Dissociation of Ideas, 2

Distinguish between Feminism and Women’s Liberation.

Feminism is, simply, a demand for justice which all ethical persons must support. It may be more basic than any other demand for justice, because the exploitation of women is damaging also to children and thereby to the whole human race; so that anybody who works for Feminism is working for the sanity of the species.

Women’s Liberation is a specific brand of Feminism born out of the ugliness and fanaticism of New Left politics. To some extent, it has outgrown the worst aspects of that background; to some extent, it has not. It will outgrow that ugliness eventually, as the HEAD revolution teaches everybody to use their brains better. Meanwhile, one can support Feminism and still recognize that Women’s Liberation, like all the fallout of the New Left, is partly a pathological hate trip.