Feminism never operated as an autonomous movement but as a political instrument

Evidence

Feminism itself has never been an autonomous movement: it was partially an instrument in the hands of politicians and partially an epiphenomenon reflecting a deeper social drama. Never did women form a separate caste: and in reality they never sought to play a role in history as a sex. The doctrines that call for the advent of woman as flesh, life, immanence, or the Other are masculine ideologies that do not in any way express feminine claims. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 288

Categorization

• QUESTION: This challenges a heroics-of-feminism narrative — what would the counterevidence look like? The suffragette and Oppian Law examples she gave earlier suggest some autonomy, so what boundary does she draw?
• XREF: connects to: Ideological and cultural movements do not cause female liberation. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 209; Some feminists appropriated the movement to serve individual careers rather than collective change — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 551; The economy never operates free of political and ideological practices (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Some feminists appropriated the movement to serve individual careers rather than collective change #exemplifies (0.82) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 551
• The economy never operates free of political and ideological practices #expands (0.80)
• Non-oppressed women sustain a reformist, racist, classist feminism without urgency #exemplifies (0.78) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 556