The Radical Feminist View of the Family Essay

Ever since birth, children have been raised into societies view of their sex. Boys are taught to be aggressive, while girls are shown subservience, and passivity. Girls are taught how to act, how to be 'feminine' and told who their superiors are, that is the male population. It is through these prerequisites of behaviour that radical feminists quote the threat and the action of rape and physical violence as a means of maintaining this superior/inferior status of men and women.

Daniel Drezner explains the ideas that many feminist’s share: the world is vastly different for women than it is for men. The gap between the genders is to the detriment of women. Radical feminist would concur with this point. Radical feminism centers on the idea that the suppression of the female gender is the main focus of all oppression within the world (Rowland and

     The central theme of this essay is empowerment and the roles that parents, schools and professionals take on in the quest for the best educational decisions for those children with disabilities and those children that are gifted and talented. It is important to understand the historical development of family-professional relationships to fully comprehend the significance how far we’ve come and how far we still need to go.

By evaluating the situation and lives of women in society, the feminist perspective is defined as a source of social inequality, group conflict and social problems. For feminist, patriarchal society is the foundation of social problems. The patriarchal male dominated society where women are meant to justify the rule through devaluation; however, the definition of patriarchy has dominated the powerful group expanded to include the social devaluation of the power rating (Leon-Guerrero, Anna, 2015).

On the other hand, radical feminism is a form of resistance feminism, which means their issues primarily lie within patriarchy or men’s dominance towards women. They argue that patriarchy is found wherever men and women are in contact with each other. They believe that patriarchy is almost impossible to abolish because to be superior is an attribute that most men have acquired of is already “built” into them. And whether it’s consciously or subconsciously, these traits are applied into their privileges that Western society has given them (because they are men) and displayed within all the different aspects and occupations in their lives.

Radical feminism which focuses on male patriarchy as the main cause of the oppression of women.

Radical feminists- the aim was to challenge normal values of society and at the end this resulted in the rights been divided between the two genders. According to radicalists they believe that based on whether you are male or female will state how powerful you are in society.

The idea of family is a central theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberry alludes to the Old Testament book of Ruth in her play to magnify “the value of having a home and family”(Ardolino 181). The Younger family faces hardships that in the moment seem to tear them apart from one another, but through everything, they stick together. The importance of family is amplified by the choices of Walter and Beneatha because they appear to initiate fatal cracks in the Younger family’s foundation, but Mama is the cement who encourages her family to pull together as one unit. The hardships of the family help develop a sense of unity for the Younger household.

So, first, feminism values women as important and worthwhile human beings and second, feminism recognizes the need for social change if women are to lead secure and satisfying lives. The main social change that feminists promote is and end to any kind of domination: those of men over women and also among women in different classes. Conservatives on the other hand, promote to keep gender arrangements as they have been in the past years, with males holding public power and women being restricted to home and family. They have been also justified by both biological and religious grounds, so women should not be encouraged to try doing things that go against their “nature.” When there is an interaction between individuals, the influence of sex and gender associated. People use gender to make inferences about sex, as they use earlier observed sex characteristics to make inference about gender. For example, when man and woman go to buy a car, the sales person tends to direct the sales to the man rather than to the woman. The sales person acts according to his beliefs about which partner is more likely to make decisions, in this case to buy the car. These kinds of interactions are so ‘normal’ that they pass unnoticed when encountered.

Therefore, feminist sociology is not effective in leading women towards change or an end to dominant heterosexual assumptions that put patriarchy at power. Thus, it is difficult for women to breakthrough the oppression merely on theories and lacking practical action or reforms. When sociologists, such as Smith uses categories to analyze the relationship between women and her male counterpart, she draws on this notion that there is this believed or assumed natural heterogender relationship in society. As Smith proposed, men are able to work in the public materialist world and contribute to the everyday capitalist world is due to the existence of a female figure working within the private sphere to support the workings within the household, and in turn, make a patriarchal and capitalist society possible. Therefore, there is the assumed husband and wife, nuclear family in the household, with each playing their part and indicating that every individual is required to situate themselves as actors in this

In the 1960s to 1970s, a feminist movement began and sparked a change in attitudes towards women in familial roles and pushed against gender inequality. This movement’s effects trickled down to the opinions and actions of people in the later 1970s to mid-1980s. The period saw a decline in the backing of the traditional family wife role for women and greater acceptance for women finding employment (Mason, K.O., Lu, Y., 1988). However, the change also encountered backlash, with the growth of employed mothers came concerns of the negative effects on the children and their relationship with the mother (Mason, K.O., Lu, Y., 1988). This triggered an inconsistent time for family structure. The nineties saw

As reported by, feminist criminologists, their perspective of rape and sexual assault differ between liberal and radical feminists. Liberal feminists’ viewpoint in regards of rape as a gender-neutral assault on a persons’ autonomy and mainly focusing on the harm that rape can do to an individual. In contrast, radical feminists describe rape as a subject to be recognised and understood as a major pillar of patriarchy; a social system in which men claim the positions of dominance and control of the central norms and values that are linked with masculinity (Johnson, 2005: p. 4-15). The radical feminists believe that rape is a patriarchal structure within male power, thus displaying the harms that rape can do to an individual and as a group of women. Furthermore, the radical feminists approach view rape as male have the control and authority over the use of women’s bodies, which involves the sexual and reproductive. Hence, this is the core element of patriarchy, Radical feminist believe that rape is one of many forms that connects men’s sexual exploitation and violence, as well as, reinforcing women’s oppression (Whisnant, 2013).

Radical feminists strive to create a society free from any gender inequality by completely abolishing the cultural notion of gender. To look at these three forms of feminism an observer would be ignorant to discard feminism as having no legal influence, as it is clear to see from these that support for such movements is vast and comes in various forms, all of which attack the same enemy, patriarchy, albeit in differing manners. These differing methods are accentuated by recent developments and movements in society, particularly in the 20th Century these can be clearly highlighted by looking at the actions of the suffragettes in 1910, which illustrate a more active approach to campaigning. As previously mentioned feminist legal theories are a contemporary

Societal perceptions of motherhood in North America have changed drastically over the last century and continue to change. Due to prescribed traditional gender roles, the concept of motherhood has historically been latent in the concept womanhood, in that a woman’s ability to reproduce was seen to be an inherent part of her identity. Thus there existed societal pressures not only for women to become mothers, but to fit into the impossible standard of being the “perfect mother”. However, as the feminist movement gained more ground and women were increasingly incorporated into the workforce, these traditional views of gender roles and in turn motherhood were challenged. As the family dynamics that exist today are much more diverse, what

Like Liberal Feminism, Radical Feminism seeks to end partriarchy. However; In contrast to Radical Feminism, focuses more on the issue of men’s oppression of women rather other social conditions. The crux of this perspective is sexuality which is seen as the locus of male power Mackinnon (1989a).