Feminist Realism: An Introduction

Why settle for crumbs when we can take over the entire bakery?

There has been much debate over what type of feminism Female Dating Strategy represents, ever since the creation of the r/femaledatingstrategy subreddit in February 2019.

Female Dating Strategy (FDS) borrows considerably from radical feminism— “radical” meaning “root” in that we acknowledge the patriarchal roots of inequality between men and women.

FDS is aligned with radical feminism in our opposition to liberal feminism, particularly our anti-porn, anti-prostitution, and anti-BDSM stances. Many radical feminists support FDS for these reasons. However, some radical feminists critique FDS, and argue that we are not sufficiently critical of heterosexual relationships, marriage, motherhood, and beauty standards.

We often say that “FDS is a strategy, not an ideology” in that we welcome women from all political backgrounds, and because we focus on practical strategies to ruthlessly advance women’s interests. Our goal is maximizing female benefit, regardless if she wants to be a career woman, a stay-at-home mother, or somewhere in between.

I consider FDS a form of Feminist Realism. By “Realism” I am referring to Realpolitik, a school of thought within political philosophy.

A feminist application of Realpolitik therefore focuses on practical strategies to increase female power, as opposed to liberal feminism which strives for equality, or radical feminism which strives for female liberation.

Read the full article here!

Listen to the podcast episode here!