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Women's Liberation!: Feminist Writings that Inspired a Revolution & Still Can
When Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in 1963, the book exploded into women’s consciousness. Before the decade was out, what had begun as a campaign for women’s civil rights transformed into a diverse and revolutionary movement for freedom and social justice that challenged many aspects of everyday life long accepted as fixed: work, birth control and abortion, childcare and housework, gender, class, and race, art and literature, sexuality and identity, rape and domestic violence, sexual harassment, pornography, and more. This was the women’s liberation movement, and writing—powerful, personal, and prophetic—was its beating heart.
Fifty years on, in the age of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, this visionary and radical writing is as relevant and urgently needed as ever, ready to inspire a new generation of feminists. Activists and writers Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore have gathered an unprecedented collection of works—many long out-of-print and hard to find—that catalyzed and propelled the women’s liberation movement. Ranging from Friedan’s Feminine Mystique to Backlash, Susan Faludi’s Reagan-era requiem, and framed by Shulman and Moore with an introduction and headnotes that provide historical and personal context, the anthology reveals the crucial role of Black feminists and other women of color in a decades long mass movement that not only brought about fundamental changes in American life—changes too often taken for granted today—but envisioned a thoroughgoing revolution in society and consciousness still to be achieved.
Fifty years on, in the age of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, this visionary and radical writing is as relevant and urgently needed as ever, ready to inspire a new generation of feminists. Activists and writers Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore have gathered an unprecedented collection of works—many long out-of-print and hard to find—that catalyzed and propelled the women’s liberation movement. Ranging from Friedan’s Feminine Mystique to Backlash, Susan Faludi’s Reagan-era requiem, and framed by Shulman and Moore with an introduction and headnotes that provide historical and personal context, the anthology reveals the crucial role of Black feminists and other women of color in a decades long mass movement that not only brought about fundamental changes in American life—changes too often taken for granted today—but envisioned a thoroughgoing revolution in society and consciousness still to be achieved.
592 pages, Hardcover
First published February 16, 2021
35 people are currently reading
717 people want to read
About the author
Alix Kates Shulman
26 books61 followersRaised in Cleveland, Ohio, Alix attended public schools and planned to be a lawyer like her dad. But in college at Case Western Reserve University she was smitten by philosophy and upon graduation moved to New York City to study philosophy at Columbia grad school. After some years as an encyclopedia editor, she enrolled at New York University, where she took a degree in mathematics, and later, while raising two children, an MA in Humanities.
She became a civil rights activist in 1961 and a feminist activist in 1967, published her first book in 1970, and taught her first class in 1973--all lifelong pursuits that have found their way into her books.
Having explored in her novels the challenges of youth and midlife, in her memoirs she has probed the later stages in the ongoing drama of her generation of women, taking on the terrors and rewards of solitude, of her parents' final years, and of her late-life calling as caregiver to her beloved husband, with whom she lives in New York City.
She became a civil rights activist in 1961 and a feminist activist in 1967, published her first book in 1970, and taught her first class in 1973--all lifelong pursuits that have found their way into her books.
Having explored in her novels the challenges of youth and midlife, in her memoirs she has probed the later stages in the ongoing drama of her generation of women, taking on the terrors and rewards of solitude, of her parents' final years, and of her late-life calling as caregiver to her beloved husband, with whom she lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 24, 2021
I received a free copy of Women's Liberation! from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review - many thanks!
This is a collection of feminist essays, ranging from the 60s to the 90s.
For a while now I've been wanting to find out more about the history of feminism. While I'm normally not a huge fan of essay collections, I thought it might be a good way to approach this topic.
And I'm glad I did. The editors of Women's Liberation! clearly put a lot of thought and effort into collecting and combining all these wonderful essays.
It was an interesting experience to listen to the voices of women who were (and are in some cases) part of the movement. Many of these essays were very thought-provoking and made clear to me how far we've come. But also how much still needs to be done.
As is often the case for me with non-fiction (especially essay collections), some were more interesting to me than others. That's not the book's fault though. I'd even say it's a point in the book_s favour, as there's something of interest to everybody in this huge collection.
I can highly recommend Women's Liberation! to anybody interested in the history of feminism.
This is a collection of feminist essays, ranging from the 60s to the 90s.
For a while now I've been wanting to find out more about the history of feminism. While I'm normally not a huge fan of essay collections, I thought it might be a good way to approach this topic.
And I'm glad I did. The editors of Women's Liberation! clearly put a lot of thought and effort into collecting and combining all these wonderful essays.
It was an interesting experience to listen to the voices of women who were (and are in some cases) part of the movement. Many of these essays were very thought-provoking and made clear to me how far we've come. But also how much still needs to be done.
As is often the case for me with non-fiction (especially essay collections), some were more interesting to me than others. That's not the book's fault though. I'd even say it's a point in the book_s favour, as there's something of interest to everybody in this huge collection.
I can highly recommend Women's Liberation! to anybody interested in the history of feminism.
January 27, 2021
This edited volume provides an excellent introduction to second-wave feminism. The editors, Alix Kates Schulman and Honor Moore, have assembled an impressive array of writings from the feminist movement (1963–1991) that highlight the diversity of the activists and their views. The writings are presented chronologically, and each text or excerpt of a text is prefaced with a brief introduction written by the editors that provides the reader unfamiliar with the feminist movement with background on the author and on the context in which the writing appeared.
Opening with an excerpt from Betty Friedan's iconic book The Feminine Mystique in which Friedan describes "the problem that has no name" and talks about women's need for meaningful work outside the home, the editors are careful to note that Friedan did not address the concerns of women, both black and white, who did work outside the home, while at the same time showing how this book served as a springboard for protests by women from diverse backgrounds. This diversity immediately becomes apparent as the reader moves through the book, reading excerpts by African American women, Native American women, as well as women that promote very different solutions to the problems of gender and sexual discrimination, including, but not limited to, legislative reform, consciousness-raising, and lesbian separatism. As a result, no reader can come away from this collection still thinking that second-wave feminism was a monolithic movement in which only white middle-class women took part.
The chronological presentation of the essays also allows the reader to see how the movement evolved over time, that is, how it went from a few isolated women who were unsure if such a movement was even possible to a highly diverse movement which at times was deeply divided on issues such as sexuality—that is, whether the emphasis should be on sexual pleasure as a path to liberation or on sexual danger, that is, taking action against pornography and prostitution as oppressive of women. The editors include sample writings from both sides of this debate, as well as from many other debates within the movement.
The body of literature produced by second-wave feminists is vast. Thus, for reasons of space, the editors could not include everything. They opted not to include feminist fiction, poetry and drama. They also chose to exclude academic writings largely addressed to other academics. Obviously some may take issue with these choices. Still others, such as I, might prefer fewer selections with more contextualization, that is, more about the larger historical context in which these selections emerged and the opponents and obstacles that these women encountered. But these very minor objections and wishes are just that and take away nothing from a book that should be a must-read for every person, regardless of gender, interested in women's rights and how the pursuit of women's rights overlaps with issues of race, class, religion, and sexual orientation.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the editors of this volume for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Opening with an excerpt from Betty Friedan's iconic book The Feminine Mystique in which Friedan describes "the problem that has no name" and talks about women's need for meaningful work outside the home, the editors are careful to note that Friedan did not address the concerns of women, both black and white, who did work outside the home, while at the same time showing how this book served as a springboard for protests by women from diverse backgrounds. This diversity immediately becomes apparent as the reader moves through the book, reading excerpts by African American women, Native American women, as well as women that promote very different solutions to the problems of gender and sexual discrimination, including, but not limited to, legislative reform, consciousness-raising, and lesbian separatism. As a result, no reader can come away from this collection still thinking that second-wave feminism was a monolithic movement in which only white middle-class women took part.
The chronological presentation of the essays also allows the reader to see how the movement evolved over time, that is, how it went from a few isolated women who were unsure if such a movement was even possible to a highly diverse movement which at times was deeply divided on issues such as sexuality—that is, whether the emphasis should be on sexual pleasure as a path to liberation or on sexual danger, that is, taking action against pornography and prostitution as oppressive of women. The editors include sample writings from both sides of this debate, as well as from many other debates within the movement.
The body of literature produced by second-wave feminists is vast. Thus, for reasons of space, the editors could not include everything. They opted not to include feminist fiction, poetry and drama. They also chose to exclude academic writings largely addressed to other academics. Obviously some may take issue with these choices. Still others, such as I, might prefer fewer selections with more contextualization, that is, more about the larger historical context in which these selections emerged and the opponents and obstacles that these women encountered. But these very minor objections and wishes are just that and take away nothing from a book that should be a must-read for every person, regardless of gender, interested in women's rights and how the pursuit of women's rights overlaps with issues of race, class, religion, and sexual orientation.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the editors of this volume for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
November 4, 2021
This book is a great collection of feminist writing but of course it's also much more than that; it's also an attempt to reclaim and to some extent rehabilitate second wave feminism from charges about how white and disconnected from working class women the "movement" was. (Movement in quote marks to delineate the idea of a single movement.) I would say it's a compelling argument, and definitely raises some questions about how we mark off movements of feminism, though I'm not sure it's necessarily always useful to take these different concerns and mark them all as "second wave."
My primary Big Beef is the way the text draws a line between "academic feminism" and "regular" feminism, as if many of the pieces in the book--including the writings of Audre Lorde--were not produced for academic conferences. The lines between academic and non-academic are not as neatly drawn as this book might suggest, and I'm not sure who they were intending to exclude--Judith Butler? Joan Scott? (neither of whom I would say were second wave necessarily, and in fact responding to some of the claims that "regular" second wave feminists were making.)
A smaller beef is with some of the explanatory text--which overall I did deeply appreciate, but occasionally important terms like "Third World Woman" were badly contextualized (in that case, stripping the term of any anti-colonial commitments.)
Overall though, my personal nitpicking aside, I think this collection is actually very useful and does make a compelling argument for reexamining our assumptions about what constitutes the "second wave." I think especially for teaching, this collection is really really helpful, and I am glad I read it (and have already used it greatly for finding things for high school students and others to read!)
My primary Big Beef is the way the text draws a line between "academic feminism" and "regular" feminism, as if many of the pieces in the book--including the writings of Audre Lorde--were not produced for academic conferences. The lines between academic and non-academic are not as neatly drawn as this book might suggest, and I'm not sure who they were intending to exclude--Judith Butler? Joan Scott? (neither of whom I would say were second wave necessarily, and in fact responding to some of the claims that "regular" second wave feminists were making.)
A smaller beef is with some of the explanatory text--which overall I did deeply appreciate, but occasionally important terms like "Third World Woman" were badly contextualized (in that case, stripping the term of any anti-colonial commitments.)
Overall though, my personal nitpicking aside, I think this collection is actually very useful and does make a compelling argument for reexamining our assumptions about what constitutes the "second wave." I think especially for teaching, this collection is really really helpful, and I am glad I read it (and have already used it greatly for finding things for high school students and others to read!)
November 12, 2023
A diverse and comprehensive introduction to second-wave feminism. I read this anthology over the course of 3 months. While there were writings I disagree with on such a visceral level that they make my skin crawl, I still appreciate the variety of selections. With so many different voices, you're bound to find a topic or writer to explore further.
Favorites:
Dana Densmore, "On Celibacy"
Carol Hanisch, "The Personal Is Political"
Pat Mainardi, "The Politics of Housework"
Redstockings, "Manifesto and Principles"
Marcia Sprinkle & Norma Allen Lesser, "The Children's House"
Susan Griffin, (from) Rape: The All-American Crime
Gloria Steinem, "Sisterhood"
Jane O'Reilly, (from) The Housewife's Moment of Truth
Tillie Olsen, (from) Women Who Are Writers in Our Century: One Out of Twelve
Johnnie Tillmon, Welfare Is a Women's Issue
Barbara Seaman, (from) Birth Control
Phyllis Chesler, (from) Women and Madness
Lolly Hirsch, "Practicing Health Without a License"
Del Martin, "A Letter from a Battered Wife"
Gerda Lerner, "The Majority Finds Its Past"*
June Jordan, "Don't You Talk About My Mama!"
Susan Faludi, (from) Backlash "Blame It on Feminism"
Favorites:
Dana Densmore, "On Celibacy"
Carol Hanisch, "The Personal Is Political"
Pat Mainardi, "The Politics of Housework"
Redstockings, "Manifesto and Principles"
Marcia Sprinkle & Norma Allen Lesser, "The Children's House"
Susan Griffin, (from) Rape: The All-American Crime
Gloria Steinem, "Sisterhood"
Jane O'Reilly, (from) The Housewife's Moment of Truth
Tillie Olsen, (from) Women Who Are Writers in Our Century: One Out of Twelve
Johnnie Tillmon, Welfare Is a Women's Issue
Barbara Seaman, (from) Birth Control
Phyllis Chesler, (from) Women and Madness
Lolly Hirsch, "Practicing Health Without a License"
Del Martin, "A Letter from a Battered Wife"
Gerda Lerner, "The Majority Finds Its Past"*
June Jordan, "Don't You Talk About My Mama!"
Susan Faludi, (from) Backlash "Blame It on Feminism"
January 19, 2023
Absolutely obsessed with all the essays in this book, even the ones I didn't fully agree with.
February 26, 2021
Women’s Liberation! Feminist Writings that Inspired a Revolution & Still Can
Edited by Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore, Library of America, 16 February 2021.
Thank you to Net Galley for providing this unedited copy for review.
Firstly, let me address the unedited nature of the copy I received for review (a kindle version). This has been fairly difficult to navigate, and I believe that the writers would benefit from a little further formatting before providing the galleys for review. That being said, I have enjoyed the papers that have been well worth the chase.
Women’s Liberation! Feminist Writings that inspired a Revolution & Still Can is a commanding title – which, in my initial view, could well have done without the exclamation mark. I found it, together with the ampersand, likely to undermine the serious nature of the work. However, this collection, although serious in nature and intent, comprises a large range of material which omits academic works. As a ‘clarion call’ motif, the cover is eye catching, and not only denotes the popular nature of the work but is perhaps essential in a period when the stories of many inequalities are fighting for attention. The insertion of pamphlets and other short works provide the variety in sources that makes this collection so accessible. Hopefully, many of them ‘still can’ influence the way in which women continue to address the nature, impact, and resolution to the discrimination we endure. However, a proviso, there are some papers that, while historically worth inclusion, resonate uncomfortably in the context of the anger and heightened attention that surely must be given to the importance that governments must be able to govern without violent harassment.
Kates Shulman and Moore have brought this collection together in a manner that helps explain and describe the diversity of women and ideas that made up the women’s movement and women’s fight for recognition from 1963 to 1991. In addition, there is a valuable introduction to the collection, and short introductions to individual papers throughout. The latter usually combines information about the background of the work, the writer/s and the historical context. The introduction to the collection goes further. However, amongst the excellent scene setting, development of historical context and detail about the writers and the movements they represent, I would have liked to have seen some discussion of the ideas and how they fit into today’s need for inspiration. Are they ‘just’ historical papers that are interesting relics of their time? Or do the ideas provide a foundation for the inspiration that Kates Schulman and Moore’s title suggests they would like to see?
The early section begins with an excerpt from Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique The Problem that has No Name. This piece was a “must read” when it was first published, was a huge part of thinking during the 1970s, and is as pertinent today. As familiar are the works associated with the politics of housework, birth control, vaginal orgasm, consciousness raising, “the personal is political” and criticism of beauty pageants. A significant addition is the number of commentaries from and about the politics of being black or a woman of colour. This concern with the intersection of sexism and racism is a theme throughout the papers, and particularly relevant today where movements advocating white supremacy are dangerously prevalent.
Excerpts from Schulamith Firestone and Kate Millett begin the 1970 – 1979 section. Shirley Chisholm, Robin Morgan Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Susan Brownmiller, Judy Chicago, Barbara Ehrenreich, Andrea Dworkin and Mary Daly, familiar names from the 1970s, are joined by pamphlet writers and (to me) less well-known women who contributed to the women’s movement in this period. There are papers on women and the law, abortion law repeal, rape, lesbian politics, welfare, madness, ‘verbal karate’ (Florence R Kennedy), health (how fondly I recall Our Bodies, Ourselves), more on housework, a letter from a battered wife, and sexual harassment.
In the 1980 to 1991 section issues related to women in third world countries are raised, along with concerns with pornography, women’s invisibility, psychology, further work on black and coloured women, and an interesting reflection on whether men will be freed first by feminism, and prostitution. Familiar names in this section are Catherine McKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, Ursula K. Le Guin.
To finish, I must acknowledge that some women reading this collection will find other women’s names familiar. I have enjoyed re-reading and reflecting upon the material that I read at the height of my involvement in the women’s movement. Complementing that reading was the material new to me, some distinctly disturbing, other writing making me think in new ways about issues with which I thought I was familiar. This collection readily offers both to its readers in a well organised chronology of our past and ideas that might indeed provide information for our future action.
Edited by Alix Kates Shulman and Honor Moore, Library of America, 16 February 2021.
Thank you to Net Galley for providing this unedited copy for review.
Firstly, let me address the unedited nature of the copy I received for review (a kindle version). This has been fairly difficult to navigate, and I believe that the writers would benefit from a little further formatting before providing the galleys for review. That being said, I have enjoyed the papers that have been well worth the chase.
Women’s Liberation! Feminist Writings that inspired a Revolution & Still Can is a commanding title – which, in my initial view, could well have done without the exclamation mark. I found it, together with the ampersand, likely to undermine the serious nature of the work. However, this collection, although serious in nature and intent, comprises a large range of material which omits academic works. As a ‘clarion call’ motif, the cover is eye catching, and not only denotes the popular nature of the work but is perhaps essential in a period when the stories of many inequalities are fighting for attention. The insertion of pamphlets and other short works provide the variety in sources that makes this collection so accessible. Hopefully, many of them ‘still can’ influence the way in which women continue to address the nature, impact, and resolution to the discrimination we endure. However, a proviso, there are some papers that, while historically worth inclusion, resonate uncomfortably in the context of the anger and heightened attention that surely must be given to the importance that governments must be able to govern without violent harassment.
Kates Shulman and Moore have brought this collection together in a manner that helps explain and describe the diversity of women and ideas that made up the women’s movement and women’s fight for recognition from 1963 to 1991. In addition, there is a valuable introduction to the collection, and short introductions to individual papers throughout. The latter usually combines information about the background of the work, the writer/s and the historical context. The introduction to the collection goes further. However, amongst the excellent scene setting, development of historical context and detail about the writers and the movements they represent, I would have liked to have seen some discussion of the ideas and how they fit into today’s need for inspiration. Are they ‘just’ historical papers that are interesting relics of their time? Or do the ideas provide a foundation for the inspiration that Kates Schulman and Moore’s title suggests they would like to see?
The early section begins with an excerpt from Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique The Problem that has No Name. This piece was a “must read” when it was first published, was a huge part of thinking during the 1970s, and is as pertinent today. As familiar are the works associated with the politics of housework, birth control, vaginal orgasm, consciousness raising, “the personal is political” and criticism of beauty pageants. A significant addition is the number of commentaries from and about the politics of being black or a woman of colour. This concern with the intersection of sexism and racism is a theme throughout the papers, and particularly relevant today where movements advocating white supremacy are dangerously prevalent.
Excerpts from Schulamith Firestone and Kate Millett begin the 1970 – 1979 section. Shirley Chisholm, Robin Morgan Gloria Steinem, Alice Walker, Susan Brownmiller, Judy Chicago, Barbara Ehrenreich, Andrea Dworkin and Mary Daly, familiar names from the 1970s, are joined by pamphlet writers and (to me) less well-known women who contributed to the women’s movement in this period. There are papers on women and the law, abortion law repeal, rape, lesbian politics, welfare, madness, ‘verbal karate’ (Florence R Kennedy), health (how fondly I recall Our Bodies, Ourselves), more on housework, a letter from a battered wife, and sexual harassment.
In the 1980 to 1991 section issues related to women in third world countries are raised, along with concerns with pornography, women’s invisibility, psychology, further work on black and coloured women, and an interesting reflection on whether men will be freed first by feminism, and prostitution. Familiar names in this section are Catherine McKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, Ursula K. Le Guin.
To finish, I must acknowledge that some women reading this collection will find other women’s names familiar. I have enjoyed re-reading and reflecting upon the material that I read at the height of my involvement in the women’s movement. Complementing that reading was the material new to me, some distinctly disturbing, other writing making me think in new ways about issues with which I thought I was familiar. This collection readily offers both to its readers in a well organised chronology of our past and ideas that might indeed provide information for our future action.
Read
June 7, 2021I have been a Feminist for as long as I can remember, which means my parents raised me as such. Despite this, however, certain doubts, thoughts and fears still creep in, especially in a world that is slowly creeping ever more to the right. Revisiting the writing of (American) Feminists from the past sixty-odd years has been immensely inspiring and I can't help but thank Shulman and Moore for putting this writing together into such an inspiring primer. Thanks to Library of American and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A shameful confession is in order here. Despite being a feminist for all these years, I have not read as many of the foundation text as I would have liked. Although being a Feminist shouldn't really come with entry requirements, I do think it requires consistent education. As a white, middle-class, cis, heterosexual woman, I need to make sure I continue to broaden my understanding of what women go through. I also need to take a close look at how I benefit and how I suffer from the way society currently functions and what I role I play in that. That was a lot of 'I's, but getting to know yourself and understanding your own position is important. The writings in Women's Liberation! have given me a new vocabulary to express myself, they have opened my eyes even further towards the racism that underlies some feminist writings, and they have been conversation starters for me and my friends.
Women's Liberation! starts with the first chapter of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique as a kind of foundational text for American feminism. From there, this collection is divided roughly into decades, covering 1863 to 1991, with each writing prefaced by Shulman and Moore with biographical information. Much of this writing is from the seventies, but each decade has its absolute standouts and heavy hitters. Solanas' SCUM Manifesto makes a thrilling appearance, while the 'Statement on Birth Control' by the Black Women's Liberation Group of Mt. Vernon, NY was eye-opening. I was very much affected by Dana Densmore's 'On Celibacy', especially her naked admission that once you take access to your body off the table the behaviour of men who were friends before will change. The excerpt from Doris Wright's 1970 essay 'Angry Notes from a Black Feminist' highlights the importance of intersectional Feminism, of discussing the similarities but also the differences in gendered issues women of different races face. Mitsue Yamada's 'Invisibility Is an Unnatural Disaster: Reflections of an Asian American Woman' was especially important for me to read in the past months.
It's impossible to really summarize the writings of Women's Liberation! because there is such a variety of it. But there are a few things these writings have in common. They are indeed rallying cries, written from anger, or sadness, or conviction, or even a joyful cynicism. You can't help but read these women's writing and learn from them, whether it is learning a new vocabulary for your own experiences or learning how to pick apart and understand the elements in society that lead to oppression. There is also a sadness to reading this collection now, when some of the changes these women wrought is being overturned, and when so much hasn't changed yet. But that is where the subtitle of Women's Liberation! comes in. These writings can indeed "still" be inspiring and I realized that by actually engaging with these texts I can be much more effective. Knowing what has come before, understanding where way may have gone wrong and where we forged crucial bridges, all of that helps in taking one step after the other on the journey to a more equal society.
Women's Liberation! is a necessary and timely collection of brilliant writing by Feminists of the last few decades of the 20th century. Let yourself be inspired to keep fighting!
A shameful confession is in order here. Despite being a feminist for all these years, I have not read as many of the foundation text as I would have liked. Although being a Feminist shouldn't really come with entry requirements, I do think it requires consistent education. As a white, middle-class, cis, heterosexual woman, I need to make sure I continue to broaden my understanding of what women go through. I also need to take a close look at how I benefit and how I suffer from the way society currently functions and what I role I play in that. That was a lot of 'I's, but getting to know yourself and understanding your own position is important. The writings in Women's Liberation! have given me a new vocabulary to express myself, they have opened my eyes even further towards the racism that underlies some feminist writings, and they have been conversation starters for me and my friends.
Women's Liberation! starts with the first chapter of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique as a kind of foundational text for American feminism. From there, this collection is divided roughly into decades, covering 1863 to 1991, with each writing prefaced by Shulman and Moore with biographical information. Much of this writing is from the seventies, but each decade has its absolute standouts and heavy hitters. Solanas' SCUM Manifesto makes a thrilling appearance, while the 'Statement on Birth Control' by the Black Women's Liberation Group of Mt. Vernon, NY was eye-opening. I was very much affected by Dana Densmore's 'On Celibacy', especially her naked admission that once you take access to your body off the table the behaviour of men who were friends before will change. The excerpt from Doris Wright's 1970 essay 'Angry Notes from a Black Feminist' highlights the importance of intersectional Feminism, of discussing the similarities but also the differences in gendered issues women of different races face. Mitsue Yamada's 'Invisibility Is an Unnatural Disaster: Reflections of an Asian American Woman' was especially important for me to read in the past months.
It's impossible to really summarize the writings of Women's Liberation! because there is such a variety of it. But there are a few things these writings have in common. They are indeed rallying cries, written from anger, or sadness, or conviction, or even a joyful cynicism. You can't help but read these women's writing and learn from them, whether it is learning a new vocabulary for your own experiences or learning how to pick apart and understand the elements in society that lead to oppression. There is also a sadness to reading this collection now, when some of the changes these women wrought is being overturned, and when so much hasn't changed yet. But that is where the subtitle of Women's Liberation! comes in. These writings can indeed "still" be inspiring and I realized that by actually engaging with these texts I can be much more effective. Knowing what has come before, understanding where way may have gone wrong and where we forged crucial bridges, all of that helps in taking one step after the other on the journey to a more equal society.
Women's Liberation! is a necessary and timely collection of brilliant writing by Feminists of the last few decades of the 20th century. Let yourself be inspired to keep fighting!
May 15, 2022
A nice collection of seminal feminist writings. This anthology impressed me by the way it could show the wide array of tendencies in feminism during the covered period, roughly the last half of the Twentieth Century. Some of the pieces here show how some feminists adopted an uncompromising in your face break with the status quo. That would be the tendency towards seeing heterosexual women as victims of the male drive to dominate and subject women. For example Andrea Dworkin on pornography--its ALL violence against and degradation of women. Valorie Solanas's SCUM manifesto is another wild one, calling for destroying the male sex. (She would eventually become famous for trying to murder Andy Warhol). If Dworkin comes across as extreme, and Solanas as unhinged, other writers here make a persuasive argument that much remains to be done and that the struggle for equality goes on. I thought the introduction to Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi was particularly good, and as relevant now as it was in 1991. There are works here by Carol Hanisch, Bell Hooks, Betty Friedan, Angela Davis, Adrienne Rich, Susan Brownmiller, and many more.
Somehow I've never read the The Feminine Mystique until reading the excerpt provided here. It was startling how well the excerpt captures the world inhabited by my mother's generation and those immediately before hers. Thinking back I know that I saw my mother's struggle with this very "problem" in her life and what an unfair world women faced as they struggled to be whom they were expected to be in service of the family.
For me this brought up connections with the Transcendentalism. Emerson and Thoreau and others were rethinking the social contract, putting their own need for self-realization above the demands of the community for service and conformity. Now for women, a century later, the transcendental moment was upon them--or upon them again, as women were among the Transcendentalists in Emerson's time, too-- but now with many women having sufficient leisure, health, and education to make the question of self-realization salient and insistent. As the earlier Transcendentalists, women in the 1960s and on were demanding, again, a new social contract and a life that was more than just lived in the service of others.
Somehow I've never read the The Feminine Mystique until reading the excerpt provided here. It was startling how well the excerpt captures the world inhabited by my mother's generation and those immediately before hers. Thinking back I know that I saw my mother's struggle with this very "problem" in her life and what an unfair world women faced as they struggled to be whom they were expected to be in service of the family.
For me this brought up connections with the Transcendentalism. Emerson and Thoreau and others were rethinking the social contract, putting their own need for self-realization above the demands of the community for service and conformity. Now for women, a century later, the transcendental moment was upon them--or upon them again, as women were among the Transcendentalists in Emerson's time, too-- but now with many women having sufficient leisure, health, and education to make the question of self-realization salient and insistent. As the earlier Transcendentalists, women in the 1960s and on were demanding, again, a new social contract and a life that was more than just lived in the service of others.
February 4, 2021
Women's Liberation!: Feminist Writings that Inspired a Revolution & Still Can is a wonderful collection of writings from second wave feminism. There is such a wealth of ideas here that speak to our contemporary society as powerfully as it did then.
Depending on your background, many if not all of these writers and works (excerpts, essays, etc) may well be familiar to you. If so, this offers you a chance to remember some key points you may have forgotten. I found myself reading some of these almost as if I had never seen them before. So much has been written and so much has happened over the past sixty years or so that some things fade. Shulan and Moore made some phenomenal choices to include and made a point in the introduction of reaching back to The Second Sex, a work that sits outside the time frame of this collection but is definitely a part of it in spirit.
For any readers new to feminist thought, this is an excellent primary document source. There are some very good histories available to help create more of a narrative, within which these works played key roles. As they also mention in the introduction, some people over simplify the past, giving the impression that every conflict or debate had only two sides, the popular "cat fight" narrative. If anyone is interested in getting a broader view of the so-called sex wars during this period, one that disputes the sex-positive/sex-negative dichotomy, I would recommend the forthcoming Why We Lost the Sex Wars by Lorna N Bracewell. I believe it is being published next month, March, from University of Minnesota Press.
We must continuously look back so we don't forget in order to make the change we need to make. This volume serves that function for both those of us who remember these works and those for whom these are new. Highly recommended for both reading and reference.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
Depending on your background, many if not all of these writers and works (excerpts, essays, etc) may well be familiar to you. If so, this offers you a chance to remember some key points you may have forgotten. I found myself reading some of these almost as if I had never seen them before. So much has been written and so much has happened over the past sixty years or so that some things fade. Shulan and Moore made some phenomenal choices to include and made a point in the introduction of reaching back to The Second Sex, a work that sits outside the time frame of this collection but is definitely a part of it in spirit.
For any readers new to feminist thought, this is an excellent primary document source. There are some very good histories available to help create more of a narrative, within which these works played key roles. As they also mention in the introduction, some people over simplify the past, giving the impression that every conflict or debate had only two sides, the popular "cat fight" narrative. If anyone is interested in getting a broader view of the so-called sex wars during this period, one that disputes the sex-positive/sex-negative dichotomy, I would recommend the forthcoming Why We Lost the Sex Wars by Lorna N Bracewell. I believe it is being published next month, March, from University of Minnesota Press.
We must continuously look back so we don't forget in order to make the change we need to make. This volume serves that function for both those of us who remember these works and those for whom these are new. Highly recommended for both reading and reference.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
May 27, 2023
This book is a chronological collection of second wave feminist essays from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. As with any collection of essays or short stories some of these are great, some merely okay. I appreciated the deliberate effort on the part of the editors to include essays by women of color, but it felt like they were trying to fight the reputation of second wave feminism as being mostly white and I do think it is important to recognize the harm that white feminism did to communities of color. That harm felt especially important in the essays from the 80s that felt mostly focused on the politics of sex, porn, and prostitution rather then topics like fighting Regan’s welfare policies or the gutting of the affordable child care that feminists of the 60s and early 70s fought so hard for. It does not matter what your position on porn is if you cannot feed your children and feminism got a little lost in the weeds at this point in time. Because of that I did enjoy the first two thirds of this book much more than the final third, although there were a couple great essays sprinkled among even the final third.
All in all this book was a significant commitment of time and energy, and although I really liked it, especially the chronological lay out, I think it’s more interesting from an historical standpoint than it is genuinely motivating for feminists today.
All in all this book was a significant commitment of time and energy, and although I really liked it, especially the chronological lay out, I think it’s more interesting from an historical standpoint than it is genuinely motivating for feminists today.
February 12, 2021
Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Women’s Liberation in exchange for an honest and fair review.
I’ve been working to read books outside of my “normal” criteria lately so when this popped up on NetGalley I jumped at the opportunity to read and review Women’s Liberation.
This is a collection of diverse feminist works from 1963-1991 and honestly some parts I’m not even sure what to say about them except they got my blood boiling. It took me a while to read the all of the collections but I read them little by little over the past month, and it was a really inspiring read just to know more of feminism history before I was born. I particularly appreciated that there was diverse voices and perspectives.
Women’s Liberation is an great compilations of writings, pamphlets and works, and I appreciated the opportunity to read them and would recommend them to pretty much everyone alive today as I think it’s important to reflect upon where we were and how we got to where we are now. It feels like an important part of history, and I’m so thankful for all the strong women who fought before me, all the strong women alive and fighting now, and all the strong women that will fight in the future.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
I’ve been working to read books outside of my “normal” criteria lately so when this popped up on NetGalley I jumped at the opportunity to read and review Women’s Liberation.
This is a collection of diverse feminist works from 1963-1991 and honestly some parts I’m not even sure what to say about them except they got my blood boiling. It took me a while to read the all of the collections but I read them little by little over the past month, and it was a really inspiring read just to know more of feminism history before I was born. I particularly appreciated that there was diverse voices and perspectives.
Women’s Liberation is an great compilations of writings, pamphlets and works, and I appreciated the opportunity to read them and would recommend them to pretty much everyone alive today as I think it’s important to reflect upon where we were and how we got to where we are now. It feels like an important part of history, and I’m so thankful for all the strong women who fought before me, all the strong women alive and fighting now, and all the strong women that will fight in the future.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
February 7, 2021
This is a great anthology of both well-known and less-known works contributing to women's equality and liberation. There's the Feminine Mystique but then some works by feminist groups in the 1970s that I found very interesting. If you're looking for a wide range of sources and perspectives, spanning the 1950s (which typically is seen as the ""beginning" of the feminist movement) to the present day, this is it.
For me, and someone who has read on this topic before, the first part was the expected and less engaging than the second part. For someone who is first setting foot into interacting with these readings, the whole book will be equally engaging. I think the 50s, 60s, and some of the 70s always gets its place in the sun. The later 70s through the present often gets left behind in the narratives and history- partially because it seems too close to the present, but also because I think women get overshadowed by other events in these eras.
So glad this was put together by the Library of America. I always find their layouts, font, and formatting so aesthetically pleasing.
For me, and someone who has read on this topic before, the first part was the expected and less engaging than the second part. For someone who is first setting foot into interacting with these readings, the whole book will be equally engaging. I think the 50s, 60s, and some of the 70s always gets its place in the sun. The later 70s through the present often gets left behind in the narratives and history- partially because it seems too close to the present, but also because I think women get overshadowed by other events in these eras.
So glad this was put together by the Library of America. I always find their layouts, font, and formatting so aesthetically pleasing.
March 9, 2021
This was a trip down memory lane for me. As a young woman in my teens and early 20s I lived through this period of feminism. I read Betty Friedan in high school and saw my mother in that famous opening of Is this all there is...; I knew that could never be me. I read all the feminist texts of the era- Kate Millet, Simone de Beauvior, Kate Millet, Germaine Greer and then many of the later- Gerda Lerner, Susan Faludi, bell hooks, Angela Davis. It was fun re-reading the most famous passages from those texts in this book. And there were many other lesser known writers whose writings were funny, enlightening, and enjoyable. Some of the writings did not stand the test of time, and some did. And, of course, there were essays I skipped because they did not inspire me as interesting. Overall, a great compilation of feminist thought from 1963-1991.
January 25, 2021
*Arc kindly given via Netgalley*
As a women who has been intimately related with feminism, this book was everything I was hoping it would be. The chorus of diverse voices we get to hear talk about different struggles helped me to widen my perspective and learn so much more about this movement and its roots. You get to read about black feminism, queer feminism, radical feminist, among others which I consider to be a really good selection since before this book, I haven't got a chance to read about this branches that the movement have.
I consider this book to be a “must read” to anyone who's looking to learn more about occidental feminist history.
As a women who has been intimately related with feminism, this book was everything I was hoping it would be. The chorus of diverse voices we get to hear talk about different struggles helped me to widen my perspective and learn so much more about this movement and its roots. You get to read about black feminism, queer feminism, radical feminist, among others which I consider to be a really good selection since before this book, I haven't got a chance to read about this branches that the movement have.
I consider this book to be a “must read” to anyone who's looking to learn more about occidental feminist history.
March 19, 2021
A great collection of writings during the feminist movement. I love the timeline that can helped me track of when things were written so I could see how things have changed. Honestly the feminist movement isn't over yet and Id love to see more people writing about it but this is just segments from different feminist books so I would've liked to see more insight from the editor. I do recommend for people who love history.
January 31, 2021
Nice collection of writings from second wave feminism. I loved Women’s Studies in college and this was a nice refresher. A lot of articles I hadn’t come across before and many are very relevant to women’s experience today.
I was able to read this book early through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was able to read this book early through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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January 3, 2022Didn’t read all the essays/skimmed some. Favorites are probably The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm and Uses of the Erotic, both groundbreaking. Many of the essays I couldn’t connect with on a personal level (they were clearly written in a different time) which goes to show how much progress we have made. At the same time I recognize that many of the points made are still relevant.
July 19, 2021
DNF—loved the idea of this book—collection of feminist essays, including authors and perspectives that were overlooked in the first wave—but eventually did more skimming throughout the book then I did reading sequentially.
tbr-arcs
February 20, 2021Disclaimer: Received a copy for review from the publisher via NetGalley
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March 4, 2024I highlighted so much of this book. Although there's a lot in it, I found myself eager to return to it again and again. It was so interesting to see what was still relevant today.
June 7, 2021
This is a really important collection of writings from the second wave of feminism. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the history of the movement now and I definitely want not only to buy a hard copy of this book for reference, but track down several of the books included for further reading. I was pleased to see a number of the articles etc were from women of colour or from the LGBT+ community, as it showed that the Women's Liberation Movement was more intersectional than I thought. I also liked that there was reference to the infighting as it shows the variety of beliefs among the women connected to the movement.
September 21, 2021
This is an absolutely wonderful collection of second-wave feminist texts. From feminist classics to controversial texts like the SCUM manifesto, this book is a great compendium of diverse writings from feminists of varied backgrounds and views.
The legacy of second-wave feminism is too often forgotten. Here are brilliant women thinkers writing about birth control, abortion, the politics of house work, female separatism (both for and against), prostitution. womanism, lesbianism, etc.
I love the incredibly wide range the authors chose, so you get a very good sense of the theories and views of the time. Some texts are short pamphlets, others excerpts from books and reviews.
The writers are bold, unafraid to speak bluntly and crudely about the oppression females face. While many might think of these issues as out of date, they are still common. Some of the lessons of the second wave have been cast aside in favor of an uncritical, shallow form of liberal feminism.
Even reading a fraction of these texts is important, especially the ones by marginalized women like women of color and lesbians. The little paragraphs at the beginning give context and short biographies for the individual activists and organizations represented. There’s also a collection of photographs from demonstrations such as the Moss America pageant protest.
A wonderful time capsule of a time we must look to and remember for the struggle ahead.
The legacy of second-wave feminism is too often forgotten. Here are brilliant women thinkers writing about birth control, abortion, the politics of house work, female separatism (both for and against), prostitution. womanism, lesbianism, etc.
I love the incredibly wide range the authors chose, so you get a very good sense of the theories and views of the time. Some texts are short pamphlets, others excerpts from books and reviews.
The writers are bold, unafraid to speak bluntly and crudely about the oppression females face. While many might think of these issues as out of date, they are still common. Some of the lessons of the second wave have been cast aside in favor of an uncritical, shallow form of liberal feminism.
Even reading a fraction of these texts is important, especially the ones by marginalized women like women of color and lesbians. The little paragraphs at the beginning give context and short biographies for the individual activists and organizations represented. There’s also a collection of photographs from demonstrations such as the Moss America pageant protest.
A wonderful time capsule of a time we must look to and remember for the struggle ahead.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews