How do you interpret radical feminism?

[Jezebelz]

I recently realised I lean towards radical feminism due to the following:

⁃	I actively reject societal norms in terms of appearance and behaviour. 
⁃	I oppose the sexual objectification of women in all circumstances, particularly porn and prostitution
⁃	As a radical lesbian feminist, I believe straight relationships can (in some cases) perpetuate patriarchal power relations and personal dominance 
⁃	I’m a Ms rather than Mrs
⁃	I feel vaguely disappointed in women who ‘need to check that is okay with hubby’ 
⁃	I feel very disappointed in women who expect hubby to pay for everything, and consider hubby’s needs and opinions superior to their own 

Interested in how others interpret radical feminism? And if they consider themselves a rad fem how they reached that conclusion?

OutComeTheWolves Thank you
I wrote it in response to being called an extremist. I wanted something short and snappy that it was difficult to argue with. I believe that a feminist society would benefit the majority of people, and the environment.
What we have now isn't working, and no one seems to know what to do about it.

Materialist Women might have to start from scratch at some point in the future and we need to have everything written down so as many people as possible can access it, and we can pass it along.

I think the understanding of solidarity has been the most pleasant of all the surprises in my discovery of Feminism.

For me, this is why it is closely aligned in my head to freedom and liberation - particularly the misattributed Voltaire quote about not agreeing with what someone says but defending their right to say it.

The way my strange mind works, I think of that phrase and I think of all the women in my life - women who have helped me, women who have hurt me, women I have helped to create - and I realize that whatever we agree or disagree on, we share something fundamental, and while I have nothing at all in common with, say, a liberal feminist who is a member of momentum, a militant atheist and never wants kids (not throwing shade here, I'm just trying to describe my complete opposite) I can gladly fight for her rights to freedom, safety and everything else that women really should have access to.

I don't have to have experienced FGM, or Rape or assault, or childbirth, or abortion, or workplace discrimination to know that those of my sex class who have are in need of my full support as someone who could have faced those things and therefore understands the system from a perspective that a man will never have.

I first learnt about radical feminism decades ago when I was in my teens, it described what I always thought. In my opinion radical feminist analysis explains women’s position in the world better than anything else. Of course there are numerous radical feminist texts and analysis, but they all agree on the basics; that gender (or sex roles) is not innate, that men as a group exploit and dominate females as group in order to use us for our reproductive capacity and for sex.

Of course men do not like us to acknowledge this fact, so call us ‘man haters’, it is in fact just a reversal, because it is men who hate us, if they didn’t they would not do what they do to us. I also don’t think it is unreasonable to dislike the group that oppresses and exploits us, so it doesn’t bother me to be called a ‘man hater’. I am also a lesbian so don’t really care about what men think about me anyway. My feminism begins and ends with women.

I think radical feminist analysis can be frightening for many, because it involves questioning things that are usually taken for granted, it can lead to a shift of perspective which can be frightening. I think once a woman has her eyes opened by radical feminist analysis it is difficult to go back.

I have often noticed at work that the women who spend the most time complaining about their husbands and/or how shit men in general are are the ones least likely to call themselves feminists. Who are the man-haters really?

Is it okay to say I love you all? cos I do. ❤️

Mumsnet is such a valuable place for women.

Materialist's post and the link to the woman from the Dominican Republic really hit home for me. I think I've always been a radical feminist but, and I see the irony in this, it seemed like such an aggressive term.
I have a degree in philosophy but never read a woman's view, apart from Elizabeth Anscombe in passing. Thank you FWR.

I think I've come to radical feminism with age. I called myself a feminist from early teens, but to me it was all about equality: right up to when I started work and probably a bit further on I believed that it was simply a matter of working hard enough and I'd be treated equally, or the law would work its magic. So young and naive. I have been wondering recently whether going to an all girls' school (and studying a female dominated subject) contributed to that.

I also recognise why these young lib fems on Twitter spout nonsense about how legalising prostitution will benefit women, as I once believed that. Fortunately none of my teenage ramblings were preserved for eternity.

Now, with age and experience, I'm firmly in the rad fem camp. As PP said, it's about the framework of society. I'm not as eloquent as most posters here so I don't post much. Men built the society we live in, confining us- because of our biology - to the roles they want us to have. If we fight within the existing framework for equality, will we ever achieve it? No. Whereas if we pull down the framework and start again we can build a society where we're not automatically at a disadvantage.

It really irritates me when men call themselves feminists (I'm looking at you, Trudeau). Men can be feminist allies, but actual feminists? Nah. It's a movement by women for women.

I love FWR and Mumsnet. I do talk to other women in my life but I find they are less frank and honest (and I am too) than on here. Because if you complain in real life about the fact your husband is a bit shit at being an equal parent then it feels disloyal. Even if it is not just because of them individually but because of the way society is structured & how they've been conditioned.

Like Lysis I'd say I'm rad fem now with age - and critically for me, motherhood. I'm ashamed to say that in my teens and twenties i think I looked down on motherhood a little as compared to career and education. Though I'm not sure the term 'radical feminism' really is very helpful & I think it does put people (particularly men) off some of the really good ideas within it.

I think the work that mothers do (and hands on parents in general but also the biological work of gestation, birthing and breastfeeding) should be valued more by society and I think that supposed 'feminist' gains - enabling some small minority of women to have the same status in the workplace through mirroring the behaviour of the most economically successful men - have in some ways taken us backwards in the UK. So that now, far from women being confined to the home, those who have even the theoretical choice to be a SAHM/D are in the minority and most parents have no choice at all but are on a thankless treadmill working two jobs that don't pay well enough to cover housing costs, claiming ever diminishing and complex tax credits, and trying to fit kids around the edges.

I think that valuing caring work (through the tax & benefits system / state pensions etc) would really benefit a lot of men too - particularly those not part of the 1% . Might even actually increase productivity if people are happier and more connected to their families. It's unsurprising to me that the UK has a productivity problem.

I'm also against the selling of womens' bodies in any context, pro the Nordic model etc. How anyone can see sex work as a free choice for anyone other than the insanely rich is beyond me. And of course no-one ever says it's something they aspire to for their daughters or sons which tells you a lot.

So yes, guess I'm a rad fem now. Thanks FWR!

Fuck sake just typed a reply & lost it when dislocated my thumb!!

Doesn’t matter what anyone interprets feminism as, it remains a political movement for the liberation of women from patriarchal dominance and sexual violence. That’s it, nothing less nothing more no matter how it’s twisted.

It would be like interpreting communism as capitalism, doesn’t make it true. A lot like me identifying as an able bodied person will not stop my whole fucking body dislocating every time I sneeze.

Imho the only people who care about interpreting feminism are those who twist it to meet men’s needs.

This thread is really educational. Thank you.

I do also believe that we can't fight for women & girls unless we can define women & girls as a sex class.