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Individualist Feminism- A Different Kind Of Women's Movement

© Joy Johnston

After lying dormant for the better part of the century, individualist feminism is making a comeback that its supporters hope will change the complexity of the feminist movement in the next century. Traditional feminists view this individualistic movement as a threat to their community based focus; others question whether this splinter group would be better served by being a part of the Libertarian Party. If nothing else, the rise and fall and resurrection of individualist feminism is an interesting addendum to the libertarian influence in American history.

Individualist feminism is based upon two main principles: self-ownership and equal treatment under the law. This philosphy did not spring purely from Libertarian wells of thought; the American tradition was influenced by classical liberalism, especially by British feminist and author Mary Wollstonecraft. But American feminists did have unique issues to engage in: Puritanism, the American Revolution, and most crucial to the development of individual feminism, the abolition movement.

Feminism as a movement began in American in the 1830's. Before then, Anne Hutchinson, who battled the Puritan orthodoxy, Abigail Adams, who railed against slavery in her letters, and Mercy Otis Warren in her American Revolution writings, expressed feminist points of view. But the feminist movement was a by-product of the abolition movement, where women were allowed into the political realm that had been forbidden to them before. The male abolitionists' tolerance for women to participate in the movement stems in part from the Quaker influence, where gender equality was promoted. During this era, the Grimke sisters, and Lucretia Mott among many others wrote and spoke eloquently on both the abolition of slavery and the equality of sexes. Mott helped form the first women's rights conference in 1848- the Seneca Falls Convention. This overlapping of issues would later bring some individualist feminists in conflict with male abolitionists, causing them to splinter and form their own organizations.

This schism occurred shortly after the Civil War. While individualist feminists took a more radical turn into the areas of free thought, free love, and utopian communities, a more mainstream group sought to secure the rights of former slaves in the Constitution, fueling Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to organize the National Woman's league which led a succesful petition drive. However, it soon became clear to Stanton and Anthony that while slavery may be abolished, only black males would be granted suffrage. Male abolitionists, generally tolerant of feminist discourse before, now rejected such discussion. "One war at a time," was the common response to the individualist feminists.

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