Publisher's Synopsis
Radical feminism is arguably the basis from which the second wave of the women's movement was launched. Radical feminists' analyses of oppression were premised on an understanding of the interlocking power of racism, classism and (hetero) sexism as manifest under patriarchy. Their projects covered every area of women's lives. Yet the richness of the radical feminist project has been misrepresented or abused by the right, the media and the high-postmodernists. Here, the key names of radical feminism are brought together for the first time to tell the story themselves. This reader presents the work of radical feminists such as Andrea Dworkin, Catherine MacKinnon, Robin Morgan, Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Louise Armstrong, Diana Russell, Kathleen Barry and Janice Raymond, the very first women who spoke out against violence and oppression. They write of the ways in which they have been attacked, yet have continued with their work. The writings of Tatyana Mamonova, Evelyne Accad, Teboho Maitse, Natalie Nenodic, Yenlin Ku and Marjorie Agosìn, show the truly global reach of radical feminism. What is happening in the former Yugoslavia, in Russia, Lebanon, South Africa, Taiwan and Chile resonates with the experience of women in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany and New Zealand. Reduced to an assemblage of texts and multiplicities of identities, 'woman' no longer exists in the work of much contemporary social theory. From the worst of the postmodernist perspectives, the idea of oppression thus disappears, envisaging a feminist future is rendered impossible. Here, writers as diverse as Barbara Christian, Somer Brodribb, Christine Delphy, Kristin Waters, Joan Hoff, Diane Bell, Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger deconstruct these ideological posturings and reveal the deeply conservative and elitist agenda of these writings. This unique volume will be essential reading for students and academics of women's studies, sociology, cultural studies, political science, philosophy, anthropology and religion, and will also appeal to feminist readers from a wide variety of backgrounds.
