libfem vs radfem vs tradfem
libfem vs radfem vs tradfem
Jan 26 2025, 9:34 PM
My main goal is to help make a coherent definition of "tradfems" and how their beliefs differ from "radfems" because I think it's important for radical, rad-leaning, and gender critical feminists (who actually are those things) to loudly distance ourselves from alt-righters who identify as TERFs despite not being Radical Feminists or gender critical despite not being critical of traditional gender roles. I think it's good for us to be vigilant about recognizing and calling out alt-right rhetoric disguised as radical feminism.
I'm probably not going to go super deep into anything or cite a bunch of theory in every post because honestly I just don't want to put that much effort into internet stuff. I'm also probably not going to post screencaps/examples of the rhetoric I'm talking about because:
- It's not my intention to start witchhunts against individuals and
- Again, this is just me trying to find a healthier outlet for my Trump anxiety so I don't want to treat it as a job or homework. I'm just here to to smoke a joint and word vomit my observations on the discourse. Writing this stuff out feels very cathartic.
(Posting in this subforum to keep all my posts with this theme organized in one thread, but let me know if it'd be more appropriate in another subforum.)
DEFINITIONS
LIBFEM
Libfem, libfeminist, libfeminism = Umbrella term for a style of feminism rooting from neoliberalism, queer theory, 3rd wave feminism, intersectional feminism, and postmodernism.
Has a tendency to intentionally misinterpret and weaponize specific concepts (like privilege or intersectionality) to defang feminism and make it more appealing to men and capitalism. For example, the concept of solidarity is often weaponized to bully women into ignoring misogyny from other groups ("lesbians must center trans women and do as they're told to be good intersectional feminists!".). This was the dominate form of feminism online (and offline) through the 10s.
I'm intentionally using "libfeminism" and "libfem" instead of "(neo)liberal, queer, or postmodern feminism/feminist" because I'm talking about this general group of online discourse, not specific ideology or theory.
RADFEM
Radfem, radfeminist, radfeminism = Umbrella term for a style of feminism rooting from radical feminism, Marxist feminism, gender-critical feminism, 2nd wave feminism and just general common sense feminism.
For many younger radfems, their first exposure to feminism was libfeminism. Therefore radfeminism has some overlap with some of the saner parts of 3rd wave feminism and rejects the less-than-ideal parts of 2nd wave feminism. For example, political lesbianism was a big part of the 2nd wave but is typically rejected as lesbophobic by radfeminism. Radfeminism is not just a copy+paste of 2nd wave, it is it's own modern thing significantly influenced by 2nd wave.
I'm intentionally using "radfeminism" and "radfem" instead of "radical or gender-critical feminism/feminist" because I'm talking about this general type of online discourse, not specific ideology or theory.
TRADFEM
Tradfem, tradfeminist, tradfeminism = umbrella term for a reactionary style of "feminism" developing in opposition to libfeminism. Tradfems often appropriate talking points from radfeminism to appear legitimate and often orbit/astroturf radfeminist circles.
They do not typically self-describe as tradfems. They typically self-describe as radfems, gender-critical, and TERFs. They also sometimes seem to self-describe as centrist, moderate, or "politically homeless". They never self-describe as tradfem or rightwing. I'm going to self-describe as tradfem when I'm speaking from their point of view here because I don't want this to be confusing or screencapped and taken out of context, but it's very very important to remember that these people do not typically self-describe as tradfems. They usually self-describe as radfems, TERFs, or gender-critical.
I'm intentionally using "tradfeminism" and "tradfem" instead of "conservative, rightwing, or Christian feminism/feminist" because I'm talking about these positions in online discourse, not specific ideology or theory.
I've decided to try and cope with my Trump anxiety by expanding on my big long post and trying to make it more coherent. It feels more productive than endless doomscrolling. My plan is to talk about the three main "camps" of feminist discourse going around today and compare their general perspectives.
My main goal is to help make a coherent definition of "tradfems" and how their beliefs differ from "radfems" because I think it's important for radical, rad-leaning, and gender critical feminists (who actually are those things) to loudly distance ourselves from alt-righters who identify as TERFs despite not being Radical Feminists or gender critical despite not being critical of traditional gender roles. I think it's good for us to be vigilant about recognizing and calling out alt-right rhetoric disguised as radical feminism.
I'm probably not going to go super deep into anything or cite a bunch of theory in every post because honestly I just don't want to put that much effort into internet stuff. I'm also probably not going to post screencaps/examples of the rhetoric I'm talking about because:
- It's not my intention to start witchhunts against individuals and
- Again, this is just me trying to find a healthier outlet for my Trump anxiety so I don't want to treat it as a job or homework. I'm just here to to smoke a joint and word vomit my observations on the discourse. Writing this stuff out feels very cathartic.
(Posting in this subforum to keep all my posts with this theme organized in one thread, but let me know if it'd be more appropriate in another subforum.)
DEFINITIONS
LIBFEM
Libfem, libfeminist, libfeminism = Umbrella term for a style of feminism rooting from neoliberalism, queer theory, 3rd wave feminism, intersectional feminism, and postmodernism.
Has a tendency to intentionally misinterpret and weaponize specific concepts (like privilege or intersectionality) to defang feminism and make it more appealing to men and capitalism. For example, the concept of solidarity is often weaponized to bully women into ignoring misogyny from other groups ("lesbians must center trans women and do as they're told to be good intersectional feminists!".). This was the dominate form of feminism online (and offline) through the 10s.
I'm intentionally using "libfeminism" and "libfem" instead of "(neo)liberal, queer, or postmodern feminism/feminist" because I'm talking about this general group of online discourse, not specific ideology or theory.
RADFEM
Radfem, radfeminist, radfeminism = Umbrella term for a style of feminism rooting from radical feminism, Marxist feminism, gender-critical feminism, 2nd wave feminism and just general common sense feminism.
For many younger radfems, their first exposure to feminism was libfeminism. Therefore radfeminism has some overlap with some of the saner parts of 3rd wave feminism and rejects the less-than-ideal parts of 2nd wave feminism. For example, political lesbianism was a big part of the 2nd wave but is typically rejected as lesbophobic by radfeminism. Radfeminism is not just a copy+paste of 2nd wave, it is it's own modern thing significantly influenced by 2nd wave.
I'm intentionally using "radfeminism" and "radfem" instead of "radical or gender-critical feminism/feminist" because I'm talking about this general type of online discourse, not specific ideology or theory.
TRADFEM
Tradfem, tradfeminist, tradfeminism = umbrella term for a reactionary style of "feminism" developing in opposition to libfeminism. Tradfems often appropriate talking points from radfeminism to appear legitimate and often orbit/astroturf radfeminist circles.
They do not typically self-describe as tradfems. They typically self-describe as radfems, gender-critical, and TERFs. They also sometimes seem to self-describe as centrist, moderate, or "politically homeless". They never self-describe as tradfem or rightwing. I'm going to self-describe as tradfem when I'm speaking from their point of view here because I don't want this to be confusing or screencapped and taken out of context, but it's very very important to remember that these people do not typically self-describe as tradfems. They usually self-describe as radfems, TERFs, or gender-critical.
I'm intentionally using "tradfeminism" and "tradfem" instead of "conservative, rightwing, or Christian feminism/feminist" because I'm talking about these positions in online discourse, not specific ideology or theory.