The following is an excerpt from a provocative essay by Adriene Sere that was published in 2001, which was brought to my attention by a post at Sinister Girl:
Leftist publications have a problem with radical feminism. They have long maintained an informal ban against publishing radical feminist writers. They refuse to grapple with radical feminism’s critique of male supremacist sexuality as a system of oppression of women. They generally pretend radical feminists don’t exist, except for Andrea Dworkin and Catherine MacKinnon, whose names they try to weld into keywords for “censorship,” “anti-sex,” and “bad kind of feminist.”
Leftist publications do publish liberal feminists and leftist women, thanks in part to the pressures of the feminist movement. There’s a tiny bit of space given to women in the Nation, a little bit more in Z Magazine, and a generous bit more in the Progressive. But whatever the ratio, all publishing access comes under the provisions of an underlying contract: “We will publish your writing. We will even allow you to be stars. Just don’t go there — where Catherine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, and those nameless radical feminists go. That’s taboo territory. Don’t even think about respectfully engaging with these feminists. If you join their ranks, we will treat you the way we treat them. If you even look like their friend, you will no longer be welcome here. We will reward you, so long as you don’t cross that line.”
After decades of this divide-and-conquer strategy, radical feminists might hope that sexist men on the left would simply tire themselves out. After all, how can they keep pummeling those who are made invisible? How can they both bash and erase, year after year? How can they keep getting liberal and leftist women to follow their rules, almost without exception?
Unfortunately, no one is getting tired — except perhaps radical feminists. Women who move in leftist and liberal publishing circles know the rules of the contract, and more and more of them make these rules their own. Many of them take the initiative to bash and erase the “bad feminists” (the two that exist) as a pledge of allegiance to the men and the system around them. …
Whether Sere is correct generally, and whether her observations can be fairly applied to the current feminist legal theory milieu, are queries that I think are worth considering. The essay also made me think about this post by Echidne of the Snakes which really made me sad, because she is one of my favorite bloggers, and she was clearly feeling down when she wrote it. Observing the awful things that some people write when they believe they are anonymous can be really discouraging, especially when there are indications that the sexist commenters identify as “liberal.” It’s part of the campaign to silence feminists, even those who don’t necessarily identify as “radical.”
–Ann Bartow
What I still do not understand–and I blogged about this recently–is how any feminist cannot be a radical feminist. This is why I dislike the term “radical feminism.” To me, all feminism, by nature, has to be radical. I would love to hear the other reasons–besides an oppressive patriarchy–that women give for believing in the existence of feminism.
Given that so-called “radical feminism” = “man-hating” among the masses, there is a dialogue waiting to happen about how people of color, women, members of the LBGT community, etc. can hate–yes, hate–the oppressive group and what it stands for, while not hating, or even loving, some of its members.
This argument was put forth during the 2nd Wave, and of course, the news media, a patriarchal organization, did not want to hear it. As a white person who fully supports the rights of people of color and who witnesses constant discrimination against them, I am sensitive to being the outsider with good intentions. If I reject all men, then all people of color must reject me. I do not want that. But to deny that patriarchal oppression is the problem just boggles my mind.
I understand what you are saying, but for women who want to be accepted in the political sphere by liberal men (at least as much as they are ever really going to be…), calling themselves “liberal feminists” is a helpful gesture.
Memo to Adriene Sere: MacKinnon’s first name is spelled with two As.
“…calling themselves”liberal feminists”is a helpful gesture.”
Yes, it is probably no bigger lie than the men calling themselves “liberal.” But it sure won’t create a revolution.