Enlightened Feminism: Ideology, Political Practice

This article clarifies the social essence of the ideology of enlightened feminism by analyzing its ideological, historical and political dynamics. The author focuses on the feminism of the first and second waves, which is generally devoid of many excessively bizarre and absurd forms inherent in modern radical feminism. The dialectical nature of the dynamics of feminism is noted - the achievement of specific political goals at the previous stage forced its ideologists to form new tasks, mainly on a more expansive scale and under the influence of a changing situation. At the same time, sometimes, we were talking about measures concerning the fundamental rethinking of the female essence itself, getting rid of patriarchal cultural stereotypes, which prepared the ground for legitimizing the situation characteristic of modern radical feminism, which is talking about the actual social domination of the fairer sex. The author emphasizes the importance of the subjective preferences of the developers of feminist ideas, as well as the fallacy of the key thesis of the theory of feminism about the social conditionality of gender differences. This largely serves as a prerequisite for the radicalization of modern forms of feminism, the inconsistency and paradoxical nature of its practice.

political ideology, first-wave feminism, second-wave feminism, enlightenment project, patriarchal society, gender, gender, social processes