Radical Feminism: A Documentary Reader

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Barbara A. Crow
NYU Press, 2000 - 573 pages

A selection of essential writings to understand the radical feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s

The second wave of feminism was one of the most significant political and cultural developments of the 1960s and 1970s. Yet the role radical feminism played within the women's movement remains hotly contested. For some, radical feminism has made a lasting contribution to our understanding of male privilege, and the ways the power imbalance between men and women affects the everyday fabric of women's lives. For others, radical feminism represents a reflexive hostility toward men, sex, and heterosexuality, and thus is best ignored or forgotten.

Rather than have the movement be interpreted by others, Radical Feminism permits the original work of radical feminists to speak for itself. Comprised of pivotal documents written by U.S. radical feminists in the 1960s and 1970s, Radical Feminism combines both unpublished and previously published manifestos, position papers, minutes of meetings, and newsletters essential to an understanding of radical feminism. Consisting of documents unavailable to the general public, and others in danger of being lost altogether, this panoramic collection is organized around the key issues of sex and sexuality, race, children, lesbianism, separatism, and class. Barbara A. Crow rescues the groundbreaking original work of such groups as The Furies, Redstockings, Cell 16, and the Women's Liberation Movement. Contributors include Kate Millet, Susan Brownmiller, Shulamith Firestone, Rosalyn Baxandall, Toni Morrison, Ellen Willis, Anne Koett, and Vivan Gornick.

Gathered for the first time in one volume, these primary sources of radical feminism fill a major gap in the literature on feminism and feminist thought. Radical Feminism is an indispensable resource for future generations of feminists, scholars, and activists.

 

Contents

An Introduction
11
What Is Liberation?
67
Radical Feminism
82
The Dialectic of Sex
90
The Relationship of Black Women to the Womens
98
The Personal Is Political
113
Theory of Sexual Politics
122
To Be Black and Female
154
Women Divided?
365
A Critique of the Miss America Protest
378
On the Temptation to Be a Beautiful Object
388
How a Female Heterosexual Serves
395
Cooperative Nurseries
403
Day Care
418
Womens Liberation and the Black Panther Party
427
Selections from Black Lesbian in White America
443

The New Misandry
167
SCUM Society for Cutting Up Men Manifesto
201
Redstockings Manifesto
223
The WomanIdentifiedWoman
233
The Comingest Womanifesto followed by Resolution
265
A Program for Feminist ConsciousnessRaising
273
ConsciousnessRaising
282
An Introduction
301
The Black Lesbian
325
Lesbians in Revolt
332
Radical Feminism? Dyke Separatism?
358
An Argument for Black Womens Liberation as
450
Women in the Struggle
460
Notes Prompted by the National Black Feminist
466
A Call for Support of the Three
473
On Class Structure within the Womens Movement
481
The Story of Daily Life
494
Caste Class or Oppressed Sex?
502
Women and the Left
513
Slavery or Labor of Love
530
Permissions
561
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About the author (2000)

Barbara A. Crow is Assistant Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Calgary and writes on feminist politics and technology.

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