I found the website for Bitch Magazine which trumpets radical feminism. The current issue contains a lengthy lament by Kathryn McGrath that the number of feminist bookstores has declined dramatically in the last few years.
In 1997, there were 175 in North America; now there are 44. [and]
Although some feminist bookstores report steady sales and customer support despite the omnipresent chains, escalating costs are punishing many independents whose profit margins have always been slim. Now that sales can no longer support the community activism, events, programming, and workshops that have historically made feminist bookstores so much more than retail operations, the survivors are facing hard choices.
In a nutshell, not enough people are buying into their world view to support the continuation of business. Those that are able to pay their bills do so by relying on donations and volunteer labor. It seems to me that the general public are not supporting these bookstores because they sell, almost exclusively, books on lesbianism, male homosexuality, transgender issues, AIDS, bisexuality, and global social justice, and only a small percentage of the buying public has an interest in these subjects.
I wonder if, by extension, one could say that radical feminism will soon become a movement that died.
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