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On one hand, the central project of radical feminism – the dismantling of patriarchy – has to date, failed. Equally, the activism of the 1960s and 1970s has dramatically reduced. While some of the radical feminists from this period became cultural feminists as discussed, others transitioned into liberal feminism. Willis for example, explored deradicalized feminisms:

Ms. [magazine] and the new liberals embraced [radical feminist] issues but basically ignored the existence of power relationships. Though they supported feminist reforms, their main strategy for improving women's lives was individual and collective self‐improvement.

(Willis 1984, p. 108)

In terms of contributing to theory, radical feminist legacies lie in helping to revolutionize political analysis. Saulnier, for example, notes that “radical feminists developed a more comprehensive view of sexism which includes sex, gender, and reproduction as central topics in political analysis” (Saulnier 1996, p. 44). Jane Gerhard similarly spotlights that one radical feminist legacy lay in the politicizing of the category of “woman,” based on “the patriarchal uses and misuses of female sexuality” (Gerhard 2001, p. 152). Quoted earlier was Jaggar's comment that radical feminism “seeks to remove the spectacles” (Jaggar 1983, p. 85). This idea introduces the influence of radical feminism on academia leading to the rise of sex‐class examinations in fields that had historically gone without any kind of gender lens analysis. Feminist geography, for example, was formed to understand the male domination of space and design (McDowell and Sharp 1999). Feminist international relations, similarly, was created to investigate women's overlooked place in the study of global politics and security (Enloe 1989).

Consciousness‐raising also became instrumental in enlightening and educating women: Anita Shreve, for example, describes conscious‐raising groups – estimated as having had over 100 000 participants – as “one of the largest ever education and support movements of its kind for women in the history of this country” (Shreve 1989, p. 6). Bonnie Dow also discusses the impact of these groups, identifying that “the therapeutic and self‐help dimensions of consciousness‐raising translated easily into the self‐improvement ideology of women's magazines…” (Dow 1996, p. 66).

While liberal feminism has, arguably, had far stronger influence on public policy than radical feminism (Maddox 1998), nonetheless, there are also some examples of radical feminism making an impact. Through consciousness‐raising and radical feminist activism, the way we think about – and have made public policy about – sexual violence today has been substantially affected (Primorac 1998); equally so for domestic violence policy; as Stefania Abrar, Joni Lovenduski, and Helen Margretts argue, “The story of domestic violence policy shows how a network of radical feminists can influence policy in organizations as traditional, conservative and hierarchical as the police” (Abrar et al. 2000, p. 257). Policies supporting single mothers – especially those who have left situations of abuse – are also credited to radical feminism (Duncan and Edwards 1997). The legacy of domestic violence services is another legacy; as Saulnier notes, radical feminists “were instrumental in developing services that center on women's needs and do not focus on helping women adapt to sexist structures” (Saulnier 1996, pp. 44–45). Equally, the activism around these issues – for example, the Reclaim the Night marches – continue today in various forms, including through campus activism about rape and the advent of Slutwalks (Rosewarne 2011b), the latter which, while clashing with some of the radical feminist ideas, also exploit the legacy of women reclaiming public space (Johnson 2015). Equally, some of the revolutionary solutions to reproduction that Firestone (1970) advocated for that were impossible in the 1970s have, as Susan Faludi notes “proved prescient” (Faludi 2013, n.p.). In Sweden and Norway, the radical feminist impact on public policy is witnessed in what has become known as the “Nordic Model”: anti‐prostitution legislation which criminalizes the buying rather than the selling of sexual services.

In terms of enduring activism, the sex industry in fact, remains in the crosshairs of radical feminism, deemed a central component of women's continued oppression and an enduring motivation for activism.