Radical And Liberal Perspectives On Abortion
There are many different feminist viewpoints, but the most prominent ones are Radical and Liberal. Radical feminists believe that the root cause of inequality in society is the oppression of women, which is caused by patriarchy, or male dominance. On the other hand, Liberal feminists believe that all genders are created as equals and should be treated the same. They state that oppression only exists because of the way men and women are socialized, and they support patriarchy. The two articles chosen discuss the controversial topic of abortion and seem to aim for the same objective, but they are written from different perspectives. The first article mainly focuses on marriage abolition and women’s liberation from men, which are two prime characteristics
of a radical feminist. Murphy (2015) is definitely pro-abortion and stresses that women have the right to not give birth and raise children. She strongly believes the reason that women have to fight for reproductive justice is because they are strictly females, and are not the primary importance to men. Murphy backs this statement up with the reasoning that as long as women continue to give birth to and raise men’s children, it will keep women dependent on men, in turn allowing men to hold all the power. In her opinion, the only way to achieve gender equality is to grant reproductive rights to females. On the other hand, the second article is significantly less dramatic than the first one and it takes a more political approach to this topic. Bevan (2016) is pro-choice because she believes that women should have full access to all reproductive choices, including education, abstinence, adoption, contraception, and abortion. Bevan also explains the importance of reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy in the first place, as it reduces the number of abortions occurring. She also says that reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy will save billions of tax dollars, decrease poverty, increase educational achievement, and improve health for families. After reading this article, it is clear that Bevan is not specifically focused on the dominance that men have over women like Murphy is. These articles depict the different ideas and beliefs of the two types of feminism, but they also show the similarities between the feminist approaches as they both insist that reproductive rights allow women to have more control over their lives.
of a radical feminist. Murphy (2015) is definitely pro-abortion and stresses that women have the right to not give birth and raise children. She strongly believes the reason that women have to fight for reproductive justice is because they are strictly females, and are not the primary importance to men. Murphy backs this statement up with the reasoning that as long as women continue to give birth to and raise men’s children, it will keep women dependent on men, in turn allowing men to hold all the power. In her opinion, the only way to achieve gender equality is to grant reproductive rights to females. On the other hand, the second article is significantly less dramatic than the first one and it takes a more political approach to this topic. Bevan (2016) is pro-choice because she believes that women should have full access to all reproductive choices, including education, abstinence, adoption, contraception, and abortion. Bevan also explains the importance of reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy in the first place, as it reduces the number of abortions occurring. She also says that reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy will save billions of tax dollars, decrease poverty, increase educational achievement, and improve health for families. After reading this article, it is clear that Bevan is not specifically focused on the dominance that men have over women like Murphy is. These articles depict the different ideas and beliefs of the two types of feminism, but they also show the similarities between the feminist approaches as they both insist that reproductive rights allow women to have more control over their lives.