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[–]saiditting 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think where we go wrong is in taking “the personal is political” mantra too literally. Theory is not meant to be applied directly to life — to indviduals. It is a way to analyze the world around you, systems, practices, patterns, and so on and so forth. Theory is just ideas, at the end of the day, and while it can help us understand certain phenomena, it should not be treated as a rule book, in terms of how we approach every person, situation, or relationship. Yet many radical feminists have done just that.

"the personal is political", as it emerged in (often Maoist or otherwise Marxist) radical feminism in the 1970s, contributed to the origin of identity politics and cancel culture as we know it today. So much of contemporary radlib/neolib discourse, which divides and segments us into helpless identity groups incapable of solidarity, is really a co-opting and perversion of prior discourses with more noble and social intentions.