Women Writing Digitally: Radical Feminism in the Information Age
Compiled by Amy’s Brain Today & spotted elephant
When you think of women’s literature, what springs to mind? Hardback nonfiction books? Paperback novels? Formal journal articles by members of an academic elite? For many years that might have been the extent of what you’d find. However, in the last few years, women around the globe have embraced weblogs, or “blogs,” as informal, grassroots fora to spread ideas, connect with others, and develop activist strategies. A variety of issues central to radical feminism are written about, read, and discussed with immediacy and personality by women who care about these topics. Novices, as well as veterans, write about radical feminism; some publish their words under their own name, and others choose varying degrees of anonymity by writing pseudonymously. Nevertheless, each woman’s words add to a growing online radical feminist community. For this issue, we decided to highlight women writing about the status of radical feminism, and give you a taste of what each writer, or “blogger,” has to say about it.
And don’t worry; if you want to read any piece in its entirety, but don’t feel like typing in those long addresses, visit the back issues page of Rain and Thunder’s website for a version of this article that includes clickable links to each article!
Witchy-woo takes on critics of radical feminism who accuse radical feminists of being stuck in a 'cult of victimhood':
Lately, in posts and comments on some of the blogs I read, there seems to be a "will you women just stop whining" attitude developing in response to feminists speaking about the global injustices endured by women. We're accused of being stuck in a 'cult of victimhood' by people who either don't have the first clue or those who relate their own tale of survival and self-perceived success with nary a thought for those with less power/resources/privilege/ support/luck than they have. You know, that 'you can help yourself, just look at me - I play the system and it works for me!' view."
Sparkle*Matrix argues that each individual’s personal decisions matter. Harmful behavior can’t be rationalized as personal choice. Here’s a bit from Stream of consciousness ~ Choices:
"I am tired of the way the word ‘choice’ is used to describe destructive and damaging life-styles, because somehow having made a ’choice’ is somehow empowering, somehow liberating and somehow seized upon by users of women’s bodies."
In her piece, i blame the radical feminists! ms jared scathingly addresses the criticism that many feminists level at radical feminism: radical feminists are so strident that we harm the wider feminist movement.
"it never ceases to amaze me how in 95% of porn and prostitution threads what it all basically boils down to is that radical feminists are the problem. we're just these judgmental, frigid, woman-hating prudes trying to butt into everyone's blissful pornotopia and turning all the otherwise gung-ho women off of feminism altogether....
apparently, if it weren't for us lousy radicals there'd be oh so many more ass-kicking women joining feminist marches, signing feminist petitions, stuffing envelopes, volunteering at DV shelters, fighting for reproductive rights, and so on and so forth. but no. because we can't just keep our mouths shut and accept every single woman's every single choice as feminist and good for the cause - without question - then they're not going to play our reindeer games. they're just going to take their ball and go home, feminists be damned. that's what we get for being bitches."
Bea places blame for patriarchal oppression right where it belongs, with Names:
“I once viewed patriarchy as an abstract system that oppresses us all to varying degrees, but my understanding of the world has now shifted towards a more radical perspective. Yes, I understand that men have no more choice in the role that is assigned to them than do women, but somewhere along the line they become responsible for their actions. Men are responsible for their violence and for their silence. Women are oppressed not by ‘the system’, but by a collective of individual men.”
Yolanda Carrington describes the goals for which every radical feminist should strive. We should always keep the big picture in mind and remember that we’re fighting patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism. She writes in Feminist Theory: The Hard Stuff:
“For me, a truly radical feminism is one that dedicates itself to the eradication of white supremacy and capitalism as much as it does patriarchy. These are all systems of domination, and any system of domination is a threat to the self-determination of women as a class. Feminists recognize the inherent rights of women to safety, health, sustainable resources, education, and self-actualization, because these are the very rights that patriarchy zaps from us. But patriarchy accomplishes this with the full cooperation of racism and capital theft, and these oppressor systems work to keep men as a class dominant over women and children. For us to truly realize the global sisterhood in our lifetime (or in our daughters’), the most privileged feminists among us must be willing to rebuke White Power with all their might.”
Pippa writes honestly about the price radical feminists pay for fighting oppression. But she reminds us that other women provide inspiration when we’re feeling low, in How I Feel About Being a Feminist:
“Some days I feel tired of fighting. Tired of objecting to "EVERY SINGLE TINY INSIGNIFICANT THING", exhausted by my own attempts to counteract the bad things with good thoughts, positive thoughts, empowering thoughts. I get dragged into hating myself. I allow myself to be shrunk down and stepped on. In the face of overwhelming pressure to conform and be "normal" it just all gets too much.
Then I think of something peculiarly feminist, like oh, an Indigo Girls song, or labrys badges, or being a good Mum, friend, sister, human. Or Mary Daly's amazing Wickedary, the Bronte sisters, Audre Lorde's poems, the women who lived and breathed and died for women's Suffrage and I just feel amazing again. Powerful. Fleshed out and whole. I become re-excited by radical feminism and the promises of grace, agency and imagination contained within those two spiky, precious words. Today I may be knackered and burned out but tomorrow....”
Jo22 cuts to the heart of what it means to be a radical feminist with Radical Feminism, Porn, and Prostitution:
“There seems to be some confusion about the terms "radical feminism" and "anti-porn feminism". They are not interchangeable. A radical feminist is anti-porn because she's a radical feminist. She is not a radical feminist because she's anti-porn.
Radical means root, and it is not possible to see pornography or prostitution as empowering women if you go to the root of the problem, which is the disempowerment of women through patriarchy. The disempowerment of women is the root cause of prostitution and pornography.”
And last but certainly not least, Heart explores what radical feminism requires from each of us. She explains that our motivation to act must come from within, in On What Radical Feminism Is and Isn't:
"Radical feminism isn't about reading books or mastering ideas or believing patriarchy is wrong or bad, although radical feminists do and believe all of these things. It isn't about raging on the internet about the latest male supremacist violation of a woman, although there is often value in doing that, if only to the woman doing the raging. Radical feminism has to do with going about making change in the world, beginning in our own lives, including in our everyday, apparently small acts and decisions, but never ending there, and not because somebody persuaded us or convinced us that we should, but because we are so compelled by our concern and love for women, and our awareness of what women suffer in the world, and men, too, for that matter, that we can do no less.”
Watch this space in upcoming issues for more inspiring words from the blogosphere!
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Amy’s Brain Today, aka Amy Winter, is a radical lesbian feminist blogger and the webspinster at feminist reprise, a radical feminist archive and online feminist resource. You can read her blog here.
spotted elephant is a radical feminist who blogs at The Bipolar View.