Radical Feminist Research Articles

Analisis Semiotika Feminisme Radikal dalam Film Poor Things

The issue of feminism has been a topic of intense and in-depth discussion in various circles, involving a variety of perspectives in academic, social, and cultural studies. Social dynamics that occur such as social class injustice based on gender, oppression of women, sexism, patriarchal ideology that defines women as objects of sexuality and so on make this issue raised in any media, one of which is film. In this study, researchers are interested in analyzing the film Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a script by Tony McNamara which highlights women having freedom over their bodies, the setting of this film was taken in the Victorian era where at that time women were considered a second class that functioned to satisfy male sexual urges. This research aims to explain the meaning of the semiotic code of radical feminism in Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a script by Tony McNamara which highlights women having freedom over their bodies. The method used in this research is a qualitative approach with John Fiske's semiotic analysis based on codes that are divided into three levels, namely the level of reality, representation and ideology. The results show the values of radical feminism at the level of reality through the codes of appearance, makeup, costumes, speech, environment and behavior. At the representation level, the values of feminism are shown through the codes of camera, character, action, conflict and dialog. At the ideological level, radical feminism found in the movie Poor Things is included in patriarchal ideology. In the movie Poor Things, the level of ideology displayed is patriarchy where women are considered as a second class that functions to satisfy men's sexual urges.

Framing feminist protest: a content analysis of the glitter revolution

ABSTRACT Feminist groups in Mexico City started a mobilization in August 2019 that would later be called the Glitter Revolution. The protest was a reaction to the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by four policemen. The protest earned the name after one of the protestors showered Mexico City’s chief of police with pink glitter while he was trying to address activists and reporters. A second protest turned violent, and one of Mexico’s best-known landmarks was defaced by protesters who covered it in graffiti with signs reading “Mexico feminicide,” and “rapists.” This paper engages with literature on the protest paradigm and feminist theories to conduct a qualitative content analysis of news coverage of the two protests. This research shows how: 1) news stories by mainstream media adhere to the protest paradigm deploying a marginalizing framing device to cover the feminist protests; 2) heavy reliance on official sources and information is still prevalent in mainstream news, reinforcing official narratives and discourses; 3) the emergence of new frames that assign more value to historical monuments than to women’s access to justice; 4) and alternative news provided different frames such as feminist movement/activism and gender violence to contextualize the protests.

Beauty as duty: a study of the feminist movement “rejecting beauty duty” on RED

ABSTRACT RED, as a platform primarily focused on visual imagery to drive consumption, has been a bastion of pseudo-feminism in China, propagating standardized beauty ideals like the “wanghong face.” However, the active engagement of numerous women in shaping discourse on these platforms has also witnessed the resurgence of feminism on the Chinese internet. In 2023, a notable trend emerged on RED under the banner of “rejecting beauty duty.” Represented by this movement, these women are referred to as “radical feminists” on the Chinese internet, a group that has become quite emblematic in the current feminist movement in China. This movement disrupted existing forms of female expression and catalyzed a fresh wave of feminist dialogues. Through the application of Critical Discourse Analysis, this article explores how Chinese feminism seeks to reconceptualize the narrative of neoliberal feminism within the context of the post-socialist era. By juxtaposing historical perspectives with contemporary realities, this article sheds light on the intricate dilemmas inherent in Chinese feminist discourse that warrant attention.

The Marriage Debate, Mona Caird and Her Feminist Radicalism

New Woman scholarship presents Mona Caird as a radical marriage reformer and emphasises how she challenged the patriarchal structure of Victorian marriage norms. However, this paper demonstrates Caird’s radicalness was not a challenge to marriage norms, but an attack on legal, cultural, and religious restrictions on womanhood. Caird developed her radical arguments through her interaction with her mentor John Stuart Mill, the New Woman novelist Sarah Grand, and the influential Victorian anti-feminist writer Elizabeth Lynn Linton. This paper explores her relationship with these three writers regarding their thoughts on marriage, based on the study of her novels The Daughters of Danaus (1894) and The Wing of Azrael (1889), and the collection of her journalistic articles The Morality of Marriage (1897). Caird differed from these three writers by arguing for a more liberal and equal gender relationship, resisting eugenic theory, and challenging anti-feminist arguments. Caird was an undisciplined New Woman writer not only in the sense of her feminist stance but also her critical engagement with the patriarchal discourses of gender and class relationship.

Analysis of Barbie’s Impact in Mexico through a Colorist Lens: Challenging the Persistence of a Stereotyped Pink Society

This article delves into the intricate and layered concept of Mexican pink, a color with deep historical and cultural roots. It commences by tracing the colonial origins of this vibrant hue, highlighting its association with colorism as depicted in caste paintings. These artworks, serving as portraiture, often reinforced social hierarchies based on skin color. From this historical perspective, Mexican pink has transitioned to symbolize femininity and feminist resistance against gender violence. In the 1940s, Mexican pink gained prominence, largely due to the innovative fashion designer Ramón Valdiosera. His pioneering work played a pivotal role in bringing this color to the forefront of the fashion industry, making it a significant representation of Mexican identity. However, the narrative around Mexican pink has continued to evolve, particularly recently. Feminist groups have increasingly adopted this color as a powerful tool to raise awareness about feminicide. This dual use underscores the complexity of the color, which serves as both a symbol of national identity in Mexico and a rallying cry for justice. The article also addresses the tensions arising from the commercialization of pink, mainly when used for feminist purposes. This commercialization can dilute the original meaning and importance of color, leading to debates about the authenticity and commodification of feminist ideals. In conclusion, I analyze the potential impact of Greta Gerwig's Barbie 2023 film on the feminist movement in Mexico. With its significant social media presence, the film has sparked much debate. Four influential Mexican TikTok creators, who became the most followed on the platform between June and August 2023, have been instrumental. Their content, which primarily appeals to young women interested in fashion, makeup, and feminism, creates a unique intersection, further highlighting Mexican pink's ongoing relevance in contemporary culture. This article examines the relationship between the content produced by these influencers and the representation of Barbie pink, which closely resembles Mexican pink. By analyzing this connection, we aim to understand if it is possible to forge a link between the two that can enhance the feminist struggle. Given that Gerwig's film has been framed as a feminist statement, exploring three different, yet similar, shades of pink reveal how they can integrate narratives of consumption with those of feminist activism, ultimately enriching the discourse around both color and the movement it represents.

Unveiling Reproductive Oppression: An In-depth Analysis of Radical Feminism in Joyland

Unveiling Reproductive Oppression: An In-depth Analysis of Radical Feminism in Joyland

From meme-making trolls to feminist artists: digital feminist art activism in contemporary South Korea

ABSTRACT This article explores the activism of Silent Megaphone, a Korean feminist artist group. By examining the experiences of Silent Megaphone members, their artworks, and exhibitions, this study argues that the sexist regulations of online platforms drove the meme-producers to enter the realm of feminist art, transforming them from anonymous women to feminist artists with authorship. This transition allowed them to rearrange the aims and styles of their activism, appropriate the practices of online and offline realms, and connect with the broader feminist artist community, establishing a network encompassing both their online feminist group and an unexpected cohort of feminist artists spanning generations, and creating a safe space for their fellow feminists.

‘The Church is against us!’ Feminist collective apostasies and the struggle for gender equality in Argentina and Spain

ABSTRACT Feminist mobilisations risen across the globe in the last few years. This is especially the case in Latin America and Spain, where social movements to claim the legalisation of abortion and to end violence against women have become key political actors. Some of these movements have adopted collective apostasies as a tool within their mobilisation repertoires to denounce the role of the Catholic Church in maintaining the patriarchal system and interfering in the state and politics. By collectively and formally leaving the Church, members of these groups bring together the fights for gender equality and for the separation of church and state. In so doing, they make apostasy a highly politicised action, far from how previous scholarly conceptualisations of institutional disaffiliation considered it an individual process of religious disengagement. Feminist groups identify the Church as an enemy of women’s rights and while they acknowledge the restricted impact apostasies may have, they perceive them as useful tools to open up public debates around the contentious intersection of institutional religion and gender. This contribution draws on interviews, ethnographic observations, and document and visual analysis of feminist collective apostasies in Argentina and Spain to unpack the discourses generated in and around them.

Ho Chi Minh's ideology on national values and the issue of building national values in Vietnam today

President Ho Chi Minh did not use the term “national value system,” but the content of this concept was profoundly addressed by him from a comprehensive and revolutionary perspective. During his leadership of the national liberation revolution and the building of the transitional period to socialism in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh developed thoughts and ideas that reflected the values within the national value system. These thoughts of Ho Chi Minh have served as the foundation, worldview, and methodological orientation for Vietnam in constructing its current national value system. This article analyzes Ho Chi Minh's conception of the national value system, thereby raising the issue of the necessity and outlining some fundamental aspects of building Vietnam's national values today.

Transmitting stories of the longest revolution. Notes from Italy

ABSTRACT Building on a digitally mediated autoethnography within a contemporary Italian feminist movement, the paper analyses the transformations of feminist media practices in Italy since the start of the 20th century. If during the 1960s and 1970s Italian feminism reached its higher visibility as one of the largest in Europe, since the 1980s, it continued to operate in submerged ways through the creation of feminist bookshops, publishing companies, women’s archives and centres while engaging with practices, ideologies and texts that were circulating transnationally. Since the early 1990s Italian feminist groups started engaging with digital technologies, creating new virtual spaces of dialogue, an autonomous internet service provider, an alternative search engine, digital literacy programmes and practical laboratories. Over the past two decades, the online space became the privileged sphere for activists to challenge the hegemonic gender discourse, debate topics otherwise suppressed or misrepresented by traditional media and create a record of struggle. Expanding from a conceptualization of feminist activism as a process of transit, in this paper, I analyse how feminist media practices gradually transformed, shaped by historical and contextual specificities.

Away from Feminist Radicalism

Calixthe Beyala’s creative works and public comments on her artistic productions and her life in general have enjoyed a remarkable attention without any doubt. However, there is a particular aspect of her literary creativity begging for attention. This study, therefore, is set to investigate Beyala’s religious disposition with a view to establishing the fact that African women do not only reject being restricted to the kitchen but also demonstrate that they should be considered when it comes to the matter of exercising their faith. The two novels selected for this study are Calixthe Beyala’s Mama a un amant and La petite fille du réverbère. They can be translated as Mama has a Lover and The little girl under the street lamp. Adopting sociological conceptual framework, data are analyzed using the French explication de texte which can be interpreted as the close reading technique or content analysis of a text, verbal or non-verbal. Findings from the study suggest that the new generation of African female writers focuses on an attempt to establish and reconnect womenfolk with their most fundamental human rights through artistic designs and their creative writings. Besides being a means of socialization, religion is a ritualistic act of worship, and it reflects a significant part of a people’s way of life. The study, however, concludes that there is a need for check and balance between the idea of masculinity and the concept of feminism to curtail the excesses there-in for the progress of human societies.

Contrasting Realities: Italian Advertisements and Non-Sexist Linguistic and Social Norms

This research aims to scrutinise whether sexism is confined solely to the Italian advertising domain or extends into the language employed by the general populace and the broader cultural fabric of society. In Italy, despite numerous efforts made over the past decades to eradicate sexism in advertising campaigns, marketers frequently resort to its various manifestations, deeming it a powerful tool for attracting potential consumers. The prevalent utilisation of the female image in a sexist manner, portraying women as objects of desire, remains commonplace. Surprisingly, even renowned influencers aligned with the radical feminist movement often incorporate such tactics in their social media content. Sexism manifests through two principal avenues: firstly, the erotic portrayal of women’s bodies and/or their sensual behaviours, frequently coupled with language expressions encompassing with dual meanings; secondly, the perpetuation and reinforcement of stereotypical gender roles. While the latter has largely diminished in the contemporary era, the former persists prominently. This case study research employs a qualitative analysis approach. Various data sources, including legal documents, historical records, and contemporary media, are critically analysed. The findings suggest that, despite the societal and linguistic rejection of sexism in contemporary Italy, where gender equality prevails across social, economic, and legal realms, the advertising industry continues to rely on such practices heavily.

Sordority on the prowl of feminism

This qualitative study addresses the need to broaden the analysis of the fractures and contradictions of feminism through sordority, a neologism that is proposed as an abstract and explanatory element of the internal ruptures of the feminist movement in the face of its original cause, the conquest of equality between the sexes. Cause that in the case of Mexico is increased by the crime of femicide and disappearance of women, girls and adolescents. The analysis is carried out based on the human rights approach and the gender perspective, reviewing digital hemerographic sources that range from Latin American regional feminism to feminist demonstrations occupying iconoclasm and clothes racks. It is concluded that sordority is a plausible concept to activate the discussion about the ruptures of radical feminist groups with other non-radicals.

Dale Spender (1943–2023): some personal reflections

ABSTRACT This appreciation looks at the life of Dale Spender (1943–2023), an Australian feminist scholar and activist who helped to establish the interdisciplinary field of Women’s Studies. She wrote over 30 books, most of them published in the UK to which she moved in the mid-1970s in order to study for her PhD at the Institute of Education, University of London. A radical feminist, her contribution to the development of women’s history in the UK and USA has often been overlooked.

Gender-Critical or Gender-Inclusive?: Radical Feminism is Associated with Positive Attitudes toward Trans* People and Their Rights

Gender-Critical or Gender-Inclusive?: Radical Feminism is Associated with Positive Attitudes toward Trans* People and Their Rights

Dr Catherine Chisholm, 'children's physician': Her work for child welfare and feminist networking in Manchester.

Catherine Chisholm BA MB ChB MD FRCP CBE (1879-1952) is celebrated as the first woman to qualify in medicine from Manchester University in 1904 and is remembered for founding the Manchester Babies Hospital in 1914 (later renamed in 1935 as the Duchess of York Hospital for Babies). She was indefatigable in her pursuit to improve the education and status of women doctors; the first woman member and president of the British Paediatric Society; first woman president of the Manchester Medical Society and was mainly responsible for establishing the Medical Women's Federation in 1917. Her career was a complex mixture of medical and social networks that linked her work as a children's physician to the Manchester Public Health Committee, Liberal politics and feminist groups. These networks played an important role in Dr Chisholm's successful career and are at the centre of this paper.

The Theological Implications of Zelophehad’s Daughters Request in Numbers 27:1-11 For Women in Isolated Indigenous Cultures in Nigeria

The patriarchal thought that prevails in world religious traditions validates the establishment of laws which promotes the superiority of men over women, and the right of inheritance for men in a given society. In the Jewish and Most Nigerian isolated Indigenous Cultural traditions like the Igbos of of the South East, Binis of the Mid West and the Yakurr people of Cross River State in the South South region of Nigeria, the rights of inheritance are exclusively reserved for male children. Zelophehad’s five daughters were faced with this situation when their father died and the family inheritance was to pass on. The five women decided to courageously present their request to Moses and the elders who sought approval from God, granted their request. Scholars have argued that the situation of Zelophehad’s daughters was unique and cannot be applied to an extent to the situation of the indigenous cultures. The study investigated the nature of their request, consequences and implications for Women in isolated Indigenous Cultures in Nigeria. The historical, descriptive and qualitative methods were adopted to gather and analyze data. The radical feminist theory propounded by Kate Millet was adopted in this paper. One of the recommendations made is that Women in the isolated Indigenous Cultures considered in this research adopt the Zelophehad’s daughters’ approach towards changing the laws and customs of their societies that perpetrate denial of right to inheritance by promoting gender inequality.Laws which do not benefit the generality of the populace in a given society can be amended to benefit both the weak and the strong, males and females, Freeborn and Slaves. Just like the case of Zelophehad’s daughters’ situation in the Bible where a strict and rigid religious law was amended to benefit the daughters. Therefore, Cultural and other Religious could be amended where applicable to suit the different strata of a given society for purposes of equality.

Wo∼Men and Leadership: Re-Thinking the State of Research on Gender and Leadership Through Waves of Feminist Thinking

Feminist thinking has contributed to changing views of women in society and in leadership positions. Yet women are still underrepresented in leadership, especially in key roles and at higher organizational ranks. In this commentary we examine the past, present, and future of leadership theories through a gendered lens, by considering them against the backdrop of feminist theory evolution. We first organize existing leadership theories according to four main feminist waves— gender reform feminism or “fixing the women” which corresponds with liberal feminism; gender resistance feminism or “the female advantage,” reflecting radical feminism; the gender rebellion feminism or “how is a wo(man) defined,” according to postmodern and intersectionality theories, and gender digital feminism or “hashtag and clicktivism revolution” that focuses on social media, cyber activism, sexual violence, and complex intersectionality. We further examine the implications and research findings of these theories for women and men in leadership. Second, we review the publications on gender and leadership in two exemplary journals publishing leadership research in the field between 2019 and 2022 and explore to which feminist wave the published works relate. We show that themes related to the first two waves of feminist thinking continue to be dominant in current leadership research and encourage moving into new terrains, utilizing current feminist thinking, in the study of leadership and gender. Finally, we raise awareness that in a gendered society, leadership theories may reproduce and reconstruct the existing social order and gendered arrangements, as well as map novel directions for future research.

Western Feminism and Indian Feminism: A Comparative Study

Feminism is a comprehensive movement that aims to address diverse manifestations of injustice and promote the rights of women. Despite their diverse nature, women's movements around the world express shared concerns regarding reproductive, political and legal rights. The primary objective of feminism is to emancipate women from various forms of mistreatment and foster global collaboration among women. However, there remains a substantial discrepancy in the quality of life experienced by women in economically impoverished nations in the Global South compared to those in economically prosperous countries in the Global North. Women residing in the economically developed regions of the world known as the Global North tend to benefit from capitalism and the global economy. Conversely, women living in the economically disadvantaged regions of the world known as the Global South typically encounter poverty and challenging working conditions. Indian feminism highlights the equal significance of economically exploitative behaviors, racism and gender discrimination as key issues. Indian feminism is considered more comprehensive than other forms of feminism since it places equal importance on both reproductive and productive responsibilities. The objective of this research is to examine the discrepancies between Western and Indian feminist ideology specifically focusing on the challenges associated with the adoption of Western ideals in India particularly the concept of essentialism. This research also examines the impact of increasing inequality on systems that depend on male involvement as well as the philosophical concerns associated with feminism in both Western and Indian settings. In order to illuminate the intricacies and subtleties present in these two prominent feminist traditions, the study employed a qualitative comparative analysis to emphasize discrepancies in the objectives of feminist groups regarding gender equality and women's empowerment.

저출산 시대 모성에 대한 고찰

Today, Korean society is facing a crisis of low birth rate. Conflict between men and women caused by an intense competitive system and conservative familism is cited as a major cause of the low birth rate problem, which has emerged as a national issue. Radical feminism, which is considered an ideological background that influenced the conflict between men and women, emerged as a backlash against the government's reproductive policy that instrumentalizes motherhood, but its argument for liberation from motherhood is becoming a cause of social conflict. At a time like this, discovering a new positive view of motherhood and its value has important implications. Even within feminism, there is not only a perspective that views motherhood as a control mechanism for women and advocates liberation from motherhood. Since the 1980s, efforts have been made to understand motherhood more diversely within feminism, and there is a movement to present motherhood as a social value by discovering the value of care within motherhood. This perspective is believed to have a positive meaning by presenting the area of care as a common area for men and women and highlighting the ‘right to care’ of the vulnerable in a fiercely competitive society. However, in order for care to become an important value for both men and women, it is necessary to properly understand the value of care within motherhood. The personalist perspective, which understands motherhood as an outstanding attribute of women and shows a complementary relationship between men and women, will help men participate more actively in the area of care by learning about fatherhood through motherhood.