Radical feminist is sometimes a label placed on women, but it is also sometimes a self-designation. I generally like to call people what they call themselves, so I only use the term in the latter sense. (You will sometimes see the term shortened to radfem.) My main source for information on radical feminism is radfemhub.com. Radfemhub.com can be a little difficult to follow, but if you remember the context it generally makes sense. This is from wikipedia:
Radical feminism is a current perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on the assertion that male supremacy oppresses women.
You can see radical feminist influence in the Green Party Platform:
Since the beginning of what we call civilization, when men’s dominance over women was firmly established, until the present day, our history has been marred with oppression of and brutality to women. The Green Party deplores this system of male domination, known as patriarchy, in all its forms, both subtle and overt — from oppression, inequality, and discrimination to all forms of violence against women and girls including rape, trafficking, forced sex which is also rape, slavery, prostitution and violence against women within marriage and relationships and in all institutions.
There is also a pretty strong stand on transgender rights:
The Green Party affirms the right of all persons to self-determination with regard to gender identity and sex. We therefore support the right of intersex and transgender individuals to be free from coercion and involuntary assignment of gender or sex. We affirm the right of access to medical and surgical treatment for assignment or reassignment of gender or sex, based on informed consent.
What the platform does not seem to address is the tension that some see between the two movements. A figure at the center of the controversy is Cathy Brennan. She co-authored a letter to the United Nations expressing concerns about gender identity legislation in various states. The concern is that the legislation undermines legal protections for females vis-a-vis sex segregated spaces. I asked Doctor Stein about the issue in a fairly broad way. Here is what she had to say:
In case you skipped the clip or had trouble with it, Dr. Stein believes that the concerns around sex segregated spaces will be worked out. I asked Cathy Brennan for a comment. Her response was:
I appreciate Ms. Stein’s sensitivity to equal rights. However, I’d ask her to consider how the effort to access to public accommodations for transgender people infringes on the rights of women to have space free from male predation. These “gender identity” laws are so broadly written as to allow any male who decides that he feels female to access a space. Surely, we can do better. Surely, the Green Party can do better.
You can follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.
This is part of a series on my interview with Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein. Here is a link to the complete interview if you have an hour or so to spare.
Originally published on Forbes.com Oct 9th, 2012