Egalitarian Relationships In "Radical Heterosexuality" Essay

738 words - 3 pages

In this article the author Naomi Wolf does a great job in explaining radical sexuality. Also known as egalitarian relationships. In marital relationships, the meaning is typically that husband and wife have equal status in the marriage. That is sometimes defined as having equal power. She talks about there being some conditions to abide by. For example, it requires that women should be able to support themselves without the help of any man. Also the man must yield the automatic benefits presented by gender. Women give up gender benefits as well as the men. "By day they fight gender injustice; by night they sleep with men" (Wolf p. 155), she questions weather feminists who are in a heterosexual relationship are contradicting themselves, because feminist are known to fight sexism, yet they are sleeping with the opposite sex. Wolf mentions that men who are loved by feminists are lucky. Therefore, she explains some of the qualifications men need in order to be in an egalitarian relationship because that's what feminists are all about. Being in an egalitarian relationship is said to be difficult in some cases. I feel having more egalitarian relationships might decrease the violence towards women and sexism in later generations. In conclusion, Wolf explains that it is perfectly ok to be a feminist, hate sexism and love men.

Men were able to do just about anything they wanted with their wives, until the women's movement and even then in some parts of the countries it is still the same. "Prior to the Civil War married women had many duties but few rights. They were not permitted to control their property, even when it was theirs by inheritance. A husband had the right to his wife's wages, to decide on the education and religion of their children, and to punish his wife if she displeased him." (Janice M. Steil). In addition, it shows how men always over rule women. Naomi Wolf also talks about how women were not treated as human. For example, she says, "In the nineteenth century, when a...

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