Not Dead Yet: Feminism, Passion and Women's Liberation

by Renate Klein (Editor), Susan Hawthorne (Editor)

What was it like to participate in the Women's Liberation Movement? What made millions of women step forward from the 1960s onwards and join it in different ways? Many of the fifty women in this book were there. They describe how they have contributed in multitudinous ways across politics, the arts, health, education, environmentalism, economics and science and created wonderfully subversive activism. And how they continue this activism today with determined grittiness. Here are women – all over 70 years of age – still railing against the patriarchal systemic oppression of women, still fighting back. “Don't Call Me Sweetie”, “Never Waste a Good Crisis” and “Still Here, Still Clear and Still Lesbian” are what they want us to know. The contributors to Not Dead Yet have created new analyses with new language and new kinds of organisations always aware of the ways in which the system is stacked against them, particularly against radical lesbian feminists. But they persist. They share the revolutionary zest they have carried with them over many decades. There is history, there is subversion and there are many extraordinary acts of courage. The language is full of irony and wit – as well as deadly serious.The Women's Liberation Movement had a profound effect on the lives of millions of women and in turn those women have changed the world. Young women in particular might enjoy reading the inspirational tales by their foremothers in Not Dead Yet and let their wisdom guide their own paths.

Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2021

About the author

Renate Klein was born in Zurich, Switzerland and has degrees from universities of Zurich, London and the University of California (Berkeley). She is known internationally for her work on reproductive technologies and information technologies. She has spoken to parliamentary committees and on TV, radio and print media about ethical issues in reproductive medicines. Her books include the international bestseller Test Tube Women (1984, co-editor). Her other books include: Theories of Women's Studies (1983, co-editor with Gloria Bowles); Man Made Women (1986, co-author); The Exploitation of a Desire (1989, Deakin University Press); Infertility (1989); Radical Voices (1990, co-editor with Debbie Steinberg); Angels of Power (1991);
RU 486: Misconceptions, Myth and Morals (1991, co-author); Australia for Women: Travel and Culture (1994, co-editor with Susan Hawthorne). She is co-editor with Diane Bell of Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed (1996) and with Susan Hawthorne of CyberFeminism (1999).

Renate Klein admits that the joys of dog companionship came to her after establishing herself as a writer and academic. With Jan Fook, she co-edited A Girl's Best Friend: The Meaning of Dogs in Women's Lives (2002), with Jan Fook and Susan Hawthorne Cat Tales: The Meaning of Cats in Women's Lives (2003) and HorseDreams: The Meaning of Horses in Women's Lives (2004).

She has been Associate Professor of Women's Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne. She says of herself that she still cares passionately about social justice for women, particularly in the area of reproductive and cyber technologies, but her dog, River, made her laugh, cry and experience pure joie de vivre.