Individualist feminism

"Individualist feminism", also known as "libertarian feminism", is feminism in name only a term used by right-wing critics of feminism who posit that the way to equality for women is through achieving equal individual rights for everyone without regard to gender. This contrasts with modern mainstream feminism, which considers women as an identity group and focuses on securing rights for all women within that framework.

Part of a series on
Gender
Spectra and binaries
v - t - e

Individualist feminists generally believe that women should exercise personal responsibility for their own lives. It also opposes any government interference an individual makes with her own body (such as restrictions on abortion or pornography).

Well-known exponents of individualist feminism include the anarcho-capitalist Wendy McElroy, and the art historian Camille Paglia. John Stuart Mill, a 19th-century classical liberal philosopher, along with his wife Harriet Taylor - both of whom are major "forefathers" (foreparents?) of feminist thought - held views that align with the concept of individualist feminism, expressing the importance of both personal identity and gender equality in a liberal democracy.

While on the surface it may seem like another variety of feminism, one should be highly skeptical of the motivations of those promoting them. Wendy McElroy has engaged in typical conservative rape apology[1] (complete with arguments that systemic social issues don't exist and concern trolling about due process). Christina Hoff Sommers has spent the last two decades and a half attempting to discredit feminism. Camille Paglia published a book called "It's A Man's World And Always Will Be". Moreover, their denial of systemic social issues that affect women falls in line with the libertarian tendency of justifying oppressive social structures by making appeals to the preservation of "individuality" and "freedom".

References
  1. "A Review of Rape Culture Hysteria: Fixing the Damage Done to Men and Women by Wendy McElroy", Sharon Presley, libertarianism.org
This philosophy-related article is a stub.
You can help RationalWiki by expanding it.
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.