Phrases and slogans can be powerful tools for effecting change and raising awareness. The phrase The Personal is Political is one such phrase that has endured over decades and has impacted successive feminist movements. In this article, you'll learn more about this powerful slogan and how it has been used to advance important women's issues over the years.
Meaning of The Personal is Political
The Personal is Political is a campaign slogan that expresses the feminist notion that women's personal experiences are rooted in and shaped by their political circumstances and gender inequality. Although the original author of The Personal is Political is unknown, Carol Hanisch, a radical feminist and a prominent member of New York Radical Women and the Redstockings, popularised the phrase in a 1969 essay. The essay describes how women's experience of oppression, individually and as a group, is shaped by the social, economic, and political structure beyond their control.
The Personal is Political and Feminism
While the first wave of feminism brought about women's right to vote and work, women remained unhappy with their roles in their personal and domestic lives. At the time, this dissatisfaction was viewed as unimportant and politically irrelevant. That changed with The Personal is Political concept, which corresponded with the second wave of feminism. The concept served as a game-changer, helping prove that personal issues are political issues and that both the personal and political correlates and affect one another.
First-wave feminism
A women's movement that worked to achieve women's suffrage and women's right to work. The movement was active from the 19th century until the early 20th century.
Second-wave feminism
A women's movement that was active for several decades between roughly 1960 and 1980. The movement sought to build upon past feminist achievements and was especially concerned with establishing equality for women.
Thie Personal is Political slogan helped shape the later waves of feminism and the concept of feminism in general.
Origin of The Personal is Political
Fig. 1 – Women's liberation march.
Although the origin of the phrase The Personal is Political is unknown, the term started to gain traction after American feminist Carol Hanisch published an essay with the same title in 1969, arguing that one can trace many personal experiences (especially those of women) to one's position within a system of power relationships.
Hanisch's thesis focused on men's power and women's oppression. For example, if a male partner assaults a woman, the social pressure on women plays a significant role in explaining the abuse.
Hanisch wrote in 2006 about how her original essay was inspired by her work in male-dominated, left-wing civil rights, and anti-war (Vietnam) political movements. Women's equality was paid lip service, but little attention to women's primary issues beyond fundamental economic equality. Hanisch was distraught with the assumption that women's problems were their responsibility and that it was all "in their brains."1
In her The Personal Is Political essay, she stated that having personal knowledge of how "grim" the situation was for women was just as vital as participating in political "activities" like protests.
Hanisch clarified that "political" encompasses all power connections, not only those between governments and elected politicians.
What began as a slogan for recognising politics in everyday life quickly evolved into an authoritarian dictum. As a result, it became more apparent that a woman's personal decisions must be consistent with the politics she supports.
First-wave feminism discussed the legality of political issues for women, for example, the ability to work, vote, and hold jobs. The Personal is Political theory, however, emphasises that women's issues such as sex, childcare, and the idea of women being dissatisfied with their lives at home, are all political issues that require political intervention to bring about change.
The slogan helped shape the focus of second-wave feminism, including women's equality in sexuality, domestic life, and the workplace, among others. In short, the many personal matters weren't considered political enough until The Personal is Political slogan came to life.
Lip Service
Paying lip service means talking or saying something, sometimes even saying you will do something but never actually doing it or taking action.
Analysis: The Political Impact of The Personal is Political
The phrase The Personal is Political had a significant impact on second-wave feminism. It helped define the evolution of social analyses and ideas, inspired new types of movements, and broadened the set of issues classified as feminist. For example, the political impact of The Personal is Political slogan was central to creating groups that raised awareness about feminism and its ideas. These groups met to share their personal experiences on issues relevant to feminism and women's experiences, such as careers and parenting. These groups generated knowledge based on their experiences for future activist movements.
These awareness-raising groups, according to Hanisch, were a type of political action. She underlines that any connection with a power dynamic - even domestic - is a political relationship. During feminism's second wave, a significant turning point was women's recognition that their difficulties had a more powerful political component in response to claims that women were to blame for their predicament. Hanisch argued that the interaction of theory and practise was the key to developing good theory.
In the late 1960s, the student movement and second-wave feminism coined The Personal is Political. In doing so, they highlighted the ties between human experience and more prominent social and political structures. It was in effect, a defiance of the traditional family ideals that were in place during the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Personal is Political concept continued to impact feminist theory many years later.
American feminist bell hooks borrowed many of The Personal is Political's ideas to formulate her theory based on women's experiences. She spoke of her personal experiences as a young black woman in a family that did not discuss gender but had gender ideologies that differed from hooks'. As a result, hooks "theorised" her experiences to better understand her condition.
American sociologist Patricia Hill Collins also exemplified the political influence of this phrase when she argued that many black women treated the personal experience as more epistemologically valuable because it is grounded in immediate reality.
Epistemology
A term that refers to the study of human knowledge, especially concerning the nature, validity, and limits of knowledge.
Further proof of the major impact The Personal is Political concept has had on women's lives can be seen in enacted legislation in the United Kingdom.2
Impact of the Personal is Political, Vanessa Semprun - StudsySmarter
Examples of the Personal Is Political
Third-wave feminists focus on "everyday feminism," which combines feminist values and views with fashion, relationships, and the assertion of traditionally gendered talents. As a result, they elevated the status of these behaviours and deemed them politically involved and motivated. Now, based on the personal is political, they demand more political participation and attention in their movement.
The personal is political is a phrase that is still valid and remains in use today. The phrase has a strong presence in the writings of many black feminist activists, such as Audre Lorde’s essay The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House and A Black Feminist Statement produced by the Combahee River Collective.
Another prominent activist that uses the personal is political is Kimberlé Crenshaw, who writes in one of her essays the following:
"This process of seeing what was previously viewed as isolated and individual as societal and systemic has also characterised the identity politics of African Americans, other people of colour, and gays and lesbians, among others."
Many activists use the phrase The Personal is Political in their writings about feminism. Here are a few of the most prominent:
Audre Lorde was an American writer, feminist and liberal. Her works primarily consist of poems and prose, which mainly address civil rights, feminism, homosexuality, physical challenges, and the investigation of black female identity.
Gloria E. Anzaldua was an American scholar, feminist, and queer who theorised about Chicana culture, feminism, and the queer community. She identifies as a feminist in her writing, and her major works are frequently associated with Chicana feminism and post-colonial feminism. Anzaldua describes the oppression she faces as a woman of colour and the restrictive gender stereotypes within the Chicano community.
Cherríe Moraga Moraga is credited as being one of the few writers who developed and popularised the theory of Chicana lesbianism. Her writing explores gender, sexuality, and race intersections, especially in the cultural production of women of colour.
The personal is Political - Key takeaways.
- "The personal is political means that women's personal experiences are rooted in their political circumstances and inequality.
- The origin of the phrase "the personal is political" is unknown. However, the term gained popularity after American feminist Carol Hanisch published an essay with the same title in 1969
- The phrase "the personal is political" impacted second-wave feminism, defining the evolution of social analyses and ideas, inspiring new movements, and broadening the set of issues classified as "feminist issues."
- Feminism, "the personal is political," has had different changes motivated by this theory. But in addition, it has driven movements, and this phrase has been present in the various stages of feminism.
References
- Fig. 1 – Women's liberation march from Farrugut Square to Layfette 03425v (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Women%27s_liberation_march_from_Farrugut_Square_to_Layfette_03425v.jpg) by Leffler, Warren K., photographer (https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003673992/) licensed by PD U.S News & World Report (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Library_of_Congress-no_known_copyright_restrictions).
- Napikoski, 2020.
- The British Library, 2019.
- Crenshaw, 1991.
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