Womanliness As Masquerade Analysis

From Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, feminism is defined as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” Throughout history, feminism has existed and along with it, so has many different theories offering different guiding principles and politics for how to act in the world (Bromley, 2012). As time progresses, different social and political reforms emerge and with that, so does the reorganization of feminist theories. During the early 1960s, a new wave of feminism began. After women received their right to vote, women’s liberation movement was born. This second wave focused on things like: reproductive rights, sexuality, and equality in the workplace (Nicholson, 1997). This wave came during a time when the Civil …show more content…
As said in Feminist Thought by Rosemarie Tong, “Gender is separable from sex and patriarchal society uses rigid gender roles to keep women passive and men active.” To respond to distinct sex roles that have been defined, radical libertarian feminists believe men and women should practice androgyny, the combination of both masculine and feminist traits (Tong, 2009). In the essay, Womanliness as Masquerade, written by Joan Riviere, Riviere described what it was like to be a female and how femininity was constructed through society rather than something all women were born with. The fact that women and men have shared characteristics leads radical libertarian feminists to believe that emphasizing femininity is participating in a patriarchal culture (Riviere, 1929). Another issue that contends Radical Cultural Feminists is sexuality. As radical cultural feminists believe that heterosexual relations often leads to sexual violence against women, radical libertarian feminists believe females should reclaim their control over sexuality by demanding the right to practice whatever gives them pleasure (Firestone,