Radical Feminism Inhibits The Liberty Of Women

Essay, Research Paper

Radical Feminism Inhibits the liberty of Women

Since I was a really young child I was told that I could do anything that a boy could do. This chorus still rings loud in my ears today. This is the way many women are raised today. They are raised to be leaders and followers just like the other gender. The radical feminist, however, has one main mission in the world today to irradiate the male gender. This causes a problem because sometimes the line between feminist and radical feminist can be very gray. Unlike Adriennne Rich I see the radical feminist as destructive storm that only causes the traditional feminist to rebuild after a radical feminist has swept over. Meaning that the regular feminist can be falsely accused as a very unpopular person in the male community. This growing form of labeling shows that radical feminist inhibits the one thing that the regular feminist have been striving for the past hundred years, the liberation of women.

The increasing tendency of women in the workplace has given arise to a new feminist. This feminist sees the male gender as a different species and mainly the enemy. As always these women give the regular feminist a bad name. If you walked into a mostly male room and said feminist the initial word would be lesbian. These stereotypes are always breaking down what the traditional feminist is trying to build. The traditional feminist wants one simple thing, equality. The radical feminist also wants one simple thing, complete power. A easy way of making one s case is undermining the other s character. I believe that men and women are generally the same in ideas. Adrienne Rich disagrees with me she thinks that Men in general think badly: in the disjunctive from their personal lives, claiming objectivity where the most irrational passions seethe .( p.509) This insulting causes a rift between the sexes and all feminist are blamed as the culprit.

Radical feminist do not socialize with the opposite sex normally. When they do a battle between two egos usually erupts. When the battle is over neither party is destroyed. The victim in this battle is not even there she is working late while her superior has just had a fight with a so called feminist. When asked the next morning if she is a feminist the aspiring business woman replies yes. A stereotype is forever placed on her as the woman that the boss saw in the bar last night. Rich believes that women are seen as objects department stores windows feature female mannequins in chains, pinned to the wall with legs spread, smiling in a position of torture . (p.508) Personally I have never seen this scene depicted anywhere much less a department store. Rich is a little over exuberant in her depiction of the male gender attitudes towards women.

When women decide to take a professional or traditional life they have to choose over the pros and cons of each life. Each choice leaves a part either untouched or neglected. Some women could care less about having a family, while others could care less about having a career. There are extremes to every possibility. Most women like the scales equally balanced or prefer one or the other and act on their decision. A human being will do what he or she wants to do in the end no matter the cost to others. Being self centered is one of the requirements to being human. The radical feminist is extremely self centered they not only wish for women to rule the earth they want men to fall off the face of the earth. To a radical feminist the traditional way of life is a degrading choice that leaves a woman with a void.

The ultimate question is whether which form of feminism is right? I find that answer to be very simple. The traditional feminist goes about her everyday life working for the good of her fellow sisters. The feminist only wants equality and maybe a hot bath every now and then. The radical feminist would like to boil all men in hot water. Every idea that is followed will have its extremist. She carries with her a ideal that is corrupt from the onset. If something else does not destroy her she will do it her self.