The personal is political — political rallying slogan and argument derived from second-wave feminism movements
A defining slogan of second-wave feminism asserting that private life and personal experience are inherently shaped by political power structures.
Key Facts
- Origin period
- Late 1960s, second-wave feminist movement
- Popularized by
- Carol Hanisch's 1969 essay 'The Personal Is Political'
- Also known as
- The private is political
- Associated movements
- Second-wave feminism, radical feminism, student activism
- Academic field adoption
- Widely cited in women's studies scholarship
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the 1960s, feminist activists and student movements challenged dominant social norms that separated private domestic life from public political life. Women's experiences within the family, marriage, and personal relationships were treated as natural or apolitical, shielding patriarchal structures from scrutiny and organized challenge.
The phrase 'The personal is political' emerged as a rallying slogan of the second-wave feminist movement from the late 1960s onward. It was significantly advanced by Carol Hanisch's 1969 essay of the same name, which argued that problems women faced in personal life were not individual failings but reflections of systemic political conditions requiring collective action.
The slogan became a defining characterization of second-wave feminism and radical feminism, reshaping political discourse by legitimizing personal experience as a basis for political analysis. It influenced women's studies as an academic discipline and was adopted by female artists as an underlying philosophy, expanding feminist critique beyond formal institutions into everyday life.