Radical Feminists, the Long ‘Sex Wars’ and the Anti-Gender Movement: The Career of Janice Raymond

Abstract

This article uses the long career of Janice Raymond to trace a genealogy of radical feminism. Best known for her 1979 anti-trans book, The Transsexual Empire, Raymond was also central to anti-pornography, anti-surrogacy and anti-sex work campaigns. In the 1980s, when she and her allies lost the ‘sex wars’ in the United States feminist movement, they moved to the international arena, where they had significant success, especially in the United Nations. Raymond's career highlights the broader ambit of radical feminism, its ideological infrastructure and its longstanding associations with conservative anti-gender movements.