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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Reclaiming Women's Rights Through Radical, Nonpartisan Advocacy

5 replies

IwantToRetire · 09/08/2025 00:52

Once a powerful force rooted in the pursuit of women's self-sovereignty and rights, feminism now appears fragmented and diluted, caught in the crossfire of partisan debates and ideological battles that often overshadow the very issues it once championed.

WoLF works at the intersection of law, policy, and culture, with structured policy areas that oversee the protection of women and girls from male violence, commercial sexual exploitation, and the elevation of gender over sex. For WoLF, these are not separate battles. They are all part of the same system that commodifies women. WoLF sees an important part of its work as restoring the connections that mainstream feminism has forgotten.

"When you're partisan, you inherit that party's contradictions," says Cypher. "Maybe one policy supports women, but another undermines them. We've seen that play out again and again. Our commitment is to women's interests, not parties or politics."

Radical feminism is not extremism but a return to the roots. A framework that prioritizes women's safety, centers their experiences, and refuses to trade clarity for political convenience. The organization understands that its approach and beliefs may be unpopular in the world today, but its goal doesn't lie in public perception, but rather in action and transformations.

That means asking hard questions, starting with: Where are the feminists?

https://www.ibtimes.com/how-wolf-reclaiming-womens-rights-through-radical-nonpartisan-advocacy-question-where-are-3780548

NB This is not the whole article. Just bits I picked out, so doesn't represent WOLF, for anyone wanting to comment on their politics and activism!

WoLF

How WoLF is Reclaiming Women's Rights Through Radical, Nonpartisan Advocacy & the Question: Where are the Feminists?

Once a powerful force rooted in the pursuit of women's self-sovereignty and rights, feminism now appears fragmented and diluted, caught in the crossfire of partisan debates and ideological battles that often overshadow the very issues it once champione...

https://www.ibtimes.com/how-wolf-reclaiming-womens-rights-through-radical-nonpartisan-advocacy-question-where-are-3780548

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TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · 09/08/2025 07:10

Thanks for the link, it sounds like an initiative I can sign up to, I've gone back to thinking of myself as a women's libber, because I think Feminism betrayed women back in the '90's. So a reset back to the time when women's right's were about women and women (and girls) alone is welcome.

"Elspeth Cypher, a retired Justice, now serving on WoLF's board, explains how the shift from "women's studies" to "gender studies" in academia has played a pivotal role in this dilution, with women often taking a backseat to gender identity."

I agree with this, I'm not in anyway knowledgeable about the subject, but it does seem that's when it all started to fall apart for women's right's, our cause and concern's were subsumed by the omnicause.

MarieDeGournay · 09/08/2025 11:59

I need to find out more about 'International Business Times, because it's the last place in the world I'd expect to find a positive report about radical-feminist WoLF!

Having only vaguely heard of WoLF I had formed the opinion that they were a group of wild young radical lesbian feminist activists fighting for women's rights on all any any fronts, a bit of a throw-back - but a welcome one - to the 1980s WAVAW, Reclaim the Night, etc etc.
I think I may have got that wrong!Confused

The contrast with the Wikipedia entry on WoLF
Women's Liberation Front - Wikipedia
is striking - Wiki predictably focuses on WoFL being anti-trans, not pro-women..

Imnobody4 · 09/08/2025 12:04

They've been around since 2014 in US.
Interesting unbiased characterisation from Wikepedia (sarcasm).

The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) is an American trans-exclusionary radical feminist organization that opposes transgender rights and related legislation. It opposes the Obama administration's Title IX directives and has participated in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board as well as R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

WoLF describes itself as a radical feminist organization.[2] Vox, The New Republic, and La Presse, The Advocate, and The Washington Post have characterized the organization as a "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" (TERF) group,[3][4][5][1][6] and it has been described as a hate group by the Gender Justice League.[7]

IwantToRetire · 09/08/2025 19:15

I partly shared the link because it does raise questions about how in the UK women are taking on the system / patriarchy.

And liked that it referred to a clear principle of non partisanship. For which of course "actual gender critical left" thinks they are totally unaceptable. But quite honestly anything AGCL doesn't like is bound to be (well 99% of the time) doing important work on behalf of women.

But yes WoLF have been around for years, and have not given up, even though most of the criticism of them comes from other "femists".

Which isn't to say that those in the UK who have or are closer to being single issue campaigns haven't equally played an important role.

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IwantToRetire · 09/08/2025 19:25

Also worth reading WoLF's Open letter to legacy organizations that lost their way https://womensliberationfront.org/news/dri2g55rphjssg287tkd1vm3qzeqxa

They also publish "Letters from the Front" which gives a platform for women to write about their personal experience https://womensliberationfront.org/search?q=Letters%20from%20the%20Front

Open letter to legacy organizations that lost their way — Women's Liberation Front

To the National Women’s Law Center, National Organization for Women (NOW) Ms. Magazine, American Association of Women Professors, Equality Now, Women in Animation, Women’s Sports Foundation, National Women’s Studies Association, American Associati...

https://womensliberationfront.org/news/dri2g55rphjssg287tkd1vm3qzeqxa

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