Radical Feminist Research Articles

The Movement of Women in Obtaining Gender Equality in Moxie Movie: A Feminist Approach

This research examines the types of feminism and women's movements in the Moxie (2021) movie that aim to fight the patriarchal system and sexism, and how the main female character and other female characters can deal with it. Moxie (2021) is a coming-of-age genre movie that contains elements of feminism. The data collection used is descriptive qualitative method. The theory of feminism used in this research was the theory of feminism from Tong and Boots (2018). The results of this study show that there were four types of feminism, namely Liberal feminism, Radical feminism, Psychoanalytic and Gender feminism, and Ecofeminist feminism. Then, it was found that there were 4 women's movements that supporting feminism, namely Viviane started zine Moxie as a form of women's resistance, zine Moxie influenced the women's movement in schools, women maintained their self-esteem, and women dared to speak up. Afterwards, some of the moral messages found were the existence of a patriarchal system, discrimination, and sexual harassment until the women dare to fight back and form a feminism club called Moxie. Women deserve to have rights over themselves, such as having equal rights with men, being able to become leaders, and being able to have opinions freely.

Transphobic Truth Markets: Comparing Trans-hostile Discourses in British Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist and US Right-wing Movements

British “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist” (TERF) discourse has often been contextualised in fringe radical feminist thought, but its similarities to and alliances with right-wing trans-exclusionary movements in the US are notable (McClean, 2020). To understand the place of TERF discourse in an international wave of trans-hostility, it is necessary to understand how it converges with and differs from explicitly conservative counterparts. I place TERF discourse in comparison to trans-exclusionary discourses of the American Right (AR) using a Critical Frame Analysis, investigating the extent of shared themes and the role of ontological discourses across cases. I find that TERF and AR discourses converge heavily on frames and have a shared ontology, but draw on different repertoires to bolster their claims. Combining Harsin’s (2014) truth markets and Smith’s (1995) ideological code theory, I show how an ideological-code-like structure demonises and ontologically delegitimises trans people, demonstrating how reactionary frames can be granted cross-ideological appeal.

TERF and Anti-trans Initiatives in Russia: Is There a Connection?

Trans-exclusive radical feminism (TERF) was imported onto the Russian soil around 2013, when trans people became more visible and I introduced transfeminism in a number of blog posts, which later were compiled into the first Russian-language book on transfeminism (Kirey-Sitnikova, 2016). In 2016, a large survey of feminists (n = 1364) revealed that 10.2% respondents identified as TERF and 4.4% as transfeminists (Kirey-Sitnikova, 2018). The TERF movement was shown to consist of individuals with higher income and educational level living in big cities, lesbians, and those more involved in feminist activism. Knowing a trans person was not a predictor of trans inclusion, many feminists joined the TERF movement after meeting a trans person supporting patriarchal gender norms (Kirey-Sitnikova, 2016). The most vigorous debates between these groups occurred on the Russian blogging platform “LiveJournal” (LJ) and consisted largely of translations and interpretations of texts by US feminists (Ibid.). As I described elsewhere, self-colonisation in the form of indiscriminate borrowing of terms and concepts from the Anglosphere is a prominent characteristic of all Russian progressive gender movements (Kirey-Sitnikova, 2020). After 2016, I moved on to other topics and did not follow these debates. This small contribution is aimed as an update on TERF from that time till now.

Christine Delphy, an Anti-essentialist TERF: Materialist Feminism and the Affective Legacies of the MLF

For the last decade, Christine Delphy, one of the most important feminists in France, has taken profoundly reactionary positions in relation to transgender people, that qualify her as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF). But while most TERF discourse relies on biological essentialism, Delphy is radically anti-essentialist. As early as 1981, she showed that both gender and sex are socially constructed, a premise that has become a cornerstone of transgender studies. How is one to understand the fact that a feminist whose thinking would seem to inscribe itself in the direction of transfeminism allies herself with the TERF movement? This essay shows that her theoretical arguments against transness can be overcome from a materialist feminist perspective and argues that her transphobia is bound up in the affective aftermath of conflicts in the women’s liberation movement that were cemented through a complex transatlantic intellectual history and never resolved.

Strange Bedfellows: Anti-trans Feminists, VOX Supporters and Biologicist Academics

In 2015 and 2016, Professor Esther Mayoko Arjonilla and I wrote two articles that demonstrated the absence of major conflicts between feminist and trans movements in Spain. We explained that since the democratic transition of the 1970s, Spanish feminism had been strongly committed to the sexual and reproductive rights of ‘women’, an inclusive category. This also applied to lesbians, though not without some internal struggles to claim that space (Pineda 2008). We hypothesized that lesbian feminist groups had been the necessary allies for the inclusion of trans women, often based on factors like personal friendship ties, and their leadership in addressing sexual rights (Platero & Arjonilla, 2015). Another key element was the overlap between the two movements in the feminist critique of the pathologization of women, in consonance with critiques of the psychopathologization of trans women.

The Books on the Bedside Table: Re-Reading "Mother" in E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime

Abstract: This essay examines the character of Mother in E. L. Doctorow's 1975 novel, Ragtime , through the lens of the literature that sits on her nightstand: an antisuffragist text by Molly Elliot Seawell and a pamphlet about family limitation by Margaret Sanger. Mother's character stands with one foot in the world of radical feminism and another in the milieu of antisuffragists. This context reframes her interactions with marginalized figures in the narrative and undermines her supposedly happy ending. Reading Mother in view of these texts makes her a dynamic character in the novel, revealing her inner life and agency.

Anti-Colonial Defeat: The 1967 Naksa and Its Consequences

This entry asks what it means to mourn the loss of the state as a vehicle for revolutionary liberation. State power was indeed authoritarian, and global solidarity in the era of the Third World Movement of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s was superfluous, but it still meant something to people then and now. Losing it was felt. In this piece, I revisit the 1967 Arab defeat against Israel known as al-Naksa (the resounding setback) within the context of the Third World movement and its influence on global solidarity in the ensuing decades following 1967. I focus on the loss of Egypt’s position as an anti-colonial leader after the 1967 war and subsequent death of Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970. Egypt, once a bastion of revolutionary anti-colonial fervor at the nexus of Pan-Arab and Pan-African imaginaries, and a hub of the historic Third World, became radically realigned with the Global North under Anwar Sadat. I argue that the fate of the Egyptians, Palestinians, Arabs, and of anti-colonial global struggle each became unlinked and siloed as individual struggles. It is not just Arabs or Egyptians or Palestinians who were defeated, it was a whole anti-colonial ethos. How do we mourn the loss of the state as a vehicle for liberation, for Palestinians, for Arabs, for Africans, and for the post-colony?

An Action Study of Feminist Group Counseling on the Self-Identity of Children Who Self-Injured

<p>本研究旨在以女性主義取向團體輔導方案的介入，探討具有自傷行為兒童在團體歷程中的自我認同發展。本研究採取行動研究，招募五名國小六年級學童為研究對象（四女一男），進行每週一次，一次四十分鐘，為期八次的小團體輔導。團體設計以女性主義諮商理論為本，涵蓋身份覺察、賦能、敘說、平權等重要議題。透過省思札記、成員及師長的訪談記錄、觀察員的觀察與回饋等多種方式蒐集資料，結合三角驗證方式分析，以瞭解具有自傷行為兒童在女性主義團體輔導歷程之經驗內涵。重要結果如下：一、女性主義取向強調團體敘說、平權關係與支持關懷，促使學童有機會自我揭露生命故事，從而連結彼此。二、女性主義團體輔導方案的介入，有助於學童對社會角色的覺察，轉化以正向觀點定義自己，增進改變的行動力。三、學童在團體的普同經驗，促使學童降低孤獨感，進而坦然面對自傷與真實自我。四、學童覺察與肯定其優勢能力，提升我能感，促使增進自信心與自我認同。五、在團體歷程中的行動與改變，促進學童對自我的賦權，進而提升自我認同與悅納，進而將改變實踐於日常生活。</p> <p> </p><p>This study explored the self-identity development of children with non-suicidal self-injury behavior through a feminist-oriented group counseling program intervention. This study adopted an action research approach and included five participants from the sixth grade: four females and one male. The group met once a week for 40 minutes each time, for eight weeks. The group project involved doctrines of feminist counseling theory, including awareness, empowerment, narrative, and equality. Data were collected through the researcher’s reflections, observer’s notes, and interviews with the participants and with the participants’ teachers and parents. The researcher analyzed data and verified the analysis by using the triangulation method. This study’s findings are summarized as follows: 1. The narratives, equality, and supportive care that the feminist group counseling approach emphasizes provided the self-harm student participants the opportunities to tell and re-tell their life stories; disclosing their stories helped them connect to the other participants. 2. The group counseling intervention helped students aware of their social roles, transform their thoughts into a positive perspective, and enhance their capacities to change. 3. The common experience that the students shared during the group process helped reduce their loneliness, rethink their self-harm behaviors, and face their true selves openly. 4. Through the group process, students gained more awareness and confidence regarding their strengths in abilities, enhanced their sense of power, and fostered a strong sense of self-identity. 5. The action and change during the group process facilitated the students’ self-empowerment, enriched their self-identity and self-acceptance, and finally, helped them implement changes in everyday life.</p> <p> </p>

Che Guevara and the case for revolutionary feminism in global politics

ABSTRACT Despite his renown, feminists have had little to say about the ideals or legacy of Che Guevara. In global politics, feminism is more commonly associated with pacifist movements, and his advocacy of armed insurgency to initiate revolution is an unpopular sentiment amongst feminists. Despite this discomfort, this article will make a contemporary case for revolutionary feminism for global politics by examining synergies between Che’s philosophy of revolutionary humanism and revolutionary feminist thought. For both, revolutionary politics is fundamentally about power and ‘the determination to wrest power from the ruling group and to end their domination’ (Jeffreys, 1977). Having fallen out of fashion in theorizing global politics (Duriesmith & Meger, 2020), radical and revolutionary feminisms can offer alternative praxis for tackling the persistence of patriarchy and women’s subordination globally. This article argues that an exploration of synergies between revolutionary feminism and Guevara's revolutionary humanism may provide a roadmap towards a more integrated revolutionary model for emancipation.

The Opacity of the World: Zadie Smith’s Swing Time

Abstract Zadie Smith’s novel Swing Time explores the complex ways in which women relate to each other across cultural difference and generational gaps, as mothers and daughters, as rivals and friends. My article traces the friction between Black feminist group solidarity and aesthetic distance in Swing Time to suggest that the novel can be brought into dialogue with a postcolonial aesthetics of opacity, as coined by Édouard Glissant. The tension between opacity and transparency is the organizing principle of Swing Time, as the novel engages with movement and change, postcolonial spaces, and the mysteries of friendship, while vacillating between ironic narrative commentary and a more elusive aesthetics of concealment. Reading Smith’s work through a Glissantian lens also sheds light on affinities between her essayistic writing and her fiction.

Women’s solidarity as feminism in action: the concept of sisterhood (sororidad) in #LasRespondonas, a Facebook group in Peru

ABSTRACT Women in Peru are exposed on a daily basis to gender violence and exclusion. Several feminist groups have used social media to share information, debate, denounce, organize, and provide help to victims. This study analyzes the meaning of female solidarity, sisterhood or sororidad (using the Spanish term), as a feminist political concept among members of one feminist Facebook group. We reviewed how various feminist and sisterhood concepts are clustered together in group communications by analyzing publications and comments and even interviewing key current and former group members. We find the concept of sororidad to be central to feminist practice as it is a bridge between theory and politics. Moreover, it is viewed as a kind of ‘internal repertoire’ of the feminist movement, as a way to interact with other movement members (or comrades, partners, or sisters).

Identity and Emotions in the Long Eighteenth Century: Representing Oneself and Others in the Diary of the Marchioness of Fronteira

This paper analyses the recently published diary of the Marchioness of Fronteira, written between 1826 and 1842, from the point of view of the history of emotions. There are few diaries written by women in Portugal, especially in the troubled period of political instability, resulting from the Portuguese liberal revolution of 1820 and the consequent civil war, which led to the emigration of a significant number of the constitutional regime’s supporters. As it is primarily a travel diary, detailing encounters with other cultures and social realities, this provides a privileged source for understanding the emotions of its author, from her sociable interactions with people of both genders, and different social and geographic backgrounds. Analysis of these emotions and the author’s reactions enables study of her identity and self-perception, her emotional performativity, gender relations and her ties with an interconnected Europe.

Gifts of Control: Pseudo-Feminism in The Da Vinci Code

Since its publication in 2003, The Da Vinci Code written by Dan Brown came as a big hit to the world and has been listed atop the bestseller list by New York Times for about two years. The novel recounts a story of Sophie and Langdon questing the Holy Grail and then discovering an ancient secret behind it, namely, the marriage and an descendant of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Most criticisms are concerned with historical and religious meanings, contributing to the public outcry for “radical feminist” of the novel in potentially threatening Christianity. However, it should be noted that the so-called great cause of unveiling Mary Magdalene, the silenced goddess, victimizes the modern female, Sophie. Despite the proliferation of current studies, there seems to be an oversight with regard to “cryptex” which is mentioned about sixty-nine times in the novel. Nevertheless, readers are easily entrapped by this negligence into men’s phony concern for women, in particular their masked manipulation of Sophie. From this vantage point, the present article, drawing on gift theories, aims to reveal the pseudo-feminism in the novel. It is argued that Sauniere’s cryptexes, presented as unconditional gifts for Sophie, are actually complicit with patriarchal ideology and finally force her to sacrifice self-identity for reciprocation. In the end, the paper pinpoints the practical implications of the novel for women in the contemporary world to remain vigilant and rational towards faux-feminism.

PERLAWANAN PEREMPUAN TERHADAP KETIDAKADILAN GENDER (Semiotika Film “Yuni”)

Gender issues and discrimination against women are widely found in indonesian society. The presence of films that raise stories and issues about gender is proof that in the midst of the community these problems and phenomena are true. The film Yuni (2021) by director Kamila Andini is one of the films that raises the theme of gender and women's problems that often occur in the community. Yuni's film presents a story inspired by a true story where a teenage girl has to face a difficult time in her school days because the culture encountered in the middle of her environment seems to glorify early marriage. This study aims to find forms of female resistance in Yuni's film. This research was conducted by conducting sign analysis using the semiotic theory of Roland Barthes. The research method used in this study is a qualitative research method with a qualitative descriptive approach. The results of this study found that there are at least three forms of female resistance in Yuni's film that are relevant to the liberal feminism movement and radical feminism. The form of female resistance in question is women's resistance in choosing to continue their education, then women's resistance in determining their own soul mate or partner, and women's resistance to the right in the form of women's freedom in reproductive life and the right to virginity.

Propaganda Kelompok Feminis Melalui Pemanfaatan Media Sosial Instagram

Feminism has the main goal of equalizing the rights of women and men who were previously differentiated based on gender. The massive and comprehensive development of feminist groups through various media, one of which is using Instagram, is a means of spreading propaganda for feminist groups and supporting LGBT groups through feminist groups. In its use, Instagram as a means of propaganda takes advantage of its fast and wide spread so that the propaganda is carried out more effectively. The account @indonesiafeminis as a feminist and LGBT propagandist relies on illustrations, persuasive texts and videos to get the attention of the general public as social media users. This study aims to analyze the threat of propaganda in uploads from Instagram accounts related to LGBT. The theory used is the theory of Modern Propaganda and Threat Theory by analyzing a number of uploads on the account @indonesiafeminis. The result of the research is that the threat analysis shows that the @indonesiafeminis account has intentions and capabilities which are marked by intentions in the form of propaganda in support of LGBT and capabilities in the form of actions taken and social networks that are owned both in the real world and social media. Future researchers should conduct research by comparing several other feminist accounts and then analyze them comprehensively using other threat theories so that the suggestions from their research are also comprehensive.

A Conversation with Helen Bruder

The year 2022 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Helen P. Bruder’s William Blake and the Daughters of Albion (Macmillan, 1997) (hereafter WBDA), the first book that brought feminist criticism to bear on Blake studies. Bruder’s WBDA wrestles with Blake’s complex representations of gender and sexuality. While earlier essays brought much-needed critical focus to Blake’s representations of women (see Susan Fox and Anne Mellor), Bruder’s book-length study argued for a radical feminist spirit in his works. This strident call to arms would advance Blake scholarship in exciting new directions, and WBDA has been widely cited ever since. Bruder is also the editor of Women Reading William Blake (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and prolific co-editor with Tristanne Connolly of four collections: Queer Blake (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), Blake, Gender and Culture (Pickering & Chatto, 2012), Sexy Blake (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and Beastly Blake (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). Currently, she is an independent scholar living in Oxfordshire. I met with her on 3 October 2022 at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly, in London, where we talked in the vestibule near the font where Blake was baptized in 1757. In the interview that follows, Bruder reflects on WBDA and what has changed in Blake scholarship since then.

The Spanish Descamisado(s): Zero-Translating in the London Papers during the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)

This article analyses the introduction and use of the word descamisado(s) in newspapers around London during the Spanish Liberal Triennium. It focuses on how the term was introduced, the editors’ sources of information, and the evolution of its meaning, paying attention to the representation of the radical liberals involved and the events portrayed. As previous studies centred on the use of the term by Peronism, this draws on the references found in London periodicals at that time. A critical review provides information on the press’ role during the liberal revolutions and might bring to light the importance of translation in newspapers.

The Representation of Radical Feminism in Black Widow Movie Directed by Cate Shortland

<div class="WordSection1"><p><span lang="EN-US">The goal of feminism is to fully establish gender equality in law and practice while combating sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. Cate Shortland is the director of the superhero science fiction film <a name="_Hlk145877994"></a>Black Widow. In the film, black widowed women are controlled by the Red Room Academy, a clandestine criminal organization. The primary character and former Black Widow Natasha Romanoff is depicted destroying the Red Room Academy and its male head, Dreykov. The theory of feminism and film analysis are used by the researcher to answer these research questions. There are three objectives in this research. The first objective is to describe the character value of Natasha in the movie. Next is to analyze the radical feminism shown by Natasha in the movie. Last, to analyze the moral value that the director wants to convey. This research was qualitative descriptive method by watching the movie and taking several scenes that were related to the theory. The results of this research reveal that: (1) There are three-character value from Natasha as the main character of the movie; independent, social care and perseverance. (2) The analysis reveals the radical feminism inclinations portrayed by Natasha Romanoff is the act of self-sacrifice. (3) The moral value found in Black Widow movie is about caring each other and women’s right.</span></p></div>

Radical Feminism of Natalie Artemis' Character in Monster Hunter Film

Radical Feminism of Natalie Artemis' Character in Monster Hunter Film

LGBTQ in Islam: Further Considerations on Nature and Nurture Theory, Radical Feminism, and HIV/AIDS

This paper aimed to acknowledge LGBTQ as a distinct discourse that emerged from the very foundation of Radical Feminism with specific reference to Nature and Nurture theory, HIV/AIDS, and Islamic theology. This study employed the discourse analysis method to accomplish this goal. It focused on its ideologically beneficial impact by examining power relations in an established narrative, how power relations shape a society or organisation's LGBTQ practices, and analysing its creative change and repetition of ideas and behaviours. Consequently, This research explored LGBTQ from a chronological history and dynamic perspective of Feminism, as well as how such changes reflect and drive societal development of gender equality from sole emancipation of human rights to a radical bodily expression. As an additional reason for addressing the growing difficulty posed by the LGBTQ movement, this research concluded by doing a more in-depth investigation of Islamic teachings concerning the shortcomings of LGBTQ activity with further suggestions regarding better strategies to deal with this challenge.