False consciousness is a concept that Rad Fem borrows from Marxism
If you take false consciousness to its logical conclusion you arrive at the viewpoint that human consciousness and values are all entirely constructed, including our ways of thinking, and our ways of perceiving. This is an interesting, but not very practical way to view the world because, among other things, it undermines itself. Who is to say that radical feminism itself isn't part of the false consciousness? How can you tell which perceptions and which observations are "real" and which are "false"? Perhaps the very notions of "logic", "reason", and "fact" are part of the capitalist/paternalistic plot. Certainly it invalidates ANY value judgements such as "right" and "wrong", "moral" and "immoral", "fair" and "unfair" or even "better" and "worse".
It amounts to an attack on the concept of reality itself, which is dangerously close to a denial of reality, and potentially sets itself in opposition to life itself. A Nietzchean critic would call it a form of intellectual suicide.
I agree that we construct the world, we create the values and ideals which become the lens through which all things are seen, but we have to live and work within that structure. It is not possible to get outside of it, or criticize the whole of it in any meaningful way (what is meaning?) as the criticism itself, any notions of right/wrong, are all a product of the construction itself. So, philosophically interesting, but not very relevant to someone who wants to *act*.
It's much more practical to talk about incremental progress in our outlook, whether some small shift would be of benefit to us in terms of some cultural values we have already (if arbitrarily) agreed are good: there must be a foundation on which to build, however constructed. This incremental evolution is in line with who and what we are, with the nature of species and life itself--being evolution at some level--and, most importantly, it something we can realistically accomplish, it serves as a basis for action.
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With reference back to the title of the thread, the arguments that lead to "All prostitution = violence against women", with some substitutions in terms, equally leads to the proposition "All life = violence against everyone".
I prefer to affirm life, rather than to deny it.
