Where are the Radical Feminists?

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Where are the Radical Feminist? A review of the available literature provides a wealth of examples of authors advocating women movement or feminism essential for defending the rights of women in a vast array of society across the globe. Feminism reflects “a world view that values women and that confronts systematic injustices based on gender” (Chinn & Wheeler, 1985, p. 74). The oppression of women had existed a long time ago and is still evident today and it is not a new issue in today’s society. Radical feminism attributes the oppression of women to men. Male power must be analyzed and understood and not reduced to other explanations, such as labor relations. Cultural feminism has been critiqued, because it provides moral grounding for men to make claims that they cannot help being oppressive. This logic takes a further turn, in that it is then likewise natural for women to be submissive (Ferguson, 1996). Through the perspectives of a radical feminist the issue is we should see individuals, family, society or an organisation with close reference to their sociological, political, economical, race and cultural background and not based on their gender since women are considered as passive in comparison to men. The different interpretations made on the purpose of radical feminism might just be the case of this issue because radical feminist might interpret it as equality in terms of having the same freedom and opportunities as men but men are patriarchal in belief and dominance is inevitable. According to Theorizing Patriarchy (1990), Sylvia Walby suggests that patriarchy is ‘a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women’ (1990:20). The dominance of men over women in many aspect of capi... ... middle of paper ... ... As for me, I am partially against the denial of women empowerment and influence in a society. I am not fully against this denial because I looked at it through the perspective of both men and women. Men are historically proven to have achieved better than women. For example, the invention of light bulb by Thomas Alva Edison which have now innovated into far more sophisticated designs and Abraham Lincoln, the man who Men have a holistic vision in achieving something and men have a better practical mind in comparison to women. As a result, men put themselves higher than women in a society which made them more powerful and influential than women. However, we cannot put aside the fact that women too have the right to authorize themselves and manipulate society. Sadly, the reality is that women had been deprived of the right to be as equivalent of men in this matter.

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