Radical feminism begins from a material analysis of sex-based oppression. Its central claim is straightforward: societies organise themselves around the female body in ways that produce distinct forms of vulnerability, regardless of how one identifies. On this analysis, transmen are not outside its scope but included within it.

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At its core, the tradition is not anti-man, nor does it oppose masculinity as a mode of expression. The critique is directed at the system that links masculinity with dominance and femininity with subordination. Radical feminists reject gender stereotypes that constrain both sexes and recognise a longstanding history of female masculinity—something many transmen have lived. While passing as male can shift how others perceive us, it does not erase the material realities of having a female body. Those realities shape risk, access to resources, and exposure to male violence. In this sense, transmen’s experiences are not external to the framework of female oppression but part of it.

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From this perspective, sex inequality is systemic rather than incidental. The institutions that structure family life, economic arrangements, sexuality, and labour all bear the imprint of male dominance. The goal is not simply to secure equal opportunity within existing systems but to transform the systems themselves. The term “radical” refers to this focus on root causes.

Radical feminist work has often focused on areas such as bodily autonomy, sex-based violence, sexual assault, marriage and family structures, prostitution and pornography, economic inequality, and sex-based stereotypes.

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Across these areas, empirical research shows that transmen continue to experience patterns of disadvantage associated with female embodiment and social positioning, including higher rates of poverty, sexual and intimate-partner violence, homelessness, and engagement in survival sex. These patterns are not incidental. They reflect how female bodies are positioned within a gendered social order.

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A sex-based analysis brings these patterns into clearer view. It helps explain why specific harms continue to track the body even when gender presentation changes. Integrating radical feminist insights strengthens trans-inclusive feminism by grounding it in the material conditions that shape both risk and resilience.