ABOUT
The Radical Grimoires is my project to educate myself on second wave and radical feminist theory. I intend to read and review classic feminist texts, possibly in chronological order, from the 20th century.
My journey started when heated arguments between different feminists in my media environment alerted me to the fact that what I had taken as the feminism was in fact only one strand of feminism. The issues were not settled; many were being hotly debated, including the very definition of womanhood and the question of who feminism was for.
I also learned that threats, slander and silencing were being used against the feminists who held contrary views—those described as radical. I couldn’t believe the volume and vileness of the abuse, nor the harassment and no-platforming by students and academics who claimed, without irony, to feel unsafe.
A little exploration revealed to me that today's radical or gender critical feminists see themselves as continuing the tradition of second wave feminism—the theorising and activism that took place primarily in the '60s and '70s. It seems to me that the second wave forms the backbone of feminist history. Whether I agree or disagree, I can hardly raise my own feminist philosophy without a basic understanding of that era's most important texts.
My plan is to seek out and read these radical tomes. I hope to find something powerful, relevant, and satisfyingly honest. And I'm going to write about what I find, saying where I agree, disagree, and what I think it means for my unfolding understanding of feminism. I hope you'll stick around for the journey. Our first destination is Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex.