What counts as feminist theory?

Abstract

This paper argues for a particular meaning of feminism, in terms of a political struggle against the social relations of male supremacy and for a human status for women outside male control. It starts by acknowledging there are conflicts over the meaning of feminism, but points out that these are not resolved by references to 'feminisms' in the plural. Neither, it goes on to argue, is feminism an 'identity politics'. Although feminism is centrally concerned with women, that concern is necessary because of the existence of social relations based on the principle that only men count as 'human'. In that sense, feminism is both social theory and critical theory. It is also radical feminism, and the paper mounts a defence of radical feminism against charges that it is 'essentialist', 'white and middle-class' and 'right-wing', while at the same time criticising the typology which defines radical feminism as simply one 'feminism' among many.