A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought.
Groupings
Traditionally feminism is often divided into three main traditions, sometimes known as the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought: liberal/mainstream feminism, radical feminism and socialist or Marxist feminism. Since the late 20th century, a variety of newer forms of feminisms have also emerged, many of which are viewed as branches of the three main traditions.
Judith Lorber distinguishes between three broad kinds of feminist discourses: gender reform feminisms, gender resistant feminisms, and gender revolution feminisms. In her typology, gender reform feminisms are rooted in the political philosophy of liberalism with its emphasis on individual rights. Gender resistant feminisms focus on specific behaviors and group dynamics through which women are kept in a subordinate position, even in subcultures which claim to support gender equality. Gender revolution feminisms seek to disrupt the social order through deconstructing its concepts and categories and analyzing the cultural reproduction of inequalities.
Movements and ideologies
Mainstream feminism
"Mainstream feminism" as a general term identifies feminist ideologies and movements which do not fall into either the socialist or radical feminist camps. The mainstream feminist movement traditionally focused on political and legal reform, and has its roots in first-wave liberal feminism of the 19th and early-20th centuries. Liberal feminism in this broad traditional sense is also called "mainstream feminism", "reformist feminism", "egalitarian feminism" or historically "bourgeois feminism", and is one of the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought alongside socialist and radical feminism.
In the context of third-wave and fourth-wave feminism, the term is today often used by essayists and cultural analysts in reference to a movement made palatable to a general audience. Mainstream feminism is often derisively referred to as "white feminism," a term implying that mainstream feminists do not fight for intersectionality with race, class, and sexuality.
Some parts of third-wave and fourth-wave mainstream feminism has also been accused of being commercialized, and of focusing exclusively on issues that are less contentious in the western world , such as women's political participation or female education access. Radical feminists sometimes criticize mainstream feminists as part of "a system of patriarchy". Nevertheless, major milestones of the feminist struggle—such as the right to vote and the right to education—came about mainly as a result of the work of the mainstream feminist movement, which emphasized building far-reaching support for feminist causes among both men and women.
Anarchist
Anarcha-feminism (also called anarchist feminism and anarcho-feminism) combines anarchism with feminism. It generally views patriarchy as a manifestation of involuntary hierarchy. Anarcha-feminists believe that the struggle against patriarchy is an essential part of class struggle and of the anarchist struggle against the state. In essence, the philosophy sees anarchist struggle as a necessary component of feminist struggle and vice versa. As L. Susan Brown puts it, "as anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes all relationships of power, it is inherently feminist".
Important historic anarcha-feminists include Emma Goldman, Federica Montseny, Voltairine de Cleyre, Maria Lacerda de Moura, and Lucy Parsons. In the Spanish Civil War, an anarcha-feminist group, Mujeres Libres ("Free Women"), linked to the Federación Anarquista Ibérica, organized to defend both anarchist and feminist ideas.
Contemporary anarcha-feminist writers/theorists include Lucy Friedland, L. Susan Brown, and the eco-feminist Starhawk. Contemporary anarcha-feminist groups include Bolivia's Mujeres Creando, Radical Cheerleaders, the Spanish anarcha-feminist squat La Eskalera Karakola, and the annual La Rivolta! conference in Boston.