A radical feminism assessment of women's recant of the male symbolic order in the name of difference

Abstract

Feminism, in general is a belief that women are and should be treated as potential intellectual equals and social equals to men. Though the ideology is commonly and perhaps falsely associated mainly with women, a feminist can be of either sex. There are different strands of feminism that have resulted as a response to both the times and challenges women have been faced with from the pre-colonial to post-colonial eras or for as long as humankind has been. Radical feminism as opposed and set aside from the other strands, takes off from a premise that the basic division in all societies exists essentially because men are the oppressors of women. Patriarchal relations underlie all forms of oppression-class, colour, and imperialistic oppression. This discussion seeks to examine the repudiation and subversion of male symbols and what they stand for in various forms of literature and its effect.