When Liberalism Can Be Used to Oppress

“The ideals and concepts of liberalism have been used in feminist struggles for liberation throughout recent history. From the time of the women’s suffrage movement to the more recent battles over abortion, women have formulated their demands in terms of equality, autonomy, and individual rights. Although numerous feminists have demonstrated their value, 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. Examples of this include cases where men have used the “right to privacy” to argue that the state should not interfere in situations of domestic violence and marital rape, as well as more recent cases in which racist hate speech, violent pornography, and sexually harassing speech have been granted protection under the right to “freedom of expression.” Why is it that these concepts yield such radically different conclusions? When and why do liberalism’s central ideals work to oppress, and when and why do they function as tools of liberation?”

- Lisa Schwartzman, Challenging Liberalism: Feminism as Political Critique, p. 1 [bold emphasis my own]