Q&A: Sisters Speak
Every issue, Total Woman Victory’s Editorial Team answers questions sent in by our readers!
Q: What are the best radical feminist books for beginners?
A: Sathi: Intercourse (1987) by Andrea Dworkin
Intercourse by Andrea Dworkin was the first radical feminist text I had ever read, and to this day, it is one of my favorites. Intercourse is a political analysis of penetrative sex, especially in heterosexual social relations under patriarchy. Dworkin rigorously analyzes sex as the defining act of male power over women, discussing the implications of female objectification and dissociation in sex on the livelihood of women as an oppressed class of people. She exposes the contradictions inherent in the subordinate status of women in social and civil society, despite postmodern sexual liberalism and attempted egalitarian measures by the state, both of which proclaim the sex contradiction to already be resolved. What makes Intercourse essential for beginnings is how it develops a radical feminist perspective on one of the most intimate areas of female life—one most women share as the subjects of a class condition. Intercourse demands readers to confront uncomfortable truths, while also offering a vision for female liberation.
Isa: Invisible Women (2019) by Caroline Criado-Perez
Invisible Women by feminist Caroline Criado-Perez is not a distinctly named radical feminist text; however, it outlines an incredible database of statistical analyses for how women– therein, the female sex class– undergo oppression globally. It turned me radical through the realm of mathematics, showing us that our lives as women are inevitably going to be oppressed just by the sheer fact that our world is statistically outlined for us to fail, for us to be oppressed and killed, for us to be silenced. The importance of this book is centered on evaluations of numbers; contrasting popular feminist literature, there are very few historical and contemporary female-liberatory works written in such statistical bulk as Criado-Perez has provided for readers. She allows a new sort of literary interest for those centered around facts based on statistical analyses not always provided in many other feminist texts.
Winnie: Beauty and Misogyny (2005) by Sheila Jeffreys
Beauty and Misogyny is a great book to start learning about beauty practices and how they harm women. The way she speaks incisively about even the most common beauty practices forces you to see how silly, limiting, or even physically harmful they can be. It’s a book that makes you examine your personal choices a little more than before, and can lead to taking real, actual steps to divest from misogynistic ideas about beauty–not to mention give you more time to sleep in in the morning. It inspired me to stop wearing makeup every day of my life.
Judith: The Hidden Face of Eve (1977) by Nawal El Saadawi
The Hidden Face of Eve is a particularly relevant book for feminists in the west to read right now because of its focus on the material effects of patriarchal systems and its nuanced analysis of the imperialists attempt to co-opt feminism as a weapon against Global South countries. Knowledge of history and global politics can sharpen your analysis and is the best protection against co-optation.
Q: How can we come to tackle tricky, difficult to read and understand feminist theories and texts as someone who hasn’t read anything substantial on this topic before?
A: Sathi: Before I ever read feminist theory, I read and rigorously studied works that first taught me how to name, analyze, and critique social and material conditions: to name a few, Marx’s Capital, Mao’s On Contradiction, and Lenin’s Imperialism. I’m aware of the hesitancy many young women have with engaging with revolutionary theory written by men—especially when so much of male intellectual tradition has erased or distorted women’s realities. But I would not have developed my feminist consciousness without the theoretical artillery necessary for identifying contradictions, especially when the oppression of women permeates the most private and intimate realms of social relations. These texts provided me with the methodology to expose exploitation at its root, to understand that oppression isn’t random or natural, but historically produced and materially enforced.
Without that foundation, feminist theory would have felt much more abstract to me. Feminist works are not inherently harder to read, but without the grasp of a scientific method of analysis, they can seem incoherent or disconnected from reality. But when I approached them with the tools of dialectical and historical materialism, everything just clicked. The feminist struggle isn’t separate from the class struggle or the fight against imperialism; women’s liberation is deeply embedded in all contradictions.
For anyone new to feminist theory, my advice isn’t just to start with the ‘easier’ books. It’s to start with the books that teach you how to organize your thoughts and be decisive in your politics. Don’t waste time simplifying the development of your consciousness by reading books with false analyses and politics just because they are easier to read. Begin by learning how to analyze contradictions in society; then, when you read Dworkin, Mackinnon, or Barry, you’ll see not just their words but the entire social stratification they’re struggling to dismantle. Women painstakingly worked to produce and publish feminist knowledge. Reading theory cannot just be passive learning, it must sharpen our ability to struggle.
Q: Hi, I’m currently getting my Bachelor’s in feminism and what we’re taught is essentially gender and queer theory. My question is, how should I navigate such an anti-feminist environment as a student of feminism? During debates and seminars, should I stay quiet or risk voicing my opinion? We’re graded on participation and I’m tired of having low marks because I’m scared of sharing my views, but I also don’t want to compromise my integrity by pretending to agree with my professors’ and classmates’ misogyny and lesbophobia. What would your advice be?
A: Winnie: I really relate to your situation! I took a women and gender studies class while I was in college, and the experience was so different from what I expected. I also struggled with voicing my opinion–I’ll never forget being in a huge lecture hall while my class debated what “losing your virginity” means. Classmate after classmate spoke to the crowd, and every single definition included being penetrated by a penis. I mistakenly assumed that my professor would address the fact that this idea of virginity excludes lesbians, but she moved on without mentioning us once. I left feeling extremely disappointed not just in my professor and classmates, but in myself for not speaking up.
I think a lot about how when we silence ourselves out of fear, we keep other women from hearing things that are important. Of course, we might not be making ourselves popular at the time, but planting those little seeds of ideas that have the chance to transform into full fledged shifts in thinking are so worth it. Had I never been surrounded by radical feminists loudly voicing their opinions, even if I disagreed with them at the time, I would have never thought to delve deeper into radfem theory. Another thing to keep in mind is that the men in your classes will never silence themselves the same way you do. I had classes where we were graded on participation, and there were male classmates who made the whole room roll their eyes every time they opened their mouths. This never stopped them from yapping for far too long and inevitably receiving better grades than I did. My advice is to practice speaking up for yourself, even if at first it’s just to get a better grade! Eventually it will become so much easier.
Q: I want to stop wearing makeup but my acne makes me so insecure. I’m taking good care of my skin, and its slowly improving, but the dark spots and redness destroy so much of my confidence. My desire to feel beautiful contradicts my views as a radfem, and it makes me really frustrated with myself. How do I even go about getting over this, especially when I’m treated noticeably different depending on how I look?
A: Isa: Beauty as an industry has been pushed upon the female (thus, feminized) body, so it is very common for women to feel ashamed in our natural appearance. The first step is by not caring for what other’s perceive you as, which is the hardest part. Many women are socialized, as we grow up, to aim to be likeable. We quiet ourselves and prioritize looks over genuineness. This isn’t your fault because from young girls we are told that beauty is power, that our power lands in the laps of men, and we must be their lap dog to gain it. So, sure, we are treated differently based on how we look, but regardless, we will always be treated as women, even if we choose to not “look like” what the [feminized] patriarchal standard of woman is. Therefore, there is no “better” way to be treated as a woman, because regardless of feminized or not feminized, “beautified” or natural, we will always be sexualized, underestimated, and suppressed for our sex—for simply having the female reproductive system, we are perceived as inferior. If a man is “nicer” to you because you’re wearing makeup, it does not make you more beautiful than you were, it means that man has particularly found liking in the mask you put on, but his “liking” (which is not nearly the same as the male liking for his peers) for you is limited to whatever sexual gratification he gains when you wear that mask; but the moment it is taken off, washed away, and your natural beauty is present, and his dick is no longer hard, you become dehumanized.
Winnie: I’m currently on my own anti-makeup journey, and I relate to you a lot. I also suffer from acne as well as rosacea, and I’m also a redhead with very light eyebrows and eyelashes. I know that I “look better” (successfully conform to patriarchal beauty standards) when I wear makeup. I realized I hated putting on makeup during the pandemic when I had to start masking at work, which led to me foregoing foundation/concealer since no one could see me anyway. Being able to just roll out of bed and not closely scrutinize my face every morning was so freeing. Once people stopped wearing masks, I struggled “having” to put on makeup again.
I realized I didn’t care what the people at my job thought about my looks and that I didn’t enjoy the process of putting on makeup, so I decided to begin slowly weaning off of it. I started by wearing just concealer and powder, which might sound silly, but even just not wearing foundation drastically changed how my skin appeared. Then, 47 I stopped wearing powder and mascara. Soon I stopped wearing any of it at all. This isn’t to say I don’t still struggle! When I know I’m going to be photographed or I’m going to a big fancy event, I still find myself covering up my acne and throwing on some mascara. A thought that helps me in my day-to-day life is that men never have to go through what we do with makeup. They never cover their facial redness, contour their noses, or put on mascara, and no one thinks less of them for it. There were no men at my job that were liked any less for having acne scars. I refuse to live my life differently from them, waking up every morning and having to alter my face, just because I’m a woman.
Q: Is separatism required in radical feminism as an ideology? It’s part of the reason I consider myself “radleaning” in terms of ideology rather than rad identifying because I have a boyfriend. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad for it to be exclusive in that matter... Surely you can appreciate an ideological premise without fully identifying with it?
A: Winnie: I know many radical feminists advocate for separatism, but it’s not an inherent part of radical feminism. There are many speeches and texts spanning from decades ago to our present day where feminists debate over whether or not it is necessary for women. I think separatism is amazing for those of us that are able to do that, but I personally don’t think it’s a requirement, especially since it was so contentious back in the big radfem heydays. If we didn’t consider women “radical feminists” because they had husbands or male children, we would be disavowing huge swaths of radfem work and literature that we reference constantly to this day.
Judith: Honestly it bothers me a lot that we’ve gotten to a point where people feel like radical feminism does require separatism. Maybe my perception of the history of radical feminism is disproportionately informed by the history of Redstockings, but I feel like it doesn’t reflect the history of radical feminism or address the most important problems faced by women. Part of why it bothers me is that it just leaves women who aren’t able to engage in separatism to face the problems of relations with men and pregnancy/childbirth/ childcare on their own. And it’s my perception that it would be women in the Global South that would have more difficulty engaging in separatism.
Sathi: I don’t think it’s a requirement, and I also don’t think someone “is” a radfem, in the same way that self-IDing as a Marxist is ridiculous. Ideologies and political analyses are not limited to lifestyles you adopt. Radical feminism needs to engage with the world as is, specifically male society, in order to liberate women. Separatism is a lifestyle choice, not a political conviction. I’m not leaving mothers behind in my feminism because they’re mothers with husbands. It’s the same way anarchists dogmatically live in communes and don’t engage with the world at all. No critical threat to any social order, just anti-social hiding from society.
Q: What would you say to women who think we don’t need feminism? Specifically, stay at home moms and tradwives?
A: Sathi: To stay-at-home mothers and “tradwives” who believe feminism is unnecessary, I would first acknowledge the deep and often unspoken labor you perform. The work of sustaining life, raising children, managing a household, and caring for networks of people, is the foundation of society; yet, under capitalist patriarchy, this labor is made invisible, devalued, and exploited for the interests of men without even bare recognition, let alone compensation. It is precisely because of this injustice to women, as a class of people with this shared class condition, that feminism remains vital.
Radical feminism understands that women’s oppression is rooted in male domination, through the systematic control and exploitation of women’s labor, bodies, and reproduction. Feminism exposes capitalism’s dependence on this unpaid labor to sustain the public workforce of male laborers, where women are already ostracized from participation. This means that even if a woman “chooses” to stay home, her role is shaped by an economic system that benefits from keeping her dependent on a patriarch and ensuring that men claim ownership over women’s domestic, sexual, and reproductive labor, as well as dictate the reproduction of classes, nations, and empires through the control of inheritance and decision-making.
You deserve more than dependence. You deserve security, autonomy, and the ability to make choices not out of necessity or coercion, but from true freedom. If I only need to be penetrated a few times to contribute to the reproduction of humanity, why must my entire life be oriented around reproduction? Why must I live my entire life out as a wife, guaranteeing a lifetime of sexual access to a man while eternally confined in the role of motherhood? Why was I raised to be a wife and mother? Why are we raising young girls to be wives and mothers? We are groomed to give up our names and old social relations to reorient life around the needs of a husband, making it that much harder to reclaim our humanity, especially if that marriage results in inescapable abuse. Feminism does not seek to destroy family life—it seeks to transform it so that love and care are shared, not unevenly burdened onto women, so women have the opportunities to explore and contribute to this vast and beautiful world as much as men do.
A world where women are free is a world where motherhood is supported, where domestic labor is valued, and where no woman is forced into a role against her will. You should not have to submit to men to feel secure in your humanity. And you should not have to reject feminism to embrace the joy of caring for others. Feminism is the fight for a world where your labor, your love, and your life belong to you—not to the men who are guaranteed a right under patriarchy to own them.
Q: What would you say the definition of “woman” is?
A: Anonymous: I would say that “woman” is a socially constructed category that has historically been used to classify female people, just as other species have sex-ascribed terminology— hens for female chickens, cows for female cattle. However, over time, the meaning of “woman” has shifted beyond biological sex to refer to those whom society deems “feminine”, encompassing both female people and trans women who adopt femininity as an identity.
Radical feminism rejects the notion that being female comes with an inherent social role or innate gender identity. Femininity is not an innate quality of female people but a set of expectations imposed on them. A female person should be free to exist however she chooses, without being defined by traits that have been socially coded as “womanhood.” Since social constructions require cultural participation to sustain them, no one can lay an exclusive claim to what “woman” means. Rather than staking ownership over the term, radical feminism seeks to dismantle gendered categories altogether, envisioning a future where female people exist on their own terms, outside the constraints of imposed identity.
Q: I’ve identified with radical feminism for about 5 years now. Unfortunately, for the last 2 years, I’ve really struggled with not performing beauty and femininity. I have an eating disorder and dysmorphia. Growing up, my mom didn’t allow me to wear makeup because she thinks it’s not age appropriate and harmful for the skin. I myself made a conscious decision not to wear makeup, shave etc. Now though, I’m at the point where I booked a consultation for face filler because I’m so obsessed and dissatisfied with the way I look it consumes me. My question is, how do I go back to being confidently gender nonconforming and having my actions align with my beliefs? I don’t know how I lost that part of me, I’ve strayed so far I’m about to poison my face with acid to reshape it…
A: Isa: I grew up with similar values in my household– as in, my family never pushed me to entertain Western products of femininity, whether it be through makeup, clothes, or changing my body/face. However, growing up in a Western society placed me in a similar predicament where I began to face challenges through bullying from my female peers for my weight, lack of interest in makeup, and my non-white features. I ended up getting a nose job at the age of 16 because of how I was bullied for my nose; I suffered from bulimia and anorexia from ages 15–19, and I still struggle with the desire to change my face and body in terms of Western beauty standards. I try not to hold any regret for my choices, but if anyone asked me, I would claim to wish I never changed any part of myself. I sometimes wish I could go back to my 16 year old self and tell her that her nose is beautiful; I would tell 15-year-old me that my body did not need changing. When I was 18, I opened up to my ex-boyfriend about my eating disorder; he told me that I “looked better” after the change. Everyone around you, especially men, consistently tells you you are not enough. You will always be said to be skinnier or thicker or have a smaller nose or better shape. It doesn’t matter what you change about yourself because it will never be enough for everyone; therefore, you will never be enough for yourself. Until you can love who you are without the voice of outsiders– male or female– you will always feel like you are not enough for anyone; thus, you must be good enough for yourself. To love yourself, you will love everything that comes with it, which means loving your body rolls, your face as it wrinkles, and your hair while it greys.
The unfortunate reality is that capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy benefit from our insecurities. The cosmetics industry feeds on the things we hate about ourselves, the features we look at in the mirror with disgust and hatred. It’s painful, truly, but a process all of us living under patriarchy go through to become who we are today. I can’t tell you not to have an eating disorder or not to hate your face or body, because I understand that regardless of what we proclaim, how you view yourself is dependent on your perception of yourself. All I have to say is, don’t let them win. Cherish yourself: your legs that aid you in traveling, your hands that allow you to grab and feel, your eyes that provide you with vision, your mouth that sensationalizes every meal. There is so much beauty in the human body simply living that we forget all this capitalist, colonialist, and patriarchal noise surrounding us is inevitably useless when it comes to our happiness because, even if face fillers are all you get now, it will simply not be enough for you when you no longer are insecure about that and become insecure about something else. We will always find things we hate or love about ourselves if we look hard enough; I suggest choosing the latter.
You are loved, whether by the TWV team or your loved ones around you. We love everything that comes with your natural existence, and we hope you can also find this love for yourself.