By Keith C. Milne
“Radical,” “lesbian,” “faggot,” “sissy boy,” “dyke,” “sexist,” and “oppressor” are some of the concepts used in The Woman-Identified Woman by Radicalesbians to elicit strong emotions regarding gender roles, sexuality, and homosexuality–specifically lesbianism and women’s issues–and to raise people’s awareness about women’s oppression by men and (a sexist) society.
Attempting to raise women’s consciousness about their unfortunate position relative to men in our society, the Radicalesbians portray women as victims and men as dominant oppressors who, both individually and collectively, conspire to keep women in servitude.
Extreme positions like this are often discounted by the majority in America, and both the individuals and groups that promote them are often considered less than credible. Nevertheless, extreme actions do raise people’s awareness about perceived injustices; indeed, it is through planting these seeds of change that humankind evolves.
Unfortunately, what is often gained through radicalism by one group, comes at the expense of another. The Woman-Identified Woman–as a furthering of the women’s movement–calls for women to eschew men and crossover to lesbianism in order to realize their full potential as women.
Homosexuality aside, the underlying message conveyed by the Radicalesbians is that, despite the gains made by the women’s movement up to 1970, women were still victims of male oppression. Since then, women have claimed far more freedom and autonomy, but at the expense of men.
“What is a [man]?” (Radicalesbians 249). A man is a target–for women, minorities, and most of all, other men. It is a tricky time to be a man in American society–especially if he is white and middle-aged. In many ways, life for a man is more complex than ever before: while he is expected to be strong, independent, tough, and protective, he is simultaneously expected to be a caring, nurturing, and sensitive person–as measured by his ability to change the oil in the car and give the baby its bottle–all without ever publicly uttering a compliment about a woman’s appearance.
“[He] is the [man] who, beginning at an extremely early age, acts in accordance with [his] inner compulsion to be a more complete and freer human being than [his] society . . . cares to allow [him]” (Radicalesbians 249). This leaves many men living life double-bound and gagged.
Indeed, with women occupying most elementary school teaching positions, the natural warrior in the boy is quickly repressed by the woman who gives him a daily dose of conflicting messages about the proper role of boys, leaving him confused about his identity at an impressionable time in his life.
As he sits in class with testosterone coursing through his veins, he is expected to sit still, be polite, quiet, and most of all, respectful of the woman and the girls in the class. If he is too rambunctious in class, he might be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and medicated for it.
The woman teaches him to try and work out his conflicts peacefully, yet too often when he tries to follow her guidance he is labeled a “wussie” by his peers, and is either beaten-up or enjoys the same punishment as the instigator for being involved in a skirmish.
If the boy prefers the company of girls, he is labeled a sissy or a faggot. If this happens, his parent(s) may become concerned about his sexual orientation and try to get him to play football, video games, cops and robbers, or army with his male friends out of fear that he might turn into or be a homosexual. After all, “the queasiness felt around a sissy boy point to [one] thing: the contempt in which [men] . . . who play a female role . . . are held” (Radicalesbians 250).
As the boy continues growing, he does his best to adapt to his confusion about his proper role, and begins watching westerns, war pictures and sports figures on television, as well as observing the behavior of his older brothers, friends, and their fathers to help him figure out what a man is. Pool Eventually, what he learns are certain codes associated with being male: don’t cry; don’t “rat” on your friends; fight when “called out” or risk losing your honor; don’t talk about yourself too much or express emotions; guys don’t like other guys; to name a few.
As the boy becomes a young man, he begins to notice young women. He tries to woo the young woman by shows of his physical strength or athletic prowess–the things society has told him are valued in a man.
The post-modern young woman, having learned she is in the dominant position relative to men from her mother, views his efforts with amusement, but also sees them as immature. Years spent acquiring the “right traits” of manliness are jeopardized by this, and he must now reassess his gender role. He must learn to pay his female oppressor proper deference, and begin walking the tightrope between society’s expectations for him as a man, and satisfying the woman’s requirement that he be kind, gentle, and sensitive.
If the young woman decides he is worthy of her affection, she will often keep his interest honed by tapping into his powerful, testosterone-fed sex drive by giving him enough sexual gratification to keep him coming back for more. The young man, wanting to satisfy this new, powerfully provocative physical urge, as well as fulfill society’s expectations regarding dating and eventual marriage, learns that the price he must pay to achieve this is to give up much of his autonomy.
The woman, realizing her power to manipulate the man, also knows that unless she uses it, she might risk giving back much of the power that her mother’s generation fought so hard to acquire. Therefore, she has an “ . . . investment in keeping [men] in that . . . role . . . . [She comes to see that sex] is a [weapon] . . . to [be used against] any [man] who dares . . . to challenge [her] prerogatives (including that of all [men] as part of the exchange medium among [women]), [or] who dares to assert the primacy of [his] own needs” (Radicalesbians 250).
This situation leaves the man caught in a three-way juxtaposition between his internalized societal expectations about male identity, the subjugation to women he must endure in order to procreate, enjoy companionship, and have his sexual needs met, and the intense pressure he experiences to pretend that he is, in fact, someone who knows and enjoys personal autonomy.
Once this precedent has been established, it remains intact, and men become mere shadows of their true potential. Sadly, men come to “[eventually] realize that the essence of being a [man] is to get fucked by [women]” (Radicalesbians 251). This is made particularly apparent when the woman decides she wants a divorce, and the man has to pay for his failure by enduring a legal milking.
Living with this knowledge weighs heavy on a man’s heart, but because he has internalized the male code of not confiding in another man or showing any sign of personal weakness–which would threaten his status as a man–he must bear all of his pain alone. Discussing his pain or complaining to the woman about it only empowers her further.
Anytime oppression of others is involved, the outcome is never positive, neither for the oppressor or the oppressed.
Female oppression of men have reduced men to walking dead resources of economic utility; automatons who work themselves into an early grave trying to live up to the socially constructed, idealized image of a man they’ve been socialized to believe in. Sadly, “[T]he [woman] confers on [men] just one thing: the slave status which makes [him] legitimate in the eyes of . . . society . . . . As long as [men] are dependent on the [female] culture for this . . . [men] cannot be free” (Radicalesbians 253).
Works Cited:
Radicalesbians. “The Woman-Identified Woman.” Cultural Resistance Reader. Ed. Stephen Duncombe. New York: Verso, 2002. 248-254.