I think so much of the division between libfems and radfems comes from this fundamental liberal misunderstanding of patriarchy and thus women’s oppression. I don’t think any other systems of discrimination are misunderstood like this.

Patriarchy does not deprive women of choices just for the sake of depriving women of choices, it’s a means to a very specific end: getting women to fulfill male wants and desires. Denial of choice is ONE method of oppression, not the only and not all it is.

Like, think back to when women didn’t have a choice to be anything but housewives. Was that just men being mean? No, it was for a reason: so that men could exploit women’s sexual, reproductive, and domestic labor.

The whole bs about women being too stupid or weak or sinful or whatever to make our own choices likely came afterwards as a justification, like how anti-black racism and white supremacy emerged AFTER the trans Atlantic trade to rationalize it.