The word radical comes from the Latin word radix (radice) meaning root. In botany, the radicle (coming from radix) is the first part of a seedling—a growing plant embryo—to emerge from the seed during the process of germination. It is the embryonic root that extends down into the ground to suck up water so the plant can eventually send out its leaves and start photosynthesizing. To do this, the radicle requires enormous strength.
Under the soil, roots communicate with each other about possible dangers, in part by providing nurture, to keep one another alive. This is possible thanks to a symbiotic relationship called mycorrhiza that happens between respective plants and mycelium, a fungal network that grows inside roots connecting them underground. Almost every place we walk on has mycelium under the soil, like an invisible network of survival.
These root systems are not unlike the endlessly radical—or radicle—work that women have done for each other to oppose the structures that oppress them. Under the veil of a system that seeks to control our bodies, we talk to each other about trauma, we find safety in the darkness.
