es político" y la "hermandad es poderosa"; {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 118}} llamadas al activismo de las mujeres acuñadas por [[Kathie Sarachild]] y otros en el grupo. <Ref > {{Citar libro | título = Los feminismos importan: Debates, teorías, activismo | last1 = Bromley | first1 = Victoria | publisher = University of Toronto Press | año = 2012 | isbn = | ubicación = | páginas =}} </ref> Las mujeres radicales de Nueva York se derrumbaron a principios de 1969 en lo que se conoció como la "división político-feminista", en la que los "políticos" veían al capitalismo como la principal fuente de opresión de las mujeres, mientras que las "feministas" veían la opresión de las mujeres en un hombre supremacía que era "un conjunto de relaciones materiales, institucionalizadas, no sólo malas actitudes". El lado feminista de la división, cuyas miembros se referían a sí mismas como "feministas radicales", {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 119}} pronto constituyó la base de una nueva organización, [[Medias rojas]]. Al mismo tiempo, Ti-Grace Atkinson lideró "una escisión radical de NOW", que se conoció como [[Las feministas]]. {{Sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 124}} Una tercera postura importante sería articulado por las [[Feministas radicales de Nueva York]], fundadas más tarde en 1969 por [[Shulamith Firestone]] (que rompió con los Redstockings) y [[Anne Koedt]]. {{sfn | Willis | 1984 | p = 133} }

During this period, the movement produced "a prodigious output of leaflets, pamphlets, journals, magazine articles, newspaper and radio and TV interviews".{{sfn|Willis|1984|p=118}} Many important feminist works, such as Koedt's essay ''[[The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm]]'' (1970) and [[Kate Millet]]'s book ''[[Sexual Politics]]'' (1970), emerged during this time and in this [[Social environment|milieu]].

=== Ideology emerges and diverges ===
At the beginning of this period, "[[heterosexuality]] was more or less an unchallenged assumption". Among radical feminists, it was widely held that, thus far, the sexual freedoms gained in the [[sexual revolution]] of the 1960s, in particular, the decreasing emphasis on [[monogamy]], had been largely gained by men at women's expense.{{sfn|Willis|1984|p=121}} This assumption of heterosexuality would soon be challenged by the rise of [[political lesbianism]], closely associated with Atkinson and The Feminists.{{sfn|Willis|1984|p=131}}

Redstockings and The Feminists were both radical feminist organizations, but held rather distinct views. Most members of Redstockings held to a [[materialism|materialist]] and anti-[[psychologism|psychologistic]] view. They viewed men's oppression of women as ongoing and deliberate, holding individual men responsible for this oppression, viewing institutions and systems (including the family) as mere vehicles of conscious male intent, and rejecting psychologistic explanations of female submissiveness as blaming women for collaboration in their own oppression. They held to a view—which Willis would later describe as "neo-[[Maoism|Maoist]]"—that it would be possible to unite all or virtually all women, as a class, to confront this oppression by personally confronting men.{{sfn|Willis|1984|pp=124—128}}

[[File:Ellen willis.png|thumb|[[Ellen Willis]]]]

The Feminists held a more [[idealism|idealistic]], psychologistic, and [[utopianism|utopian]] philosophy, with a greater emphasis on "[[sex role]]s", seeing [[sexism]] as rooted in "complementary patterns of male and female behavior". They placed more emphasis on institutions, seeing marriage, family, prostitution, and heterosexuality as all existing to perpetuate the "sex-role system". They saw all of these as institutions to be destroyed. Within the group, there were further disagreements, such as Koedt's viewing the institution of "normal" sexual intercourse as being focused mainly on male sexual or erotic pleasure, while Atkinson viewed it mainly in terms of reproduction. In contrast to the Redstockings, The Feminists generally considered genitally focused sexuality to be inherently male. [[Ellen Willis]], the Redstockings co-founder, would later write that insofar as the Redstockings considered abandoning heterosexual activity, they saw it as a "bitter price" they "might have to pay for [their] militance", whereas The Feminists embraced [[separatist feminism]] as a strategy.{{sfn|Willis|1984|pp=130–132}}

The New York Radical Feminists (NYRF) took a more psychologistic (and even [[biological determinism|biologically determinist]]) line. They argued that men dominated women not so much for material benefits as for the ego satisfaction intrinsic in domination. Similarly, they rejected the Redstockings view that women submitted only out of necessity or The Feminists' implicit view that they submitted out of cowardice, but instead argued that [[social conditioning]] simply led most women to accept a submissive role as "right and natural".{{sfn|Willis|1984|pp=133–134}}

=== Forms of action ===
The radical feminism of the late 60s was not only a movement of ideology and theory; it helped to inspire [[direct action]]. In 1968, feminists protested against the [[Miss America]] pageant in order to bring "sexist beauty ideas and social expectations" to the forefront of women's social issues. Even though bras were not burned on that day, the protest led to the phrase "bra-burner". "Feminists threw their bras—along with "woman-garbage" such as girdles, false eyelashes, steno pads, wigs, women's magazines, and dishcloths—into a "Freedom Trash Can", but they did not set it on fire".<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|title=Kreydatus, Beth. "Confronting The Bra-Burners" Teaching Radical Feminism With A Case Study"|journal=History Teacher Academic Search Complete|volume=}}</ref> In March of 1970, more than one hundred feminists staged an 11-hour sit-in at the ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]'' headquarters. These women demanded that the publication replace its male editor with a female editor, and accused the ''Ladies Home Journal'', "with their emphasis on food, family, fashion, and femininity", of being "instruments of women's oppression". One protester explained the goal of the protest by saying that they "were there to destroy a publication which feeds off of women's anger and frustration, a magazine which destroys women."<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|author=Hunter, Jean|title=A Daring New Concept: The Ladies Home Journal And Modern Feminism|journal=NWSA Journal|volume=}}</ref>

Radical feminists used a variety of tactics, including demonstrations, speakouts, and community and work related organizing, to gain exposure and adherents.{{sfn|Willis|1984|p=117}} In France and West Germany radical feminists developed further forms of direct action.                                                                                                                                         

==== Self-incrimination ====
On 6 June 1971 the cover of ''[[Stern (magazine)|Stern]]'' showed 28 German actresses and journalists confessing “We Had an Abortion!” ([[:de:|wir haben abgetrieben!]]) unleashing a campaign against the abortion ban.<ref name=FMT_§218>{{Cite web | url=https://frauenmediaturm.de/neue-frauenbewegung/abtreibung-gegen-218/ |title = Gegen §218 – Der Kampf um das Recht auf Abtreibung |website=FrauenMediaTurm |date = 20 April 2018 |language=German}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.digitales-deutsches-frauenarchiv.de/akteurinnen/aktion-218 | title=Aktion 218}}</ref> The journalist [[Alice Schwarzer]] had organized this avowal form of protest following a French example.

Later in 1974, Schwarzer persuaded 329 doctors to publicly admit in ''[[Der Spiegel]]''<ref name=DerSpiegel>{{cite web | url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-41739035.html | title=Abtreibung: Aufstand der Schwestern | work=[[Der Spiegel]] |pages=29–31 | date=11 March 1974 |language=German}}</ref> to having performed abortions. She also found a woman willing to terminate her pregnancy on camera with [[vacuum aspiration]], thereby promoting this method of abortion by showing it on the German political television program ''Panorama''. [[Cristina Perincioli]] described this as "... a new tactic: the ostentatious, publicly documented violation of a law that millions of women had broken thus far, only in secret and under undignified circumstances." However, with strong opposition from church groups and most of the broadcasting councils governing West Germany's [[ARD (broadcaster)|ARD]] (association of public broadcasters), the film was not aired. Instead Panorama's producers replaced the time slot with a statement of protest and the display of an empty studio.<ref>[https://feministberlin1968ff.de/womens-center/abortion-gynecology-1973-75/]</ref>

==== Circumventing the abortion ban ====
In the 1970s, radical women's centers without a formal hierarchy sprang up in [[West Berlin]].<ref>Cristina Perincioli, "Berlin wird feministisch"(2015) p.89, Interviews with several witnesses translated in English: https://feministberlin1968ff.de/womens-center/berlin-womens-center-1972/]</ref> These Berlin based women’s centers did abortion counseling, compiled a list of Dutch abortion clinics, organized regular bus trips to them, and were utilized by women from other parts of West Germany.<ref>Frankfurter Frauen (eds.), “1. Frauenjahrbuch“ (1975)</ref> Police accused the organizers of illegal conspiracy. "The center used these arrests to publicize its strategy of civil disobedience and raised such a public outcry that the prosecutions were dropped. The bus trips continued without police interference. This victory was politically significant in two respects... while the state did not change the law, it did back off from enforcing it, deferring to women's collective power. The feminist claim to speak for women was thus affirmed by both women and the state."<ref>Myra Marx Ferree: Varieties of Feminism German Gender Politics in Global Perspective (2012) p.91 {{ISBN|978-0-8047-5759-1}}</ref>

==== Leaving the Church ====
In West Germany, 1973 saw the start of a radical feminist group campaign to withdraw from membership in the Catholic Church as a protest against its anti-abortion position and activities. "Can we continue to be responsible for funding a male institution that ... condemns us as ever to the house, to cooking and having children, but above all to having children".<ref name=FMT_1973>{{Cite web |url=https://frauenmediaturm.de/neue-frauenbewegung/chronik-1973/ |title=1973 (März) |website=FrauenMediaTurm |date=17 April 2018 |language=German}}</ref> In Germany those baptized in one of the officially recognized churches have to document that they have formally left the church in order not to be responsible for paying 
a church tax.<ref>[name=FMT_1973>{{Cite web |url=https://frauenmediaturm.de/neue-frauenbewegung/chronik-1973/ |title=1973 (März)] |website=FrauenMediaTurm |date=17 April 2018 |language=German}}</ref>

====Protest of biased coverage of lesbians====
In November of 1972 two women in a sexual relationship, Marion Ihns and Judy Andersen, were arrested and charged with hiring a man to kill Ihns's abusive husband. Pretrial publicity, particularly that by [[Bild]], Germany's largest tabloid, was marked by anti-lesbian sensationalism. In response, lesbian groups and women's centers in Germany joined in fervent protest. The cultural clash continued through the trial which eventually resulted in the conviction of the women in October of 1974 and life sentences for both. However, a petition brought by 146 female journalists and 41 male colleagues to the German Press Council resulted in its censure of the [[Axel Springer SE|Axel Springer Company]], Bild's publisher. At one point in the lead up to the trial Bild had run a seventeen consecutive day series on "The Crimes of Lesbian Women".<ref>Cristina Perincioli, "Berlin wird feministisch"(2015) p. 117 translated in English: [https://feministberlin1968ff.de/womens-center/media-group-1973-75/]</ref><ref>[https://feministberlin1968ff.de/lesbian-life/1973-74-witch-hunt/]</ref>

==== Genital self-exams ====
Helped women to gain knowledge about how their own bodies functioned so they would no longer need to rely solely on the medical profession. An outgrowth of this movement was the founding of the {{ill|Berlin Feminist Women’s Health Center|de|Feministische Frauen Gesundheits Zentrum|lt=Feminist Women’s Health Center|vertical-align=sup}} (FFGZ) in Berlin in 1974. {{source?|date=October 2020}}

=== Social organization and aims  ===
Radical feminists have generally formed small activist or community associations around either consciousness raising or concrete aims. Many radical feminists in Australia participated in a series of [[squatting|squats]] to establish various women's centers, and this form of action was common in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By the mid-1980s many of the original consciousness raising groups had dissolved, and radical feminism was more and more associated with loosely organized university collectives. Radical feminism can still be seen, particularly within student activism and among working-class women. In Australia, many feminist social organizations had accepted government funding during the 1980s, and the election of a conservative government in 1996 crippled these organizations. A  radical feminist movement also emerged among Jewish women in Israel beginning in the early 1970s.<ref>Misra, Kalpana, & Melanie S. Rich, ''Jewish Feminism in Israel: Some Contemporary Perspectives''. Hanover, N.H.: Univ. Press of New England (Brandeis Univ. Press), 1st ed. 2003. {{ISBN|1-58465-325-6}}</ref> While radical feminists aim to dismantle patriarchal society, their immediate aims are generally concrete. Common demands include:

* Expanding [[reproductive rights]]. According to writer [[Lisa Tuttle]] in ''The Encyclopedia of Feminism'' it was "defined by feminists in the 1970s as a basic human right, it includes the right to abortion and birth control, but implies much more. To be realised, reproductive freedom must include not only woman's right to choose childbirth, abortion, sterilisation or birth control, but also her right to make those choices freely, without pressure from individual men, doctors, governmental or religious authorities. It is a key issue for women, since without it the other freedoms we appear to have, such as the right to education, jobs and equal pay, may prove illusory. Provisions of childcare, medical treatment, and society's attitude towards children are also involved."<ref>From ''The Encyclopedia of Feminism'' (1986) Lisa Tuttle</ref>
* Changing the organizational sexual culture, e.g., breaking down traditional gender roles and reevaluating societal concepts of femininity and masculinity (a common demand in US universities during the 1980s). In this, they often form tactical alliances with other currents of feminism. {{vague|date=October 2020}}

==Views on the sex industry==
Radical feminists have written about a wide range of issues regarding the sex industry—which they tend to oppose—including but not limited to what many see as: the [[Feminist views of pornography#Harm to women during production|harm done to women]] during the production of pornography, [[Feminist views on pornography#Social harm from exposure to pornography|the social harm]] from consumption of pornography, [[Feminist views on prostitution#Coercion and poverty|the coercion and poverty]] that leads women to become prostitutes, [[Feminist views on prostitution#Long-term effects on the prostitutes|the long-term  detrimental effects]] of prostitution, [[Feminist views on prostitution#The raced and classed nature of prostitution|the raced and classed nature]] of prostitution, and [[Feminist views on prostitution#Male dominance over women|male dominance over women]] in prostitution and pornography.

===Prostitution===
{{main|Feminist views on prostitution}} 
Radical feminists argue that most women who become prostitutes are forced into it by a pimp, [[human trafficking]], poverty, [[Addiction|drug addiction]], or trauma such as child sexual abuse. Women from the lowest socioeconomic classes—impoverished women, women with a low level of education, women from the most disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities—are over-represented in prostitution all over the world. [[Catharine MacKinnon]] asked: "If prostitution is a free choice, why are the women with the fewest choices the ones most often found doing it?"<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/fempsy3.html |title=Prostitution in Five Countries |publisher=Feminism & Psychology |year=1998 |first1=Melissa |last1=Farley|first2=Isin |last2=Baral |first3=Merab |last3=Kiremire |first4=Ufuk |last4=Sezgin |pages=405–426 |accessdate=2010-05-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110306002439/http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/fempsy3.html |archivedate=2011-03-06 }}</ref> A large percentage of prostitutes polled in one study of 475 people involved in prostitution reported that they were in a difficult period of their lives, and most wanted to leave the occupation.<ref>Farley, Melissa. (April/2/2000) [http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/faq/000008.html Prostitution: Factsheet on Human Rights Violations] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104111446/http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/faq/000008.html |date=2010-01-04 }}. Prostitution Research & Education. Retrieved on 2009-09-03.</ref>

MacKinnon argues that "In prostitution, women have sex with men they would never otherwise have sex with. The money thus acts as a form of force, not as a measure of consent. It acts like physical force does in rape."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cpbn.org/program/intelligence-squared/episode/its-wrong-pay-sex |title=It's Wrong to Pay for Sex |date=5 August 2009 |publisher=Connecticut Public Radio |accessdate=8 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625230257/http://www.cpbn.org/program/intelligence-squared/episode/its-wrong-pay-sex |archivedate=25 June 2010 }}</ref> They believe that no person can be said to truly consent to their own oppression and no-one should have the right to consent to the oppression of others. In the words of [[Kathleen Barry]], consent is not a "good divining rod as to the existence of oppression, and consent to violation is a fact of oppression".<ref name="Barry">Barry, Kathleen (1995). ''The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women''. New York: New York University Press.</ref> [[Andrea Dworkin]] wrote in 1992:

<blockquote>Prostitution in and of itself is an abuse of a woman's body. Those of us who say this are accused of being simple-minded. But prostitution is very simple. ... In prostitution, no woman stays whole. It is impossible to use a human body in the way women's bodies are used in prostitution and to have a whole human being at the end of it, or in the middle of it, or close to the beginning of it. It's impossible. And no woman gets whole again later, after.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dworkin|first1=Andrea|title=Prostitution and Male Supremacy|url=http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/MichLawJourI.html|website=Andrea Dworkin Online Library|publisher=No Status Quo|date=October 31, 1992|accessdate=2010-05-09}}</ref></blockquote>

She argued that "prostitution and equality for women cannot exist simultaneously" and to eradicate prostitution "we must seek ways to use words and law to end the abusive selling and buying of girls' and women's bodies for men's sexual pleasure".<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Hoffer, Kaethe Morris. "A Respose to Sex Trafficking Chicago Style: Follow the Sisters, Speak Out"|journal=University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Academic Search Complete|volume=}}</ref>

Radical feminist thinking has analyzed prostitution as a cornerstone of patriarchal domination and sexual subjugation of women that impacts negatively not only on the women and girls in prostitution but on all women as a group, because prostitution continually affirms and reinforces patriarchal definitions of women as having a primary function to serve men sexually. They say it is crucial that society does not replace one patriarchal view on female sexuality—e.g., that women should not have sex outside marriage/a relationship and that casual sex is shameful for a woman, etc.—with another similarly oppressive and patriarchal view—acceptance of prostitution, a sexual practice based on a highly patriarchal construct of sexuality: that the sexual pleasure of a woman is irrelevant, that her only role during sex is to submit to the man's sexual demands and to do what he tells her, that sex should be controlled by the man, and that the woman's response and satisfaction are irrelevant.  Radical feminists argue that sexual liberation for women cannot be achieved so long as we normalize unequal sexual practices where a man dominates a woman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catw-ap.org/resources/speeches-papers/sex-from-human-intimacy-to-sexual-labor-or-is-prostitution-a-human-right/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201023435/http://www.catw-ap.org/resources/speeches-papers/sex-from-human-intimacy-to-sexual-labor-or-is-prostitution-a-human-right/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-02-01 |title=SEX: From human intimacy to "sexual labor" or Is prostitution a human right? |author=Cecilia Hofmann |publisher=CATW-Asia Pacific |date=August 1997 |accessdate=2010-05-09 }}</ref> "Feminist consciousness raising remains the foundation for collective struggle and the eventual liberation of women".<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|title=Polis, Carol A. "A Radical Feminist Approach to Confronting Global Sexual Exploitation of Woman"|journal=Journal of Sex Research, Academic Search Complete|volume=}}</ref>

Radical feminists strongly object to the [[patriarchal]] ideology that has been one of the justifications for the existence of prostitution, namely that prostitution is a "necessary evil", because men cannot control themselves; therefore it is "necessary" that a small number of women be "sacrificed" to be used and abused by men, to protect "chaste" women from rape and harassment. These feminists see prostitution as a form of slavery, and say that, far from decreasing rape rates, prostitution leads to a sharp ''increase'' in sexual violence against women, by sending the message that it is acceptable for a man to treat a woman as a sexual instrument over which he has total control. [[Melissa Farley]] argues that Nevada's high rape rate is connected to legal prostitution. Nevada is the only US state that allows legal brothels, and it is ranked 4th out of the 50 U.S. states for sexual assault crimes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.inner-star.org/sexualassaultprevention.html |title=Sexual Assault Prevention Program at ISPAN |publisher=Inner-star.org |accessdate=2010-05-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404030047/http://www.inner-star.org/sexualassaultprevention.html |archivedate=2011-04-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Sep-07-Fri-2007/news/16519321.html |title=Panel: Brothels aid sex trafficking |author=MARK WAITE |publisher=Pahrump Valley Times |date=2007-09-07 |accessdate=2010-05-09 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217174035/http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2007/Sep-07-Fri-2007/news/16519321.html |archivedate=December 17, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Indigenous women are particularly targeted for prostitution. In Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, and Taiwan, studies have shown that indigenous women are at the bottom of the race and class hierarchy of prostitution, often subjected to the worst conditions, most violent demands and sold at the lowest price. It is common for indigenous women to be over-represented in prostitution when compared with their total population. This is as a result of the combined forces of colonialism, physical displacement from ancestral lands, destruction of indigenous social and cultural order, misogyny, globalization/neoliberalism, race discrimination and extremely high levels of violence perpetrated against them.<ref name="Lynne">{{cite journal |last1=Farley |first1=M. |last2=Lynne |first2=J. |last3=Cotton |first3=A. |title=Prostitution in Vancouver: Violence and the Colonization of First Nations Women |journal=Transcultural Psychiatry |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=242–271 |year=2005 |doi=10.1177/1363461505052667 |pmid=16114585 |s2cid=31035931}}</ref>

===Pornography===
{{main|Feminist views of pornography}}
[[File:MacKinnon.8May.CambridgeMA.png|thumb|[[Catharine MacKinnon]]]]

Radical feminists, notably [[Catharine MacKinnon]], charge that the production of pornography entails physical, psychological, and/or economic [[coercion]] of the women who perform and model in it. This is said to be true even when the women are presented as enjoying themselves.<ref group=note>MacKinnon (1989): "Sex forced on real women so that it can be sold at a profit to be forced on other real women; women's bodies trussed and maimed and raped and made into things to be hurt and obtained and accessed, and this presented as the nature of women; the coercion that is visible and the coercion that has become invisible—this and more grounds the feminist concern with pornography." See: MacKinnon 1989, p. 196</ref><ref>MacKinnon, Catherine A. (1984). "Not a moral issue". ''Yale Law and Policy Review'' 2:321-345.</ref><ref name="pbs.org">{{Cite episode| title = A Conversation With Catherine MacKinnon (transcript)| series = [[Think Tank]]|network= PBS| year = 1995| url = https://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript215.html}}</ref><ref name=stanford-shrage>Shrage, Laurie (13 July 2007). [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-sex-markets/#Por "Feminist Perspectives on Sex Markets: Pornography"]. In ''[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]''.</ref> It is also argued that much of what is shown in pornography is abusive by its very nature. [[Gail Dines]] holds that pornography, exemplified by [[Point of view pornography|gonzo pornography]], is becoming increasingly violent and that women who perform in pornography are brutalized in the process of its production.<ref group=note>Dines (2008): "The porn that makes most of the money for the industry is actually the gonzo, body-punishing variety that shows women's bodies being physically stretched to the limit, humiliated and degraded. Even porn industry people commented in a recent article in Adult Video News, that gonzo porn is taking its toll on the women, and the turnover is high because they can't stand the brutal acts on the body for very long." See: {{cite web| last1 = Dines| first1 = Gail| title = Penn, Porn and Me| work = [[CounterPunch]]| date = 23 June 2008| url = http://www.counterpunch.org/dines06232008.html| url-status = dead| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090330143944/http://www.counterpunch.org/dines06232008.html| archivedate = 30 March 2009}}</ref><ref>Dines, Gail. (24 March 2007). "[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5003155114018800220# Pornography & Pop Culture: Putting the Text in Context]", ''Pornography & Pop Culture - Rethinking Theory, Reframing Activism''. Wheelock College, Boston, 24 March 2007.</ref>

Radical feminists point to the testimony of well known participants in pornography, such as [[Traci Lords]] and [[Linda Boreman]], and argue that most female performers are coerced into pornography, either by somebody else, or by an unfortunate set of circumstances. The feminist anti-pornography movement was galvanized by the publication of ''Ordeal'', in which Linda Boreman (who under the name of "Linda Lovelace" had starred in ''[[Deep Throat (film)|Deep Throat]]'') stated that she had been beaten, raped, and [[pimp]]ed by her husband [[Chuck Traynor]], and that Traynor had forced her at gunpoint to make scenes in ''Deep Throat'', as well as forcing her, by use of both physical violence against Boreman as well as emotional abuse and outright threats of violence, to make other pornographic films. Dworkin, MacKinnon, and Women Against Pornography issued public statements of support for Boreman, and worked with her in public appearances and speeches.<ref>Brownmiller, ''In Our Time'', p. 337.</ref>

Radical feminists hold the view that pornography contributes to sexism, arguing that in pornographic performances the actresses are reduced to mere receptacles—objects—for sexual use and abuse by men. They argue that the narrative is usually formed around men's pleasure as the only goal of sexual activity, and that the women are shown in a subordinate role. Some opponents believe pornographic films tend to show women as being extremely passive, or that the acts which are performed on the women are typically abusive and solely for the pleasure of their sex partner. On-face ejaculation and anal sex are increasingly popular among men, following trends in porn.<ref name="GailDines-JulieBindel-PornIndustry">Bindel, Julie (July 2, 2010). [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/02/gail-dines-pornography "The Truth About the Porn Industry"], ''The Guardian''.</ref> MacKinnon and Dworkin defined pornography as "the graphic sexually explicit subordination of women through pictures or words that also includes women dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or commodities...."<ref name=mackinnon-fu>{{cite book|last1=MacKinnon|first1=Catharine A.|title=Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law|date=1987|page=176|chapter=Francis Biddle's Sister: Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0-674-29873-X|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/feminismunmodifi00mack/page/176}}</ref>

Radical feminists say that consumption of pornography is a cause of [[rape]] and other forms of [[violence against women]]. [[Robin Morgan]] summarizes this idea with her oft-quoted statement, "Pornography is the theory, and rape is the practice."<ref>Morgan, Robin. (1974). "Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape". In: ''Going Too Far: The Personal Chronicle of a Feminist''. Random House. {{ISBN|0-394-48227-1}}</ref> They charge that pornography eroticizes the domination, humiliation, and coercion of women, and reinforces sexual and cultural attitudes that are complicit in rape and [[sexual harassment]]. In her book ''[[Only Words (book)|Only Words]]'' (1993), MacKinnon argues that pornography "deprives women of the right to express verbal refusal of an intercourse".<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|title=Schussler, Aura. "The Relation Between Feminism And Pornography"|journal=Scientific Journal of Humanistic Studies, Academic Search Complete|volume=}}</ref>

MacKinnon argued that pornography leads to an increase in sexual violence against women through fostering [[rape myth]]s. Such rape myths include the belief that women really want to be raped and that they mean yes when they say no. She held that "rape myths perpetuate sexual violence indirectly by creating distorted beliefs and attitudes about sexual assault and shift elements of blame onto the victims".<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Maxwell, Louise, and Scott. "A Review Of The Role Of Radical Feminist Theories In The Understanding Of Rape Myth Acceptance."|journal=Journal of Sexual Aggression, Academic Search Complete|volume=}}</ref> Additionally, according to MacKinnon, pornography desensitizes viewers to violence against women, and this leads to a progressive need to see more violence in order to become sexually aroused, an effect she claims is well documented.<ref name="mackinnon-guardian">{{cite web|last1=Jeffries |first1=Stuart |title=Are women human? (interview with Catharine MacKinnon) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/12/gender.politicsphilosophyandsociety |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=12 April 2006}}</ref>

German radical feminist [[Alice Schwarzer]] is one proponent of the view that pornography offers a distorted sense of men and women's bodies, as well as the actual sexual act, often showing performers with synthetic implants or exaggerated expressions of pleasure, engaging in fetishes that are presented as popular and normal. {{source?|date=October 2020}}

==Radical lesbian feminism==
{{Main|Radical lesbians}}
[[File:Julie Bindel, 26 October 2015 (2).jpg|thumb|[[Julie Bindel]]]]

[[Radical lesbians]] are distinguished from other radical feminists through their ideological roots in political lesbianism. Radical lesbians see [[lesbian]]ism as an act of resistance against the political institution of heterosexuality, which they view as violent and oppressive towards women. [[Julie Bindel]] has written that her lesbianism is "intrinsically bound up" with her feminism.<ref name=Bindel30Jan2009>{{cite web|last1=Bindel|first1=Julie|title=My sexual revolution|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/30/women-gayrights|work=The Guardian|date=30 January 2009}}</ref>

During the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s, [[heterosexual|straight]] women within the movement were challenged on the grounds that their heterosexual identities helped to perpetuate the very patriarchal systems that they were working to undo. According to radical lesbian writer [[Jill Johnston]], a large fraction of the movement sought to reform sexist institutions while "leaving intact the staple nuclear unit of oppression: heterosexual sex".<ref name=":9">Johnston, Jill. "The Making of the Lesbian Chauvinist (1973)" ''Radical Feminism'': ''A Documentary Reader''. New York: New York University Press, 2000.</ref> Others saw lesbianism as a strong political tool to help end male dominance and as central to the women's movement.

Radical lesbians criticized the women's liberation movement for its failure to criticize the "psychological oppression" of [[heteronormativity]], which they believed to be "the sexual foundation of the social institutions".<ref name=":9" /> They argued that heterosexual love relationships perpetuated patriarchal power relations through "personal domination" and therefore directly contradicted the values and goals of the movement.<ref name=":10">Abbott, Sidney and Barbara Love, "Is Women's Liberation a Lesbian Plot? (1971)" ''Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader''. New York: New York University Press, 2000.</ref> As one radical lesbian wrote, "no matter what the feminist does, the physical act [of heterosexuality] throws both women and man back into role playing... all of her politics are instantly shattered".<ref name=":10" /> They argued that the women's liberation movement would not be successful without challenging heteronormativity.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":11">Radicalesbians. "The Woman-Identified Woman." Know, Incorporated. 1970.</ref>

Radical lesbians believed lesbianism actively threatened patriarchal systems of power.<ref name=":10" /> They defined lesbians not only by their sexual preference, but by their liberation and independence from men. Lesbian activists [[Sidney Abbott]] and [[Barbara Love]] argued that "the lesbian ''has'' freed herself from male domination" through disconnecting from them not only sexually, but also "financially and emotionally".<ref name=":10" /> They argued that lesbianism fosters the utmost independence from gendered systems of power, and from the "psychological oppression" of heteronormativity.{{sfn|Shelley|2000}}

Rejecting norms of gender, sex and sexuality was central to radical lesbian feminism. Radical lesbians believed that "lesbian identity was a 'woman-identified' identity'", meaning it should be defined by and with reference to women, rather than in relation to men.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|title=Poirot, Kristan. Domesticating The Liberated Women: Containment Rhetorics Of Second Wave Radical/lesbian Feminism|journal=Women's Studies in Communication (263-264)|volume=}}</ref>

In their manifesto "The Woman-Identified Woman", the lesbian radical feminist group [[Radicalesbians]] underlined their belief in the necessity of creating a "new consciousness" that rejected traditional normative definitions of womanhood and femininity which centered on powerlessness.<ref name=":11" /> Their redefinition of womanhood and femininity stressed the freeing of lesbian identity from harmful and divisive stereotypes. As Abbot and Love argued in "Is Women's Liberation a Lesbian Plot?" (1971):

<blockquote>As long as the word 'dyke' can be used to frighten women into a less militant stand, keep women separate from their sisters, and keep them from giving primacy to anything other than men and family—then to that extent they are dominated by male culture.<ref name=":10" /></blockquote>

[[Radicalesbians]] reiterated this thought, writing, "in this sexist society, for a woman to be independent means she can't be a woman, she must be a dyke".<ref name=":11" /> The rhetoric of a ''"woman-identified-woman"'' has been criticized for its exclusion of heterosexual women. According to some critics, "[lesbian feminism's use of] woman-identifying rhetoric should be considered a rhetorical failure.<ref name=":2" />  Critics also argue that the intensity of radical lesbian feminist politics, on top of the preexisting stigma around lesbianism, gave a bad face to the feminist movement and provided fertile ground for tropes like the ''"man-hater"'' or ''"bra burner"''.<ref name=":2" />

==Views on transgender topics==
{{main|Feminist views on transgender topics}}

Since the 1970s, there has been a debate among radical feminists about [[transgender]] identities.<ref name="newyorker">{{cite journal|last1=Goldberg|first1=Michelle|title=What Is a Woman?|journal=The New Yorker|date=August 4, 2014|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2|accessdate=November 20, 2015}}</ref> In 1978, the [[Lesbian Organization of Toronto]] voted to become [[womyn-born womyn]] only and wrote:

<blockquote>A woman's voice was almost never heard as a woman's voice—it was always filtered through men's voices. So here a guy comes along saying, "I'm going to be a girl now and speak for girls." And we thought, "No you're not." A person cannot just join the oppressed by fiat.<ref name="ross1995">Ross, Becki (1995). ''The House that Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation.'' University of Toronto Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-7479-9}}.</ref></blockquote>

Some radical feminists, such as [[Catharine MacKinnon]] and [[John Stoltenberg]] have supported the notion that [[transwomen]] are women, which has been described as ''trans-inclusive'' feminism,<ref name="Abeni">{{cite web|last1=Abeni|first1=Cleis|title=New History Project Unearths Radical Feminism's Trans-Affirming Roots|url=http://www.advocate.com/think-trans/2016/2/03/new-history-project-unearths-radical-feminisms-trans-affirming-roots|accessdate=10 June 2017|work=The Advocate|date=3 February 2016|language=en}}</ref><ref name=TransAdvocate>{{Cite web|last1=Williams|first1=Cristan|title=Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: The TransAdvocate interviews Catharine A. MacKinnon|url=http://www.transadvocate.com/sex-gender-and-sexuality-the-transadvocate-interviews-catharine-a-mackinnon_n_15037.htm|website=TransAdvocate|date=April 7, 2015|accessdate=14 January 2016}}</ref><ref name=WilliamsTSQ>{{cite journal|last1=Williams|first1=Cristan|title=Radical Inclusion: Recounting the Trans Inclusive History of Radical Feminism|journal=Transgender Studies Quarterly|date=May 2016|volume=3|issue=1–2|doi=10.1215/23289252-3334463|issn=2328-9252}}</ref> while the vast majority, most notably [[Mary Daly]], [[Janice Raymond]], [[Robin Morgan]], [[Germaine Greer]], [[Sheila Jeffreys]], [[Julie Bindel]], and [[Robert W. Jensen|Robert Jensen]], have argued that the transgender movement perpetuates patriarchal gender norms and is incompatible with radical-feminist ideology.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Daly |first1=Mary |title=Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism |date=1978 |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |location=Boston |edition=1990 |isbn=978-0807015100 |lccn= 78053790 |url=https://archive.org/details/gynecologymetae000daly}}</ref><ref name="newyorker"/><ref name=Pomerleau>{{cite book|last1=Pomerleau|first1=Clark A.|title=Califia Women: Feminist Education against Sexism, Classism, and Racism|date=2013|pages=28–29|chapter=1|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|location=Austin, Texas|isbn=978-0292752948}}</ref><ref name=Jensen2015>{{cite web|last1=Jensen|first1=Robert|title=A transgender problem for diversity politics|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20150605-robert-jensen-a-transgender-problem-for-diversity-politics.ece|accessdate=November 20, 2015|work=The Dallas Morning News|date=June 5, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Forbes">{{cite web | url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2013/06/15/cathy-brennan-on-radfem-2013/ | title=Cathy Brennan On Radfem 2013 | work=Forbes | date=15 June 2013|first1= Peter J.|last1=Reilly}}</ref>

Those who exclude trans women from womanhood or women's spaces refer to themselves as ''gender critical''<ref name="Goldberg 2015">{{cite web |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle |title=The Trans Women Who Say That Trans Women Aren't Women |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/12/gender-critical-trans-women-the-apostates-of-the-trans-rights-movement.html |accessdate=12 April 2019 |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=9 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="Flaherty 2018">{{cite web |last1=Flaherty |first1=Colleen |title='TERF' War |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |accessdate=12 April 2019 |website=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |date=29 August 2018}}</ref> and are referred to by others as trans-exclusionary.<ref name="Compton">{{cite web |last1=Compton |first1=Julie |title='Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pro-lesbian-or-trans-exclusionary-old-animosities-boil-public-view-n958456 |accessdate=12 April 2019 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=14 January 2019}}</ref> Radical feminists in particular who exclude trans women are often referred to as "[[Feminist views on transgender topics#The term "TERF"|trans-exclusionary radical feminists]]" or "[[TERF]]s",<ref name="Flaherty 2018" /><ref name="Goldberg 2015" /><ref name="Compton"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Cristan |date=2016-05-01 |title=Radical InclusionRecounting the Trans Inclusive History of Radical Feminism |journal=[[Transgender Studies Quarterly]] |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=254–258 |doi=10.1215/23289252-3334463 |issn=2328-9252}}</ref> an acronym to which they object,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/are-you-now-or-have-you-ever-been-terf|title=Are you now or have you ever been a TERF? |last1=MacDonald |first1=Terry |date=16 February 2015 |magazine=[[New Statesman|New Statesman America]]}}</ref> say is inaccurate (citing, for example, their inclusion of [[trans men]] as women),<ref name="Flaherty 2018" /> and argue is a [[pejorative|slur]] or even [[hate speech]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle |title=What Is a Woman? |journal=[[The New Yorker]] |date=4 August 2014 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2 |accessdate=November 20, 2015 |quote=TERF stands for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” The term can be useful for making a distinction with radical feminists who do not share the same position, but those at whom it is directed consider it a slur.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.feministcurrent.com/2017/09/21/terf-isnt-slur-hate-speech/ |title='TERF' isn't just a slur, it's hate speech |last1=Murphy |first1=Meghan E. |publisher=Feminist Current |date=September 21, 2017 |quote=If “TERF” were a term that conveyed something purposeful, accurate, or useful, beyond simply smearing, silencing, insulting, discriminating against, or inciting violence, it could perhaps be considered neutral or harmless. But because the term itself is politically dishonest and misrepresentative, and because its intent is to vilify, disparage, and intimidate, as well as to incite and justify violence against women, it is dangerous and indeed qualifies as a form of hate speech. While women have tried to point out that this would be the end result of “TERF” before, they were, as usual, dismissed. We now have undeniable proof that painting women with this brush leads to real, physical violence. If you didn’t believe us before, you now have no excuse.}}</ref> These feminists argue that because trans women are [[Sex assignment|assigned male at birth]], they are accorded corresponding privileges in society, and even if they choose to present as women, the fact that they have a choice in this sets them apart from people assigned female. Gender-critical or trans-exclusionary radical feminists in particular say that the difference in behavior between men and women is the result of socialization. [[Lierre Keith]] describes femininity as "a set of behaviors that are, in essence, ritualized submission",<ref group=note>Keith (2013): "Female socialization is a process of psychologically constraining and breaking girls—otherwise known as 'grooming'—to create a class of compliant victims. Femininity is a set of behaviors that are, in essence, ritualized submission." See: {{cite web | url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/55123/ | title=The Emperor's New Penis | magazine=[[CounterPunch]] | date=21–23 June 2013 | author=Keith, Lierre}}</ref><ref name="newyorker"/> and hence, gender is not an identity but a caste position, and [[Gender identity|gender-identity]] politics are an obstacle to gender abolition.<ref name="newyorker" /><ref name="Forbes" /> [[Julie Bindel]] argued in 2008 that Iran carries out the highest number of sex-change operations in the world, because "surgery is an attempt to keep [[gender stereotypes]] intact", and that "it is precisely this idea that certain distinct behaviours are appropriate for males and females that underlies feminist criticism of the phenomenon of 'transgenderism'."<ref>[https://idgeofreason.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/2008-statement-from-julie-bindel/ "2008 Statement from Julie Bindel"], courtesy of idgeofreason.wordpress.com.</ref><ref name="CSOTP">{{cite web|last1=Grew |first1=Tony |title=Celebs split over trans protest at Stonewall Awards |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9523.html |work=[[PinkNews]] |date=7 November 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629093225/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9523.html |archivedate=June 29, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the BBC in 2014, there are no reliable figures regarding gender-reassignment operations in Iran.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hamedani|first1=Ali|title=The gay people pushed to change their gender|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29832690|work=BBC News|date=5 November 2014|quote=There is no reliable information on the number of gender reassignment operations carried out in Iran.}}</ref>

In ''[[The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male]]'' (1979), the lesbian radical feminist [[Janice Raymond]] argued that "transsexuals&nbsp;... reduce the female form to artefact, appropriating this body for themselves".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male|last1=Raymond|first1=Janice G.|date=1979|publisher=Teachers College Press|isbn=978-0807762721|location=New York|p=xx}}</ref> In ''The Whole Woman'' (1999), [[Germaine Greer]] wrote that largely male governments "recognise as women men who believe that they are women&nbsp;... because [those governments] see women not as another sex but as a non-sex"; she continued that if uterus-and-ovaries transplants were a mandatory part of sex-change operations, the latter "would disappear overnight".<ref name="Greer2009">{{cite book|url=|title=The Whole Woman|author=Germaine Greer|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|year=1999|isbn=978-0-307-56113-8|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ymJArTm2CAIC&pg=PT101 101]}}</ref> [[Sheila Jeffreys]] argued in 1997 that "the vast majority of transsexuals still subscribe to the traditional [[stereotype]] of women" and that by [[transitioning (transgender)|transitioning]] they are "constructing a conservative fantasy of what women should be&nbsp;... an essence of womanhood which is deeply insulting and restrictive."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Sheila|year=1997|title=Transgender Activism: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective|url=http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/sites/default/files/imce/Transgender%20Activism%20A%20Lesbian%20Feminist%20Perspective%20by%20Sheila%20Jeffreys%2C%20Journal%20of%20Lesbian%20Studies%201997%5B1%5D.pdf|journal=The Journal of Lesbian Studies|doi=10.1300/J155v01n03_03}}</ref> In ''Gender Hurts'' (2014), she referred to [[sex reassignment surgery]] as "self-mutilation",{{sfn|Jeffries|2014|pp=68–71}} and used pronouns that refer to biological sex. Jeffreys argued that feminists need to know "the biological sex of those who claim to be women and promote prejudicial versions of what constitutes womanhood", and that the "use by men of feminine pronouns conceals the masculine privilege bestowed upon them by virtue of having been placed in and brought up in the male sex caste".{{sfn|Jeffries|2014|p=9}}<ref name="newyorker" />

By contrast, trans-inclusive radical feminists claim that a biology-based or sex-essentialist ideology itself upholds patriarchal constructions of womanhood. Andrea Dworkin argued as early as 1974 that transgender people and gender identity research have the potential to radically undermine patriarchal sex essentialism: "work with transsexuals, and studies of formation of gender identity in children provide basic information which challenges the notion that there are two discrete biological sexes. That information threatens to transform the traditional biology of sex difference into the radical biology of sex similarity. That is not to say that there is one sex, but that there are many. The evidence which is germane here is simple. The words "male" and "female," "man" and "woman," are used only because as yet there are no others."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dworkin|first1=Andrea|title=Woman Hating|date=1974|pages=175–176|chapter=Androgyny: Androgyny, Fucking, and Community|publisher=[[E. P. Dutton]]|location=New York|isbn=0-525-47423-4|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/womanhating00dwor/page/175}}</ref> In 2015, radical feminist Catherine MacKinnon said:
                                   
<blockquote>"Male dominant society has defined women as a discrete biological group forever. If this was going to produce liberation, we'd be free&nbsp;... To me, women is a political group. I never had much occasion to say that, or work with it, until the last few years when there has been a lot of discussion about whether trans women are women&nbsp;... I always thought I don't care how someone becomes a woman or a man; it does not matter to me. It is just part of their specificity, their uniqueness, like everyone else's. Anybody who identifies as a woman, wants to be a woman, is going around being a woman, as far as I'm concerned, is a woman."<ref name=TransAdvocate /></blockquote>

== Reception == 
{{expand section|date=October 2020}}
[[Gail Dines]], an English radical feminist, spoke in 2011 about the appeal of radical feminism to young women: "After teaching women for 20-odd years, if I go in and I teach liberal feminism, I get looked [at] blank&nbsp;... I go in and teach radical feminism, bang, the room explodes."{{sfn|Dines|2011}}

== Criticism ==
<!--This needs to be updated.-->
Early in the radical feminism movement, some radical feminists theorized that "other kinds of hierarchy grew out of and were modeled on male supremacy and so, were in effect, specialized forms of male supremacy".{{sfn|Willis|1984}} Therefore, the fight against male domination took priority because "the liberation of women would mean the liberation of all".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Thompson|first1=Becky|title= Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology Of Second Wave Feminism |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/7e742ad93c990615a97d8c857597206b6ebaf54b |journal=Feminist Studies|volume=28 |issue=2 |year=2002 |pages=337–360 |jstor=3178747|doi=10.2307/3178747|s2cid=152165042}}</ref> This view is contested, particularly by [[intersectional feminism]] and [[black feminism]]. Critics argue that this ideology accepts the notion that identities are singular and disparate, rather than multiple and intersecting. For example, understanding women's oppression as disparate assumes that "men, in creating and maintaining these systems, are acting purely as men, in accordance with peculiarly male characteristics or specifically male supremacist objectives".{{sfn|Willis|1984}}

[[Ellen Willis]]' 1984 essay "Radical Feminism and Feminist Radicalism" says that within the [[New Left]], radical feminists were accused of being "bourgeois", "antileft", or even "apolitical", whereas they saw themselves as "radicalizing the left by expanding the definition of radical". Early radical feminists were mostly white and middle-class, resulting in "a very fragile kind of solidarity". This limited the validity of generalizations based on radical feminists' experiences of gender relations, and prevented white and middle-class women from recognizing that they benefited from race and class privilege according to Willis. Many early radical feminists broke ties with "male-dominated left groups", or would work with them only in ''ad hoc'' coalitions. Willis, although very much a part of early radical feminism and continuing to hold that it played a necessary role in placing feminism on the political agenda, criticized it as unable "to integrate a feminist perspective with an overall radical politics", while viewing this limitation as inevitable in the context of the time.{{sfn|Willis|1984|pp=120–122}}

== Notes ==
<references group=note/>

== References ==
<references/>

=== Parenthetical sources ===

*{{cite book|editor1-last=Crow|editor1-first=Barbara A.|title=Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader|year=2000|chapter=6: Radical Feminism, Ti-Grace Atkinson|pages=82–89|publisher=[[New York University Press]]|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0814715543}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Crow|editor1-first=Barbara A.|title=Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader|year=2000|chapter=28. Lesbianism and the Women's Liberation Movement, Martha Shelley|pages=305–309|publisher=[[New York University Press]]|location=New York, New York|isbn=978-0814715543}}
*{{cite web|last1=Dines|first1=Gail|author-link=Gail Dines|title= Gail Dines on radical feminism|publisher=WheelerCentre (Sydney Writers' Festival)|website=[[YouTube]]|date=June 29, 2011|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9LVVxvuomU&t=0m20s}}
*{{Cite book|last1=Echols|first1=Alice|author-link1=Alice Echols|title=Daring To Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America 1967-1975|year=1989|edition=1st|publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]]|location=Minneapolis, Minnesota|isbn=0-8166-1786-4}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Sara M.|title=Re-Viewing the Second Wave|journal=[[Feminist Studies]]|year=2002|volume=28|issue=2|pages=258–267|doi=10.2307/3178740|jstor=3178740}}
*{{cite book|last1=Firestone|first1=Shulamith|author-link=Shulamith Firestone|title=The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution|year=1970|edition=1st|publisher=[[William Morrow and Company]]|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-688-12359-7|url=https://archive.org/details/dialecticofsexth00fire/page/n5/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Sheila|author-link=Sheila Jeffreys|title=Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism|year=2014|edition=1st|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=Abingdon, Oxon, England|isbn=978-0415539395}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Linden-Ward|editor1-first=Blanche|editor2-last=Green|editor2-first=Carol Hurd|title=American Women in the 1960s: Changing the Future|year=1993|edition=1st|publisher=[[Twayne Publishers]]|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-8057-9905-2|url=https://archive.org/details/americanwomenin100lind/page/n5/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last1=MacKinnon|first1=Catharine A.|author-link=Catharine MacKinnon|title=Toward a Feminist Theory of the State|year=1989|edition=1st|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=0-674-89645-9|url=https://archive.org/details/towardfeministth0000mack/page/n3/mode/2up|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Willis|first1=Ellen|author-link=Ellen Willis|title=Radical Feminism and Feminist Radicalism|journal=[[Social Text]]|year=1984|volume=The 60's without Apology|issue=9/10|pages=91–118|jstor=466537|doi=10.2307/466537}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite web|author1-link=Carol Hanisch|last1=Hanisch|first1=Carol|last2=Scarbrough|first2=Kathy|author3-link=Ti-Grace Atkinson|last3=Atkinson|first3=Ti-Grace|author4-link=Kathie Sarachild|last4=Sarachild|first4=Kathie|display-authors=et al.|title=The Silencing of Feminist Criticism of "Gender"|url=http://meetinggroundonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GENDER-Statement-InterActive-930.pdf|website=Meeting Ground OnLine|date=August 12, 2013}}
* {{cite web|title=Notes From the First Year|url=https://dukelibraries.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p15957coll6/id/650/page/0/inline/p15957coll6_650_0|magazine=[[New York Radical Women]]|date=June 1968}} (via [[Duke University Libraries]].)
* {{cite web|title=Redstockings Women's Liberation Archives|url=http://redstockings.org/index.php/about-redstockings|website=[[Redstockings]]}}
* {{cite web|last1=Welch|first1=Penny|title=Strands of Feminist Theory|url=http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/femin.htm|website=[[University of Wolverhampton]]|date=February 2001 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010504203058/http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/femin.htm|archivedate=May 4, 2001|url-status=dead}}

;Books and journals

* {{cite book|editor1-last=Bell|editor1-first=Diane|editor2-last=Klein|editor2-first=Renate|title=Radically Speaking|date=1996|publisher=[[Spinifex Press]]|location=Melbourne, Australia|isbn=1-875559-38-8}}
* {{cite book|last1=Coote|first1=Anna|last2=Campbell|first2=Beatrix|title=Sweet Freedom: The Struggle for Women's Liberation|date=1982|publisher=[[Picador (imprint)|Picador]]|location=London |isbn=0-330-26511-3}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Ehrlich|editor1-first=Susan|editor2-last=Meyerhoff|editor2-first=Miriam|editor3-last=Holmes|editor3-first=Janet|title=The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality|year=2014|edition=2nd|pages=23–47|chapter=The Feminist Foundations of Language, Gender, and Sexuality Research by Mary Bucholtz|publisher=[[Wiley Blackwell]]|chapter-url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Handbook+of+Language%2C+Gender%2C+and+Sexuality%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9780470656426|isbn=978-0470656426}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Koedt|editor1-first=Anne|editor-link1=Anne Koedt|editor2-last=Levine|editor2-first=Ellen|editor3-last=Rapone|editor3-first=Anita|title=Radical Feminism|year=1973|publisher=[[Times Books]]|isbn=9780812962208|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/radicalfeminism00koedrich}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Love|editor1-first=Barbara J.|title=Feminists Who Changed America, 1963–1975|date=2006|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|location=Champaign, Illinois|isbn=978-0-252-03189-2}}