The Personal Is Political: Radical Women's Liberation Movement

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‘The personal is political’ is also known as ‘The private is political’. It emerged in student movement and the movement of second-wave feminism since the late 1960s. It highlights the relationship between personal experience and broader social as well as political structures. During the 1960s’ feminist movement, ‘the personal is political’ has been a challenge to the nuclear family and the value of family. Aa a slogan, ‘The personal is political’ has been repeatedly used to define the general feature of second-wave feminism, feminism activist and female studies and feminism. The slogan distinguishes between the second-wave feminism and the 1920s’ feminism, because the slogan expresses the opinion and political appeal of female’s right to vote. The slogan was famous by the publication of essay …show more content…

Hanisch devoted to fight for the female’s liberation in the American South, committed to argue with the viewpoint that sex, appearance, abortion, childcare, and female workers were only related to personal problem rather than political significance. To rebut these issues, Hanish encouraged female to surmount low self-esteem and self-blame, openly communicate with their stories amongst each other, and conduct collective activities to confront the patriarchy and masculinity. Instead of quoting ‘the personal is political’, Hanish describes her viewpoint: ‘we find the first thing is that personal problems are political problems. At this time, there is no any personal solution. But, we only have collective action for a collective solution.’ (Hanisch, 1969). Hanisch (1969) criticises that using ‘therapy’ versus ‘politics’ to describe feminist movement is inappropriate, and corrects that the movement should be described as ‘personal’ versus

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