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The primary document readings for this week take you into the world of radical feminism in the late 1960s. you will be reading generally about the topic from a variety of perspectives: African American women, Chicanas, and white women (this last category of readings often presumes a universality that should be interrogated). You will also be reading documents that explore the background of, staging, and aftermath of the radical feminist protests against the Miss America pageant in 1968.

• pp. 2-37 focus on the Miss America Protests

• pp. 38-69 present a more general accounting of radical feminist thought in the late 1960s

• pp. 70-73 offers a response from poor Black women to the feminist movement

• pp. 74-89 includes a pamphlet on Black women’s liberation • pp. 90-105 examines Chicana voices on the subject of feminism • pp. 106-128 offers a radical feminist critique of the socialization of teenage girls to be

wives, homemakers, and mothers and this document also includes commentary on the existence of the homemaker in American society in the late 1960s

As you read look for points of convergence and divergence among the different groups. What did the different feminists included in these pages want to change about American society? Why? Also consider the reasons for the feminist demands articulated in these documents.

Notes on Planning for Miss America Pageant Protests, 1968

A TIA NTIC CITY

(depends on whether one or two-day thing)

Dernonstrations: {'t Antrml parade . ) u. 1- ?'.sypole am cm ins • .3cnf1?.s!., (Bras, 111?-dles , wip-s, high-heeled shoes , false eye-"JL, ·" c. lashes and makeup , curlers , apy,ons , Cosmopolitan and -iJa t. ij LHJ, McCall ' s , Fa1111ly, Cirde, etc . )

Lobbying: Visits by WL Comrnittees to each contestant - - "Join US." 4 nJ 1,

Boycott: Announcement of wornen•s boycott of all products related to the Pa1:teant.

/')

"'\ Guerr1lla P1oater : l ./ -j7 Bread and Puppet , Pageant Players , Six th Street Theater , \ \~ /~ Gut Theater , etc . --but without t!Blf' actot's this tim . J Py,ess Relations:

uefusel to be interv I ewed on spot by ma le :reporters. In -s1 s tere e on women ?'eporters . Then , engaging those women in a re~ "lbout their ":restricted" use.

Secret Tactics Group :

I /-'h

Related ·o tactics inside hill . Undoi-cover am very straight , as once the big de!'!X)nstrat1on is off am running , the Pageant wi11 be on 1he lookout for Inside stuff as well . Must get 1' " •tickets in ad ieance , be ready for at'rest, have tactics well plaared .

Climax JV'.arch and Rally : On day of the crownina; . Possible speak8t's :

✓ -............- Linda LeCla ?'8 - Linda Cuss I'll no ~✓-- --/ ~Flo Kennedy i•FSs Ob. !!sti&l · . ,\JI . 17 I , ......: - Cathe,-lne Bird Jd91 iaHJ:illl,-✓ r.J c: ' ( ... • ~ }~ ~ Orace Paley }■ 11k !an! ,·'-\ /" -V'A'!'lile Scheer F•• Lo i!s .W. l'"' V" ,r, - .:>usan Sontag °Me!f i; 118811 -,? (~({4_· tc.s-;,c.~, V< t ( - Margie Stambe:rg ... Ma'!"ge Piercy '"'Gl !!• .. , I UP.S.

\~,. . . - \. ..,1.ili«..

Statements for !"ally frorr.: - Coretta Ktng

- !>'.or~ ret Mead _ iKa ther lne Cleaver - Dor ls Lessing - Jacqueline Brennan - Mad el ine ~:ut-ra y - Bettina Ap1heker _ Margi ret Randall

- ~~ -(J f' t •,e..c.,.L

Maypole sni chains ------ - ------ Kathy , J oyce , Alix , Bai-bars G • ... Ii <' ..,..,

Poste r s --------- - -------------- A 11.x (_ 1/1.:.K'i L)(,,(,tfey ?) ~ ._ ;cu"t'" c' t,.. ·,"""' t<.,.;..L >

h i ckets ----------------- - ------ Judith

J.F r eed om Tr ash Can Colle c tion ------- ev~y . St or age : --:;h:. ---f 11 11 11 Construction ------ . - (.;L ;)_ CG G 7 /~p1

lieses :rch on Aniroo l Project -------- - f <~~ - -r "7 -r;- ·t-r- ( h /, 0. ') ..1. ~-- (a ) ~ I'?. ,~'l.lelu:"I? -- {,< ,... -rn -\_..d t'

Tea/ MM-tJ.Jl!!f,'Jttopk-ahop NU.A ~-Bh'"'9:nts? - 20 '73 . ; l I~ • ✓

p,..ess Release #1-------------------- Judith and .rtobin "'Copying - - - -- - - - - - - - _ ,,,, _,, , , vMa111ng list coordination - - (!'/-,,ti,,,._, ..f R. 1.,,l"b st Mailing ------------------------ ,, / L 1 >L_, • ,,. • r ... k 1 ..::. , , ,, .). - J:?"' '--·

Songs --------- -- ---- ------ -- ------ - Ber eat S · r:5,,-.,~ t..J

Perrn1t (check Flo Kennedy) --------- r<cbtn

Sec r et Tactics Gr oup------------------- Susan S1lverM1n?

Image of Miss America Pageant Protests, 1968

Draft of Miss America Essay by Robin Morgan

/ -- - / ~ '.l'h~ discipline an:! fu r y of ancient Crete

was awakened to breathe 1ts at1Fer on the riodern

wol"ld last September 7 1.n, of' all unlikely but

ideal places , Atlantic Shitty , at the Miss Ameri c a

Pageant . Crete , because it was one of the lest

civilized societies where women held a deg,-ee

of honest powe r over their own ljves (not the stereotypical ~v e been

tp■t■t:tJc• 1'Bn1pulative power We'f»• fo,.ced r ~

to rasot to ■t ever since , but decent self -

dete l' mlna t1o n as human be1 ng s ) , and A tla nt I c

City because one of the most horrific co mbination -

s:,mbols of all A'"lerica stends fo,- was being :-e-

or eated ttle r o in a barbaric r itual.

The Miss America Pagesnt -- a seemingly lud.tcrous

target for an act1on -- is actually one of the mo:r-e

dange'!'ous little ritual11 p:oi ng . lt n.eatly combines ' all the go od e ld American values : racism , capitalism ,

-co:,;pot1tton, Yldi. ~,,.,._· ~ rail! to ~i s (!!; vulp:ar1ty , pur l tanh"}\ and light-hea rtednes~ . ' / - which pr o t Ji,cte tt f ro m enyone tak\ng it se,-iously , and

ri9yb, doin!f so111ethl~ about it .

About two hundred women from the Women' s Libera -

tion Movement , l'owev er , were no t so taken ln by

its ""lar,.-.leaeness . "(Florence Kennedy, the black civil-

rights lawye,- •~ a militant on wo"len •s ,-ights as well,

said , " Chicago t s comperable to thro wing s brick through

the wtmow of a police "tetton , l'he Atlantic City action

ls co,nl'fl "8ble to peein, on an expensive ru~ et a polite

coc k t a i l party . They never erpeot the second kind of

protest , and ve't')' of ton 1t 1s the one that really p:et~

them. up - tight,")

The gut issue at the Pegeent , of courae, and ~~re )h~!:.!L-> the baa1c reason wh7 our sisters 'r\JIU was because

all ,of the dis5usting values represented(montionod

abov-e) we.-e personlfied--ol' 1" ther Pl ckaged--in

the guise or WoNn, It figu.-es . All tbl'Oglil hlstor1,

empire - building, conquest, claea-atruggle , the

one groupreverybody could agree was 1n1'erior was

WO'llen, HUl!llln females are the oldeat oppressed people

on earth. I can see the smiles on the ill cea of some

1111 le-cheuviniet readers of Rat , self - styled a,evolution -

aries who have studied their ¥.arx , Guevara, ¥.arouse ,

Fanon (go back end read tha chapter on Alge.-isn women,

by the way, in A Dying ColoniaJlsm) , but who he.ven ' t

e:iven quite the sa01e attention to endless anthropological

atudtea that: 1) there 1a no difference/ bet.en men

arrl women but the obvious one of genitals and rep .. oduction ,

--tha t means no inherent psychological sepaNteness,

brothers , 2) only in those societies where tla sexual ~ _ fune tio ns

ro.1.es· ~verlap can there be lasting cooperation and

peace (auch tribes do exist); contra!'ily, those eulblres

that polarize the ••x•a~ sexes are agg.-esa1ve and warlike -- 1'amJ.11ar? J) the Hemlngw117 mystique (slap women end shoot

enittB ls and ,ou •.-e a real tl".an) is as brutalizing to men

as 111 the "intuitive, emotional , passive," steTeotype 1s degrading to women ,

O. K,, you immediately agree , Now we I re to the na le

llberels. Then wh7 did the insistence of Women' s Liberation

Groups on recogn1t1~ only women !'&porters for thoir action

put the press (underground as well as Establishment)

so up - tight? Possibly bece use tho "news chic ks II were

shuttled orr somewhere cove r ing rsshion shows (the

Voice) or school and day - care • crap that is woman I s I '

news? Well, we found our own fo:r the Miss America

zap: women reproters , women photographers , women

from BA I lugging tape recordel's , women from LNS an:!

Newsreel hu~ with six cameras each--aoi they were

wl th us in participatory journalism from the uauwg planning sessions through the bus rides dovn , with

us on the boardwalk , with us inside the Convention

Hall , with us in the jail , (Carol Ann Jones , tape

recorder and a 11 , -..as one or those busted) . Not

that this is unusual -- tbe "weaker sex" has bean

tu sted ani beaten evorywhere rrom Chicago to Columbia

to Oakland - -but somehow we alwaya ,:,;et 1■11:I: ignored

when "movement leaders get tngethe y 1 (Rem&ba .. the

hair-raiser ln Fa yerweather Hall when an SDS guy

asked for "ch:l cks to volunte r for cooking duty?) -or

thlt matter, Up Against the Wall , Rat !, foio ads that

ask for "a chick to do typing~ and for playing the

ctrcula tion skin - game on its covers . Nothing against

skln -- its grrovy , !'ll n, but why always only a re Iced

women? Is it because we • re just sax - objects after all

and couldn ' t possible actively dig sex ourselves , dig

looking at a naked guy on a Rat cove ., ? What the hell is

go tng on he ,-a ?

We 1n the movement are supposed to be trying to

create alternative life - styles to the putrid swamp

we see all •~und us. Can we dare , then , to lug vith

the auctioning off of a huge Miss America dummy

to which some of the women chained themselves--

the auctioneer dressed as a classical Wall Street

flnancter cum rmle chauvinist ; the filling of

a huge Freedom Tras h Gan with instruements of

women torture : bras , girdles , curlerJ , false

eyel a shes, steno pads and dishcloths, and issues

of women's !l11gs zines. All this to the accompaniment

or songs that Beverly Grant am Lyn Loredo , among

others , had written : "A pretty girl ia a commoc.1ty 11,

''We shell not be Used," and "Ain't she sweet/

rnakin' profit off her meat/ beauty sells she 1 s

told so she's out pluggin 1 it/ ain't she sweet . " \I ("

The fuzz were gallant -polite to the extent

of causing paranoia at first , but as the day wore ~~-

on (we were there until ~~aftigh~) they began acting

like normal pigs , (Some inte r esting side bonuses--

a ladies • room rap with policewomen , wlx> aren't

allowed to stand picket duty , am can't l!Bke a~rests

in Atlantic City , about their rights . This put a younger

one rlt through changes until her older superior rescued

her from currupting influences,)

A r.eadqua rters in the blsc k community had be en established

througr. the good graces of Flo Kennedy, where peop~e went twenty - member

to rest and eat and where the "inside squad" went to change

into straight disguise before entering the Hall on tickets

bought weeks earlier. SwJQllx2:tirpa The rest stayed on the

boardwalk , picketing, singing, and rapping furiously with

the crowd of about five hundred speeta tol's held back by

us old values end prejudices of such insldlcusness?

The su\,urba nUle commutes to Wall Street whlle his

wife plans little gourmet dinners of squab--the

"new man" l!PJ••x■tt leaves his Lower East Side Jl6d

to wol'lc for the R!Wolution in anlne of a hun,hed ' I It,.;, bci·"' s: r' 1/ ;;:if( I ,<a/4<,,:1, I ways , while at. ll Ide "oluoll;J stays home 'llnd stirs

the brown rice. This bas got to stop , ar:d l'lew, brothers , -- before we turn into our own oppressors all the

more, "Imperialism , " as Judith Duffett of Women' s

---•&Nl-tiu•-~i.,•- w•-• •w-•e-At .. ,.•~•-~~•44y. Liberation says, begir.s at hor.ie , " And that brlngs us back to Atlantic Titty.

Woir.en•s Lib, group11 blve been functioning fo'I' a

few yea'l'S now, all ove'I' the country, but the

Pageant brought them together for their fi'l'St

,,_ jor militant demon11t'l'8tion . People came f'!'om

Flo'!'lda , Washing ton, Bos ton, New Ja'!'sey, Phil•.,

and New York , and messages of !!Olldarity arrived

from Califomla , Chicago, etc. - -groups that couldn't

get u~ the b'!'ead to a■ ke the t'l'ip. We arrived at about two p . m. , hav 1~ already accom-

plillhed a spontaneous t'l'lu~h - -liberating a 111en•s '!'oom

in a tul'tlpike '!'estuarant (fuck these puritanical rules

when people have to go to the john) -- an:i esti,lishad

a basic picket line directly 1n front of ConventionRal l . Some a1gns read : Miss Arner1C8 Sells It, The Living

Bra and the Dead Soldier, Everyone is Beautiful , Miss

America iS Alive and Angry in Harlem, and Up Agaainst

the Wall Mothe'!'hood . Guer'!'illa theater exploded every hour or so : th e crowning of a live 3heep ae Miss A, ,

police bllnicades, Double barricades bad to be put

up at one point , when the heckling began to be

phys i cal ( that ' s 0 , K. , too - -some of the sist • s

ere into learning judo). Atlantic City ill Wallace country , so we got the usual commie-calls in addition

to being called uglies , dikes, whores , and castrating

bitches . (There ere no u~lies -- only ugly baeuty stendards;

Lesbians are people who want to love in peace , end we ' l'e

all bi-sexual anyway , if we•d come off it; whores

ere t he creations of whoremeaters; and castrating bitches

are people who might just be fighting for their lives , )

Women from the crowd did join the demonatratora

(one complete with baby - carriage and toddler) , but most

Just smiled when their purple - faced 1111tes weren't

watching, At midnight , a candle-light dance was held

ln !'uneral ce l ebration for !Uss America , and 1n solidar -

ity with the inside squad who , by the t time, had dis-

rupted the Pageant on live television ,

'l'he first to be busted , Peg~y Dobbins , had been Toni Hair Conditioner

spraying near the Y~yor 1s box , This junk smells like whet -was put into the ventilation system of Humphrey ' s

hotel in Chicago , and Toni 1s , whet ' s nx,re , a sponsor

o!' the Pageant . (So ls Oldnx,bile and Pepsi. Women' s

Liberation is boycotting all three.) Dobbins was cherged

with do$Ordel'l1 conduct, with ha 11 set at 1000 dollars

( the Mayor -• obviou s ly hates Tonl) . Since then , the

charge haa been escalated to an indictable offense with

a possible two - to-three year rap , We had hit right at

the so.ft white uni erbelly of the beast, and Atlantic

City doesn't fool around , Women's Liberation ls mobilizing

a defense .fund, and eontl'ibutiona arxl lettel'?

of support can be sent to :

Meanwhile , ln the balcony, sixteen sisters

unfurled a huge Women' s L1beret1on banner over

the !'811 , and shouted "Fl'eedom" and "No More

Hiss America" until the telecast stopped dead

for ovel' ten second.a . The contestants tul'ned

as lily-white as their gowns , Bert Pal'ks

forgot hie lines (aided by scrambled cue cerds ,

thanks, we have been told, to a sietel'-travelel'

among tho contestants themselves!) , sxsa an NBC camera119n asking pel'mission to focus on the

banner was told he ' d be fil'ed on the spot if

he did , am the blue meanies finally came chal'ging

ln.

Elizabeth Natale - Regina was hit on the head with bJ' a pocketbook by a livid lady who felt the

cente. of hM&l"i-••• Jl8r1'1ot1sm had been invaded,

and Suasn Stlvel'man said she felt ml'e afraid

of the all-American audience ' s rage than of the

plice themselves . There were at least six arrests

ln all , some forcible because a rumber of women locked lrRJlll•d their arN around the balcony 1"&11 and

kept shouting until lllllZZled and dl'agged out. Naomi

Jaffee 1'9tul'ned to hel' cha lr and refused to leave,

show 1ng her ticket, until she was wrenched awsy.

Peggy Dobbins , a lreadJ' 1n custodJ', was meanwhile

~xus being given Indian-bul'ns by five cops

in the police station--they have to get the1r jollies somehow ,

Som@ or ttle women were released after charges had been dropped. Thie "cocnpromise''was

ri -~~ed after Police Chief Florel11 was informed the

outside women were about to mtrch into the hall trn protest. He dennndod we leavl!I the city immediately and coir.andeered our buses en hour early to get us out . We said we weren ' t golng without Dobbins , Jaffee, and Jones, still in jail , aui Flo Kennedy, who was tryill8 to extricate them . Tho chief backed down and we went instead to our headquarters, feeling better because the fuzz were more than alarmed at nki~ a scene ~n the black eomrounity . The brothers and sis te 11s there wore beeutiful,

ani a x of inestimable help when the pi~s wouldn't lot us out of the buses , Ccn1"rontation, Women got ting angry now, Cops getting freaked. Finally we won our point , got our ta 11 together, n and a dolege tion went to the ja 11 , :mx lllfUQ X The group included two witnesses to Florella's lies about dropping the chargea against everyone (and

I ' l!Bking a deal sbout Dobbins) , as well es press . The home-ln - bed-yw-csn•t-reach-him police cl1af waa suddenly available . Bail was 1'8duced, we

got our sis tors out, and even co 1111ndee!'ed po lie e ca!'s to take tho extra poopte beck to the buases,

The Atlantic Cit;r aftermth 1s weird . Itseems the town feels convention btsiness is harmed (more

they say , than Chicago ' s , because they're nearer to

New York s nd the ee wild-eyed !'sdicsl women could otne down any time); the Pageant may have to be taped next year, without a live audierc e (exeeept to l' the twenty , the sudienoe was dead , anywe y) . But whet will they do ro r contestants , whom they can no longer trust, or judges , fol' tb t 1711 tter ,

of whom, a A one newap,.per women, resigned in sym-V patby with our pl'otest)?

Atlsntic City was only the beginning fol' the Women •s Liberation Movement , and it wee an apt place for • debut . Future plans include a !'Ound the clock open stol'efront dlssem.1mting everj;h.ing fl'Om birth-control and abortton informs tion to Judo lessons and coffee and 11be"8 tion rspplng; actions against the tosmettc and fashion empires , debutante balls , all-mile public restaursnts and be t-s. Women I s Libet-a tion will be in Bos ton when Bill Bsi rd 1s case comes befol'e the ►as~ . Supreme Court (for giving away intl'Uemnts o:r birth cont,.ol). Judo-tra 1ned Women I s Liberation cells will be at Columbi a this fall . Others are planning actions to once and for all hit the hellhole that 1s the Women's House of Detention .

There ' s no end fl'Om here on 1n , ,.ight uf to and through the t-evolution, Women are angry now . Women are sick of dying tn kit hen tabl e s from abortions , Weilare women are sick of 11ving under the threat ot losing their kids Uxidrq unless they deny theil' own sexual being . Blaolt women hive had it with the \clnd 0

of Stokely pronouncemtn that boa st11, " the only

p:>s1t1on fol' women in SNCC ls prone". Poor

women are !!lick or being even mre opprossod

than their husband~ who can beat them up

•JUbc in order to regain lost "11111nhood", College

women at-e sick or p:rison dorm-rules. Evon "est

ablishmont" women at-e sick of' job dlscr1tn1nat1on

and being patronized for ~oing equal work at

less pay than men, And Movement women Sl'.'8

sick and god.damned l!llld at '))laying home-fire

to thei:r revolutional'ies , et being lays but

nav er comrades , at being called frivolous to

del'BJJ! thell' own l'ights as hunan beings "when

1!10:re se:rious :revolutionary- problems are at stake , "

Your own gut issue le the key to your commit J.. ment . Empathy fo:r others does not case radical

change, only an awerene1111 of ,out- own oppression .

Y~lcolm said ti % no country ls free where its

women are enslaved . Algeria, China , Cuba , Nol!:h

Vietma,--they •re all lea:rn~ that. But don•

wait to admire women as people until we carry

l'IIChine-guns . We'll do that too , when tho tir,e

0O..,os, and lt ' s coming. What about now, ungl11!'l0Ul'0lls now? Look at how youn live, brotho:rs . Look how you

81'8 being aade into opp1'88!II01'S to further oppress

u:,. The revolution begins • t home.

And !listers , join us. lfe•re • llXltley crew , not

free because how can anyone be free 1n the "lids t of

this society , but trying to learn the awkward motions

of being ourselves , of loving and respecting our -

selves and each other, of refusing to prostitute

ous elves be fore our own degradation. militant

Black people no nBtter how committed, are still

a minority , Peace people , no nB tter how committed ,

are still a tllinority, Under-25 1 s are fast becom1ng

a 1mjority, but women are~ nBjor i t:, right row , Dig

it , sisters . We can bo the cutting edge , We are

the Revolut i on .

And up against the wall any i'Pivolous 1111le

reactionary who gets in oui- way!

Letter from Susie [Suzanne Giddens?] to Robin Morgan

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I'm M+- s«-/;es~ v,L 4// ~tJU wl.d

t.A, J.o (a.~tM,,(..,) - l,u:,1- --,l,e JA,ss ~/~

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Draft of Miss America press release and open letter inviting women to attend the Miss America protest

On September 7, in Atlsnt1c C1ty 1

the annual Miss Amel:'ica Pageant Plastic Circus will again crown 1j>t>Ur ideal, 11 But this year , 'reality will liberate the contest auction - block, in the guise of de - plasticized, ge~otne breatblnll( Wor:en. ·,omen's Lib<,ratlon Gl'Oup s , 3 lsck ifor:41n, hi school and college women, women ' s peace groups , women•s wo fare and Soc 1a 1 Work groups , job - equality e'l'Oups , pro -birth control and pro -abortion ll(roups--women t419!1S Iba lee••, 1 1-gbt , un'd- ~ ffl!!!l,,l!.- sll a we wolcome to join us in a day - long boardwalk-theater ev,.nt to pr-o -test the ir,age of Miss A mffl'.' lea, llmk11llx llb:Jlli :ir,r an i11Bge that oppress es women in every ores in which it purports to represent ~ l,i !;,,1 v01:: J ' f wa..«,t- "° Pw'_, .A-, We protest: 1) The degrading Body- Bopb-'·11ndles s- Pa s t ic -Girlie Symbol. f!is s A mer tea end Plsyboy •s <cen~erf.£_ldj aN3 s1Ste ?"s over the sktnt';' perpetuating ,tpe --stereotjpe or wo,rm as objects destined solely to serve Ml le ~tas t'l, es ; and tm le ogo needs . L °" ~ ) ,r "' "" j<T...., A (the Jure and the Naull(hty) ~ J~ 11'

2) ~cism with loses. Since its 1.nceptio ~ in 1921 , the Pai:;BAnt hes not had one Black finalist , and this a laok of test - case w_ ,J contestants , Nor has there evor bee-n a~ Miss A .-- an Amer-icsn Tndl.sn .

t..

3) The Consurier Con- Game. The Pageant is sponsored by b:Ji••~•t ~ ~tJ1H81fJ1 Pep s i -Cols , Toni , and Oldsmobile -- Mis s A rmr lea ls o wal ki ng eoromeroia l. Wind hei, up and she "endorse s " Yl!Ur-product, goes on promotion tou,-s , does TV plugs--sll from the''honest , object ive•bel!ef in your product , no tacky hired spokeswoman she . It ' s a gl' eat shill. J1!11ts r y Nlt , ."' 4) l11ss Aroorica nsl Dea th ~heerleeile .l", The highlight of hor reign each :,esr ts a tou ,- of \t=rican troops abroad i,- th1s year she wi,nt to 'lietna-,/ to pep-talk our husbands , fathers , sons , boyfr1ems into "l.111!.np- a nd dyini:; with a better spirit . - The Li v ing Bra and the Dea d Sold i e,. . Tt,at •s where it ' s at . ,.Jf,.. f ' t., ·::,,, _., ', I • -y/ 'Wl.6ii..<ll<«!ccT, 5) compet1t1on Rigged and un .. tr,;ged . de deplol:'e the encouragomont of i an American riytb thst oppl:'esses all of us , men a s wel l as women: the Win-ol:' - you,-• e -worthle s s competi ttve disease . A. llooper s tive Congress of women f,-om sl l fifty states m1Rht b?" irur to light co=n probler-...s and possible solutions about oul:' oppression as women-- but the !ompot1tivo () "beauty" Pai:;eant only orca tes one wi nne r to be"usod :' and forty - nine ? I< ' "us oless" losers . 6) Tho Woman as Po-p Culture Obsolescent Junk Thomo--s-pindle , l'!lUtilate, ) and then diSca r d tomo r ro w, Whst is so 1g90red a s last yoor •s M 1ss Amel:'1ce? This only reflects the •i**•••:,;.or ftt9 our country,·sccording ospel to Saint !'.ale : i6u x.lf10tU xarwx.~•••X1fWKSW Womnn =st be young and juicy end 11111leable- - hence ag e d1scrlJl11nat1on to a point of hysteria . And wo women are conditioned to believe 1.t ou r se l ves I

I :&'.'.:las s y" D1scr1mi?JI tlon . Kiss Amerlcs is invariably drawn from t.he ..J ~':1!,~d!e;~~~s!tt:~e

8~~~a};~mi:p~l;~h!!~u~ 0 ;~e~o~~~e a college girl . 8) Perpetuation of the Cookie-Pattern Un1fom !'.old. ~o one who "stands

out" is evel' a winner. Tall? Shol't? Under or over what !he Man pro- ,< t,scr1bl','! you llhould be? Forget it. You ' re too "exotic", too different . _s;( 9- f!ersonality, art1culatenes11, intellf.gence- - unwiso. Bland, uno.ffensive ' \ll .rjld1ocr1ty is the key to the Crown.

~~ ~9 -) The Pageant as Tho~ht Control; Kiss All1Br1ca as Big Sister Watching You. p• Tha atte~t to sesr the Image onto our minds, to further .. k8 women oppressed and men oppressors ; to enslave us all the IIDl'e in toothpaste grins and high-heeled low-status roles; to inculcate false values of femininity 1n young g11'ls ; to use wol'len as beasts of buying; to seduce w:, men to prostitute thel'!Selves on the altar of Amet'icen "success," reputedly

10) Miss A"IGrica llB lfir1a1rq D!'eam Equivalent To--? In this lf11E!rwtt,-dernocntic society, where eve'l'1 little boy an supposedly can gz.ow 1. up to be President , what can every little girl hope to grow up to .) be? Miss America • .Real powe:, to contl'ol our lives is ?'9strict&d to nen--women get patronizing pseudo - powe!', get to weal' an er mine cape and cal'ry • bunch of flowers. A'7, they better know their place , too . But women ar~ refusing that place . In Atlentie City we will •educ~te" tho Pageant officiale-b : Guerl'illa Theate~ , ~DiX our Lobbying visits to contestent> urging to JOIN US and d!'op sisters out of the fa!'ce; A l'reedol!I Trash Can, into hich we will throw · / bras, girdles , curl rs , false eyelashes end wigs , etc . , as well as ,J; rep!:"esentativo issues of Cosmopolitan, Ll!J, McCall's , and so fCPth. ~ (Clean out you!' closet and comel); A Boycott on all products !'elated to the Pgeeent; and a .llol'len•s L1be!'etion rally at the moment of the crowning on live television. Lots of other surprises are being planned ( coma and add your own) , but we do not plan heavy actions .-. ti I 1 ta and so do not expect• heavy police scene • It should be@ I' 11;~oovy day on the boardwalk in the sun wtth our sisters. . ' _,,,_, . 5 .,--<f. - ~• ~•,•:»:,n ..,. , 1 _,

,._. , 1'Alo 11be1'81S az,e not welco!ll9,._ but sympathetic men can dons te money and csi-s as we 11 as dl'i vers . we; NEE:D CA RS to bsnspo!'t peopl e to N 1 J81'sey and beelc .

If y,:>u want to help with $, IIKll transportation , ideas , or enythtng , write tJ_s at -- - --, or phone,- . Get a group of women together , ( COl'le to l.1'le 11t10 6H1 and at;:ir x:tllax.t :t11d X"- !'Sise your vol.co _c

\ fol' 'Wom~ •s Ll~tion. w~l r~1"' ourselves for 0~1:!olves. :5--,,

~ · - cuo · ~ · 1, iu P.':> ) ,,. i,t~f?<t1'l:J/ ~·

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New York Times, August 15, 1968

~Negro Girls Sought ~a:1~e,s 00 to th e st •e T £ f C f f Miss Dorothy Anita Screen, te O n er On es S of New York, a Negro student .n f M. A . at Columbia University, was n Or lSS menca the rust runner-up this year in

the Miss New York State com- n ---- - petition. Should the winner fail d $('ct.ti to Th• N~Jf' Yo-:t nme, to compete for anv reason. ,, ATLANTIC CITY, Aug, 14-- Miss Screen will ·take her >. The Miss America Pageant to• pla~. Y day sou•ht Negro beauties to Mr. Marks said the pageant •t compete ~in its annual contest was encouraging sponsors of e here. the 3,500 local contests to

The pageant corporation an- name more Negroes as judges. ,f nounced at a news conference The pageant recently named ~ today that it would make a the Rev. Kenneth E. Mac- ·. $1,000 scholarship available to Donald, a Negro here, to its • the National Association for board of directors, and Mrs. r the Advanceme!lt of Colored Frank Doggetfand Mrs. Charles l People to encourage more Wilson, both Negroes and

Negro participation. wives or local physicians, as : Roy Wilkins, N.A.A.C.P. exe-chaperones to the 50 girls dur-

cutive director, in June at the ing Pageant Week. r Association's convention here

criticized the cont<>st as "lily Youths Hurt School Horses white". The pageant, founded D""""'•' .,,,..,,,,,,. ....,.,.

' in 1921, has not had a Negro LONDON- A riding school at , finalists in its history. l'orest Row, Sussex, may have ' Albert A. Marks Jr., chair- to close because of attacks on . man of the pageant eJtecutive its J 6 horses and ponies by committee, also disclosed that youths in the area who have the pageant had been encourag- been '1aming and seriously in• Ing predominantly Negro col- jurlng the horses with sticks Je11es to seek pageant fran. and stones," according to the chises and stage contests and school's owner.

Robin Morgan letter requesting a permit for the Miss America protests

'l'he Bonol'able Rioha•d Jaolcaon 'l'h• MaJOl'' ■ Ottioe Atlantic City, Bflllf Jel'HY

29 Auguat 1968

Thi■ 1a to Mapecttully requeat a 01t7 Pel'mit tol' a demon- • tl'I tion 1n A tlan tio C 1 tr on S. tuttda 7, Sep tembe l' 7, 1968 • The aponaor ot t.he demonatl'ltion h Women•• Liberation; the adT110l'7 aponaol' 11' Flol'ynoe ~ennedJ'• Media Worlcahop. {Tbel'e will be pal'tioipanta, •• well, from l!lational 0l'gan1sat1on fol' Women, The l•nette Rankin B•igade, and the Amel"ioan Civil Libel'tie• Union.)

Alt.hough it 1a alWJ'I ditf'ioolt, 1t not 1mpoHible, to e■timate 1n ad:nnoe the nombel' of demonatl'ltol'• upeoted, we anticipate about two t.~Ml'ed p•ple {including aome PHH who will be bneling vit.h t.he Jlev Yo!'lc contingent) J we hn•e •1te•d7 eon- tl'acted tol" one bua, and we mow that aome people will be coming in pl"iTate Oil'■•

We will be aHembllng at appl'Olrlately ltOO 1.11., on the Boal'd- vallc in fl'ont or the Oomention Ball. We plan an Ol"del'ly demon- ■tl'8tion: a picket line, l•tleting, no publlo addl"e■• ayatem Ol' !'Illy. We plan to continue demonatriting 1n • quiet, or4el'17 fashion until ahol"tlJ atter midnight, at 'Wh1:;1' tin, I believe, MiH Amerio• ill cl'owned. our baa oonbaot 11t1pulatea departul"e tl'OIII Atlantic C1t7 at 1100 A.M. Suncia7.

The pol'J)o•e of the demon11batlon 11 to prote■t the Miea America PagNnt, vhioh projeota an 11age ot women t.hat man7 Alll8l'ioan women find untol'tana te t the -phuia be1~ on bod7 rather than bttalna, on 70uth rathel" than aatul"ity, and on oommel"Oial6am l"ather than huaani tr. At thla time ot or1a1a in the world and in our nat!en, we teel we ••t mi.a ■ no opportun1t7 to call attention to the l::aaio ia■uee that concern ua all-•problema whloh muat be loolced at and vorklld on 1t humanitr 11 to aurTiTe.

The demon■tNtol"■ will all be women, ot all agea, race■, and wallca ot 111'11. Women dootol"■ and laW7er■, •• well •• houaev1Te■ and atudmta, will be with ua. {In taot, men ere barred trom thia particular demonatr■ tion.) Again, let 111e NJ' that we plan a dig- nified, orderly demon■tNtion, and we look torwrd to the ooopera- tion ot JQOI' ottioe and of t.he Atlantic OitJ police.

We apologise tor l'll(lUe■ting t.he Permit on auoh abort notioe--t.he demon■tration we oonoeiTed onl7 a Tel"J' abort mile ago. We earne■tl7 requeat JQUr attmt1on to thia mtter, an! hope that ott1o1al parmiHion will be tort.hooming. We will be in Atlantic City on September 7 in an7 ffent, but we would pl"efer to do ■o with the knovl.edge and ooopera tion ot oi t7 ottioiala.

--continued--

..,...

--2--

Sino• WolND •• Liberation ia a looH oo61it1on of ••11 groapa md 1nd1Y14uala, ve bu• no ottio•--on!y a poet ottloe bozs II 5'31, Peter Sta7Y ... nt Station, •• Yol'lr 01tJ 10009. Bowuei,, ancler tb9 o1roautamea, a1noe u .. 1a "° abort, I lhoald appreciate roar a44r .. a1rlg ell OOl'l'eepondenoe to •• at the ed1beaa below, vhiob 1a sy hoM. JnJ' telephone • ttal'■ oen l'NOb U et (212) 777-8561.

'fllanll:ing roa in •4••no• top roar attention •Dl oooperatlon, 111d hoping to bNI' fl'O■ JOU et JOQI' NPliHt )IOHibl• con- Yenl•o•, I ••

{lliaa) Itobin JfHpD

109 Th1l'd nenue lfew Yol'lr 01t1 Bev York 10003

Oo-•lgn•• tor Women•• Llb••tions

Judith Dattet

Atlantic City letter responding to protest permit request

,---

RtCHARD S JACKSON MAYO•

r.\ s Ro in ~rg n l c Trlr v ~ue

CITY OF ATLANTIC CITY NEW JERSEY 08401

Ext:CUTIVC 0EPARTMl!:.NT

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I h ,V yC'ur ' de onstrsti"n to 1s Unm n ' ~ib r ticn,

ntl ~ad in ycn.r l

f •Jut ir t. , y1u r ~u t. ~ rnit fG .. a i'l ~t1~ntic City en J turday , wcptc~oer? , by

ty t, viric ore ~1 tions w~I h you

I furtrcr not th t t e d ~r tr tion op ri'1d t l incl ic:' 1 e ~rox. tcly .! [ o ly twe::.va r.1ur fri, .L: J r 'ternoon , ember

7 t ~f t , t day '11 '/O'J requ r tre Joor kin Fri nti, ri 11, r1 th~~ v rl~ ,i!:k t ..

r ...1b.!r: 1 t t, t l r 11.L t:e "

une, t

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cc ... rc-e, 1 wnicr on t!"is dalJ will •i.u ':l on., mu t b c~m l1 :J ui th ir nress tJ the ~~nv rticn h 11

I rt .:n t stratlcn c rly w!th Atl ntiC' Ci y Poli

1'1W r in l in od f

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t m known a Mxi t !.y 1 : ~

t C y . It is 11~ J1res~ sys-

r.y .

,trate a 11 ~r~~ ~tel b, callee ,r tr tr c nn t interfer with tlla front of th Ce,nvc,tiC', H 11, n~ of

exits to the Corvnrtion Hall irn t ~ r.s . Tt firs re~ul -

allowing a s: for i" re.-~ ~d ri th cf oon tr1ti n .

or n1 etic,n, ~et fort~ ran:i'l rate w!th '/DJr

e,ring this de on- will find th t t:le

Article in The Village Voice about Miss America protest

MAKI POSTl■S MAKI MONEY

Po,,a- awlne1• ... ..,. 1t1vi...-1 ~ New 1tv,j1t, M U.._ ._...Ptla

219-65 66

l~ .ill,, '4'" ' . . who0would like.to look like ,a ,cer-n bA ~'·<- wp.t ;.t~ q; '-~. _ ·;:tt- - .;._.<t:;.":'·'-~ tain'i1nd' ol wdfuan ana 'thin Rs:· she.

n,can;;t,offord, it;,but,she canl ,!!'. µ :.·• "·,0.:, ,_' ~,. ,~,L : ( . ;1;: ',t

BLACK CREPE y , ffoppy .pant!f '· C:jo

fantastl c dtess fab11lou• J»lo11ses 'tr ingl' 'vcests "+

'9 Hhn toolt flared sklrtJ

.,~s.oo;i (8.95 . 12.95 Jt.95 ,: .S.95

_,, . , ' ;, ' ., 'RRIS'rlNA . GORR\'

t 1 ff . r,,14.~KS fl. 18~ l'WA T · ·h '\Ult S1. •• ,.,..s H°W .. l, .... ,i,i.'"

WHEN ,JUDY OOLUN'!I s1np dl08e lle.auliful !IOJl&".5 o¢ her", she pro j eot3 ~ po~ lo!.11 ot in1J0- ('8DC$ 8114 « ahe didn' t be.Ionl, ~- 1he know.e jl.'8t, Wftettt G::IM'&

j a.t . lncr~y, the Allng.~ Ie-tt hl>.l' eq~eot. ir:i "- C'-!U' parked 00 JOM.S-Str~ ·laat s..tw,day, SOlne- Ume -alter mi4ni3"ht, it ..,., ... 1n-o- cn tnco awl ~•~Q'lh:nr WM .tolewt. TtlCIN} W0N some t i-&w wJ • ~ropbcau!8 and two pd.ta", .a eua-1 · tom~ ~ .a.nd OuD4 12·

Protest songs used at the Miss America Protest

l. (To be sung to the tune of "A Pretty 01rl 1s Like A Melody")

a) A pretty girl la o com.'llOdity with stock to buy and s1>1l . ·,then the ma!"ket 1s high , and you soe her p, ss by, count up your shares in what she wears that -pay you dividends .

b) A pretty girl 1n this society ~s judired by looks a lone . ,fruit you see on her face ia often the waste of chemicals developed for the

War.

2 . (To be suns. to the tune of "Ain't She Sweet")

a) A in I t she sweet "11k1n1 profit off her meat . Beauty sells sho 1s told ao she ' s out pluggln ' it , a ln I t she 9weet,

b) Ain't she cute

Chorus :

walking 1n hEt' bathing su! t , selling products for the COI'pONltion , now ain ' t she cute.

Juet east an eye 1n her direction . She ha s to buy - - It' a her oppression .

o) Ain ' t she qua in t with her race all run of pa int . After all how can she race r eel1ty , ain ' t she quaint .

d) Ain ' t she nice . M.iybe they ' ll give her a slice of the pro fl ts that she I s br lngin • in for t.-.,em, ain 't she nice .

Cho.,.us :

( r epeat above)

e) Ain ' t she fine . on her re ce there • s n, t a line . Just a ~clcao;ed doll, a p r ize eom!'lOdity , ain ' t she fine .

--over--

3 . (To be su~ to the tune of' ''Down B:r The Rive.,side") a)

Chorus:

We're gonna ask all our sisters here to corne and join the fight , to come and join the fight , to come and Jr,in the fight . We're gonna ask all our sisters here to coa:e and join the fight : Don't be no Miss A mar lea no m.or-e.

Won I t be no Miss Amartca , Won' t be no Miss America, Won't be no Miss A morica ,

Ain ' t gonna be Mias America, Ain 1 t gonna be Ml1111 America, no Miss America no more.

b) Wo1re gonna tell all the ad men here they ' ve used us long enough, etc . Now :rou can't use us en:r more-.-

Chorus : Rapes t above

c) Now sis te.,11 co,np • nles want us tx, buy so they control our taste, etc.

Chorus :

No Miss Amarica no mol'e .

We von•t l•t •em bend ou~ minds no more, we won I t let • em bend our mind a m ir.or e, we won't let •em bend our minds no tn0re .

We're gonna be free from here on~. we' re gonne be free froo,u heroe on in , no Miss A nero lea no "lo roe I

A pretty girl ia a commodity With stock to buy and sell. When the market is bigb, and you see ber pass by, count up your shares In vhat she veers That pay you dividends

A preHy girl in this society Is judged by looks a.lone What you see onhar face Is often the waste Of chemicals developed for the var ,

Draft of a protest song for the Miss America Protest

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I w.:e;:;_ .~ w cJJ.. J ~ ~ ~ ~<(~ l~~

. ~u <-;J~ e ... -u,l f- __Lk4..L_ UA I ~ ' et;:. .

. YI/MAJ~~ ~~ ~«./.) <ri½ . . ,:: ~ 1. C<lY! 1TuJ -- ~ t Ct.<J ~

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Flyer for the Miss America Protest

ILAWBRY liKlll'IJ :· MISS AMERICA IS A SLAVE TO:

THE IMAGE OF SEX

A YIRQl"'AL PRETTINESS

THE GLORY OF WAR

The best specilllen gets the blue ribbon . She is~ object not a person.

To win approval she must be both sexy and wholesome. •

The higbiight of her reign each- year is a cheerleader for Amer~can troops abroad.

A ~INDL~SS CONFORMITY Miss America represents what women are supposed to be: unoffensive, bland, apolitical..

ACCEPTANCE OF RACISM 1

'THE CULT OF YOUTH

'lbere has never been a.1 Black_ Puerto Rican, A.laskan, Hawaiian or Mexican -American winner. Nor has there ever been a true Miss America -- an American Indian.

•Women must be young, juicy, malleable- thus age discriminat~on.

THE C:OMPETITIVE SPIRIT She perpetuates the American myth of haVing to get ahead in order to have acy worth.

THE CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM She is a walking commercial., wind her up and she 'plugs your product on promotion tours and TV.

Keep Women 011 The Bloek! '

Boycott the Pageant!

Washington Women I s Liberatl-on / Further inforruation, call : 483-1647 or 667-8305

Flyer for the Miss America Protest

.. .., ~

~ al

CHARTER susEs: ~tT,ft, Lta.ve.-So.t. tw\O't\'\1 "'S · Re.sevv A tiol'.;:

~~ N • .).

NS ~ 'TlH.?

OAR LK

PROTEST ~

• T RAc.tsy A SALE PA<oGA

GUERRIUA. TMeA

woru, !)t10?s PttKIS'.ilNG

CARS: CG.r\ <jou. to..¾c. SOl\"'>.eol\e,

a..\o5'cs ~ Ca.n:

Wolllen: Detr1on stv-a.tc ai11St -the. Miss A1<1~ka. P"'je«11t So.t. Se.pt 63 I :oo p.m:., f>~-ofe. Conve\,x,o" He.II, Q.t

AtlAAt,c Cif!t, N. J:, U.~A. ~-9 INFO: (j_fJ.) J.lfi-81/-31 (eveninJs ~,---../

Flyer for the Miss America Protest

WO~N I S LIBEPJ\ TION

NO MORE ~ A MERICA I

SATURDAY SEBTEMEE.R 7 --at the Miss Amei,ice Page11nt in Atlantic Cit1, on the Boardwalk, in front of Convent.on Hall, at 1:00 P.M.

P1clcet Line Guerrilla Theater Workshops on Women's Liberation

Boycott Pageant Products Lobby the Contestants to Drop Out

Freedom Trash Can (B~ing old bras, girdles, high-heeled shoes, women's l!llga:tines, curlers, and other instruments

ot torture to ~~menl)

Charter Bua: Round bip $5.00, leaves New York 9 : 1 O A .M., ,.,, Saturday"Tept. 7, fl'Ol!I ~orth Side (Parking Area) of Union Square. For Resei,vations, call (212) 475-8775 weeknights bet ween 7 : 30 and 10:00 P.M.

Cars : If you will be driving ani have space available tor o'mir riderat :Please call (212) 475-8775 weeknights between 7:30 ani 10:v~ P.M.

~g The M1ndless-8oob-Giplie Symcol as degrading to womenl '!'he Rac1am-with-8osea attitude -of the Pageant! The use of Miss Arue:vica e11 a ML11tary Mascot fol' the Yie11Da111 Warl The Commer!ial Con-Game that r,es people only as oonaumersl The Thought-Control a1tuel ttat hies to bend women's mindsl

➔WE: NEID PEOPLE, CARS, MONEY, WORKERS. FO.R INFO.RJ,f\TION CALL - (212) 475-8775 weeknights rnween ?:JO and""'!lITOO P.M.

COME LIBE.r;\ TE ATIANTIC CITY

NO MOltE MISS A MERICA 11 !

Article about the Miss America Protest in the trade magazine, The American Druggist

MISS AMERICA

GETS SOME

COMPETITION

I 11 the 111itl•t o[ riots . • . political uphea n,ls . ...-. anti a growing danmr for new nnswers to old questions, a ,-_ew .Miss America was crowned at Conveuuou Hall in Atla11tic City last fortnight.

Except for the fact that the win- ner-Judith Anne Ford-is the first blonde to win the title in the pa,t 10 years. she is not very dif- ferelll - cosmetically speaking - from the +8 Miss Americas who precede,! her.

Sideshows: The pageant itself was at-companied by 2 side;,hows that illustrate the undercurrents prevalent itt U. S. society to<~~y.

One o ( those sidesh<,ws was the crowniu!{ of the iir,L Miss fllack :\merit-a Saundra \Villiams- at the ut-.iruy Ritz Carlton Ilotel.

Another took place nutside C,m- vmtion Hall, where approximately 100 womcn-mo,t l, white-lmrnecl false eycla,hes, wigs, gi rdles. hras. anti other symhols of what tl1ey ca lled .. female enslavement.''

The )!is, America Page,i11t . they conteucle<l, was symholic rif the cbalns that hind women to cosmet- ic, that disguise, shoes th.'.lt hurt. work that degrades, and a few nthcr things about which they were vague.

Stereotype: The 2 second-billed events were not connected, and yet to some they suggested that perhaps women are tiring of a stereotype oi beauty which was prohahly invented 1,y men and has, in any f'\"Cnt, cb.1nge<l little ill the past +7 years.

In thi,; ye;u- of ''dning your own thing"-a phra,e invented hy the hippies hut picked up by frLshion de- signers, C'nsmerits n,a.nuincturc-rs. and others~ne critk commented Ihm the ~liss -\merica. finalist;; "cMlinue 11'1 look alike. walk alikf. and do al ike ilnwn to the last tear drop."

In chn<>sing a hlontle, the pageant may he ll('hind th~ timc.s, ,inci, the re are signs that hrriwn may again l>c- come the most popular hair color, other oh~crver~ ~ id..

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What Can Be Learned: A Critique of the Miss America Protest

11/27/68

IIHAT CAN BS tEARNED

A Critique of the Miss America Protest

by Carol Hanisch

The protest of the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in September told the nation that a new feminist movement is afoot in the land. Due to the tremendous coverage in the mass media, millions of Americans now know there is a Women's Liberation MovemePt, Media coverage ran.ged from the front p&ges of s~veral ne?1spapers in the United States to many artic l es in the foreign press.

The action brought many ne?I members into om- group and maey requests from women outside the city for literature and information, A recurrent the""' was, "I've been waiting so long for somethi~.g like this." So have we all, and the Mias America protest put us well on our way.

But no action taken in the Women's Liberation Struggle will be all good or all bad. It is necessary that we anal:,ze each step to see what we did that was effective, what was not, and what was dowm·igbt destructive .

At this point in our struggle, our actions should be aimed primarily at doing two inter-related things: 1) awakening the latent consciousness of women about their own oppression, and 2) building sisterhood. With these as our primary immediate goals, let us examine the !Aiss America protest.

The idea came out of our group method of anel:,zing women's opJ)l"ession by recal ling our own experiences. We were watching Schmearguntz, a !eminist movie, one night at our meeting. The movie had flashes of the lliss America contest in it. I found myself sitting there remembering bow I bad felt at home with my. famil,y watching the pageant as a child, an adolesant, and a, college student. I knew it had evoked powerful feelings.

When I proposed the idea to our group, we decided to go around the room with each ,roman telling how she felt about the pageant . We discovered that man,y of us who had alffeys put down the contest still watched it. Others, like myself, had consciously identified with it, and had cried Ylith the winner.

From our collllllunal thinking came the concrete plens for the action. We all agreed that our main point in the demonstration would be that all ,,omen were hurt by beaut:, competition -- Miss America as ,,ell es ourselves. We opposed the pageant in our own self -interest, e.g. the self-interest of all women.

Yet one of the biggest mistakes of the whole pageant was our anti-womanism . A spirit of every woman "do her own thing" began to emerge, Sometimes it was-because there "8S an open conflickt about a.n issue . other times, women didn •t sa:, anything at all about disagreeing witb a group decision; they just went ahead and did what the:, "anted to do, even though it was something the group rad definitel,y decided against. Because of this egotistic individualism, a definite strain of snti-womanism T/89 presented to the public to the detriment of the action.

Posters which read "Up Against the Wall, Miss America," "Miss America Sells i t,• am "llliss An:erica Is a Big Falsie" hardly raised any woman's consciousness and

really harmed the cause of sisterhood. Miss America arid all beautiful women came off as ou- enemy instead of as ow: sisters who suffer with us. A group decision had teen made rejecting these anti*\Toman signs. A few mmen made them anyway. Some women who had opposed the slogans were in the room when the signs were being made and didn't confront those who were meking the anti-wo11an signs.

A more complex situation developed arouod the decision of a few women to use an "underground" disruptive tactic. The action was appro11ed by the group on!y after its adherents said they would do it anyway as an individual action. As it turned out, we came to the realization that there is no such thing as "individual action" in a movement. We were linked to and were coMited to support our siist.ers wt»ther they called their action llindividus.1 11 or not. It .CU.eo o.~ to many of us that there is at this time no real need to do "UDderground" actions. We need to reach as many women as possible as quickly as possible with a clear message that ms the power of our person behind it. At this point women have to see other w::,men standing up and saying these things. That's why draping a women's liberatio n banner over the balcony that night and yelling our message was much clearar. We should have known, however, that the television network, because it was not competing with other networks for coverage, would not put the action on camera. I t did get on the radio and in newspape rs, however.

The problem of how to enforce group decisions is up in a lot of ways throughout the whole action. to 1118le report9rs was another example.

one 118 haven't solved. It C8lll8 The group rule of not talking

One of the rea,ons we came off anti-womsn, besides the posters, was our lack of clarity. Vie didn't say clear l y enough that we women are all FCRCED to play tbe Miss Alneri•oa roll - not by beautiful women but by men who we have to act that way for a:id by a system that has so well institutionalized male supremacy for its own ends.

This was non too clear in our guerilla theater either. Women cha~ned to a replica, red, white and blue-bathing-suited Miss America could baTe been misinterpeted as against beautiful women. Also, crowning a live sheep Uiss America sort of said that beautiful wou.en are sheep. However, the action did say to some 1Yo11en that women are vie1ted as auction-block, docile animsls. The grandmother of nru;, nf t,h<> partfo; pont." T"el\llY bee~n to understand the action when she was told about the sheep, and she ended up joining the protest.

,a;, ':\a/' There is ¥ great'(need for clarity in our language as there is in our actions. The leaflet that was distributed as a press release and as a flyer at the action was too long, too 11ordy, too complex, too hippy-yippee-eampy. Instead of an "i n" phrase like "Racism with Roses" (I still don't know enctly whst that means) , we could have jus t called the pageant RACIST and everybody would have urrlerstood our opposition on that point. If we are going to reach masses of women, we rmist give up all the "in- talk" of the New Left/Hippie lllOvements - at least when we're talking in public. (Yes, even the word FUCI.!) He can use simple language (~ language) that everyone from Queens to Iowa will umerstsnd 811d not misunderstand.

We should try to avoid the temptation to say evsrything there is to say about what is wrong with the wor 1d and thereby say nothing that a new person can really dig into the understand. Women's liberation itself is revolutionary dynamite. Vlhen other issues are interjected, we should clearly relate them to our oppression !!! women.

\le tried to carry the democratic means we used in planning the action into the actual~ of it. vie didn't want leaders or spokesmen. It makes the m.ovement not only ~ stronger and larger if everyone is a leader ., but it actually .i& stronger if not dependent on a few. It also guards against the time when such leaders could be isolated and picked off one way or another . And of course 11111ny voices are mre powerful than one .

Our fire~ attempt at thia weo not en~irely euccessful. We mus~ learn ho• to fight against the media's desire to make leaders and some women's desire to be spokesmen. Everybody talks to the press or nobody talks to the press. The same problem came up in regard to appearances on radio and tele,'ision shows after the action . lie theoretically decided no one should appsar more than onee, but it didn't work out that way.

The 111s s America protest \78S a zap action, as opposed to person to person group action. Zap actions are using our prcsense as a group arv:l/or the media to make women's oppression into social issues. In such actions we speak to men as a group as well as to women. It is a rare opportunity to talk to m.en in a situation vhere tbey can't talk back. (Men must begin to learn to listen . ) Our power of solidarity, not our itdividual intellectual exchanges will change men.

We tried to speek to individual women in the crowd and now some of us feel that it may not have been a good tactic. It put women on the spot in front of their men. We were putting them in a position which we choose to avoii ourselves when we don't allow Ren in our discussion groups.

It io interes"ti.&~g tl~t 1wny v.r Lli\.l uou-wov~u1E:,ul, woren we t.alked t;o about, the protest had the same reaction as many radical women. "But I'm n,t oppressed," was a shared response. "! don't care about ldiss America," was a~other. If more than half the television viewers in the country watch the pageant, somebody cares! And many of us admitted watching it too, even while putting it down.

It's interestina, too, that \Ohile much of the Left was putting us do-.n for attacking something so "silly and unimportant" or "reformat", the Right saw us as a threat and yslled such things as "Go back to Russia" and "Mothers of Mao" at the picket line. Ironically enough, what the Left/Underground press seemed to 1.ike best about our action TtaS what was really our worst mistake - our anti-woman signs.

Surprisingly ar,d fortunately some of the mass media ignored ow- mistakes and concentrated on ow- best points. To quote from the Daily News, ' ... some women who think the whole idea of such contests is degrading to femininity, took their case to the people.... During boardwalk protest, gals say they 're not anti-beauty, just anti -beauty contest." Shana Alexander wrote in a Life magaoine editorial that she "wished they'd gone farther," Together Life and the~ News reach millions of Americans.

We need to take ~ureel....-ce de,.-iowsl.y. The powere t.hat be do. Carol GiaTdina of Gainsville, Florida, was fired from her job because of her activities in women's liberation and her participation in the protest. Police cars were parked outside the planning meeting one night. The next day we got a call from the mayor of Atlantic City questioning us about just what we planned to do, Pepsi Cola is withdrawing as a sponsor of the pageant. They produce a diet cola and maybe see themselves as ne:<t year's special target.

Unfortunately the best slogan for the act;ion came up about a month after when Roz 811.J<endall came out on the David Susskind show with "Every day in a \\'Oman's life is a walking Miss All8rica Contest." fie shouldn't wait for the best slogan; we should go ahead to the best of our understanding. We hope all our sisters can learn something as we did from our first foray.

Notes from the First Year, a collection of radical feminist writings from 1968

NDTEB NaW VDRK RADICAL waM■N

71111 ■RDADWAY, ROOM 418 . N■W YQIIIIK CITY 1aaa:a

THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS HOVEHENT IN THE U.S.: A NEW VIEW

Shulamlth Fi restone

THE HYTH OF THE VAGINAL ORGASM Anne Koedt

WOHAN AS CHILD Jenni fer Gardner

WHEN WOHEN RAP ABOUT SEX Shula111l th Firestone

THE JEANNETTE RANKIN BRIGADE: WOMAN POWER?

A 5Uf4HARY OF OUR IJfVOLVEl'IENT

A LETTER TO RAMPARTS

FUNERAL ORATION FOR THE BURIAL OF TRADITIONAL WOMANHOOD

Kathy Alnatnlek

WOHEN IN THE RADICAL HOVEHENT Anne Koedt

ON ABORTION Shulalth Firestone

ROZ'S PAGE

FRDM THE FIRST VEAR

JUN■ 1■8■ e .IID TDWDM■N . 1. DD ■ra M■N

A thesis for• future study

These two articles are based on group discussions held over the past year. Although highly Interpretive, they will give the reader some sense of what 1 typical discuss ion 11 like at the -i<ly Thursday night meetings .

WORDS FROH ACl lONS: 1968

Speech given In Washington, D,C. , to the inaln assembly of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade on January 15, 1968 •

• Speech given et a citywide meet• Ing of radical W0111en'1 groups at the Free University In New York City on February 17, 1968.

Speech given 1t an abort ion repeal relly In New rork on H1rch 24, 1968. The rally demonstrated support for the activities of Parents• Aid Society, Hempstead, L. I., and It s founder Will i am Bai rd, In birth-control educatio n, abortion referral counsel Ing, and l i tigation against laws proh ibit i ng such work,

IMPORTANT - ADDRESSES LISTED BELOW ARE NO LONGER VALID. FOR CURRENT ORDER INFORMATION SEE INSIDE BACK COVER.

All articles in this publication, though growing from a year of group discussion and activity, are to be taken, not as group position papers, but as the <>Pinions and responsibility of the individual authors. Requests for reprints, or letters concerning the opinions stated, should be addressed to these authors.

TEMPORARY SUMR ADDRESSES

Requests for additional copies of NOTES should be sent to

NOTES Circulation c/o Marion Davidson 317 West 11th Street New York City 1DD14 (212) 691-3795

Other correspondence, and requests for infonnation about the group, should be sent to

The New York Radical Women c/o Rosalyn Baxandall 79 St. Marks Place New York City 10003 (212) 982-8388

A bibliography of material related to the woman question will be available by September 1968 at 25t a copy.

These lllelllbers of the group were involved in producing the NOTES: .

Kathie Alllatniek Rosalyn Baxandall Joan Brown Sandy Burakoski Cindy Cisler Corinne Coleman Marion Davidson Judith Duffett Shulaith Firestone Ann Forer

Judy Gabree Jennifer Gardner Carol Hanisch Anne Koedt Lynn Laredo Liz Levy Pearl 011 Alice Robinson Ellen Shatter Elizabeth Sutherland

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THE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOV!MENT IN THE U.S. : A NEW VIEW

What does the word 'feminism' bring to mind? A granite-faced spinster obsessed with the vote? Or a George Sand in cigar and bloomers, a woman against nature? Chances are that whatever image you have, it is a negative one. To be called a feminist has become an insult, so much so that a young - intellectual, often radical in every other area, will deny vehemently that she is a feminist, will be ashamed to identify in any way with the early women• s movement, calling it a cop- out or reformist or demeaning it politically without knowing even the little that is circulated about it. Indeed, the few historians of the women• s rights 1110ve- -nt in the U.S. complain that the records have been lost, damaged, or scattered due to the little value placed on them. Anyone who has ever researched the sub- ject Jcnows how little is available, and how superficial, slanted, or downright false is the . existing information.

I would like to suggest a reason for this. It is the thesis of this article that -•• rights (liberation, if Jou prefer) has dynamite revolutionary potential, that the Nineteenth Century WJlM was indeed a radical movement fr0111 the start, that it was tied up with the most radical movements and ideas of it s day, and that even to the bitter end in 1920, there was a strong radical strain which has been purposely ignored and buried . To show this, we will have to dig out and completely review the whole history of the WRM in the u. s., to weigh just what it -ant in political terms, · and to understand the political and economic interests causing these distortions.

The early wanen • s Movement was radical. ~r that to attack the Family, the Church, and the Law was no small thing in the Victorian Era. Few people realize what a graBB roots mov-t it was, nor know of the tortuous journeys ude by dedicated wcaen into the back woods of the frontiers, and door to door in the towns to speak about the issues or to collect signatures for endless petitions which were laughed right out of the aBBemblies. In those days, the meagre funds that kept the WRM going were not from wealthy -le donors, you can be sure, but were the nickles and d1-s of housewives and laundresses. From the beginning the WRM identified itself with - in the working class. SUsan Anthony, Elizabeth cady Stanton, and several others, the most militant of the mov_t, appeared as delegates to the National Labor Union convention as early as 1868, before any attempts to organize f-le labor had ever succeeded . Other early labor organ- izers, such as ltate Mullaney or Augusta X-is, were feminists. 'l'his is not to aention the better known radical origins of the WRM in the Abolitionist Mov-t

and in the ideas of - radicals such as Fanny Wright or the Gd.mite sisters. The Movaent was built by -n wbo had literally no civil status under the law, who were pronounced civilly dead upon marriage, or who r .. ined legal minors if they didn't marry, who could not even sign their own wills or have custody of their own children upon divorce, who were not allowed to go to school at all, let alone college, were, at best, equipped with a little knowledge of abroidery, French, or harpsicord u their sole political education, who had no political status or weapons whatever. And yet, today, - hardly ~ that less than a century ago, even after the Civil war, more than half of this country's popu- lation were still slaves UD(1er the law, ~n by law not owning even the bustles on their backs.

Indeed the Women's Movement from the first was tied up with anti-slavery forces in this country. It was due to their work in the Abolitionist Mov-t that lll&JlY -11 first became aware of their own slavery. It is an added irony that the first Wollllln'S Rights Convention at Seneca Palls in 1848 - about as a

1!!:-n's !,ights ~t, s0111etimes confused with one of its branches, the Suffrage Movement.

result of the ire felt by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton when they were denied seating at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in England in 1840.

Today again, -.mare beginning to IIOVe large ly on the inspiration and impetus from the Civil Rights Movement in the Sixties . And indeed the Black Struggle and the Paiinine struggle al-ya •- to run parallel in this country . Both were aborted, their energy drained off, at about the - ti.lie , and it is only recently that they have begun to demand to .cnow what happened, to analyze what went wrong and why.

And, just as with black history , there is a auspicioua blank in the history boob when it comes to the WRM, one of the greateat struggles for freedoll thia country has known . Little girls are taught to believe that all their right■ were 110D for th.a a long tiae ago by a sil ly bunch of ladies who carried on and made a ridicu- lous display, all to get that paper in the ballot box.

Why is this? Why are little g!rls faailiar with Louisa May Alcott rather than Margaret Puller , with Scarlett O'Hara and not Myrtilla Miner, with Florence Night- ingale and not Panny Wright? Why have they never heard of the Grillke Sisters, Sojourner Truth, Inez Milholland, Prudence Crandall , Ernestine Rose, Abigail Scott Duni-y, Harriet 'l'utaan, Clara r-1.ich, Alice Paul , and many others in a long list of brilliant courageous people? SC-thing -11• fishy when scarcely fifty years after the vote_. won, the whole llltM is largely forgotten, r~ed only by a fw eccentric old ladies .

May I auggest the reuon for this, why -•s history bas been hushed up just aa Negro history has been hushed up, so that the black child learns, not about Nat Turner but about the triumph of Ralph Bunche, or George Washington Carver and the peanut.

And that is that a real -•s movement is dangerous. Proa the beginning it - - posed the white male power structure in all its hypocrisy. Its very -1atence and long duration were proof of massive large-scale inequality in a system that pretended to d-,cracy. Both the Abolitionist Movement and the lfcaen 's Rights _,_t, 110rking at tu.a together, at times separately, threatened to tear the country apart, and very nearly did during the Civil War. (If the feainists then hadn 't been persuaded to abandon their cause for "more important" issues, i.e. other , aen' s isaues, the history of the Women• s Rights ~t aight have been different .)

The hi■tory of the struggle for suffrage alone ia an absolutely incredible account of tooth and nail opposition from the moat reactionary forces in AMrica . The 110rk involved to achieve the vote-. staggering. Carrie Chai-an catt estillated thats

2'o get the word "male" out of the COllBt1tut.1on coat tbs - of Ws country 52 years of pauaeless camJ1111gn •••• Dur1ng that ti.me they 11119re fort:Nld to conduct 56 campa1gns of referenda to ...Ze t.'Oters, 480 cam- pa1gn,, to get legislatures to sula:Lt suffnge amendments to t.'Oters, 47 caaJ1111gna to get state const1tut1onal conventions to write Mlllllln su£fr11.ge 1nto state constitutions, 277 campaigns to get state party conventiona to 1nolude 111011111JJ suf£r11.ge pla.nks, 30 campaigns to get i,reaident.ial JIU'ti, convent1ons to 11.dopt waaan suffrage pla.nlal 1n party pl.11.tforms and l9 campaigns with l9 successive COngressea.

(Carrie Chapman catt and Nettie Rogers Shuler, 1IONAN SUPPRAGB AND POLITICS, New York, 1923, Chas . SCrillners SOrul, pg . 107)

Defeat waa so frequent and victory so rare , and then achieved only by the akin of

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the teeth , that even to read a>:,out it is grueling, let alone to have lived through it , or to have devoted onese lf to the struggle.

we ought to question this. Is it poSBible that male chauvinism was the sole cause? certainly it played a large part , perhaps underlying all the other forces obstruct - ing the __.nt. R hr that in that period, male power was as taken for granted as once wu the Divine Right of JCings, that it was so entrenched, unquestioned, and abso lute that even deands for the mildest reforms were dangerous and struck those in power as ludicrous.

Bowevfl' , there was even more to it than that . Eleanor Flexnor, in Centur!I o~ Struggle (AtheneUII, earvard u. PreBB) examines the anti-suffrage forces that fought to such great lengths , She finds several institutions involved in denying the vote to_,

1) CAPITALISM, The big industrial states of the North were among the last to give in, Oil , aanufacturing, and railroad lobbies worked secretly against suffrage, not only because the big liquor interests -re threatened by an early alliance of the Wcaen's Christian Temperance Onion with the Suffrage cause, but also because the 11PM had from the beginning been identified with the lal:lor reform , and •creeping sociali•" in general. Let's not forget that women were and still, are a cheap labor supply . The vote could have worked against that. (An interesting fact that Flexner brings out in this connection is that the WcDen's anti -suffrage ooamittees were a f-le front for big money interests . Records show that 4/5 of their contributions caae from MDI, generally in quite substantial sU1111. We can credit the women in these groups with being the first organized Aunt Teas.)

2) RACISM, The second large bloc to fight waun suffrage to the bitter end was , you guessed it , the Southern states. In those days they openly stated the con- nection between the black strugg le and the feminist struggle that is better disguised today. Por , to grant the vote to -" would not only enf ranchise another HALF of the Negro race, but would call attention to the fact that suffrage was 'N0'1' universal. With 511 of the population looking out for corruption at the polls, the 14th aaend- ment might get enforced as well as the 19th.

3) GOVERNMENT• •The political. machines which were uncertain of their ability to control an addition to the electorate which seemed relatively unsusceptible to ' briberY , who were llilitant , and bent on such disturbing refor11& as the al:lolition of child lal:lor, and worst of all, cleaning up politics." FLEXNER, Op. Cit ., p . 299.

4) '1'HE CHURCH r. THE FAMILY: Maybe none of the other causes listed goes so deeply to the root as this one. Judaeo-Chriatianity has always espoused the inferiority of wanen, pointing to Genesis for proof of -n•s t91Ptress nature, her special role, her aiBBi on to be fruitful and multiply and after Eden, to multiply the pain and swai.BBion to man •

The faaily unit based on - •s responsibility for childrearing, on male supr-cy and thUs her subaission to male authority and the sexual double atandard, was severely threatened at its core 1'y any talk of change . After all, who could knoW at that tiM that the aov81119nt could be stopped with only partial or surrogate free- dcllla? They saw clearly, that to follow through on Walll8n's rights would -an aJ:>oli- tien of the traditional family structure , which certainly gave these men quite a few advantages.

5) THE U.W: The facade which reinforced and guaranteed the status quo.

Thus the revolutionary potential of Woman Power was recognized by the men in power as the real threat to their system and, as so often happens, it waa recognized 110re clearly by the en•y than by some of the crusaders themselves. Even with the

Suffrage Asaociation later turning conservative in their obsession with getting the vote at all cost, and in their zeal practically assuring the male power structure that if they -re granted the vote they wouldn't USE it, the establish - ment wasn't convinced. It took 53 years frcm the first state suffrage referend\111 in ltansaa in 1867 to the final ratification of the 19th -lldment in 1920. And even then there -a so 11110h stalling that fr0111 January 10 , 1918, when the amend- ment was finally passed (by the EXACT 2/3 -jority required) it took two years and nine 11011ths to get it ratified . And then it passed by only a miraculous two votes. When all else bad failed, the losing minority even tried th e desperate tactic of crossing the state line into Alabama to prevent a quorum until they could undermine the majority vote.

But though these forces finally appeared to give in , they did so in name only . 'l'bey never loat. For by that time, the barrage of campaigns , this pooling and concentra- tion of all energy onto the limited goal of suffrage (which in the beginning after all, bad been seen only as a preliminary , a weapon with which to wrest real politiical power) bad depleted the Women' s Rights Movaent. The 1110nster of the vote bad swal- lowed everything else. Three generations bad ccme and gone, the masterplanners ware all dead. The later -.n who bad joined in to work for the clear cut issue of the vote bad never bad time to devel~ a broader COIUICiousneas, to see where the vote fit in. By that time they could hardly remmber that there bad been anything else to fight for. By the ti.lie the Suffrage ~t diabanded the~ •• Rights Move- ment waa dead. The opposition bad bad its way.

Por what is the vote 110rth finally if the voter is manipulated? Every huabapd knows he ' s not losing a vote, but gaining one . Today, some 50 years later , - atill vote aa wives, just as they govem as wives. Lurleen Wallace symbolized the puppet political poaition - have in this country. Margaret Chase Smith baa been the only - Senator elected independently of any connection with huaband or father. And where are the wcman aayors? In 1968, Jackie Kennedy correctly told a reporter that •in my family politics are left to the -n," while Lady Bird, the highest lady of the land, provides an ..xemp.1ary model for the young ladies with her concern for Easter outfits and beautiful highways .

Though as often quoted to show progress, one third of all women 110rk, they work in the worst sense of the word1 that is, they have -rely added an- exploiter to the old one . For they are concentrated in the service oocupations, at the bottca rung of the employment ladder, in jobs that no one el8e will take. As for eamings, latest figures show that even black male worker• make 1110re.

The average WCllllaJI earns approximately $2,827 annually, a little over half the aver- age man•• eaminga ($4,466). Despite the talk about bitchy busines- , bow many busineaBWaNn do you ever see? Bow many -.n in any 11111nagerial or daaisfnn making position? Bow many professionals? Ninety five percent of all professionals are still male . Acad-1.c opportunitiea are shrinking, not growing, even the '1101118n's college■ and magazine• are run by men. Nor does anyone mention the fact that future prospects look even d1-r. The routine jobs that were granted to 1101118n, a lollipop to appease their hunger for real and important work, will be the first to go, ccae automation . Perhaps men will have their -y after all, and IIOlll8D will go back to the home they never should have left.

What went wrong? Why did the Women' s Rights Movement fail?

1. BY SELLING OUT THE CAUSE FOR "MORE IMPORTANT" ISSUES: Women, more than any other oppressed group, were easy to convince that their struggle should be delayed for "more important issues." This may be dae to the special conditioning which women under.go fro,a the beginning to please rather than diaturb - to put the interests of the male or the child abOVe their

own. Whatever the reason, many of them sold out on their own cause too often.

First, in the Civil War, the back of the tough little W.R.M. was broken when the energy of -9n was channelled into war work. After the war, the movement had to be built up again from sc r atch . Only the staunchest feminists insisted that the word SEX as well as Color go into the Fourteenth Amendment. The Aboli- tionists, who had been glad to accept the alliance with women all along, suddenly decided that now it was "the Negro's hour," - that the cause of '1109811 was too unimportant to delay for a minute any advances in the liberation of the blacks. Needless to say they had forgotten that HALF of the black race was fema_le, so they sold out their own cause as well. Once again the principle was proved that unless oppressed groups stick togethe r , and on alliances of self-interest rather than do-goodi&111, nothing can be accomplished in the long run to diamanUe the apparatus of oppression . As long ' as it remains to be used on one group, it can just as easily be employed on another .

Later, in World War I, the same thing happened . Most of the SUffragettes bent over backwards to prove their patriotism . 'l'hey were sensitive to the charge that they cared more about their own interests than the good of the country. only the militants kept at it, acltnolfledgi ng the war only by such slogans as "Freedom Begins at Home. • Naturally they wre baited for this, and vilified . But they were right in knowing that if they gave up now they would never get the vote . For once, they were needed in the labor· force, if only temp<>rarily for the •war effort,• and thus they had a certain bargaining position.

They knew that then their citizenship could be questioned by no one, whereas after the war there would be the usual conservative backlash, the attempt tQ lJUt them back in the home. And indeed it is no accident that the Amendment finally paBSed when it did , right before the end of the wa,r, in 1918.

In this regard we should keep in mind that revolutions anywhe5e are always glad to use any help they can get, even from women. But unless women also use the Revolution to furthei; their own interest• as well as everyone else's, unless they make it consistently clear that all help given now is expected .to be returned, both now and after the Revolution , they will be sold out again and again, just as they were in Algeria.

2. BY SINGLE ISSUE ORGANIZING AS OPPOSED TO ORGANIZING TO RAISE THE GEllBRAL

COHSCIOOSNBSS: Many organizers labor under the illusion that they can "use" an existing, al.ready, "hot" issue to build up their own cause. I think this is a delusion, that in fact it does not save time or effort, but can really set a 1110V~t back or even destroy it . To reach the people "where they are at• vben they are in the wrong place, is a false approach, Rather, we should be concerned with educating them at all times to the real issues involved. If there AD real issues, people will catch on soon enough.

An example of this failing in the ~•s Rights MoVem81lt was the alliance with the women' s Christian Temperance Union . After the Civil War, when the solid base of the w.a.M. had been. broken , it seemed opportune to use whatever -9n's organizations there were as a platform to promote genuine women'• issues. The staunchest feminists were against this alliance. Others, notably Frances Willard , argued . that s_he could "use" the temperance issue to further wtaen ' s rights, since te!DP9rance was "where the women were at.• It not only failed, but it set back the vote fifty years. once the w.R,M. becaae allied in the public mind with the unpopular temperance issue (jusUy unpolJUlar, I might add), once it was associated, not with freer women, but with a straight- laced, self - righteous Mother, once the big liquor interests stepped in ••• Well ,

the rest is history.

Again, Stanton and Anthony made a mistake merging their radical feminist Ra- tional Suffrage Association with the timid provincial American Suffrage Associ- ation. The National was concerned with the vote only as the means to a much broader end . They were against any type of partial suffrage and favored in- stead applying pressure on Washington to amend the Constitution. But Stanton and Anthony -re getting old, and with many misgivings , they finally 11&rged with the •better organized• American , a single issue organization, devoted strictly to suffrage , and working on the state level. Again , they might have saved fifty years.

Once the pressure was taken off Washington, the Suffrage issue sank into the •doldras• until years later, when Harr i et Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's daughter, returned from England with a set of new ~tics, and a renewed pressure for the Rational Amenc!ment, an approach that had lain dormant since her W>ther ' s time. It 1111st also be stressed that the later militants -r• not single - issue oriented lilts the others. Their strategy was better be- cause ' they approached the problem fearlessly frcm a broader perspective .

Again, - can see how this principle operates on the internatiiona1.1eve1 as well. ~ in socialist countries or situations, such as Russia or the Kibbutz, have been used in the econoay, but beca use a tr~us raising of consciousness did not occur during the revolutionary period , because they were TOO concerned with THE revolution and not 'l'BBIR revolution , because their definition of ti-- selves did not change radically but was only reformed on certain ISSUES such as Labor, they found tbaselves later not only not free , but perhaps in an even worse position . They simply had added certain new jobs to their old ones. How they work harder.

I would like to concl~e frcm all this , that contrary to what most historians would have us believe , -.en's rights wre never won. The lfcaan's Rights Move- msnt did not fold because it a~lished i ts objectives, but because it was eseentially defeated and llischannelled. SBENIRG fr~ appear to have been won. Let's investigate these brieflys

1. SEXUAL Though ite true that~ wear aborter skirt■ than they used to, I would suggest that this happened not 10 auch in their interest as because MBN preferred it that way. After all , girls are still sent heme frcm high scllool in winter for wearing pants to keep their legs wum. Mini - skirts are illlpractical, requiring constant attention to one's sitting posture, constant emphasis on one's sexual nature . High heels, gizdl.es , garter belts, nylons and all the other trappings of the chic aodern IIIOllan uy appear more natural, but in fact are almost as unccmfortable as the corset■ and bustles ever wre. For though 11011en may strive for a 'natural' look, they do indeed strive. Girls today are as concerned about ' image ' •• ever. And they are still sexual objects . Only the etylee have changed .

As for sex itself , I would argue that any changes were u a result of male ~ter- ests and not faaaJ.e . Any benefits for~ were acci4ental. A relaxing of the ac>rea concerning female sexual behavior wae to BIS advantage, there was a greater sexual supply at a lower or nonexistent cost. But his attitudes haven ' t changed auch since the good old Professional Whore da711.

2. l.UoR As stated above , though one third of the wcaen are employed , they have aerel y taken over the shit jobs. Bvsn when they earn as lll1ch as their hU8biuida do, the equal 110rk does not grant tha a new equal status in the faaily, rather,

they are considered to be "helpincJ out." And when they come heme, there's still that housework to do, the child care, the cooking of supper. ("The -.n's work is never done . ") So that here again, the change resulted in male advantage, that is, the woman took over the menial jobs he didn't like, jobs that she had no c~tment to, and would give up any time in favor of marriage or babies, if he so desired. (Then he could argue as an employer that he couldn't hire her for the good jobs or give her equal -ges for equal work when she ' d just turn over and get married.)

3 . WOMEN & MONEY This is the one you never hear the end of, Bow the ~ control all the bread and spend it on whatever they please. But, the adver- tisers and manufacturers want it that way, though in their personal lives they will be the first to berate the little woman for spending all that money. It doesn't take much to figure this one out. This is a contnmer economy, one that need• fulltime con.-rs of useless products for its very existence. What better target than a class of semi-educated semi-conscious unhappy people, who also have some access to the budget money? It is no accident that the &.estic pages are full of cartoons depicting irate husbands chewing out Big Mama for al-ys goincJ shoppincJ whenever she• s unhappy. So let's start puttincJ the b1- where • it belongs: on that same husband when he's in his office doing market research.

4. LEGAL IUGH'l'S A canadian dOClmmltary on the llolllen'il Rights MOVaent, IIONBll OH TBB MAJtCB, showed that the canadian Supr- Court had once handed down a decision declarincJ that, no, women were NOT people . Later , there -s a lot of fanfare when the decision was reversed. A plaque -s even presented to saa,eone, I forget who. And that's about where it's at. How we are declared human in certain books, but though some legal rights have been won, as with the Negro, its quite another thing to have them actually enforced. More often they are distorted or even used as grOU!lds for more severe exploitation, i.e. •see what you've dona now that we've given you your freedc:a?"

But such advances so hard won, and yielded with such 111 grace, turned out to be a big hoax, and we're finally catc)µng on. There are several iJllportant lessons to be learned this ti.M around if we don't want to be subtly subverted

again.

To capitulate briefly , theae are,

l. Never C0111Promise basic principles for political expediency.

2. Agitation for specific freedoms is worthless without the preliminarY raising of consciousness necessary to utilize these freedolls fully.

3. PUt your own interests first, then proceed to make alliances with other oppressed groups . Demand. a piece of that revolutionary pie before you put your life on the line.

Shulamith Firestone

WOMEN RAP ABOUT SEX

"If you don•t want to sleep with him, he as111.1111es you're hung-up and then you have to stay up the whole night anyway convincing him you're notl"

"Yeah, it'• a1->st easier to go to bed and get it over with . "

"But aee, this -cipation thing has simply become a new line. Don't fall for itl"

"That's easier said than done. I mean, 110111d he ever BELIEVE it -s his halitosis, even if you ~ tell him?"

(Laughter) "'Yeah, .buddy, hate to hurt your feelings but you SMELL'?"

(Timidly) "Don't you ever sleep with a guy just because he's lonely?"

"Baby, I don't do charity work for nobody."

"We've got to learn to sleep with people because WE want them, not because 'l'BBY want us - not to prove anything to thma, not to make th- feel be¼:ter about their masculinity, not out of weakne88 or inability to say no, but simply because - NAN'1' to . "

"Can' t you do it just because you're horny?"

"Well, if it's so simply physical, why don't you masturbate? or go write a • poea or -thing? Why do you have to involve someone else to gratify your needs? We're certainly bitter enough when •n exploit us just to satisfy ~ need • • • •

"But what if you' re both horny • •

"That's just mutual masturbation . Now, real desire for another person is 80lllething else again. I see masturbation as physical need detached from any person."

"Let's talk about masturbation. We always se- to avoid that."

"Do you think we maaturbate as much as men, or do we just feel guiltier admit- ting it?"

"I think we probably masturbate less !!!!! confess it less."

"I disagree. I think - masturbate just as much."

"Well, in either case, guilt is the root. The question is why do we feel guiltier? After all, male masturbation is much more freely discussed . "

"Maybe we're afraid to take pleasure in our own bodies. We've never really owned them."

"But also - we're afraid of direct pleasure. I mean, this is all inter-related. If our bodies are for the 111a11•s pleasure, our pleasure in sex comes only through giving pleasure. There it is, vicariousness again."

"Women don't make love to men. They make love to themselves through the men. It's narcissi• . •

"Narcissism is just one more type of response to a vicarious sexual role.• I

"But you know, we miss out. We're kept so busy playing love object, we miss

out on -acu11ne beauty . "

•you can see that in art, too . It ' s completely distorted . The only time -sculine bodily beauty was celebrated was by the Greeks or Michelangelo , who were ham)sexual . That's the c l osest we've come to the f.-le view of the world."

•aut there is greater concentration on woman's pleasure in the 20th century, isn ' t there? All this talk about orgasms and everythi ng?•

•Yeah, wel l then how come we still don ' t have themr (Laughter)

•God, I'• so glad to hear someone adlllit it l I thought Everyone else had them but- · •• •

"You know, just asking your partner when it's over, ' Did you come? ' isn't the same as being concerned al l along."

•Yeah, it's that ol d ' did you come, did you ccae, did you come' until you

could scream .

•or until you lie."

"Oh, so you l ie too?"

"I really think we ought to examine what's going on. He asks you when it ' s all over if you cu. . well, what good will that do you by then? If you did come, the question is crude1 if you didn't, it makes you feel guilty. Whal1 s really hap- pening is that responsibility for the failure is being subtly shifted to you so that you ' ll bluie yourself for being frigid instead of blaming him foi:: a bad trip . "

"You know that old saying • •• There ' s no such thing as a frigid woman, only an insensitive man."

"But can't you just smell the male chauvinism all over that? Man, the great lover , playing on - l ike a violin - woman the sensitive instrument . Balzac again. They don ' t produce our orgasms too, you know."

"Why this obsession with ~rigidity and orgasas? Frankly , I get bored with

the subject . •

"Too much Wilhelm Reich going arowid." (Disgustedly) "All these books and

manuals about - written by men. "

•well , I know I'd give up an orga1111 in a minute for some good lovin ' . orgaSIIIS are n 't all there is to it, hell no. •

"You know, despite what they say , I believe it does take emotional involve- ment. And with the present situation •• • "

•At the risk of sounding naive • •• I've been listening to this for an hour and no one has .-ntioned love." (Ferocious laughter)

"Love?·

"God, if I waited to fall in love, I'd be climbing the walls !•

"Yeah, forget love . If you even just like him • • • "

"Forget like . I'd be happy if I could only respect the guy a little bit . "

"Respect - forget it. If you can even talk to him at all, you're lucky.•

"Even just small talk. About the morning orange juice."

•If you can even stand to wake up next to him ••• •

" • •• can stand having his head on your pillow!" (A shocked silence)

"Do you realize what we're saying? Not only have we been sleeping with guys we don't love, but with guys we positively can ' t stfnd . "

"What are we doing it for?"

"Well (with a sigh), looks like we're back where we started. Doing it for every reason but the right one . "

"This is frightening. I mean, we shouldn 't have to give up concern for good relationships to prove we're free.•

"Because men really aren ' t free either. They just like to think they are . •

"Yeah; we don't want to become whores like men." (Laughter)

"It ' s true - sensitive men admit they ' re unhappy sleeping aro1D1d. They feel cheap and empty too."

Tramp. "That Don Juan-Playboy Mystique is just as false as its reverse, the Terrible

"But let ' s not confuse the degree . Sure, they're unhappy too in the role of empty conqueror. But after all , they must get something out of it or things wouldn't be that way."

"A man's sense of personal worth comes through his cocksmanship , in the Playboy mystique . It ' s the old business of raising your self - image by lowering someone else.•

"Well, all we ever got was pure sexual exploitation, pure and simple . "

"We should try to get to the roots of this, though . Sheer resentment isn't the answer. Let's look at it. No birth control, right? Women stuck with child- rearing. Who takes the consequences of sex? Women. Therefore who is less eager for sex? Women. Problem, how to get her into bed by any means necessary - without having to worry about a big bunch of kids to support . Well, of course he resorted to lies, seduction. dishonesty. Get it in and get out before you're trapped . O.K. Women wised up. Result: fewer were seducil>le and the sexual supply went down. The race was on. And in classic, male competitive manner - he who could get it in the most women with the fewest consequences was the winner . It's really very logical."

"Yeah, with the pill now, we have to be careful not to imitate the situation that grew out of all that . We have to liberate ourselves beyond even that sexual pseudo-freedom men supposedly have . "

"What a job ••• "

"They're so damaged, poor bastards. But how can we do it alone? A free -.n needs a free man."

(Glumly) "I used to think sex was exciting because if there was going to be a real personality confrontation anywhere, it'd be in bed. But I found out they were as blank in bed as out . "

"Sollletimes, you know (with a sigh), you'd al.Jllost rather play ping-pong."

shulamith Firestone

-- ------------------------------------- THE MYTH OF THE VAGINAL ORGASM

Whenever female orgas■ is discussed, a false distinction is aade between the vaginal and the clitoral orgas■. Frigidity has generally been defined by men as the failure of wo■en to have vaginal orgas■s·. Actually, the vagina is not a highly sen- sitive area and is not physiologically constructed to achieve orgar. The clitoris is the sensitive area and is the feaale equivalent of the penis. think this ex- plains a great many things. First, the so-called frigidity rate among women is phenomenal. Usually we are told that it is our hang-up if we don't have an orgasm and most women accept this analysis. But men are hung up too, and they have orgasms, so I think we ■ust look for causes elsewhere. '

What actually happens is this: there is only one area for sexual climax (although there are many areas for general sexual arousal) - the clitoris. Alt orgasms azte eztensions of sensations from this aztea. Since the clitoris is usually not directly stimulated in the conventional sexual positions, we are left "frigid." The only other kind of stimulation is purely psychological, the kind of orgasm achieved through fetishes or thinking or dreaming about so■eone. But this kind of orgas■ is not caused by friction with the vagina and therefore cannot be considered a vaginal orgas■. Rather, it is a psychologically caused orgasm which manifests itself physically in the clitoris. Of the orgas■s that are caused by physical contact with the clitoris, there may be aany degrees of intensity, some more local- ized and so■e which are more diffuse and sensitive . The physical organ which causes them, however, ' is the clitoris.

All this leads to so■e interesting questions about conventional sex and our role in it . Men have orgasms essentially by friction with the vagina, not with the clitoris - which is external and not able to cause friction the way penetration does. WOllell have thus been defined sexually in ter■s of what pleases men; our own biology has not been properly analyzed. Instead, we have been fed a myth of the liberated wo■an and her vaginal orgasm, an orgasm which in fact does not exist.

What we aust do is redefine our sexuality. We ■ust discard the "normal" concept_s of sex and create new guidelines which take into account mutual sexual enjoy■ent. While the idea of mtual enjo)'IIISnt is acknowledged in marriage manuals, it is not followed to its logical conclusion. We must begin to demand that if a certain sexual position or technique now defined as "standard" is not mutually con- ducive to orgasm, then it should no longer be defined as standard. New techniques ■ust be used or devised which transfor■ our current sexual exploitation .

Anne Koedt

WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE - WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR MEN!

(The foZ.Z.Olving is a "convePsation" put togethel' fl'om Val'ious cormrents made by t.lOmen and men on the subject of women's Zibemtion.)

"Women's l.ibemtion doesn't have the mediate impoPtance of bl.ack Z.iberation or ending the UZP in Vietnam - the Pevolution."

"That statement shows you have no concept of the oppression of women. It's true that women are not being killed off as a group in the great numbers that black people and Vietnamese are, or in such obvious ways. But 10,000 women die each year from abortions because the men who run this country have decided that a w011an may not control her own body. Women are dehumanized and put into service roles like black people. More of us can "make it" economically, if we are willing to prostitute ourselves as wives of upper or middle-class men. House niggers . But ba~ically we are economically exploited, psychologically oppressed and socially kept in 'our place' by men and by a capitalist system that has institutionalized aale supremacy-in a more subtle way than the cave-man but just as destructively ."

"But othel' people al'e ~ oppPessed than you."

"That may or may not be. It seems rather futile to argue about who is the most or more oppressed. If you're being stepped on, you don't stop to argue about whether the foot on your neck is heavier than the one on the neck of somebody else. You try to free yourself. And where it's the same foot, you work together. There aay be several things holding you down at once. If you're a woman, it's men and the capitalist system . If you' re a black woman, it's also racism ."

"Are you saying that women shoul.dn 't fight in other strouggZ.es?"

"Of course not. Women will never be free in this country as it now exists because nobody can be. So you have to fight to change the whole thing. But we could change the economic system and women could still be victims of male supreaacy, just as black people could still be victims of racism. To assure that this doesn't happen, women have to organize themselves to fight male supremacy."

".You nuke a 'tot of ana'togies to the black movement. H°"' do you see yOUl' relationship to black women?"

"At the moment, our group is largely white. Occasionally a black woman will come to meetings and that's great. Our meetings are open to all women. However, there is a reluctance on the part of white women to assume that black women want to be part of an 'integrated' group. We figure black women 111ay want to get together themselves first . Furthel'llore, we're all sisters but some of our problems are different. Many llilitant black women see their struggle as a fight alongside their men for survival; some say that only middle-class white women can afford to worry about their freedom as wemen. Some non-white women are beginning to organize on the woman issue, however, so apparently there isn't complete rejection of the idea. Hopefully all women will eventually be able to get together and fight fo~ certain programs. This should result in a lessening of white supremacist attitudes, too, as white women get together with non-white women around similar needs. We will fight such racist practises as using maids to do the personal dirty work that men should be sharing equally with us."

"But li)(JIIWn don't hai,e it so bad. 7'heN az,e r.,omen doctors, 1..aJ4yB'l'S, aztChiteots . Jr'omen az,e in almost a1,l. the fie'tds open to men. r

"Almost is a big word. Besides, the number of women in creative and well- paying jobs is very limited. There are black legis l ators, lawyers, doctors and even a black aan on the U.S. Supreme Court, too, but that doesn't make the masses of black people less oppressed. Also, women get lower pay for the saae jobs and they have to work harder to rise in those jobs-just as black people do."

"Don't you 1cnor.> t,)Offl6n oontztot most of the 111Batth in this country? They atso oontztot indivi.duat men, not overtty but indirectty. Women hai,e the zteat po!IIB'l', baby."

"First of all , we don't want to wield power as it is wielded under the present systea-to oppress, to destroy people ' s humanity. But even if we did, we don't have anything like real power. Much of that wealth is held by women nominally, for tax purposes. They don't make decisions about it. They aren't on the corporation boa_rds of directors . They don't run industry, the military uchine, the governaental struc- tures. It may be true that women exert forms of indirect control over individual aen, · and it's an ugly phenomenon. Women manipulate 'behind the scenes' and use ' feminine wiles' because most of them have been denied the chance even to think of theaselves wielding power openly . Look how managers go through all sorts of changes with aale workers if they put a woman in a position of authority, 'Feainine wiles' is a product of women's struggle for survival-it's a plastic sword, a paper tiger, phoney, nothing. It's devoid of-self-respect."

"But men aztB ezptoited, too. They do mostty ~ing l,)OZ'k, They azte not attowed to be fu1,l. human beings either . "

"True. But men still oppress woaen. So in addition to fighting to change the capitalist system, women must also fight for recognition of their huaanity."

"It sounds ti.kB you hats men."

"When a man says that, it's a self-defense tactic-trying to put feainists in a hate bag, the way whites do to black militants. When• woman says it, it's usually because she doesn't see her own oppression . She doesn't see that she lives in a world of male supremacy, not liaited to the U.S.A. or to the capitalist system. Froa the begiMing of history, women have usually been seen by men-and therefore by theaselves-as the lesser of the sexes . In periods of econOlllic necessity, women have been allowed out of the home but quickly put back when that need ended. ,.and told that's where they always belonged. The ideas are so old that it's no surprise woaen cannot see what has happened to them."

"AN you trying to be ~ men, then?"

"Our demand is not for equality. Who wants to •be like men! We are trying as women to define ourselves . We not only reject the definitions that men have given us, but reject becoming like men."

"Your ideas may be att right for you pe1'sonatty, but why must you imposs a parti.outaZ' ti.fa styts on other IA)Olll9n? Some women rea1,l.y want to ssrvs a man in the tztaditi.onat ""'Y• they juat natura1,l.y want to be housewives."

"That sounds like the 'happy slave• argU11ent for the South-a great ration- aliiation for continuing oppression . There are at least two things wrong with your point. First, no w011an in a IIOdem Western society has grown up in the absence of

lifelong pressure to seek subaissiveness, to want to be a housewife, to define herself in teras of the do■inant ule society . So no one can say for sure that such attitudes and goals are iMate in wo■en, that they come ' naturally.• Woaen have never had a chance to find out what they really want; no one knows what a wo■an would choose if she were free psychologically and technically .

In the second place, it doesn't seem really probable that anyone would want to be no aore than a housewife if all other avenues were open. Housework is uncreative, no matter what the mass ■edia say about it in their relentless drive to sell a new cake llix or floor wax. Anyone who has ever done that kind of work for an extended period knows it is endless, repetitious drudgery with-worst of all-no relevance to the larger huaan coaiunity. It provides a pathetic sense of being needed, of identity, to ■any wo■en. But anyone who thinks she feels good as she surveys her kitchen after washing the 146,789th batch of sparkling dishes isn't being 'natural'; she's literally lost her ■ind."

"B•/h I know a 1.ot of men IJho mah dishes . Haven't you BVeJt met a hen-peaked husband? (Jr, JU1Jt a nice guy IJho believes in helping?"

"Man, that dish-washing arg1ment has 110th-holes by now. The point i' that such actions, no utter how 11Uch better than the ■an who won' t do anything in the house, don't alter the assign■ent of roles. Housework remains the wo■an•s job and then the ■an 'helps.• If ■en started staffing nursery schools, that might reflect a real change in attitudes and roles . But the sa■e ■an who will wash dishes wouldn't be caught dead in a job taking care of very young children-unless he could dress it up as some kind of sociological experiment. Listen, children should have an alterna- tive also-to be cared for by ■en or women, or both."

"If giving r.tlfflen al.l. possi.bu, al.tematives inol.udes the ohoioe never to have children. what happens to the human Nee?"

"Society caMot lay the responsibility for continuing the race solely on woaen. If there is any responsibility hen, it's the responsibility of society to offer wo■en all possible choices by developing new technology for continuing the species in other ways-so that the task not be unilaterally i■posed on wo■en."

"But what about thll wmen who 8a'IJ that giving bizoth ms the most eztzoaol'di.nary I e:q,ezo-lsnoe of theizo lives-would you deny them that?"

"It's true that some wo■en say that. Others find childbirth exciting but no 110re so than various other experiences. Some wo■en begin to enjoy children only when the kids attain a ■ore developed huaanness. It seeas possible that those who find childbirth their most outstanding experience haven't yet had access to other exper- iences. Again, what we want is a society in which wo■en who want to try it can do so and those who don't can not try it without being ■ade to feel guilty , inadequate, 'unfulfilled . ' "

"Azoe you al.so advooatlng an end to fQ/ftil.-lss-putting al.Z kids in nuzosezoi.es? Kids need mothezo Zove ozo they'll. 91'0W up 11BUZ'Oti.c."

"'Love' is a word serening for redefinition. In sexual relationships, it often ■eans dependency; it's a weapon for control, it's someone making an object out of so■eone else in order to satisfy ego and security needs. People become a kind of very elaborate, expensive furniture in each other's lives. 'Mother love• can usually be translated as a WOll&D finding her identity through another person . That's a terrible burden on the child, with each generation transferring the burden on to the next. It's also a paralysis of the wo■an•s human development.

We believe that there is such a thing as humanistic love; that everyone needs to experience it; that you cannot love if you have not had the experience of being loved. But there is little social history · to prove that the conventional, nuclear faaily produces such love-that it produces the happiest people . It usually turns out lonely runners in a rat-race rather than members of a human c~ity. Its essence is like that of capitalism; it projects children as possessions and as the responsibility of individuals . But children are as auch the possession and respon- sibility of the c~ity as the land, the waters, the air and all resources avail- able to 11811 through nature.

Just what new fons should replace today's nuclear fuily-a combination of social and private care, totally socialized care, the extended fuily or whatever- is not for us to determine. Men too have a responsibility for working that out. More illportant, we reject the idea that women must coae up with a perfe~t for11Ula far the huaan race before their deaands for liberation are met. We want to get The Man off our backs; don't expect us to guarantee him a coafy chair to sit in after ward."

"flBll. even if that's all tious. don't you think life would be duller r.ri.thout ths spal'k of se:a.ia1. differ-ence? Don't you seCNtly dig ths kinds of litt1.e tensions l,eti.,een men and women?"

"Yeah, yeah-flirting is fun. A 11811 opens a door for me, I thank him, he sailes-and electricity ripples through us both. A year later, I'm flushing out a diaper and he's opening other doors . "

"Ro. I don't 1118an only 1.ove'l"s-just men and women l40l'king togeths'I". fo'I" e=mp1.e. 2'hBN's something ,q,eai.a1. about ths re1.ationship .,,,hich dossn't e:tlst 1,sti.,een tr.7o people of ths •sams se:c un1.ess they'M homose:J:Ual."

"That's still the undercurrent of conquest. Of course there are differences between aen and women. But when men bring them up, it's usually with some fora of inferiority in the back of their llinds."

"Ho hum. flel1.. what's yOU'I" pzrog'l"Qll'I?"

"If there is anything we can learn froa the black liberation 110VeMnt, it is that the priaary job is consciousness-raising •. Malcolm X said it about black people in 1964 and it's equally true for us:

"You can't give a people a prograa until they realize they need one, and until they realize that all existing programs aren•t . • • going to produce ••• results. What we would like to do ••• is to go into our probl• and just analyze ••. and question things that you don't under- stand so we can ••• get a better picture of what faces us. If you give people a thorough understanding of what it is that confronts the■, and the basic causes that produce it, they'll create their own prograa ." (fro■ "At the Audubon", MALCOLM X SPEAKS)

It is aaazing how quickly we have been able to affect the consciousness of soae women already . They see themselves as me■bers of a group for the first time instead of believing their problems to be individual. Then they say, "Hey, 1 ·uke woaen!" And that's a real breakthrough."

"fle1.l. I sti1.l think most """"911 l,)ant things the way thsy CJN. 2'hey may dM,tand equal pay O'I" less <b-udgeey but they stilt mnt to hat1e ths same kinds of penona1. N1.ationships r.ri.th men that psople hat,e had for OBntia-us . It'• in natuH.,,

"A lot of women who say they just want to play the traditional roles are simply fearful-or unable to imagine other ways of being. Old roles can see■ to offer a certain security. Freedom can seem frightening-if one has learned how to achieve a certain degree of power inside the prison. We don't seek to impose any- thing on women but merely to open up all possible alternatives; we do seek choice, as one of the functions which makes people human beings. We want to be free people, crippled neither by law or custom or our own chained minds. If there is no room for that in nature, then nature must be changed."

"WeZ.Z., aZ.Z. I oon say is you must be a bunch of lesbians."

"That's the one people always pull out last. It •s the kind of tactic the ruling class uses when it feels threatened by anyone who challenges it. Queer- baiting is no different from Red-baiting. Let ' s deal with the issues ."

Carol Hanisch and

Elizabeth Sutherland

------------------------------------------ WOMAN AS CHILD - Notes from a Meeting

The Radical Women of New York, formed for discussion and action on the subject of· women's oppression and liberation, has adopted the following outline for its consideration over the next few aonths: Woman as Child; WOll&JI as Adolescent; Woaan as Student; Woman as Single Woman; Woman a$ Worker; Woman as Head of House- hold; Woman as Wife; Woman as Mother; Woman as Aged; Woman in Male Power Structure; Woaan in Capitalism; Woman in Socialis■; WOiian in Revolution. There have been four crucial questions raised in each of the discussions: Woman as Sex Object; EeonOllic Dependence/Independence of Woman; Female Inferiority: Male propagation - Feaale internalization; In whose interest is Woman's oppression. The following is a su.aary of ideas raised at a group meeting during the first discussion of Wollan as Child.

The group began by considering prenatal prejudices - that is, concepts and preferences parents may have about the sex of their children even before the children are born. In a discussion of reasons many parents would prefer to have a ■ale child, especially for their first, several feelings and myths eaerged. Among thea were:

l. A "royal" image and tradition of the ule child as the continuation of the family line and name. This is closely connected to the fact that -

2. Both men and women are prejudiced against women, think aen llOl'e interesting, exciting and real; and feel that a fully of women is weak, dull and so■ehow unimportant.

3. A wo11an who re9ards the lot of wo■en as hard ■ight fear to bring another sufferer into the world .

4. Girls, as they grow older, require 110re care than boys, and remain dependent longer on their parents . This feelin'g is of course partly based on the very

.real advantages ■en have as wage earners. But the group was interested in why the feeling persists even in fa■ilies where a daughter would not, theoret- ically, be 110re of an economic liability than a son.

5. A boy should be the oldest sibling-the second head of the failily.

6. A daughter may appear as a sexual c011p9titor to her mother in a Freudian sense.

Solle parents, probably not many, would prefer a girl. A woman might feel that she knows women better than ■en and would therefore feel closer to a daughter than to a son. A aan aight fear that he would eventually end up coapeting with . a son in one way or another, and would therefore like to have a daughter and avoid this coaplica- tion. (The' assumption here, of course, is that women are naturally subordinate to and supportive of men so that the parent-child relationship between father and daughter could remain relatively unchanged even as the daughter became an adult.

Still another reason s011e parents would prefer a daughter to a son is the prevailing assuaption that little girls are easier to take care of than little boys; that they are ac,re docile, 110re verbal, less aggressive, less active and generally less trouble than boys. Since the existence of innate teaperaaental differences between boys and girls is difficult to prove, in view of their differential treatment at an early age, the aroup beaan to exaaine some enviromaental influences on girls which might account both for parental expectations and for the eventual realization of these expectations.

In aeneral, certain kinds of behavior are systematically discouraged in girls that -y be tolerated or even encouraged in boys. One such type of behavior is the overt expression of hostility and aggression. Because anger and hostility seem to be im- portant feelings in children (not to aention adults) and their expression an iaport- ant aspect of self-expression, the ■ore severe curbing of aggressive behavior in little girls is actually a suppression of their sense of self. One possible result of this suppression -Y be the development of 110re covert expressions of hostility (bitchiness) and, perhaps, more verbal expression in general.

Little girls are further inhibited by being encouraged, more than boys, to keep theaselves clean and quiet. Their concept of theiuelves as doers and explorers is thus diminished, preparina them for later roles as spectators and sexual objects.

In boys, boisterous and even eccentric behavior can be tolerated as expressions of aanliness and individuality, while girls tend to gain approval more by looking ptetty and by conforming to certain adult standards of deportment . This may make girls less confident in themselves and create in them a greater need for outside approval at an early age. Because their aggressive, explorative and adventurous tendencies have been more severely suppressed (that is, these certain aspects of self have been rejected) their sense of their own worth is subverted, and they must rely more heavily on others to help reestablish it.

The question of how these "others" come primarily to mean men is probably a good one for discussion of WOiian as adolescent.

Jennifer Gardner

THE JEANETTE RANKIN BRIGADE: WOMAN POWER?

A lot of energy and a good few IIOllths of our early formation period were spent pre- paring an appropriate action for the Brigade peace ■arch in Washington, D.C., the largest gathering of women for a political purpose since the heydey of Jeanette Rankin (the first woman elected to Congress from Montan~ in 1919). The Brigade was a coalition of women's groups united for a specific purpose: to confront Congress on its opening day, Jan . 15, 1968, with a strong show of female opposition to the Vietnam War.

However, from the beginning we felt that this kind of action, though well-11eant, was ultimately futile . It is naive to believe that women who are not politically seen, heard, or represented in this c01mtry cou~d change the course of a war by simply appealing to the better natures of congressmen. Further, we disagreed with a woman's demonstration as a tactic for ending the war, for the Brigade's reason for organizing AS W<»IEN. That is, the Brigade was playing upon the traditional female role in the classic manner. They caae as wives, mothers and mourners; that is, tearful and passive reactors to the actions of men rather than organizing as woaen to change that definition of femininity to something other than a synon)'ll for weakness, political illpotence, and tears.

So that we cue as a group not to appeal to congress, but to appeal to women not to appeal to congress. ~ather we believed that such a massive gathering should be used to devise ways to build up real political strength.

To drive this home, we felt that a dramatic action would be least offensive and aost effective. In addition to a speech written and delivered to th~ uin body of the convention on Jan. 15, and reprinted below, we staged an actual funeral procession with a larger-than-life dU1DDy on a transported bier, complete with feminine getup, blank face, blonde curlJ , and candle. Hanging froa the bier were such disposable items as S 8 H Green Stamps, curlers, garters, and hairspray. Streamers floated off it and we also carried large banners, such as" DON'T CRY: RESIST! 11 Kathy Barrett of the Pageant Players, a New York street theatre group, worked with others on simple but effective costumes for the funeral entourage. We had a special drua corps with kazoo, and a sheet of clever songs written by Beverly Grant and others . Peggy Dobbins wrote a long funeral dirge lamenting wo■an's traditional role which encourages aen to develop aggression and militaris■ to prove their masculinity. There were several related pa■phlets, including one written by Kathie Allatniek which elaborated on the following progression:

TRADITIONAL WOMANHOOD IS DEAD.

TRADITIONAL WOMEN WERE BEAlTrIFUL ... Bur REALLY POWERLESS.

''UPPITY'' WOMEN WERE EVEN MORE BEAIITIFUL .•. Bur STILL POWERLESS

SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL!

HUMANHOOD THE ULTIMATE!

Finally, by way of a black-bordered invitation, we "joyfully" invited many of the 5,000 women there to attend a burial that evening at Arlington "by torchlight" of Traditional Womanhood, "who passed with a sigh to her Great Reward this year of the Lord, 1968, after 3,000 years of bolstering the egos of Warmakers and aiding the cause of war •••• "

The message inside read:

Don't Being Fl01.4ers • . • Do be prepared to sacrifwe your tNditionaZ. female roles. Iou have refused to hanky-111aVe boys off to wr with admonitions to· save the Amerwan Mom and Apple Pie . Iou have resisted yOU1' roZ.es of supportive girZ. friends and teazofuZ. widotvs, receivers of regretful tele- grams and wrthless medals of honor. And now you must resist approaching Congress playing these 8<11118 roles that are synonymous with p°"'6rlessnsBB. We must not come as passive suppliants begging for favors, for power ooopemtes only with p01.4er. We must learn to fight the W1'ffl0ngers on their own tems, though they believe us capable only of rolling bandages. Until we have united into a force to be reckoned with, r.,e wil.Z be patroniaed and ri.dwuled into total political ineffectiveness. So if you are really sincne about ending this wr, join us tonight and in the future.

Later, S00 w011en split off in disgust from the main body of the convention to call

a counter congress. Although predictable under the circ1.111Stances, nevertheless it was unexpected. We were not really prepared to rechannel this disgust, to provide the direction that was so badly needed. There was chaos. The women were united only in their frustration, soae calling for militancy of any kind at that late date, others for 11C>re organization for the future. They were all keenly ditappointed, and fully aware of their iapotence.

It was a great moment. But we lost it . And we learned the value of spontaneity, of quick and appropriate political action, the value of learning to size up a situation and act on it at once, the importance of unrehearsed speaking ability. For I think one good guiding speech at the crisis point which illustrated the real causes under- lying the aassive discontent and impotence felt in that room then , would have been worth ten d~ies and three months of careful and elaborate planning.

The measure of that impotence was the very fact that the nUllber of marchers was, for the first ti■e in years, accurately reported: the march was no threat at all to the Establishment. By the sa■e token general coverage of such a larae ■arch was slight or nonexistent, handled by ■inor reporters who had .to work or wring so■e huaan interest value or slight sexual titillation from the fact that a few younger wo■en could be spotted at this dull and hennish hotel teaparty . But where minor reporters failed, Jlalnpm'ts succeeded. They had to use odd agile photgraphy. distorted quota- tions, and a whole lot of incorrect facts, granted, but succeed they did . (Even LIFE couldn't have done better, had they been interested in trying.)

Letters of protest poured in from women in radical groups around the country . But Ramparts just chuckled, patted the little wo■en on the cheek, published a few (out of context) and went on its more important radical business.

Despite all this discourage■ent and the s■all retUn)s on ali our labors, the Washin&- ton experience was not enti~ely wasted . We learned alot. We found out where women, even the so-called "woaen radicals" were really at. We confirmed our worst suspicions that the job ahead, of developing even a minimal consciousness among women, will be stagering, but we also confir■ed our belief that a real women's aove■ent in this country will come, if only out of the sheer urgent and immediate necessity for one.

Shulamith Firestone

FUNERAL ORATION FOR 1lfE BURIAL OF TRADITIONAL WCJIANHOOD

You see here the remains of a female human being who during her too long a lifetime was a faailiar figure to billions of people in every comer of the world. Although scientists would classify this specimen within the genus species of Homo sapiens, for ■any years there has been considerable controversy as to whether she really belonged in some kind of sub-species of the genus. While the human being was dis- tinguished as an aniaal who freed himself from his biological limitations by devel- oping technology and expanding his consciousness, traditional womanhood has been recognized, defined and valued for her biological characteristics only and those social functions closely related to her biological characteristics.

As hl.lllaJl beings, both aen and WOiien were sexual creatures and they shared their sexuality . But the other areas of humanity were closed off to traditional woman- hood .•. the areas which, as !las already been noted, were more characteristically human, less limited by biology. For so■e reason, ■an said to woman: you are less sexual when you participate in those other things, you are no longer attractive to ae if you do so . I like you quiet and submissive. It makes me feel as if you don't love me, if you fail to let , me do all the talking • •• if you actually have something to say yourself . Or else, when I like you to be charming and well-educated . .. enter- tain■ent for me and an intelligent ■other for my children .•. these qualities are for me and for me alone . When you confront the world outside the home-the world where I operate as an individual self as well as a husband and father-then, for some reason, I feel you are a challenge to me and you beco■e sexless and agressive:

If you tum me off too ■uch, you know, I'll find myself. another w011an. And if that happens, what will you do? You'll be a nobody, that's what you'll be. An old maid, if I haven't deigned to marry you yet. A divorced woman . •• with some children, no doubt. Without ■e, you won't even have your sexuality anymore, that little bit of hUlllµlity which I have allowed you. And even if you manage to solve that problem in s011e kind of perverse way, it's going to be hard for you.

What kinds of jobs can you get to keep yourself in collfort? I control those few interesting, challenging ones. And I control the salaries on all the other kinds of jobs from which my fellow men who work at the■ will at least get the satisfaction of _■ore pay than you. And I control the government and its ■oney which, you can bet your tax dollar, isn't going to get allotted for enough good nursery schools to put your children into so you can go out to work. And because of all these things, there can always be another wa.an in my life, when you no longer serve my needs,

And so traditional Womanhood, even if she was unhappy with her lot, believed that · there was nothing she could do about it. She blmed herself for her limitations and she tried to adapt. She told herself and she told others that she was happy as half a person, as the "better half'' of s011eone else, as the mother of others, powerless in her own right.

Though Traditional lfollanhood was a hardy dame, the grand old lady finally died today- her doctor said, of a bad case of shc,,.;k. Her flatterina menfolk had managed to keep her alive for thousands of years. She survived the · Amazon challenge. She survived the Lysistrata challenge. She survived the Feminist challenge. And she survived ■any face-liftings . She was burning her candle at one end on a dull wick and she went out slowly, but she finally went ••• not with a bang but a whimper.

There are some grounds for believing that our march today contributed to the lady's timely demise and this is partly the reason we have decided to hold her funeral here.

The old hen, it turns out, was so■ewhat dis'turbed to hear us-other woaen, that is- asserting ourselves just this least little bit about critical problems in the world controlled by ■en. And it was particularly frightening to her to see other women, we W0118n, asserting ourselves together, however precariously, in SOM kind of solid- arity, instead of completely resenting each other, being eabarrassed by each other, hating each other and hating ourselves.

And we were even attempting to organize ourselves on the basis of power ••. that little bit of power we are told we have heu in Allerica •.• the so-called power of wives and 110thers. That this power is only a substitute for power, that it really amounts to nothing politically, is the reason why all of us attending this funeral aust bury Traditional Womanhood tonight. We IIUSt bury her in Arlington C,-etery, however crowded it is by now. Por in Arlington Ceaetery, our national IIOllu■ent to war, along- side Traditional Manhood, is her natural resting place.

Now so■e sisters here are probably wondering why we should bother with such an unim- portant matter at a ti■e like this. Why should we bury Traditional lfoll&nhood while hundreds of thousands of huaan beings are being brutally slaughtered in our n11111es •.• when it would seem that our nu■ber one task is to devote our energies directly to ending this slaughter or else solve what sen to be more desparate proble■s at h0118?

Sisters who ask a question like this are failing to see that they really do have a problem as woaen in America ••• that their proble■ is social, not ■erely personal •.• and that their problem is so closely related and interlocked with the other problems in our country, the very problem of war itself ••• that we cannot hope to 110ve toward a better world or even a truly democratic society at ho■e until we begin to s,1ve our own proble■s.

How ■any sisters failed to join our march today because they were afraid their husbands would disapprove? How ■any more sisters failed to join us today becuase they!ve been taught to believe that wo■en are silly and a woaen's •rch even sillier? And how ■any aillions of sisters all across America failed to join us because they think so little of themselves that they feel incapable of thinking f01' theiuelves •• • about the war in Vietna■ or anything else . And if 1011e sisters came to conclusions of their own, how many others of us fail to express these ideas, much less argue and demonstrate for tha. because we're afraid of seaing \D\attractive, silly, "uppity." To the America watching us, after all, we here on this ■arch are ■ere wo■en, looking silly and unat- tractive.

Yes, sisters, we have a probla as wo■en alri&ht, a problem which renders us powerless and ineffective over the issues of war and peace, as well as over our own lives. And although our problea is Traditional Manhood as 1111ch as Traditional Wo■anhood, we w0118n imst begin on the solution.

We aust see that we can only solve our problem together, that we cannot solve it indi- vidually as earlier Peainist generations attempted to do. We woaen ■ust organize so that for man there can be no "other woaan" when we begin expressing ourselves and acting politically, when we insist to ■en hat they share the housework and child-care, fully and equally, so that.we can have independent lives as well.

Huaan qualities will ■ake us attractive then, not servile qualities. We will want to have daughters as 1111ch as we want to have sons. Our children will not beco■e victims of our unconscious resent.,..nts and our displaced aabitions. And both our daughters and sons will be free to develop themselves in just the directions they want to go as hu■an beings.

Sisters: ■en need us, too, afterall. And if we just get together and tell our ■en

that we want our freedom as full human beings, that we don't want to live just through our un and his achieveaents and our mutual offspring, that we want huaan power in our own ri11ht, not just ''power behind the throne," that we want neither dominance nor submission for anybody, anyplace, in Vietna11 or in our own hoaes, and that when we all have our freed011 we can truly love each other .

If men fail to see that love, justice and equality are the solution, that dOllination and exploitation hurt everybody, then our species i!t trulv dooaed: for if d011ination and exploitation and agression are inherent biological characteristics which cannot be overco11e, then nuclear war is inevitable and we will have reached our evolutionary deadend by annihilating ourselves.

And that is why we must bury this lady in Arlington Ceaetery tonight, why we aust bury Subllission alongside Aggression. And that is why we ask you to join us. It is only a s)'llbolic happening, of course, and we have a lot of real work to do. We have new aen as well as a new society to build.

Kathie Aaatniek

---------------------------------~-------- A LETIER TO ntE EDITOR OF RAMPARTS MAGAZINE

Dear Sirs:

I take offense and serious objection to the tone of your article on ''Women Power," in the February 1968 issue . Your attitude was condescending throughout , and your analysis of radical women's groups, including the ''WOiien 's Liberation Front" (a llisnomer-radical w011en have not, to ay knowledge, agreed to call themselves a "Front") 111101.lJlted to a movement fashion report.

''The Miniskirt Caucus," the section describing the younger woaen radicals, treated thea with the s1111e approach that a society coliatist ■ight. Emphasizing clothes, personalities throughout, the authors never dealt with thought, action, or political content. The article was even replete with stylish photos : Ruby Dee, Leslie Parish, and an obviously ■odel-posed picture of Marilyn Webb and Anne Scheer-I had to take a second look at the cover to ■ake sure I wasn't buying GZamozat. Clothes do not ■ake the wo.an, but it is obvious that the playing up of fashions with regard to w011en perpetuates their status as sexual objects, and this is the basic fol'II of oppressi~~ wo■en must struale against.

Your glorification of the Establishment ideal is completely bewildering. "Besides having a sense of Establishment chic and style, the Brigade ladies are frighteningZy (my own italics) businesslike." The ter■ "frighteningly" here reveals the threat posed by woaen breaking out of pre-established social roles, even through doina soae- thing as mild-mannered as appearing businesslike. The duty of a radical publication, far fr011 encouraging establishment behavior, is to proaote the shatterina of social ■olds, and the substitution of new liberating thought, action, and life-styles.

The most revolting reportage and analysis came under the title ''The Radicalizing of the Religious Wo■an. 11 Here the rationale of woaen being psycho-physiologically different fro■, and inferior to men is reiterated. ''This sense of the ,nmpz.lstio ability of wo■en to clean up the mess of the world ••• pervades the thoughts of the Brigade wo■en. It is such an instinctive# il"l'ationaZ feeling that it ■akes real sense .... " (italics ■y own).

In short, radical change in A■erica can be effected by pitching irrational, instinc-

tive women against "the chaotic, male-dominated society."

Included in the article are aany nferences which reinforce the patronizing attitude of its authors. The beginning is possibly the most obnoxious-"A late afternoon mist clung like a corset to the backcountry highway." the conception of the idea of the Washington de110nstration as a pregnancy and its birth "nine months later ." Also the traditional iugery of a little old lady batting someone over the head with an WD- brella is used in reference to Rankin' s stance against government warmakers. You might as well have talked about "coons" eating watermelons. Whether these references are used deprecatingly or with complete ' ignorance of the oppression ' of American w011en aakes no difference-they imply prejudice and a corresponding political naivete.

This prejudice against the "second sex" is all the more difficult to realize and combat because it is highly exploited by the fashion industry, because it is rein- forced by universal sexual frustration , and because the problem has never been sub- jected to an in-depth analysis and a W.sion of the liberated woman has never been created . Being kind, I say that your article makes no contribution in this field- a field where radical research is sorely needed .

Besides the reactionary political approach, the authors make a historical blunder. IIJAC, they say, was dealt its death b low in 1964 when Dagmar Wilson presented flowers to its coaittee members. In fact, the Berkeley el'Uptions of 1964 were far more significant in exposing the fascist nature of HUAC. The only reason the story was brought up was to demonstrate how "cute" women can be when dealing with the government. The authors applaud Wilson's use of the traditional concept of Womanhood as being passive, and gentle . By presenting flowers to the men, she made the■ realize that WOllell in this country were incapable of posing any serious thr~at to the system; the case against Women's Strike being dismissed iatediately thereafter .

Certainly as long as American woaen keep floundering in their "fragile" approach to theaselves, life and the U.S. government, they will never develop the human hardiness which is necessary for the long struggle ahead.

Lynn Piartney

ABORTION RALLY SPEECH

I would like to address this speech to those women, and there are few enough here , who had the guts to show up at this rally . There are uny IIBny more out there who could not ll&ke it. Many who are afraid to take a stand on an issue as important as their own self deter11ination. Many who are terrified even to express support for a aan who did 11C>re than aerely support them, but a llllJl who took the risks that they should have taken.

For Bill Baird now faces the absurd ten year jail -sentence that really we women should have to face, if anyone must.

But I didn't c011e to excoriate other women. For I 11.1st confess that even I after 11C>nths of work in women's liberation, had my fears about coming out openly for free abortion. Before hundreds of people? Perhaps to be quoted? God, what would my father think?

Let ' s face it . Woman is scared shi tless . And she has good reason to be I She has been told to shut up and stop talking a million times . On a higher level, when she expressed concern for personal relationships she is told haughtily that she is too subjective, too wrapped up in her own probleas. If she dares to havtt a self, she is tel'lled selfish, and unfeainine. If she dares to have an opinion, she is cal~ed shrewish and opinionated . She has been told to stay at home, where she belongs, and not to aeddle in important affairs, to "leave the driving to us."

Now, how can we be surprised that this woman has chosen to stay at h011e today? Oppressed, suppressed, depressed and repressed all her life, we can hardly now expect to find her here standing up for herself against that huge ■ale power structure which has always put her down, the awes0119 authority of which she well knows.

How can we now expect that she be here, when that life-long intimidation in her is so deep-rooted that even if you put her in solitary for twenty years she wouldn't dare to think un-kosher thoughts or to question her position in this society. For she has in- ternalized its values, she ~as accepted, and indeed in ■any cases she has become, its low estimate of her human worth.

But despite all this, the need for an abortion frequently starts a wo■an thinking. And let us not kid ourselves, it ls not a distant Aunt who faced this problem. We ourselves do. And if by some accident, any of you woaen here at the rally have avoided it, you can count yourselves lucky or bless the pill. For you know as well as I that you are the exception and not the rule. 11link about your female friends. I'll bet you that those of thea who have had the problem outnumber those who haven't.

So we have a young woman faced with an unwanted pregnancy; if she doesn't act fast, she knows that nothing short of a ■iraculous ■iscarriage can save her from the fright- ening prospect of twenty years of unprepared-for childbearing, that will necessarily be, in this society, entirely on her shoulders .

In all good faith and trust she will approach her ■an first . Shocking what she is likely to hear, and ■any do, is a complete denial, something on the order of "Hell, no, it ain't mine." If she's lucky, or higher class, he may choose to assume some responsibility: that is, he will send her to an illegal doctor, perhaps help her to scrape together s011e 11C>ney if she has none. Sometimes he will al'Udgingly even urry her, in which case she will never hear the end of it. And if she doesn't hear about it explicitly, she will have to be doubly arateful to him, reinforcing her already dependent position.

And if she is already married, and smprisingly, most w011en in this position are, her lot ls not 1111ch better. She will be stuck with the full responsibility for rearing an Wtwanted child, but to rebel against this is to face grave personal danger, financial extortion, illegal action, blame and the resulting guilt feelings.

In all these cases the woman finds that even if the 11&11 helps her, he is helping her with HER proble■, not TimIR proble■, that in the end she is the one who ■ust take the risks and pay the price for theiT 11Utual relationship with blood . And the sa■e men exclude her from the law■alting process which decides her fatel Think about itl How uny women represent you in the law-■alting bodies of this cotmtry? The few that there are are not chosen as wo■en, but as wives, wives of this or that ■an, or be- cause of their reactionary politics. It is a grand convention of dogs deciding the fate of cats. And now the Blumenthal Bill comes aroWtd, providing loop-holes in the ■ale law. Sol Solle dogs have decided that certain cats should be allowed to break their rules . Well, thanks . But, sir, we're getting tired of all this gratitude . We're tired of having to feel grateful, like house servants glad that at least they are not the field hands out there picking cotton. Who gave you law■alters the ri&ht to make us have to feel gratitude? Those bodies belong to us. We don't have to appear in your courts proving our ■ental inco■petence to you before we can avoid forced childbearing!

We refuse to be your passive vessels beco■ing i■pregnated for the greater good of society. We want a society that exists far our good as well as yours I We are not just grease between ■en, links between generations, not just the ■others of sons and their future wives! We are tired of being pawns in a ■ale power ga■e. Tired of beina bou&ht and sold and traded and used to sell your deodorants and hair sprays.

In short, we are tired of paying for the sins of ■en. For I often wonder if we have even aone beyond the Old · Testa■ent in which, if a 11&11 took a girl in the field he could get off the hook easily by sillply paying her father for her destroyed value. No one ever asked her what she thou&ht about it . She was nothing ■ore than a piece of da■aged chattel then, and even now, over two thousand years later she is still only a piece of property, a cOlaOClity for the use of un. Bven that Wtwanted child in her, that Wldeveloped life, is ■ore i■portant than the living woun who bears hi■•

So: we IIUSt say to those bishops and pompous law■alters and self-ripteous men, we will no longer be shoved around. We will no longer sub■it to your definitions of what we should or should not be or do to beco■e truly fe■inine in your eyes. For Wtless we have a part in creating the laws which govern our fate, then we will refuse to follow those dictates and laws.

There was a wistful note at the end of Bill's interview on WBAI. He said s0118thing to the effect that, who knows, perhaps so■e day woaen will really get angry . I thought about that. Because some of us, still very few, <ZN getting angry. And we are aetting angry now. I hope Bill will not have to wait for his Utopia quite so lona as he thinks. I hope that it will be very soon when we approach hi■, en ■asse, stronf, organized, conscious, and say:

We sincerely thank you, Bill Baird, for your great sacrifice. You and people like you have helped us i-.nsely in our struggle to beco■e aware. And now, sooner than you predicted, your wish has co• true. We are angry at last. So angry that we no lonaer need you to fight our fight.

Shulllllith Firestone

WOMEN AND THE RADICAL MOVEMENT

Within the last year many radical women's groups have spnmg up throughout the country. This was caused by the fact that movement women found themselves playing secondary roles on every level •.• be it in terms of leadership, or simply in terms of being listened to. They found themselves (and others) afraid to speak up be- cause of self-doubts when in the presence of men. Their roles ended up concentrating on food-making, typing, mimeographing, general assistance work, and as a sexual sup- ply for their male comrades after hours.

As these problems began being discussed, it became clear that what had at first been assumed to be a personal problem was in fact a social and political one. We found strong parallels between the liberation of women and black power struggle, being oppressed by similar psychological/economic dynamics. And the deeper we analyzed the problem, and realized that all women suffer from this kind of oppression, the more we realized that the problem was not just isolated to movement women.

It became necessary to go to the root of the problem, rather than to become engaged in solving secondary problems arising out of that condition. Thus, rather than storming the Pentagon as women, or protest the De110cratic Convention as women, we aust begin to expose the eliminate the causes of our oppression as women. Our job is not only to improve the conditions of the movement any more than it is to only improve the condition of professional working women. Both are reformist if thought of only as ends in themselves; and it ignores the broader concept that one cannot achieve equality for some members of one's group while the rest are not free .

In choosing to fight for women's liberation it is not enough, either, to explain it only in general terms of "the system." For the system oppresses many groups in many ways. Women must learn that the specific methods used to keep her oppressed are to convince her that she is at all times secondary to man, and that her life is defined in terms of him. We cannot speak of liberating ourselves until we free ourselves from this myth and accept ourselves as primary.

In our role as radical women we are confronted with the problem of assuring a female revolution within the general revolution. And we must begin to distinguish the real from th~ apparent freedom.

Radical men uy advocate certain freedoms for. women when they overlap their own interest, but these are not true freedoms unless they spring out of the concept of 11ale and female equality and confront the issue of male supremacy.

For example, men may want women to fight in the revolution because they need every able bodied person they can get. And they may need women to join the work force under a socialist economic system because they cannot afford, like capitalism, to have an unemployed (surplus) labor force not contributing work, being supported by the state. And men may therefore advocate state nurseries so that mothers are not kept from work.

But has the fundamental concept of women changed? Do these changes mean that men have renounced the old supremacy relationship, wherein women must always be defined in terms of her man? Has the basic domination changed?

It is important to analyze the history of revolutions in terms of special interest ll'Oups. The American Revolution was a white male bourgeois revolution. The issue was beina able to freely make a profit without England's interference: the Declaration of Independence was specifically written to justify independence from England. It

....

was a docuaent which guaranteed rights neither to the blacks or to women. Crispus Attucks, one of the first black men to lose his life for the revolution, was fighting in a vicarious revolution - the white revolution . Betsy Ross sewing the flag was participating vicariously in a male revolution. The rights gained were nor for her.

It is always true of an oppressed group that the ■ere fact of their existence means that to a certain extent they have accepted their inferior-colonial-secondary status . Taught self-hatred, they identify instead with the oppressor . Thus such phenoaenon as blacks ble~ching their skin and straightening their hair, and women responding with horror at the thought of a woman president.

The econo■ic revolution - i.e . change fro■ capitalism to socialism -can also be viewed in ter■s of male interest. Under capitalism, the majority of men were ex- ploited and controlled by a few men who held the wealth and power over their lives. By changing the econoaic structure to socialism , this particular economic exploita- tion was eradicated.

Woaen in the Soviet Union fought for and supported the revolution. But whether out of aenuine hope that non-do■ination and non-exploitation would be applied as liberally to the■, or worse, out of a lack of even a mini111UJD awareness that they themselves were i11p0rtant, the Soviet revolution remained a male power revolution, although aany new benefits fell to w011en. The Soviet Union is still pri■arily male govemed1 w011en's integration into the labor force meant simply that she transferred'her auxiliary, service relationship with men into the area of work. Soviet women are teachers, doctors, assistants, food handlers. And when they come home from work they are ex- pected to continue the submission role to men and do the housework, cooking and assu■e pri■ary responsibility for the child-rearing.

It is i■portant for radical women to learn from these events. The d011inant/sub■issive relationship between ■en and woaen was not challenged. Not confronted. We were asked by them instead to equate our liberation with theirs .•• to blame our inferior conditions on the econOllic structure rather than confront the obvious male interest in keeping wo■en "in their place ." We never insisted upon as e:cplicit a program for freeing woaen as the ■an had demanded for freeing himself from econ011ic exploitation. We never confronted men and de■anded that unless they give up their dOlllination over us, we would not fight for their revolution, work in their revolution. We never fouaht the primary cause, hoping instead that changing the secondary characteristics would win us freedom. And we ended up with a revolution that simply transferred male supre■acy, paternalis■ and ■ale power onto the new econo■y. A reformist revolution that only improved upon our privileges but did not change the basic structure causina our oppression.

A black revolutionary today would not be satisfied knowing only that the economic structure went fr011 private to collective control; he would want to know about racis■. And you would have to show him how white power and supremacy would be eli■inated in that revolution before he would join you.

Until we ■ake such similar demands, revolution will pass us by.

Anne Koedt

R*O*Z'S P*A*G*E

LEITER TO STAUGtITON LYND

Odd, that the first substantive piece on women's liberation nm by the Guazodian is written by a un, Staughton Lynd. The Guazodian wouldn' t dare do this to the Black Movement, nor would they accuse the Blacks of overstating their case.

A few corrections - the w011en1 s ' 110Veaent didn't arise because radicals

are growing older and musing about child rearing. Women's problems unfortunately begin not after college but with prenatal conceptions, and go on beyond aenopause. From childhood on, emphasis is placed on how we appear rather than who we are, and when we try to assert our huaaniS11 we're accused of being doaineering bitches or worse bul ldykes .

The Woaen's Movement began because we're tired of not being taken seriously . Even within the radical IIOVement we are relegated to service: typing, ailing and food preparation, wit_h sexual services on the side.

WE CONDEMN

Males who continue to say "Chick" after being told to stop.

Stephanie Harrington and Blair Sobel who write against fashion with chique, and a fashionable flair.

All those male leftist publications who are idolizing guerilla w011en.

Too horrible to mention: Vogue# etc, etc .

QUOTABLE QUOTES+++

AUNT TI»! OF 11-IE MONnf

Helen Gurley Brown Author: Bez and the

Single Gi1'l Editor: CoB1710pOZitan

MALE CHAUVINIST OF 1lfE MONnl

Staughton Lynd National Guaniian Article

May 15, 1968

MOST CHAUVINIST PUBLICAl'ION

OVERHEARD • . •.. "Well, how would YOU like to be married to the oppressor?"

WE SUPPORT

Linda Le Clair: Barnard martyr for equal cohabitation rights.

Grace D. Cox: President, W011en Lawyers Association - prosecutes those who practice job discrimination because of sex.

Bill Baird: Crusader for abortion law repeal .

Doctors Rappaport and Lawrence: abor- tionists, recently arrested . Dr. Rappaport has already served nine years in jail for performing abortions .

"Anybody who knows anythina of history knows that great social changes are impossible without the feminine fenient. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex (the ugly ones included) ."

letter, Karl Marx to Kugehann, December 12, 1868

•

,..

"In any case ladies cannot co.plain of the International, for it has elected a lady, I. Nadae Law, to be a llellber of the General Council." i

letter, Karl Marx to Kugelmann, Decellher 12, 1868

• • l

•

ON STAUGHrON LYND'S "GOOD SOCIETY"

In his recent article "A Good Society" (Guardian, May 18th, 1968) Staughton Lynd raises two main questions about wouien's liberation: why women's liberation has 'cOM to the fore' and what the connection is between this new movement and white response to ghetto rebellion. Now that a male hero of the left has said it, women's rights is to be taken seriously - it's what to rap about. But was it taken seriously? Sure, after the disclaimers and qualifications, women's rights look as safe as any ■an interested in protecting male supremacy could wish. Leaving the family intact, not even Warren Hinkle let alone Staughton Lynd would be threatened.

The question of the impetus for the liberation of women is explained by Lynd as a matter of the movement's growing up, I doubt that many w'omen would explain it that way. No institution in this society, much less the campus, allows sexual equality for women. We women who experienced life on campus know how vital our education was considered (it wasn't), we know tl\llt grad schools don't want us (except in tradi- tional professions), we know that the movement bought the traditional roles bit too. (Men may not have noticed women's exploitation before they considered having children but we could not escape it.) We have watched men organize, speak, conduct workshops and write about the movement for us for years; we watched while we organized (the food, papers), spoke (answering the phones, and sometimes to each other-but not often enough) and sat in workshops and maybe read articles (though men usually didn't know what we thought about all that) . But our time was not lost . We learned that we IIUSt organize for our own liberatiop .

Historically, there is a close parallel in the development of ~he early aboli- tionist women who also learned their lessons well gaining skills and belief in huaan equality. Their failures serve as a second lesson: to work in other people's vine- yards and neglect your own is wrong. Until black power, we lacked the courage to declare our stuggle as primary. (It is traditional for women to be told to put aside their needs for the needs of others . ) Like these earlier women, we have raised our consciousness through our involvement in the movement.

What are the sins of women's liberation? The reader is reassured that women's liberation is not a 'diversion' or an 'indulgence'. But we have, according to Lynd, used the wrong words (exploitation rather than a euphemism), and challenged the prior right of Mere Important Issues (Is that the point? I don't remember men folk worrying about whether blacks or the poor or Indians came first in the struggle for human dignity), ignore •proper channels' (the refuge offered by relationships with men). What about 110vement relationships? Even in permanent ones, he works and she keeps house and .babies or she gets a job so he can work in the movement. Exceptions are rare; most others temporary.

In essence "A Good Society" rationalizes a place in the movement for women's liberation- a safe place that won't shake any priorities men folk have decided. Male definitions about what women's liberation means, couldn't possibly mean, where it counts and where it doesn't, where the struggle wil~ be fought and who the enemy is. (Lynd acknowledges struggles which pit black against white, soldier against officer, wageworker against capitalist, but young ~oeple and women against patriarchal authority, no. Is the oppressor or agent of oppression so difficult to recognize?) We've had enough of ale answers to women's problems. And not having women heroes on the left now we will make our own answers. If we have anything to say to movement •n at this point it is - Fuck Male Standards I We don't care what you want. And if you want to be liberated, go tell it to men. We can make our own movement.

Judith Gabree

Additional copies of NOTES FROM THE FIRST YEAR can be ordered at its original prices from

REDSTOCKINGS P.O. Box 413 New Paltz, NY 12561

$ .60 to women+ 25¢ postage $1.00 to men+ 25¢ postage

Please enclose payment wi~h your order. Make checks payable to Redstockings.

Poor Black Women write about Feminism

POOR BLACK WOMEN includin g

BIRTH CONTROL PILLS AND BLACK CHILDREN a statement by the Black Unity Party (Peekskill, N.Y)

A RESPONSE

POOR BLACK WOMEN

by black sisters

by Patricia Robinson

A' At~T}. lF "SlA.'l FEMII'." T \' 11/\Nlt P. 0. b:l" •"'

ATLANrA, G ,. •·• 7

Birth Control Pills and Black Childr en The Brothers are calllng on the Sisters co not tal<e the pill. It is this sy s tem's method of exterminatin g Black people here and abroad. To take the pill means that we are conti-ibutrng to our own GENOCIDE.

5¢

However, In not taklng the plll, we must have a new sense of value. When we produce children, we are aiding the REVOLU'JlON ln the form of NATION building. Our children must have pride in their hlsto1·y, in their her!· cage, in their beauty. Our children must not be brainwashed as we were.

PROCREATION is beautiful, especially if we are devoted to the Revolutlon which means that our value system be altered to Include the Revolution as the responsibility. A good deal of the Supremacist (White) efforts to sterl· Uze the world's (Non-whites) out of existence ls turning coward the black people of America. New trends ln Race Control have led the architecta of GENOCIDE to believe that Sterilization projects aimed at the black man in the United States can cure American lnternal troubles.

Under the cover of an alleged campalgn to 'alleviate poverty ' , white supremacist Americans and their dupes arc pushing an all-out drive to put rigid birth control measures Into ever y black home. No such drive exists within the White American world. ln some cities, Peekskill, Harlem, Mississippi and Alabama, welfare board s arc dolng their best to force black women receiving aid to submit to Sterilization. This disguised attack on bla c k furure generations is rapidly picking up popularity among determined genocidal engineers. This country ,s ··=· prepared to exterminate people by the pill or by the bomb; therefore, we must draw strength from ourselves.

You see why there Is a Family Planning Office In the Black Communit y of Peekskill ,

The Sist.er, Reply

Here is the sisters' reply:

September 11, 1968

Dear Brothers:

Poor black sisters decide for themselves whether to have a bsby or not to have a baby. If we take the pills or practise birth control In other ways, It's because of poor black men.

Now here's how it Is . Poor black men won't support their families, won't stick by their women -- all they think about Is the street, dope and liquor , women, a piece of ass , and their cars. That's all that counts . Poor black women would be fools to sit up In the house with a whole lot of children and eventually go crazy, sick , heartbroken , no place to go, no sign of affection - - nothing. Middle class white men have always done this to their women - - only more sophisticated like.

So when whitey put out the pill and poor black sisters spread the word , we saw how simple It was not to be a fool for men any more (politically we would say men could no longer exploit us sexually or for money and leave the babies wltb UR to hrtng up}. That was the first step in our waking up 1

Black women have always been told by black men that we were black, ugly, evil , birches and whores -- in other words, we were the real niggers In this society -- oppressed by whites, male and female, and the black man, too.

Now a lot of the black brothers are into a new bag. Black women are being asked by mllltant black brothers not to practise birth control because It Is a form of whitey committing genocide on black people. Well, true enough, but it takes two to practise genocide and black women are sble to decide for themselves, just llke poor people all over the world , whether they will submit to genocide. For us , birth control ls freedom to fight genocide of black women and children.

Uke the Vietnamese ha,-e d..cided to fight genocide, the South American poor are beginning to fight back, and the African poor will fight back, too. Poor black women In the U.S. have to fight back out of our own experience of oppression. Having too many babies stops us from supporting our children, teaching them the truth or stopping the brainwashing as you say, and fighting black men who still want to use and exploit us.

But we don't think you are going to understand us because you are a bunch of little middle class people and we are poor black women. The middle class never understands the poor because they always need to use them as you want to use poor black women's children to gain power for yourself. You'll run the blaclc community with your kind of black power - - you on top I

Patricia Haden - welfare recipient Sue Rudolph • housewife Joyce Hoyt - domestic

Mt. Vernon , N. Y.

Rita Van Lew - welfare recipient Catherine Hoyt - grandmother Patricia Robinson • housewife and psychotherap ist

Poor Black Women by Patric ia Ro6i11,011

It Is time to speak to the whole question of the position of poor black women ln this society and ln this historical period of revolution and counterrevolution. We have the foregoing analysis of their own perspective and it offers all of us some very concrete points.

First , that the class hierarchy as seen from the poor black woman's position is one of white male in power, fol- lowed by the white female, then the black male and lastly the black female.

Historically , the myth in the black world Is that there are only two free people in the United States, the white man and the black woman. The myth was established by the black man In the long period of his frustration when he longed to be free to have the material and social advantages of his oppressor , the white man . On examination of the myth, this so-called freedom was based on the sexual prerogatives taken by the white man on the black female. It was fantasied by the black man that she enjoyed It.

The black woman was needed and valued by the white female as a domestic. The black fema le diluted much of the actual oppression of the white female by the white male. With the help of the black woman, the white woman had free tlme from mother and housewife responsibilities and could escape her domestic prison overseered by the white male .

The poor black woman still occupies the position of a domestic in this society , rising no higher than public welfare , when the frustr ated male deserts her and the children . (Public welfare was Instituted primarily for poor whites during the depress ion of the thirties to stave off their rising revolutionary violence. It was considered as a tempo- rary stop -gap only.)

The poor black male deserted the poor black female and fled to the cities where he made his living by his wits - - hustling. The black male did not questio n the kind of society he lived in other than on the basis of racism: 'The white man won't let me up 'cause I'm black!' Other rationalizations included blaming the black woman, which has been a much described phenomenon. The black man wanted to take the master's place and all that went with It.

Simultaneously, the poor black woman did not question the socia l and economic system. She saw her main prob - lem as described In the accompanying article - - social , economic and psychological oppression by the black man. But awareness In this case has moved to a second phase ud exposes an important fact in the whole process of op- pression . It takes two to oppress, a proper dialectical perspective to examine at this point in our movement.

An examination of the process of oppression in any or all of its forms shows simply that at least two parties are Involved. The need for the white man, par ticularly, to oppress others reveals his own anxiety and Inadequacy about bis own maleness and humanity. Many black male -.ri ters have eloquently analyzed this social and psycho - logical fact. Generally a feeling of inadequacy can be traced to all those who desperately need power and authority over others throughout history.

In other words , one's concept of onese lf becomes based on one's class or power position In a hierarchy. Any endangering of this power position brings on a state of madness and Irrationality within the Individual which ex- poses the basic fear and Insecurity beneath - - politically speaking, the imperialists are paper tigers.

But the oppressor mus t have the cooperation of the oppressed , of those he must feel better than. The oppressed and the damned are placed In an Inferior position by force of arms , physical strength, and later, by threats of such force. But the long -time maintenance of power over :>tilers ls secured by psychologtcal manipulation and se - duction. The oppressed must begin to believe In the divine right and position of kings , the Inherent right of an elite to rule, the supremacy of a class or an ethn ic group , the power of such condensed wealth as money and pri - vate property to give to Its owners high social status. So a gigantic and complex myth has been woven by those who have power In this society of the Inevitabili ty of classes and the superiority and inferiority of certain groups. The qpp;ressed begin to believe In their own Inferio rity and are left tn their llfetime with two general choices: to Iden - tify with the oppressor (Imitate him) or to rebel against him. Rebellion does not take place as long as the oppressed

are certain o( their infenonty and the innate superiority of the powerful, in essence a neurotic illusion. The op- pre:,sed appear to be In Jove wtth their chains,

In a cap11alist society, all power to rule is Imagined in male symbols and, ln fact, all power in a capitalist society ~ tn male hands. Capitalism 1s a male supremacist society. Western religious gods a're all male. The city . basis of 'civilization', is male as opµosed to the country which is female. The city is a revolt against earl!:!r female principles of nature and man's dependence on them. All domestic and international political and economic dt."Cisions are made by men and enforced by males and their symbolic extension - guns. Women have become the largest oppressed group in a dominant, male, aggressive, capitalistic culture. Toe next largest oppresse d group I,, the product of their wombs, the children, who are ever pressed into service and labor for the maintenance of a male-dominated cla~s society.

If lt Is granted that ,c talces two to oppress, those who neurotically need to oppress and those who neurotically need to be oppressed, then what happens when the female in a capitalist society awakens to the reality? She can either identify with the male and opportunistically imitate him, appearing to share his power and giving him the surplus product of her body, the child, to use and exploit. Or she can rebel and remove the children from exploitative an<I oppressive male authority.

Rebellion by poor black women, the bottom of a class hierarchy heretofore not discussed, places the question of what kind of society will the poor black woman demand and struggle for. Already she demands the right to have birth control, hke middle class black and white women. She is aware that It takes two to oppress and that she and other poo1 people no longer are submitting to oppression , in this case genocide. She allies herself with the have-nots in the wider world and their revolutionary struggles. She has been forced by historical conditlona to w1thtlraw the children from male dominance and to educate and supµort them herself. In this very process, ma le authority and exploitation are seriously weakened. Further, she realizes that the children will be used as all poor children have been used through history - - as poorly paid mercenaries fighting to keep or put an elite group in power. Through these steps in the accompanying analytic article, she has begun to question aggressive male domination and the class society which enforces it, capitalism. This question , ln time, will be posed to the en- tire black movement in this country.

This article is one of a series on fe~ale liberation chosen by Boston- are"\ wo-en and pub'.ished by

Ne~ En~land Free 0 ress 791 Tre"lont St . Boston, ~ass. 02118

Pamphlet on Black Women’s Liberation

Maxine Williams is a member of the New York City Young Socialist Alliance and the Third World Women's Alliance. Her article is based on a speech given at a class on women's liberation.

Pamela Newman recently graduated from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, where she had been a mem- ber of the Black Student Union. She is a member of the Young Socialist Alliance.

These articles were first published in The Militant on July 3, 1970, and October 30, 1970, respectively.

First Printing, December 1970

A MERIT PAMPHLET

Pathfinder Press, Inc. 873 Broadway

New York, N. Y. 10003

Manufactured in the United States of America

Why Women's Liberation Is

Important to Black Women

by Maxine Williams

In the early part of the sixties, social scientists became more and more interested in the family structure of blacks. Unemployment and so-called crime among blacks was increasing, and some of these "scientists" decided that the problems of the black community were caused by the fam- ily pattern among black people.

Since blacks were deviating from the "norm'' - more female heads of households, higher unemployment, more school "dropouts" - these pseudoscientists claimed that the way to solve these problems was to build up a more stable black family in accord with the American patri- archal pattern.

In 1965, the U. S. government published a booklet en- titled The Negro Family- The Case for National Action. The author (U.S. Dept. of Labor) stated, "In essence, the Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure which, because it is so out of line with the rest of the American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a whole."

According to this theory, the institution of slavery led to a breakdown in the black family and the development of a so-called matriarchy, in which the black woman was "dominant." This "matriarchal" structure was held respon- sible, in turn, for contributing to the "emasculation" of the black man. In other words, as these people would have it, the oppression of black people was partly caused by the chief victims of this oppression, black women!

This myth of the black matriarchy has had widespread influence and is even widely believed in the black com- munity today. It is something we have to fight against and expo:se. To :show just how wrong this theory is, let's look at the real condition and history of the so-called dominant black woman.

Under slavery, once arriving on American soil, the African social order of black people was broken down. Tribes were separated and shipped to different plantations. Slaves underwent a process of desocialization and had to adopt a new culture and language.

Up until 1840, black men greatly outnumbered black women. Sociologist E. F. Frazier indicates, in his book The Negro Family in the U S., that this probably led to "numerous cases of sex relations between Negro slaves and indentured white women." The "marriage" rate between black men and white women became so high that inter- racial "marriages" were banned.

Prior to this time, black men were encouraged to "marry" white women in order to enrich the slavemaster's planta - tion with more human labor. The black man in some instances was able to select a mate of his choice. However, in contrast, the black woman had little choice in the selec- tion of her mate. Living in a patriarchal society, she became a mere breeding instrument.

Just as black men were chained and branded under slavery, so were black women. Lying nude on the slave ship, some women gave birth to children in the scorching hot sun.

There were economic interests involved in the black woman having as many offspring as she could bear. After her child was born, she was allowed to nurse and fondle the infant only at the slavemaster's discretion. There are cases of black women who greatly resisted being separated from their children and having them placed on the auction block, even though they were subject to flogging. And in some cases, the black woman took the lives of her own children rather than submit them to the oppression of slavery.

There are those who say that because the black woman was in charge of caring for the slavemaster's children, she became an important figure in the household. Nothing

could be further from the truth. The black woman became the most exploited "member" of the master's household. She scrubbed the floors, washed dishes, cared for the children and was often subjected to the lustful advances of Miss Ann's husband. She became an unpaid domestic. However, she worked outside as well.

Still today many black women continue to work in households as underpaid domestics. And as W. E. B. Du Bois stated in his essay The Servant in the House, "The personal degradation of their work is so great that any white man of decency would rather cut his daughter's throat than let her grow up to such a destiny."

In this way arose the "mammy" image of black women - an image so embedded in the system that its impact is still felt today. Until recently, the mass media has aided in reinforcing this image, portraying a black woman as weighing 200 pounds, holding a child to herbreast, and/or scrubbing floors with a rag around her head. For such a one, who was constantly portrayed with her head to the floor and her behind facing the ceiling, it is ludicrous to conceive of any dominant role.

Contrary to popular opinion, all black women do not willingly submit to the sexual advances of white men. Probably every black woman has been told the old myth that the only ones who have had sexual freedom in this country are the white man and the black woman. But in many instances, even physical force has been used to compel black women to submit. Frazier gives a case in his book where a black woman who refused the sexual advances of a white man was subdued and held to the ground by black men while the "master" stood there whip- ping her.

In some instances, black women stood in a we of the white skin of their masters and felt that copulation with a white man would enhance her slave status. There was also the possibility that her mulatto offspring would achieve emancipation. Her admiration of white skin was not very different from the slave mentality of some blacks which caused them to identify with their masters.

In some cases, the black woman who submitted herself sexually played a vital role in saving the life of the black man. If she gave the master a "good lovin'," she could

sometimes prevent her husband from being horsewhipped or punished.

The myth that is being perpetuated in the black com- munity states that somehow the black woman has man- aged to escape much of the oppression of slavery and that all avenues of opportunity were opened to her. Well, this is highly interesting, since in 1870 when the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed citizens the right to vote, this right did not apply to the black woman.

During Reconstruction those blacks who served as jus- tices of the peace and superintendents of education, and in municipal and state governments, were men. Although the Reconstruction period was far from being an era of 'black rule," it is estimated that thousands of black men used their votes to help keep the Republicans in power. The black women remained on the outside.

To be sure, the black man had a difficult time exercising his right to vote. Mobs of whites waited for him at the voting booth. Many were threatened with the loss of jobs and subjected to the terror of Klan elements. The political activity for the black man was relatively ephemeral, but while it lasted, many offices for the first time were occupied by them.

The loose ties established between black men and women during slavery were in many cases dissolved after eman- cipation. In order to test their freedom, some black men who remained with their wives began flogging them. Pre- viously, this was a practice reserved only for the white master.

In the late 1860s and early 1870s, female heads of households began to crop up. Black men who held jobs as skilled craftsmen, carpenters, etc., were being driven out of these occupations. Since the Republicans no longer needed the black vote after 1876, the "welfare" of blacks was placed in southern hands. Black men found it very difficult to obtain jobs and, in some instances, found em- ployment only as strikebreakers. Black men, who were made to feel '1ess of a man" in a racist oppressive system, turned toward black women and began to blame them for the position they occupied.

The black woman, in some cases left to herself with children to feed, also went looking for employment. Many

went to work in the white man's kitchen. Du Bois in the same essay mentioned earlier, The Servant in the House, gives a vivid portrayal of the exploitation of domestic workers. He speaks of the personal degradation of their work, the fact that they are still in some instances made to enter and exit by the side door, that they are referred to by their first name, paid extremely low wages and sub- jected to the sexual exploitation of the "master."

All of this proves that because the black woman worked, it did not make her more "independent" than the white woman. Rather she became more subject to the brutal ex- ploitation of capitalism- as black, as worker, as woman.

I mentioned earlier that after emancipation, black men had a difficult time obtaining employment, that after eman- cipation he was barred from many of the crafts he had been trained in under slavery. The labor market for black women also proved to be a disaster. Black women entered the needle trades in New York in the 1900s, as a cheap source of labor for the employers; and in Chicago in 1917, · black women, who were willing to work for lower wages, were used to break a strike.

There was great distrust between black and white work- ers, and in some cities , white workers refused to work be- side black women and walked off their jobs.

The black woman has never held high status in this society. Under slavery she was mated like cattle and used as a mere breeding instrument. Today, the majority of black women are still confined to the most menial and lowest-paid occupations- domestic and laundry workers, file clerks, counter workers and other service occupations. These jobs in most cases are not yet unionized.

Today at least 20 percent of black women are employed as private household workers, and their median income is $1,200. These women have the double exploitation of first doing drudgery in someone else's home and then having to take care of their own households as well. Some are forced to leave their own children without adequate supervision in order to earn money by taking care of someone else's children.

Sixty-one percent of black married women were in the labor fo_rce in 1966. Almost one-fourth of black families are headed by females, double the percentage for whites.

Due'\ to the shortage of black men, most black women are forced to accept a relationship on male terms. In black communities there sometimes exists a type of serial polygamy- a situation where many women share the same man, one at a time.

As if black women did not have enough to contend with- being exploited economically as a worker, being used as a source of cheap labor because she is a female and being treated even worse because she is black- she also finds herself fighting the beauty "standards" of a white Western society.

Years ago it was a common sight to see black women wearing blond wigs and rouge, the object being to get as close to the white beauty standard as one possibly could. But, in spite of the fact that bleaching creams and hair straighteners were used, the trick just didn't work. Her skin was still black instead of fair and her hair kinky instead of straight. She was constantly being compared to the white woman, and she was the antithesis of what was considered beautiful. Usually when she saw a black man with a white woman, the image she had of herself became even more painful.

But now "black is beautiful," and the black woman is playing a more prominent role in the movement. But there is a catch! She is still being told to step back and let the black man come forward and lead. It is ironic that at a ti.me when all talents and abilities should be utilized to aid in the struggle of national liberation, Stokely Car- michael comes along and declares that the position of women in the movement should be "prone."

And some years later, Eldridge Cleaver in referring to the status of women said they had "pussy power." Since then, the Black Panther Party has somewhat altered its view, saying "women are our other hall."

When writing their political statement, tht! Republic of New Africa stated they wanted the right of all black men to have as many wives as they can afford. This was based on their conception that this is the way things were in Africa. (In their publication, The New Africa, written in Dt!cember 1969, one of the points in their Declaration of Independence seeks "to assure equality of rights for the sexes." Whether this means that the black woman

I )

. ' ..

would be allowed to have as many husbands as she can afford, I have no way of knowing.)

So today the black woman still finds herself up the creek. She feels that she must take the nod from "her man," because if she "acts up," then she just might lose him to a white woman. She must still subordinate herself, her own feelings and desires, especially when it comes to the right of having control of her own body.

When the birth-control pill first came into use, it was experimentally tested on Puerto Rican women. It is there- fore not surprising that Third World people look at this example and declare that both birth control and abortion are forms of genocide- devices to eliminate Third World people .

However, what is at issue is the right of women to control their own bodies. Enforced motherhood is a form of male supremacy; it is reactionary and brutal. During slavery, the plantation masters forced motherhood on black women in order to enrich their plantations with more human labor.

It is women who must decide whether they wish to have children or not. Women must have the right to control their own bodies. And this means that we must also speak out against forced sterilization and against compelling welfare mothers to accept contraceptive methods against their will.

There is now a women's liberation movement growing in the United States. By and large, black women have not played a prominent role in this movement. This is due to the fact that many black women have not yet developed a feminist consciousness. Black women see their problem mainly as one of national oppression.

The middle-class mentality of some white women in the movement has also helped to make the issue of women's liberation seem to be irrelevant to black women's needs. For instance, at the November 1969 Congress to Unite Women in New York, some of the participants did not want to take a stand against the school tracking system, that is, the system school authorities use to channel stu- dents into certain types of occupations on the basis of their so-called intelligence. These women feared that "good" students thrown in with "bad" ones would cause the "bril-

liant" students to leave school, thus lowering the standards. One white woman had the gall to mention to me that she felt women living in Scarsdale were more oppressed than Third World women trapped in the ghetto. There was also little attempt to deal with the problems of poor women, for example, the fact that women in Scarsdale exploit black women as domestics.

The movement must take a clearer stand against the horrendous conditions in which poor women are forced to work. Some women in the movement are in favor of eliminating the state protective laws for women, that is, the laws which regulate women's working conditions. But poor women who are forced to work in sweatshops, fac- tories and laundries need those laws on the books. Not only must the state protective laws for women remain on the books, but we must see that they are enforced and made even stronger. I do not mean that those laws which are so "protective" that women are protected right out of a job should be kept. But any laws that better the work- ing conditions for women should be strengthened, and extended to men!

Women in the women's liberation movement assert that they are tired of being slaves to their husbands, confined to the household performing menial tasks. While the black woman can sympathize with this view, she does not feel that breaking her ass every day from nine to five is any form of liberation.

She has always had to work. Before the Emancipation Proclamation, she worked in the fields of the plantation, as Malcolm X put it, "from can't see in the morning until can't see at night."

And what is liberation under this system? Never owning what you produce, you are forced to become a mere com- modity on the labor market. Workers are never secure, and their length of employment is subject to the ups and downs in the economy.

Women's liberation must relate to these problems. What is hampering it now is not the fact that it is still composed of mainly white, "middle-class" women. Rather it is the fail- ure to engage in enough of the type of actions that would draw in and link up with the masses of women not yet in the movement, including working and Third World

women. Issues such as day care, support for the striking telephone workers, support for the laws which improve working conditions for women and the campaign to free Joan Bird are steps in the right direction. (Joan Bird is one of the New York Black Panther members, who was unjustly held in jail for months awaiting trial, because of the excessively high bond demanded by the courts.)

I don't feel, however, that white women sitting around a room, browbeating one another for their "racism," say- ing, "I'm a racist, I'm a racist," as some women have done, is doing a damn thing for the black woman. What is needed is action.

Women's liberation must not isolate itself from the masses of women or the Third World community. At the same time, white women cannot speak for black women. Black women must speak for themselves.

The Third World Women's Alliance has been formed in New York to begin to do this. We felt there was a need for a revolutionary black women's movement to speak to the oppression of black women as blacks, as workers, as women. We are involved in reading, discussion, con- sciousness-raising and taking action.

We feel that black women will have a difficult time relat- ing to the more bitter antimale sentiment in the women's liberation movement, fearing that it will be a device to keep black men and women fighting among themselves and diverting their energies from the real enemy. Many black women realize it will take both men and women to wage an effective struggle. However, this does not negate the necessity of women building our own movement, be- cause we must build our struggle now and continue it after the revolution if we are to achieve real emancipation.

When the Third World woman begins to recognize the depth of her oppression, she will move to form alliances with all revolutionary forces available and settle for noth- ing less than complete destruction of this racist, capitalist, male-dominated system.

Take a Good Look at Our Problems

by Pamela Newman

When women's liberation is mentioned, there are often two reactions. One is that this is just a bunch of frustrated women who are going to separate themselves from men. The other is that this is something that is a white thing, which doesn't concern black women.

The truth is that the exploitation of black women goes deeper than that of white women. Unity of all black wom- en is needed to push for such demands as self-determina- tion, equal pay, free abortion and child-care centers. We should realize the need for the women of the black nation to have a liberation movement of women as part of our movement for total liberation of our people.

The black man has been led to believe that office and skilled jobs are given to the black woman by the white capitalists to make the black man feel inferior. In reality, there aren't enough jobs for everyone, and the black woman suffers the most from low pay and unemployment.

When our men get jobs where they make enough to keep a family, they often insist that the woman's place is in the home with the children. But raising children can be done just as well by the man as the woman. Because a woman is able to have babies doesn't mean she knows more about caring for them and raising them.

The very idea that women are here on earth just for having children isn't true either. We have minds and have the right to determine what we do and say. Child rearing should be a profession, not an automatic duty.

Usually black children are taken care of by older women who can't find other work. As a result, the children are separated from other children because these women aren't able to take care of more than one or two children. The mother often has to run home from work to take the child off the older woman's hands. There are no facilities for child care in the black community and few qualified peo- ple to take care of teaching the children in a progressive manner. ,

Ask yourself, have you ever been to ld, this is a man 's conversation, so be quiet or keep out because woman 's work is only dishwashing, sewing or laundry. This, my sisters, is male chauvinism, not by the system but by the brothers because of the illusions that capitalism has pro- duced.

How many of you sisters come home from work and have to cook dinner and clean the house, and if the brother comes in before you finish, he immediate ly gets angry because you are not in the best mood . Somehow we must make him understand that we are human as much as he is. We aren't tools of pleasure to be called to his side and put down if we dare not come.

Just look at the newspaper ads, how they use sex to sell products, and also use race. Before the rise of black power, you never saw a product for black people. But they did have lighteners and brighteners on the market to make women look "beautiful." Not until it was profitable could you buy a bush comb, bush wig or Afro-Sheen. Most of these black products are for women because of their general lack of a strong sense of worth and dignity, which makes women more exploitable than men and better consumers.

And don 't you think it is wrong that women who can't afford to keep their children have no say in where their child is sent? Isn't it wrong that after a certain number of "illegal" children, you are sterilize d without your per- mission? Don't you think that we should have community control of abortion hospitals in our communities?

No doubt you or almost anyone can somehow get an abortion, but it is either expensive or risky. It would be nice to see the day when we have free abortion by recog- nized doctors in the community. But with hospital costs

what they are now, and with most of us making only about $75 a week, we can't afford this.

Why not lower the cost of medical care or make it free? Reason: the system of medical care would cut the profits of all the companies, including the drug companies. The system wouldn't want Bayer Aspirin or Excedrin or any other company that makes drugs and sells them at ridicu- lously high rates to be unhappy. But still people are dying in the black community without the care they desperately need, and children are being brought up in conditions that some rats would turn down.

It is time that we started struggles against every aspect of our oppression.

Take a look at our problems: medical care, housing, jobs, police repression, child care, abortion ... To solve these problems we need to gain control of our communities. We have to stop letting our communities be controlled by white, rich politicians and capitalists. We can't go on vot- ing for the two parties controlled by these dictators. Both parties protect not the interest of the people but the white ruling class which controls the economic system. For the total liberation of our people, we need an independent black political party which we can control.

With the demand for self-determination, we are demand- ing total control of everything that affects our lives. Is it wrong to ask for the right to make the decisions affecting the lives of your children and yourself? If you think so, then you are against women's liberation, black liberation and democracy.

It is very important that black women's groups be formed now, because the capitalists are not going to give money out of their pockets to finance twenty-four-hour child-care centers and meet our other needs. A black wom- en's liberation group would also bring out other demands directly related to women, such as welfare. They could fight for new clothes and for free food which is not surplus but fresh meat and other products which are good for the body.

This money-greedy ruling class can't and won't give us free medical care and other necessities. The only way to get these things is to fight for them. In the process of this fight, many women will begin to realize that our struggle is

against capitalism and imperialism. We should be dedi- cated to building a socialist society inside the United States where profits would be outlawed and the total means of production and distribution placed in the hands of the working class. That struggle must be led by black people, who are concerned about the humanity of this world.

The revolutionary vanguard of America will be the black nation. The total working class must be liberated, including the women, and of course the black woman shall have to be liberated first because of the multi-oppres- sion which she suffers.

All over the world, black and Third World people have stopped turning their cheeks. We need to organize to strug- gle against every aspect of our oppression. Black women 's liberation could not and will not be a diversion from the liberation of our people. The organization of black women to fight for our needs as well as the needs of all black people will help intensify the struggle.

A MERIT PAMPHLET

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Joyce Cowley · .25 The Politics of Women's Liberation Today

Mory-Alice Waters .25 Revolutionary Dynamics of Women's Liberation

George Novack .25 Sisterhood Is Powerful

Betsey Stone .25 Women and the Cuban Revolution

Lindo Jenness, Fidel Castro .35 Women and the Equal Rights Amendment

Caroline Lund and Betsey Stone .25 Women and the Family

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Chicanas Speak Out

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CONTENTS

Women: New Voice of La Raza by Mirta Vidal Statement by Elma Barrera Workshop resolutions from first national Chicana

conference

3 12

The article by Mirta Vidal first appeared in the International Socialist Review, October 1971, copyright (0 1971, and is reprinted by permission. Mirta Vidal is the national director of the Chicano and Latino work of the Young Socialist Allaince. She is the author of the pamphlet Chicano Liberation and Revolutionary Youth (Pathfinder Press, 1971).

Elma Barrera was the organiz.er of the first national Chicana conference, held May 28-30, 1971, in Houston, Texas. The state- ment reprinted here was made at a national abortion conference of over 1,000 women held July 16-18, 1971, in New York City. It was first printed in the weekly socialist newspaper The Mili- tant ( June 4, 1971 ).

The first national Chicana conference was attended by over 600 Chicanas. The major resolutions included here were approved with the following motion: To take these back to the communities as suggestions and see if they are accepted; to vote on them at the next conference in 1972.

First Edition, December 1971

Pathfinder Press, Inc. 410 West Street

New York, N. Y. 10014

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Women : New Voice of La Raza

By Mirta Vidal

The Chicana Women's Lib is here and here to stay. It is for every Chicana who wants to be treated as a human being. ( From a letter to the editor of the Chicano magazine La Raza (Vol 1, No. 5.)

At the end of May 1971, more than 600 Chicanas met in Houston, Texas, to hold the first national conference of Raza women. For those of us who were there it was clear that this conference was not just another national gathering of the Chicano movement.

Chicanas came from all parts of the country inspired by the prospect of discussing issues that have long been on their minds and which they now see not as individual problems but as an im- portant and integral part of a movement for liberation.

The resolution s coming out of the two largest workshops, "Sex and the Chicana" and "Marriage- Chicana Style," called for "free, legal abortions and birth control for the Chicano community, controlled by Chicanas." As Chicanas, the resolution stated, "we have a right to control our own bodies." The resolutions also called for "24-hour child-care centers in Chicano communities" and explained that there is a critical need for these since "Chi- cana motherhood should not preclude educational, political, social and economic advancement."

While these resolutions articulated the most pressing needs of Chicanas today, the conference as a whole reflected a rising con- sciousness of the Chicana about her special oppression in this society.

With their growing involvement in the struggle for Chicano lib- eration and the emergence of the feminist movement, Chicanas are beginning to challenge every social institution which contributes to and is responsible for their oppression, from inequality on the job to their role in the home. They are questioning "machismo," discrimination in education, the double standard, the role of the Catholic Church, and all the backward ideology designed to keep women subjugated.

This growing awareness was illustrated by a survey taken at

the Houston conference. Reporting on this survey, an article in the Los Angeles magazine Rege11e1·aci6n stated: "84% felt that they were not encouraged to seek professional careers and that higher education is not considered important for Mexican women ... 84% agreed that women do not receive equal pay for equal work." The article continued: "On one question they were unani- mous. When asked: Are married women and mothers who attend school expected to also do the housework, be responsible for child- care, cook and do the laundry while going to school, 100% said yes. 88% agreed that a social double standard exists."! The women were also asked if they fell that there was discrimination toward them within La Raza: 72% said yes, none said no and 28o;~ voiced no opinion.

While polls are a good indicator of the thoughts and feelings of any given group of people, an even more significant measure is what they are actually doing. The impressive accomplishments of Chicanas in the last few months alone are a clear sign that Chicanas will not only play a leading role in fighting for the liberation of La Raza, but will also be consistent fighters against their own oppression as Chicanas, around their own specific de- mands and through their own Chicana organizations.

Last year, the women in MAPA ( Mexican-American Political Association) formed a caucus at their annual convention. A work- shop on women was also held at a Latino Conference in Wiscon- sin last year. All three Chicano Youth Libe r ation Conferences- held in 1969, 1970, and 1971 in Denver, Colorado-have had women's workshops.

In May of this year, women participating at a Statewide Boy- cott Conference called by the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee in Castroville, Texas, formed a caucus and addressed the conference, warning men that sexist attitudes and opposition to women's rights can divide the farmworker's struggle. Also in May, Chicanas in Los Angeles organized a regional conference attended by some 250 Chicanas, in preparation for the Houston conference and to raise funds to send representatives from the Los Angeles area.

Anothe r gathering held last year by the Mexican American Na- tional Issues Conference in Sacramento, California, included a women's workshop that voted to become the Comision Feminil Mexicana (Mexican Feminine Commission) and function as an independent organization affiliated to the Mexican American Na- tional Issues Conference. They adopted a r esolution which read in part: "The effort of Chicana/Mexican women in the Chicano movement is generally obscured because women are not accepted as community leaders either by the Chicano movement or by the Anglo establishment."

In Pharr, Texas, women have organized pickets and demon- strations to protest police brutality and to demand the ousting of the city's mayor. And even in Crystal City, Texas, where La Raza Unida Party has won major victories, women have had to organize on their own for the right to be heard. While the men constituted the decision-making body of Ciudadanos Unidos ( United Citizens) - the organization of the Chicano community of Crystal City- the women were organized into a women's aux- iliary- Ciudadanas Unidas. Not satisfied with this role, the women got together, stormed into one of the meetings, and demanded to be recognized as members on an equal basis. Although the vote was close, the women won.

The numerous articles and publications that have appeared re- cently on La Chicana are another important sign of the rising consciousness of Chicanas. Among the most outstanding of these are a special section in El Grito del Norte, an entire issue dedi- cated to and written by Chicanas published by Regeneracion, and a regular Chicana feminist newspaper put out by Las Hijas de Cuabtemoc in Long Beach, California. This last group and its newspaper are named after the feminist organization of Mex- ican women who fought for emancipation during the suffragist period in the early part of this century.

These developments, by no means exhaustive of what Chicanas have done in this last period, are plainly contradictory to the statement made by women participating in the 1969 Denver Youth Conference. At that time a workshop held to discuss the role of women in the movement reported to the conference: "It was the consensus of the group that the Chicana woman does not want to be liberated." Although there are still those who maintain that Chicanas not only do not want to be liberated, but do not need to be liberated, Chicanas themselves have decisively rejected that attitude through their actions.

In part, this awakening of Chicana consciousness has been prompted by the "machismo" she encounters in the movement. It is adequately described by one Chicana, in an article entitled "Macho Attitudes":

When a freshman male comes to MECHA [Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan-a Chicano student organization in Californial he is approached and welcomed. He is taught by observation that the Chicanas are only useful in areas of clerical and sexual activ- ities. When something must be done there is always a Chicana there to do the work. "It is her place and duty to stand behind and back up her Macho!" ... Another aspect of the MACHO at- titude is their lack of respect for Chicanas. They play their games, plotting girl against girl for their own benefit. ... They use the movement and Chicanismo to take her to bed. And when she re-

fuses, she is a ve11d1da sell-out bemuse she b not looking after the welfare of her men. 2

This behavior, typical of Chicano men, is a serious obstacle to women anxious to play a role in the struggle for Chicano lib- eration.

The oppression suffered by Chicanas is different from that suf- fered by most women in this country. Because Chicanas are part of an oppressed nationality, they arc subjected to the racism prac - ticed against La Haza. Since the overwhelming majority of Chi- canos are workers, Chicanas are also \ ictims of the exploitation of the working class. But in addition, Chicanas, along with the rest of women, are relegated to an inferior position because of their sex. Thus, Raza women suffer a triple form of oppression: as members of an oppressed nationality, as workers, and as wom- en. Chicanas have no trouble understanding this. At the Houston conference 84 percent of the women surveyed felt that "there is a distinction between the problems of the Chicana and those of other women."

On the other hand, they also understand that the struggle now unfolding against the oppression of women is nol only relevant to them, but 1s their struggle.

Because sexism and male chauvinism are so deeply rooted in this society, there is a strong tendency, even within the Chicano movement, to deny the basic right of Chicanas to organize around their own concrete issues. Instead they are told to stay away from the women's liberation movement because ii is an "Anglo thing."

We need only analyze the origin of male supremacy lo expose this false position. The inferior role of women in society does not date back to the beginning of time. In fact, before the Eu- ropeans came to this part of the world women enjoyed a position of equality with men. The submission of women, along with in- stitutions such as the church and the patriarchy, was imported by the European colonizers, and remains to this day part of Anglo society. Machismo - in English, "male chauvinism" - is the one thing, if any, that should be labeled an "Anglo thing."

When Chicano men oppose the efforts of women to move against their oppression, they are actually opposing the struggle of every woman in this country aimed at changing a society in which Chi- canos themselves are oppressed. They are saying to 51 percent of this country's population that they have no right to fight for their liberation.

Moreover, they are denying one half of La Raza this basic right. They are denying Raza women, who are triply oppressed, the right to struggle around their specific, real, and immediate needs.

In essence, they are doing just what the white male rulers of this country have done. The white male rulers want Chicanas

to accept their oppression because they understand that when Chi- canas begin a movement demanding legal abortions, child care, and equal pay for equal work, this movement will pose a real threat to their ability to rule.

Opposition to the struggles of women to break the ch a ins of their oppression is not in the interest of the oppressed but only in the interest of the oppressor. And th at is the logic of the argu- ments of those who say that Chicanas do not want to or need to be liberated.

The same problem arose when the masses of people in this coun- try began to move in opposition to the war in Vietnam. Because Black people did not until recently participate in massive num- bers in antiwar demonstrations, the bourgeois media went on a campaign to convince us that the reason Blacks were not a visible component of these demonstrations was because the anti- war movement was a "white thing." Although, for a while, this tactic was successful in slowing down the progress of the Black nationalist movement, for whom the question of the war is of vital importance, Black antiwar activity is now clearly rising.

But once again the white males who run this country are up to their old tricks. Only this time around it is the women's lib- eration movement which is a "white thing." Again, the bourgeois media is a key tool for perpetrating this myth. As one Chicana explains, in an article entitled "Chicanas Speak Out" in Salsipuedes, published in Santa Barbara, California: "The real issue of the women's liberation movement is fighting the established female role in society which has kept women enslaved as human beings. But the news media portrays women's liberation people as karate- chopping, man-hating hippies."3

Among the many distortions about the feminist movement is the argument that women are simply fighting against men. One such statement appeared in an article by Enriqueta Vasquez some months ago in El Grito del Norte. Vasquez wrote:

1n looking at women's lib [sic] we see issues that are relevant to that materialistic, competitive society of the Gringo. This society is only able to function through the sharpening of wits and develop- ment of the human instinct of rivalry. For this same dominant society and mentality to arrive at a point where there is now a white women's liberation movement is dangerous and cruel in that that social structure has reached the point of fracture and compe- tition of the male and female.

Thus, since the feminist movement is "antimale," when Chicanas attempt to organize against their own oppression they are accused of trying to divide the Chicano movement.

The appeal for "unity" based on the continued submission of women is a false one. While it is true that the unity of La Raza is the basic foundation of the Chicano movement, when Chicano men talk about maintaining La Familia and the "cultural heri- tage" of La Raza, they are in fact talking about maintaining the age-old concept of keeping the woman barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen. On the basis of the subordination of women there can be no real unity.

This attitude is vividly illustrated in an article entitled "El Mo- vimiento and the Chicana" which explains:

The political and economical struggle of the Chicana is the univer- sal question of women. The difference between the liberation of Chicana women and other Third World women is cultural. The Chicano culture has very positive effects and very bad ones. We have to fight a lot of Catholic ideas in our homes and in the move- ment. F'or example, the idea of large families is very Catholic. The Pope says no birth control, abortions. lots of kids (and make me richer). So what do the guys say in the movement, have lots of kids, keep up the lraditional Chicano family. 4

The point is made even clearer by Francisca Flores in the is- sue of Regeneraci6n cited earlier when she says: "The issue of birth control, abortions, information on sex and the pill are con- sidered 'white' women's lib issues and should be rejected by Chi- canas according to the Chicano philosophy which believes that the Chicana women's place is in the home and that her role is that of a mother with a large family. Women who do not accept this philosophy are charged with betrayal of 'our culture and heritage.' OUR CULTURE HELL!"s

Far from turning their anger and frustrations against individual men, what Chicanas, and all women, are saying is that men should support their struggles. This, too, has been repeatedly ex pressed by Chicanas. For example, an editorial in Regeneraci6n says in part:

It is hoped that women who disagree with any aspect of the new role of the Chicana will be willing to discuss the issue or the dif- ference of opinion within the group. This is the only way many of the questions will be dealt with. Primarily ... that the Chicana femini5t movement is not antimen! The Comision Femtmil Mext- cana in California welcomes men members - but the men who have joined to date are men not threatened by women. Rather, they rep- resent a small but growing nucleus who recognize and appreciate the power of women in action. 5

The only real unity between men and women is the unity forged in the course of struggle against their oppression. And it is by supporting, rather than opposing, the struggles of women that Chicanos and Chicanas can genuinely unite.

Stripped of all rationalizations, when Chicanos deny support to the independent organization of Chicanas, what they are saying is simply that Chicanas are not oppressed. And that is the central question we must ask: are Chicanas oppressed?

All other arguments aside, the fact is that Chicanas are oppressed and that the battles they are now waging and will wage in the future, are for things they need: the right to legal abortions, the right to adequate child care, the right to contraceptive information and devices, the right to decide how many children they do or do not want to have. In short, the right to control their own bodies. As Flores points out:

Mexican women who bear (large) families beyond the economic ability to support them, suffer the tortures of damnation when their children die of malnutrition, of tuberculosis and other illnesses which wipe out families in poverty stricken or marginal communities in the Southwest .. . . IF A WOMAN WANTS A LAHGE FA:\11LY . . . NO ONE WILL INTERFlrnE WITH HER RIGHT TO HAVE ONE ... even if they cannot personally afford it ... that is their right. However , to stipulate this right as a tenet of La Causa for all women of La Raza is to play a dangerous game with the move- ment. rt means- stripped of its intellectual romanticism - that Chi- canas are being condemned to wash diapers and stay home all of their youth. 6

She goes on to say, "As stated before, the question of large fam- ilies is the choice each person or family will make for themselves. That is their inalienable right. A woman who wants a large fam- ily should not be denied. What we ar e saying is that the woman should ha ve the right to participate in making that dec ision."?

At the National Abortion Action Conference held in New York in July, a Third World Women's Workshop, attended by close to fifty Blacks, Asian-Americans, Chicanas, and Latinas, voted unanimously to support the national abortion campaign and passed a resolution which reads in part:

There is a myth that Third World women do not want to control our bodies, that we do not wan t the right to contraception and abortion. But we know that Third World women have suffered the most because of this denial of our rights and will continue to suffer as long as the antiabortion laws remain on the books. We know that more Third World women die every year from illegal back-street abortions than the rest of the female population. We know that Third World women are the first victims of forced ster- ilization. And we know that we intend to fight for our freedom as women.

Coupled with this campaign to repeal all abortion laws, women are fighting to end all forced sterilizations, a campaign in which

Chicanas will play a central role. This demand is of key impor- tance to Chicanas who are the victims of forced sterilizations jus- tified by the viciously racist ideology that the problems of La Raza are caused by Raza wome n having too many babies.

In line with other brutal abuses of women, Chicanas have been used as guinea pigs for experimentation with contraception. This was done recently in San Antonio by a doctor who wanted to test the reaction of women to birth control pills. Without inform- ing th@m or asking their opinion, he gave some of the women dummy pills (placebos) that would not prevent conception, and as a result some of the women became pregnant. When questioned about his action, his reply was: "U you think you can explain a placebo test to women like these you never met Mrs. Gomez from the West Side."

The feminist movement today provides a vehicle for organizing against and putting an end to such racist, sexist practices. And that is what women are talking about when they talk about wom- en's liberation.

Another essential fight that Chicanas have begun is around the need for adequate child care. While billions of dollars are spent yearly by this government on war, no money can be found to alleviate the plight of millions of women who, in addition to being forced to work, have families to care for.

The following figures poignantly demonstrate the seriousness of this problem and the pressing need for adequate child-care facilities. Nancy Hicks, writing in the November 30, 1970, New York Times, reports: "There are more than 11.6 million working mothers in the country today, more than 4 million of these with children under 6 years old. However, only 640,000 licensed day- care spaces are available. More than one-third of these are pri- vately run." These figures do not include the women who, because of lack of child care, are unable to work and are therefore pushed onto the weliare rolls. In addition, although such figures are not available for Raza women specifically, it is safe to assume that they are much higher.

Demands such as twenty-four hour child-care centers financed by the government and controlled by the community, are the kinds of concrete issues that Chicanas are fighting for. As Chicanas explain in "A Proposal for Childcare," published in Regeneraci6n, "Child care must be provided as a public service, like public schools, unemployment insurance, social security, and so forth. The pote n tial for a mass movement around this initiative is clear.''8

An important aspect of the struggles of Chicanas is the demand that the gains made through their campaigns be controlled by Chicanas. The demand for community control is a central axis of the Chicano lib eration struggle as a whole. Thus, when Chi- canas, as Chicanas, raise demands for child-care facilities, abor-

100

tion clinics, etc., controlled by Chicanas, their fight is an integral part of the Chicano liberation struggle.

When Chicanas choose to organize into their own separate or- ganizations, they are not turning away from La Causa or waging a campaign against men. They are saying to Chicanos: "We are oppressed as Chicanas and we are moving against our oppres- sion. Support our struggles." The sooner that Chicanos under- stand the need for women to struggle around their own special demands, through their own organizations, the further La Raza as a whole will be on the road toward liberation.

It is important to keep in mind that many of the misunderstand- ings that have arisen so far in the Chicano movement regarding Chicanas are due primarily to the newness of this development, and many will be resolved through the course of events. One thing, however, is clear - Chicanas are determined to fight. As Flores states, the issue of equality and freedom for the Chicana "is not negotiable. Anyone opposing the right of women to organize into their own form of organization has no place in the leadership of the movement. FREEDOM IS FOR EVERYONE."9

In the spirit of Las Adelitas, Las Hijas de Cuahtemoc, and all the unrecognized Mexican women who fought valiantly for their rights, who formed their own feminist organizations, and who fought and died in the Mexican revolution, Chicanas in this country will take the center stage in the advances of La Raza.

The struggle for women's liberation is the Chicana's struggle, and only a strong independent Chicana movement, as part of the general women's liberation movement and as part of the move- ment of La Raza, can ensure its success.

FOOTNOTES

I. Regeneracion, Vol. I, No. 10. 197 1, p. 3. 2. Las Hijas de Cuahtemoc, unnumbered edition, p. 9. 3. Salsipuedes, Vol. I, No. 5, p. 4. 4. La Raza, Vol. 1, No. 6, p. 41. 5. Regeneration, op. cit., p. 1. 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid., p. 2. 8. Ibid.. p. 11. 9. Ibid .. inside cover.

101

Statement by Elma Barre ra

I have been told that the Chicana's struggle is not the same as the white woman's struggle. I've been told that the problems are different and that ... the Chicana's energies are needed in the barrio and that being a feminist and fighting for our rights as women and as human beings is anti-Chicano and anti-male.

But let me tell you what being a Chicana means in Houston, Texas. It means learning how to best please the men in the Church and the men at home, not in that order.

You know, it's really funny the way that the Church has ... grasped onto this "sinful" thing about abortion and birth control. It's really funny how the laws only apply to the woman and not to the man .... Chicano men ... fool around, have mistresses, and yet, when it comes to abortion or birth control with their wives, it's a sin ....

I will take just one minute to read the two resolutions which came out of the Sex and the Chicana workshop: "Free, legal abor- tions and birth control fo r the Chicano community, controlled by the Chicanas. As Chicanas, we have the right to control our own bodies."

And then out of the workshop on Marriage: Chicana style ... : "We as mujeres de La Raza recogni7R the Catholic Church as an oppressive institution and do hereby resolve to break away and not to go to them to bless our union. So be it resolved that the national Chicana conference go on record as supporting free and legal abortions for all women who want or need them."

102

Workshop Resolutions-

First National Chicana Conference

SEX AND THE CHICANA

We feel that in order to provide an effective measure to correct the many sexual hangups facing the Chicano community the fol- lowing resolutions should be implemented:

I. Sex is good and healthy for both Chicanos and Chicanas and we must develop this attitude.

II. We should destroy the myth that religion and culture control our sexual ii ves.

III. We recognize that we have been oppressed by religion and that the religious writing was done by men and interpreted by men. Therefore, for those who desire religion, they should inter- pret their 8 ible, or Catho lic rulings according to their own feel- ings, what they think is right, without any guilt complexes.

IV. Mothers should teach their sons to respect women as human beings who are equal in every respect. No double standard.

V. Women should go back to the communities and form discus- sion and action groups concerning sex education.

vr. Free, legal abortions and birth control for the Chicano com- munity, controlled by Chicanas. As Chicanas we have the right to control our own bodies. ·

VII. Make use of church centers, neighborhood centers and any other place available.

"Liberate your mind and the body will follow. "A quitarnos todos nuestros complejos sexuales para te11er una

vida mejor y feliz" ( Let's cast off all our sexual complexes to have a better and happier life).

103

MARRIAGE-CHICANA STYLE

Reaffirmation that Chicano marriages are the beginnings of Chi- cano families which perpetuate our culture and are the foundation of the movement.

Points brought up in the workshop:

1. Chicano Marriages are individual and intimate and solutions to problems must be primarily handled on an individual basis.

2. A woman must educate and acquaint herself with outside issues and personal problems (sexual hangups, etc.).

3. It is the responsibility of Chicanas with families to educate their sons and thus change the attitudes of future generations.

4. Chicanas should understand that Chicanos face oppression and discrimination, but this does not mean that the Chicana should be a scapegoat for the man's frustrations.

5. With involvement in the movement, marriages must change. Traditional roles for Chicanas are not acceptable or applicable.

RE SOL UT JONS: I. We, as mujeres de La Raza, recognize the Catholic Church as

an oppressive institution and do hereby resolve to break away and not go to it to bless our unions.

II. Whereas: Unwanted pregnancies are the basis of many so- cial problems, and

Whereas: The role of Mexican-American women has traditionally been limited to the home, and

Whereas: The need for self-determination and the right to gov- ern their own bodies is a necessity for the freedom of all people, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED: That the National Chicana Conference go on record as supporting free family planning and free and legal abortions for all women who want or need them.

TII. Whereas: Due to socio-economic and cultural conditions, Chicanas are often heads of households, i.e., widows, divorcees, unwed mothers, or deserted mothers, or must work to supplement family income, and

Whereas: Chicana motherhood should not preclude educational, political, social, and economic advancement, and

Whereas: There is a critical need for a 24-hour child-care center in Chicano communities, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED: That the National Chicana Conference go on record as recommending that every Chicano community pro- mote and set up 24-hour day-care facilities, and that it be further resolved that these facilities will reflect the concept of La Raza as the united family, and on the basis of brotherhood (La Raza),

104

so that men, women, young and old assume the responsibility for the love, care, education, and orientation of all the children of Aztllm.

IV. Whereas: Dr. Goldzieher of SWRF has conducted an experi- ment on Chicana women of westside San Antonio, Texas, using a new birth control drug, and

Whereas: No human being should be used for experimental purposes, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED: That this Conference send telegrams to the American Medical Association condemning this act. Let it also be resolved that each Chicana women's group and each Chicana present at the conference begin a letter writing campaign to:

RELIGION

Dr. Joseph Goldzieher c/o SW Foundation for Research

& Education San Antonio, Texas

and Director SW Foundation for Research and

Education San Antonio, Texas

I. Recognize the Plan de Aztlan II. Take over already existing Church resources for community

use, i.e., health, Chicano awareness-public information of its resources, etc.

III. Oppose any institutionalized religion. IV. Revolutionary change of Catholic Church or for it to get

out of the way. V. Establish communication with the barrio and implement pro-

grams of awareness to the Chicano movement.

105

FURTHER READING On the Chicano Movement Chicano liberation and Revolutionary Youth/Mirta Vidal Documents of the Chicano Struggle / anthology Lo Rozo Unido Porty in Texas/ Mario Compean , Jose Angel Gutierrez Lo Rozo! Why a Chicano Porty? Why Chicano Studies?/Froben Lozada,

Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzoles , et al. On Women Abortion: A Woman ' s Right/Lindo Jenness, Caroline Lund, Cindy Jaquith Block Women ' s Liberation / Maxine Williams, Pamela Newmon Chicanos Speak Out! Women: New Voice of La Razo/ Mirto Vidal et al. In Defense of the Women 's Movement/Ruthann Miller, Evelyn Reed,

Mary-Alice Waters Kate Millet ' s Sexual Politics: A Marxist Appreciation / Kipp

Dowson et al. Pioneers of Women 's Liberation / Joyce Cowley Revolutionary Dynamics of Women ' s Liberation / George Novack Sisterhood is Powerful/Betsey Stone Sisters in Struggle: 1848-1920 / Debby Woodroofe The Family: Revolutionary or Oppressive Force? / Coroline Lund Women and the Cuban Revolution/Fidel Castro, Linda Jenness Women ood the Equal Rights Amendment/Caroline Lund, Betsey Stone Women and the Family / Leon Trotsky On Mexico, Cuba, Latin America Allende's Chile: Is It Going Socialist?/Peter Camejo A New Stage in. the Advance of Cuban Socialism / Fidel Castro Cuba and Problems of Workers Democracy/Harry Ring Douglas Bravo Speaks: Interview with a Venezuelan Guerrilla leader Fidel Castro ' s Tribute lo Che Guevara/Fidel Castro How Cuba Uprooted Race Discrimination/Horry Ring On Vietnam and W arid Revolution/Che Guevara Socialism and Man / Che Guevara The Youth Movement and the Alienation of Society/Jose Revueltos

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''We men wish that women should not go on com- promising herself through enlightenment -- just as it was man's thoughtfulness and consideration for woman that found expression in the Church decree: Woman should be silent in church! It was for woman's good when Napoleon gave the all to eloquent Madame de Stael to understand: Wo- man should be silent when it comes to politics! And I think that it is a real friend of women that counsels them today: Woman should be si- lent about woman! 1•

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109

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110

SCSNc: Guidance office

CHA..'RJ\C'l'1',R1: Female gui dance counselor High school girl

GJIDANCE COUHSELOR: (fumbling with large manila folder l abe l ed J3 1798 -11) Let ' s see , now, J31798 - H, what i s your name?

GIRL: It ' s Mary Lou

COUNSELOR: Oh, yes , Mary Louise •.• Wel l, accor - ding to your latest Belvin - Schnook - Slaughter preference test scores , you seem to have an aptituie for medicine. This also correlates with an interest you expressed in the thirJ. gr ade for discover i ng how the body works .

GIRL: (excitedly) rleally? '!'hat ' s great because I ' ve been thinking lately that I ' d really like to be a doctor. I 'm really excited by the new kinds of things that are bein ~ done in medicine and thought maybe once I had an MD degree, I could explore something special like cancer researcn or even psychiatric medicine . Where sno..ild I go to school. • .

COUNSELOR: (am'..lsed) Well, that's all very nice, dear , but you should oe more realistic . After all , you are a woman. So why not aim instead for nursing, then if yo..l're good at that you might go on with special pediatric care . Or (looking at folder) your tests say you're good in art also, so why don ' t you train to do sketches for medical books? Those are jobs that a woman can do in her spare time, while not neglectin e her hus - band and children. (pause) You do want

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111

GIRL: (crestfallen but determined): Of course I do, I'm like any woman. But I don't see why that has to interfere. If I want to be a doctor, why don't you think I can do both?

COUNSELOR: (tolerantly but clear) I'm sorry, dear, perhaps YOU could do both. But I think that you should just be more realistic about what a woman can do, if she's really a woman. You see, if you train yourself for a job that makes it easy for you to be a wife and mother, like a nurse or artist, then you are much better off. Now, I would suggest that you write to these colleges ••• there's a nice small woman's college •••••

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SCENE: Four people (2 men, 2 women) sit around a table with typewritten material on it.

CHARACTERS: Mark John Ellen Mary

MARK: John, we must put in the article on John Hay High • ••

JOHN: Yeah, the article here by Richie is really good -- he's got good politics. And then there's this thing on SF State •••

MARK: Yeah, we' ll have to edit it •• • Ellen, can you do that? (hands it to her without wait- ing for an answer) •• • and this short on the campus pigs.

ELLEN: Here are the letters to the editor •••

MARK: The cops article is real important if we' re going to get movine on domestic imperialism. Hey, Mary, can you get me a cup of coffee?

JOHN: And get me one too, ok?

115

(MARY gets up without saying anything, goes to get coffee)

JOHN: Ok, I guess we I ve got everything. Here are a couple of cartoons Larry did up, and a few fillers. Oh, where are the letters to the editor ..• did we get anything groovy this time?

ELLEN: I've got them. There's an interesting one •••

JOHN: (takes them) Here's a good one from a high school kid. This one's ok, nothing great. Geeze, this chick has shitty pol- itics; cut that one, Ellen. Ok, I guess the rest go in. That ok with you, Mark?

(MARY comes back with two cups of coffee, guys take them . )

JOHN: Ellen, will you and Mary get the stencils typed up? Deadline ' s tomorrow to get them out.

MARY: Jesus, John , I ' ve got a really full sche- dule. You can type, can ' t you?

JOHN: Yeah, but I've got the research meeting, and three classes and the defense committee meeting • • • I don't have time.

MARK: I ' ll help run them off if I can make it in the morning. Oops, I ' ve got the f r ee univer- sity meeting at 10 , so I can't make it. Got to run . See you l ater . Oh, Mary, thanks for the coffee. IX,n' t have time to drink it DOW'.

JOHN: Yeah, thanks Mary.

(JOHN and MARK get up and leave. ELLEN and MARY look at t he pile of work to be done. )

116

ELLEN: Sometime I ' m just going to take their god- damn copy and throw it at tnem !

MARY: They ' ve got important things to do! I ' m on that research committee , too.

ELLEN: .And I ' m on the free u . staff ! Look at tha t, they di dn 't even tou ch their coffee.

(ELLEN and MARY walk of f as t hey talk.)

The onl.y position for a woman in SNCC is prone. -S tokeley Cha.rmichael -

SHOULD A BRIDE TO BE WORK AS A HERTZ GIRL BEFORE MARRIAGE?

Yes, it gets her used to being ta.ken for granted. And if that's not perfect training for marriage, we'd like to know what is.

Go HERTZ RENT-A-CAR 't

117

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Should a bride-to-be work as a Hertz girl before marriage?

Ye5. lt gels her used to being taken for granted.

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118

; j

She walks down this aisle

first. ' "' 1 . '

'-- . .. Before a girl marries, she buys: Major and small appliances. Living, dining, and bedroom furniture. A TV set. Rugs and carpeting. China. Silver. Linens. Draperies. Househol d furnishings of every description. She must buy them. She's 100ving into her first home -- an empty house or apartment •••• 75'/o of bridal market purchasing takes place in an incredibly short period of time: the six ronths surrounding the wedding. Precise~ when a bridal magazine is bought and read. Be sure they get your message in the one magazine that delivers 100re of the must-buy7°l5 million plus bridal market: M:>DERN BRIDE. Advertise Today.

VOICE OF THE THINKERS: ROUSSEAU

"The whole education of women ought to be relative to men, to please them, to educate them when young, to care for them when grown, to counsel them and to make life sweet and agreeable to them."

119

THE NEW HOME: ADVICE TO THE YOUNG WIFE

At five he staggers home, a beaten and belittled. man. And there is Woman. She' s got 16 hours to get him on his feet a.gain. To make him feel im- po:otant, necessary, competent, a.nd resourceful.

No matter how your ~ went, greet him at the door with fresh lipstick, a cheery smile, and a "how did it go?" Listen to his troubles, fetch him a. beer or martini; shoo the kids out so that be c~ relax.

Don't encumber him with all the petty ir- ritations of running the house; he' s bad enough of those at the office . But do ask his advice. Make him feel that be is still the Captain of his little ship.

Build him up. "George, can you get the top off the pea.-

nut butter? I've been struggling with it all ~1 '! - HcJ,n,i!, V<J" · "o" f';iJ:;1"') a iv .. "~ a"d d ..:h.:.,.._·

SCENE: Young couple's home.

CHARACTERS: Husband Wife

Wife enters as if from work (taki~g off coat, etc.)

HUSBAND: You look horrible. What did those kids do to you today? I don't see how you stand it -- those smart kids all day lon g. You can't do anything with those kids. Why do you take it? How soon is dinner?

WIFE: Did you get the meat out of the freezer for dinner? I left a note.

120

HUSBAND: No, I forgot, but you can fix something else, can't you? Joe fell and cut himself whil e you were hone . It's not bad, but you should look at it. I couldn ' t find any band - aids; where do you keep them?

WIFE: In the medicine chest. Where is he now?

HUSBAND: I don't know. Do I have any clean shirts? There aren't any in the drawer .

WIFE: I guess not. Did you pick them up at the cleaners? You go right by it on your way home.

HUSBAND: Oh, you know I never think about that; that ' s woman's work. I invited some of the boys over for cards. Mike wants to know if there ' s any chocolate cake. You know how he loves it .

WIFE: No, and there's not going to be ~Y · I ' m too tired to make it .

HUSBAND: I'm sorry, Honey, maybe I shouldn't have invited them over. But none of the other wives seem to mind . Since you ' ve been working I ' ve been skipping my turn.

WIFE: I ' ll see if I can make it after dinner.

HUSBAND: There, that's the wife I used to have .

. - - - - - • Never scold or explain when she is angry , remember she is feeling not thinking.

For more tips on how to handl e your woman, order G. c. Payette's new boo k , How To Get and Hold a Woman, only $9.95.

121

THE FOLLOWING IS A PUBLIC INFORMATION ANNOUNCEMENT

From latest market research comes this word:~ In a free enterprise econom.y, we have to develop the need for new products, And to do that we have to liberate women to desire these new products. We help them to rediscover that homemaking is more creative than to compete with men.'· - C,et/ ':.l f", ;"-.J,1,, • 1 """ h.~,.., 1 f\t n.:: 1 f\ 1 ""\ lft»-"'

Cangou compete with

your daughter's "Little Girl Look"?

JJfrs.John Howard does. She keeps her co,nplexw,i young-looking

with pure, mud Ivory. The big girl's soap for complexions with that little girl look.

122

A GOOD HOUSEWIFE KNOWS HOW TO BE AN EXPENSIVE MISTRESS.

Are you so busy being devoted to your husband you never make reckless demands? l ·nat' s a mistake! Try acting spoiled now and then. Simply have to have some wildly beautiful extravagence. This extraordinary Natural Russian Crown Sable shonli fill the bill admirably.

How will your husband feel about suddenly having an expensive mistress?

He'll complain about the cost of maintainance. And he'll be a lot more attentive.

See Neustadter Furs today.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS OF THE DAY:

La.st year eight West Berlin students invited three girls to join them in forming a utopian

ommune to experiment in practical socialism. ~tended up with the girls doing all the cook- ing and most of the we.shine; for their classmates, and after six months they withdrew. • • • They are now part of a larger female uprising in West GermaDY against the traditional domination of males.

HOMEMAKER'S WORLD: ADVICE FROM ANOTHER M:>THER

The tragedy was, nobody ever looked us in the eye and said you have to decide what you want to do with your life, besides being your hus- band's wife and children's mother. I never thought it through until I was thirty-six, and my husband was so busy ••• the three boys were in school ••• I kept on trying to have babies ,r

123

despite an Rh discrepancy. After two mis- carriages, they said I must stop. I thought that my own growth and evolution were over. I always knew as a child that I was going to grow up and go to college, and then get mar- ried, and that's as far as a girl has to think. After that, your husband determines and fills your life. It wasn't until I got so lonely as the doctor's wife and kept screaming at the kids because they didn't f ill my life that I realized I had to make my own life." • '"·· ~ l ,.,_J'_,;,d 11i , • .,. .._ .{ ~

"· .~ tt'i r r ,,z,t ,ttl •~•'"'" ~

Where did eVeryOne end up? FRUSTRATION AT THIRTY-SIX

SCENE: Empty house

CHARACTERS : Woman Female voice Male voice (husband)

WOMAN: (semi-ad lib) Well, that's done, now what? I swear days are longer now than they used to be, without the children at home. I have much more time, and just not enout)l to do. And in a few years , tne chil- dren will be gone entirely, and I'll have even less.

I'm only 36. Another 36 years of this? Of cleaning an already clean house? Of watch- in g TV? Of volunteer work?

Well, maybe I should get a job -- it would cive me somethin 6 interestin g to do, start me learnin g thin cs again. I can help send the kids to college so poor John won't worry so mucn about that ..•

124

FEMALE VOICE: But what about the children - - shouldn ' t you be here when they come home? The little one still has junior high and high school - - no one cares for them as well as their mother -- you would be ne - glecting them .

WOMAN: But they are old enough now -- Charlie is in high school , and he can help watcn over the younger ones.

MALE VOICE: But you don't have to work -- I can make enough money for their college . Besides, you would be too tired, working, taking care of the house and cnildren as well -- just stay and look pretty for me.

WOMAN: But it's not for the money -- my life is empty . I have 37 more years -- can I spend all that time caring for children that are grown, taking cookies and milK to blood do- nors, l ooking pretty? Why shouldn ' t I con- tribute in a different way?

FEMALE VOICE: And contribute what? What skills do you have? You onl y worked a year after college -- maybe you could be a file clerk. Your college degree is so old that it is practically worthless . What have you remem- bered of it, or wnat have you learned sir:c e?

WOMAN: I could go back to school, become a teacher .• .

MALE VOICE: And spend the money we are saving for the kid ' s college? What will they &o on? Ee- sides, would you want to c?mpete with all those youn6 ones? No, stay home and take proper care of me.

WOMAN: Yes, I want to take proper care of you and the ch i ldren, but I also have to take proper care of myself. I want to l earn, to do, not to sit here and face an empty life .

125

1''EMA.Ll~ VOICE: W'ny not? 1•Tny aren't you happy? You nave three lovely children, a successful husband -- what else do you want? Other women are happy this way -- Wh,Y are you dif- fe rent.?

WOMAN: I don 't know why!!! It just seems like I'm stagn atin L, like maybe I have a lot t hat isn't beinL ~sed. But how can I ge t a good job -- no experience, no training? Why leave home to .... ) a repetitive thine? But why didn ' t I work before? I've had this feeline in the back of my mind befor e ; but I was busy wi~h 3 little ones underfoot. Now time is heavy. But what can I do? what can I offer? ifnat am I?

• • • • • •

VOICE OF THE THINKERS: A POLITICAL LF.ADER TODAY

Women are as vital to a nation's progress as its minerals, its rivers, and its agriculture. Har- nessed and properly controlled but treated with respect, they present a great and powerful force which can be used for the benefit and progress of the nation. Left to run wild, however, or simply ignored, they will be as locusts in the nation's cornfield. ,s

126

ABIGAIL ADAMS TO JOHN ADAMS, 1777:

In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and fa - vorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the hus- bands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have not voice and representation.

We are WITCH. We are LIBERATION. We are WE •.. WITCH is a total concept, a new dimension of women. It means breaking the bond of woman as a biologically and sexually defined creature. It implies the des - truction of passivity, consumerism and commodity fetishism.

Yes, it's different now. Now there's a slim cig- arette for women only -- New Virginia Slims .

You've come a long way, Baby.

/ Cf

127

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10 Radical Feminism summer 2020

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt1

Notes on Planning for Miss America Pageant Protests, 1968
Image of Miss America Pageant Protests, 1968
Draft of Miss America Essay by Robin Morgan

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt2

Letter from Susie [Suzanne Giddens?] to Robin Morgan
Draft of Miss America press release and open letter inviting women to attend the Miss America protest
New York Times, August 15, 1968
Robin Morgan letter requesting a permit for the Miss America protests
Atlantic City letter responding to protest permit request
Article in The Village Voice about Miss America protest
Protest songs used at the Miss America Protest

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt3

Draft of a protest song for the Miss America Protest
Flyer for the Miss America Protest
Flyer for the Miss America Protest
Flyer for the Miss America Protest
Article about the Miss America Protest in the trade magazine, The American Druggist

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt4

What Can Be Learned: A Critique of the Miss America Protest
Notes from the First Year, a collection of radical feminist writings from 1968

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt2

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt5
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt5a
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt5b
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt5c
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt5d
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6

Poor Black Women write about Feminism
Pamphlet on Black Women’s Liberation

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6a

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt3

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6b1
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6c

Sweet 16 to Saggy 36: Saga of American Womanhood

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6c1
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6c2
10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6c3

10 Radical Feminism summer 2020 pt6b.pdf

Chicanas Speak Out