Political Implications
The manifesto shrewdly observed and criticized the potentially regressive nature of the Feminist movements in 1970s, namely omitting and neglecting the significance of lesbian voices, and the importance of incorporating lesbianism ideals in conjunction with the traditional and foundational feminist ideologies in the construction of feminist movements and feminism developments.
Furthermore, this piece of writing presented a watershed during the Second wave of feminism, while the primary focus of this wave of movements was the gender inequality in law and culture, the Radicalesbians argued that, the mere opposition to the omnipresent patriarchy in American society through the traditional feminine point of view, and the refusal to adapt and cope with traditional gender roles, are simply ineffective and inefficient to the triumph of feminism. The sheer dominance of patriarchy and the subsequent by product, the subliminally implemented androcentric and masculine as normality culture, will not truthfully respect and engineer significant social-cultural changes in accordance with feminist ideologies.
The manifesto points out that, although minor changes has had occurred in the American society for women, such as improvements in legal rights, these changes are slight superficial, nominal displays presented to cope with the rising of feminism, and the realistic situation, the oppression of women embed within the essentially patriarchal American society, the status quo of second-class, even inferior citizens for women, remains unchanged. The overt political actions of “liberating women” were overshadowed by the covertly oppressive civil actions of men. Feminism is gradually being accept and recognized by the male dominant privileged ruling class, however, accept does not equal respect. The changes that occurred due to feminism were not genuine reforms or revolutions, but rather reluctant permissions, granted by men to comfort women, to ease the subversive feminist movements which challenges and threatens their legitimacy and consolidation to rule, and to rule over women.
Therefore the manifesto served not only as a declaration, but also as a critique. It did question the validity of the core ideals of feminism and feminist movements, but rather alerted feminists that passive feminine argumentation that derives and delivered from heterosexual women to men, will not result in significant changes for women, while these changes are meaningful, they cannot directly threaten the male supremacy, which is the root of all oppression toward women.
Whilst, the manifesto established the foundation for lesbians in politics, especially within the realm of feminists, it triggered a ripple effect that lead to the emergence of lesbianism literature among feminist writings, and further shaped many more radical and controversial theories.
“The Women Identified Women” truly was a monumental argumentation, which further enhanced and enriched feminist movements during the Second wave of feminism. At its published time in 1970s, it was seen as the pioneer of lesbianism advocates in feminist political theories, and in politics, its legacy carried on until nowadays.
Read more about this topic: The Woman-Identified Woman
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