“Here’s a pretty unbelievable story: Laurie Holden is an actress who plays Andrea on “The Walking Dead,” but she isn’t just an actress. Holden also works as a human rights activist with a group called Operation Underground Railroad. It’s an organization run by an ex-CIA agent named Tim Ballard that works to take down unsavory human traffickers and the like. So, Holden and the group went down to Colombia to try to take down a group of men who were trafficking in underage prostitutes. Ballard, Holden and co. ingratiated themselves into this group and set up an elaborate party in an effort to catch these men in the act….” Adam Pliskin, Elite Daily 

“For months, the group put together a massive sting operation in cooperation with Colombian authorities. They each had an elaborate cover story. Ballard’s story was that he was the best man in a wedding back in the U.S. and was looking to hire several underage prostitutes for a big bachelor party in Cartagena. The cover was meant to lure the sex traffickers into a setup so that Ballard and his team could rescue the girls, many of whom were under 18. … In order for Colombian officials to prosecute the sex traffickers, they have to catch them exchanging money for the girls on tape. … Holden’s job was to “keep [the traffickers] occupied by the pool area while Ballard and the undercover officers worked to catch the traffickers on tape exchanging money.” Candace Smith and Aristides Pinedo-Burns, ABC News 

“When the traffickers agree on camera to to pimp out the underage girls and the money is exchanged, the cops move in to make the arrests.  During the ordeal Holden works with social workers to comfort the girls, who fear they’re the ones who will be in trouble and that they won’t be paid. Holden is clearly heartbroken when interviewed after the fact. But she should also be extremely proud of her work.” Ian Cervantes, Complex

Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that holds that women, as a biological sex class, are oppressed by men as a sex class, and that our entire society is fundamentally a patriarchy, and it must be radically reordered in order for women to be liberated. 

It’s different from the current mainstream feminism, which is liberal feminism. Liberal feminism is more individualistic, and seeks equality for women within the current system, by eliminating certain legal restraints and empowering women to make choices. Many liberal feminists also hold that women are oppressed for femininity rather than for being female, which is why the ideology combines so well with transactivism.

So the fundamental difference is basically that radical feminism sees an unequal system and wants to break down and rebuild the system, whereas liberal feminism sees inequality in the system and wants to bring equality to it. Another difference between radical feminism and mainstream trans/liberal feminism is that radical feminism sees femininity as a tool for the oppression of women whereas mainstream feminism sees it as a reason for the oppression of women.

These differences of course lead to very different opinions on a myriad of issues, such as gender and the sex industry.

Becoming a RadFem quite simply consists of reading radical feminist theory and finding that you agree with it, and taking action in any way that is possible for you. Speaking out is a great first step, and besides that just do whatever you can to help women, especially those who need it most. Fight the sex industry, stand up for sex-segregated spaces, refuse to conform, refuse to be complicit. 

I have a tag here that might have some useful stuff if you’re interested.

Also check out this amazing document.

And finally, I’m currently making a YouTube series. Right now, only an introduction video is up, but I’m editing the second video, which has some important definitions, and it will be up within a few hours. Next week I’ll be talking about the history of women’s oppression.

The reason why radical feminists get a lot of backlash is because radical feminism is gender critical. Radical feminism holds that gender is not an innate identity or an innate behavior pattern, rather it is a socially constructed hierarchy. Radical feminists want to abolish gender. This means that it does not fit with transactivism, and the trans movement is the main source for backlash. According to radical feminism, a woman is an adult human female and a man is an adult human male, and a male can never be a woman and vice versa.