Compare And Contrast Liberal And Radical Feminism

The combination of liberal and radical feminism is not one that often comes to the mind, but it can be useful to consult various viewpoints when tackling complex issues. Despite drastic differences between them, these two views of feminism do hold some similarities with each other by virtue of their common goal (when that goal is simplified to simply equality of the genders). In this paper I will be outlining some of the basic similarities and differences between these two ideologies of feminism and I may not cover all of the connections and gaps between the two for the sake of length. Moving forward from this explanation of liberal and radical feminism, I will use it to explain their views of pornography and how it aided my own understanding

They both accept the premise that women should be granted the same rights and privileges as men in all spheres, including the social, economic, and political fields. They both view the structure of our present society as being unfairly tipped to the side of males and that this must be drastically changed. On a more negative note, both of these views of feminism lack a strong intersectional component. Liberal and radical feminism both emerged during the second wave of feminism and focused on the oppression of women as a whole group by men as a whole group. This lacks an understanding of the role that race, socioeconomic class, and the status of an individual as transgender (radical feminism has been singularly criticized for this because of the production of what are known as TERFs or trans-exclusionary radical feminists).

The major differences between liberal and radical feminists stem from their separate ideas about the differences between the genders that the framework that these ideologies are built upon. For liberal feminism, they hold that

In deeper readings I have come to an understanding which is based upon the way these forms of thought view sexuality and sex as a whole. Liberal feminism is sex positive while radical feminism is what can be labeled as anti-sex. To elaborate, liberal feminism holds the stance that a woman has control over her body and can decide what to do with it. This view includes her decision to be involved with pornography. This is in complete incongruence with the views of radical feminism, which condemns pornography as a whole as “a practice of sex discrimination” (Dworkin & McKinnon, 133), no matter the type or whether it was safely produced. Radical feminism elaborates that pornography is a medium based upon a “systematic practice of exploitation and subordination based on sex that differentially harms and disadvantages women” (Dworkin & McKinnon, 133) Pornography supports the unbalanced power structures within society and cite the fact that most pornography is made for men, by men, with male desires and interests in mind which leads the media to support and idolize unreal and harmful situations within the “storyline” of the pornographic media. These two ideologies view pornography in very black and white terms, as well and fine or bad and evil, with no real wiggle room for