ABSTRACT
So far, I have looked at the origins of second wave feminist theory by tracing the development of three of its core concepts. I have tried to show how those concepts were conceived in the manifestos, pamphlets, and other writings of early radical feminist groups. I have also attempted to isolate some of the problems with these core concepts, and to argue that those problems have continued to dog even those feminists who were most determined to alleviate them; namely, socialist feminists. The feminist theories I have examined thus far have been unable to escape the basic essentialism, romanticism regarding female nature, and ethnocentrism of which so many theorists (most notably, poststructuralists) have complained. Since the core concepts lack a specific historical referent, they have proved remarkably elastic. This flexibility, evident in the hyphenation model itself, explains the ease with which they can be (and have had to be) grafted on to any given number of nonfeminist theories.
