The Women's Liberation Movement

1950s Housewife to Women's Activist: Betty Friedan

History of Second Wave Feminism

U.S. Nuns Face Vatican Rebuke for "Radical Feminism" in Stances on Church Teachings, Social Justice

U.S. Nuns Face Vatican Rebuke for "Radical Feminism" in Stances on Church Teachings, Social Justice

Feminism Survey: Men on the Street

Join the Revolution for a Family Friendly America

When I was a radical young feminist in the late 60s and early 70s, I was profoundly disturbed by the middle-class nature of New York feminism. Only a tiny minority of women could afford to become doctors, lawyers, college professors, corporate executives. The needs of women of color were ignored. African American women had always worked and taken care of their children. They were more dubious about abortion, since the babies of teen mothers were often cared for by relatives.

 Unlike many women with my intellect and education, I stayed home with my four children full-time for 14 years. I also cared for my mother in my home 24/7 during the last four years of my life. Both my husbands and I made career and financial sacrifices to make that possible. Certainly my career has not been the success I dreamed about. But I am not sorry. I involved myself in nonsexist childrearing, childbirth education, breastfeeding counseling, parent education, toddler playgroups, babysitting cooperatives, cooperative nursery schools, school libraries, a campaign to save the local public library, the nuclear freeze movement, mental illness support and advocacy, parent advocacy for playground upkeep and a preschool playroom, the War Resisters League, Pax Christi (Catholic anti-war group)--the list is endless.

When I made the mistake of attending library school and social work school, I naively assumed my qualifications would be obvious and no one would dare to treat me like a beginner. Instead, I was given the the salary, benefits, authority, and respect of a beginner and the responsibilities of a long-term employee. Several bosses seemed threatened I wanted their jobs. I recall one infuriating incident during my first social work placement; my childless supervisor earnestly instructed me how to interview a client with her two year old present. I had frequently run La Leche Meetings with 20 moms and 30 babies and toddlers. Women social workers who had taken very short maternity leaves and worked full-time during their children's childhood too often acted like all my knowledge and wisdom had been attained by cheating. I got more respect from male professors.

 The situation has worsened; women are terrified of taking only a few years off from work. And yet the men who fought World War II left their jobs for several years and did not suffer economic consequences. The government even paid for their college and grad school education. When my mom went back to college in 1963 and work in 1968, after having raised 6 children, she was accorded more respect and her experience was more honored than mine was 20 years later

Women's Strike for Equalilty 1970

I am not happy with the tone of the press coverage, but still this is very interesting.

Calling All Crows

March for Women's Equality, 1989

Li Longo--My Feminist Journey

To Be, or Not To Be. All I know is, I am a feminist.

If you went back to my high school, perhaps even to my grammar school, and asked who was most likely to grow up and be a feminist, I’m pretty sure my name would get the most votes. Right next to the “Class Flirt” and “Most School Spirit” awards my classmates bestowed upon me, this one would have been treasured. I was born in 1964, grew up wishing I’d been old enough to be part of the Civil rights movement. Idolizing Martin Luther King, President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy.

Growing up as I did, in a true blue democratic political family, my grandfather had no doubt, it would be politics or law for me, he would proudly tell the rest of the family, I could convince the birds to sing and  argue with the “best”.  I have a clear memory of one such argument with my father. I wanted to take typing in high school. “Why?” he asked, “You are going to have a secretary, not be a secretary.” 

And so it was that from a young age, I was told I would be a leader, not one of the led. I was expected to honor that responsibility, to serve my community, care for my family and remember it was my duty to take part in public service.

I entered early adulthood, earned my degree in Accounting and had some fun doing it. My friends and I made good money, we enjoyed our lives, going out, and how we loved to dance. We would go clubbing, and in the summer rent houses at the beach, in the winter travel to Vermont to ski, and basically enjoyed were the hip young Yuppies the ‘90’s were all about.

At some point, I must have let my membership to NOW expire. I remember how proud I had been when I first became a member, and I don’t remember when I decided the “war” on women had ended and I no longer needed to be a card carrying NOW member.

3rd Wave Feminism and Quantum Consciousness

This is an excerpt of a letter that I sent to my spiritual teacher, Leslie Temple-Thurston (www.corelight.org) Leslie is on retreat in Egypt and unable to access much news from the states at this time. She is a fully enlightened being and works with global issues on a quantum level. (More on that later.)

3rd Wave Feminism and Quantum Consciousness. 

I feel like a war correspondent reporting from the front lines of the War on Women; not caught up in the polarities but reporting from the field.  It makes sense in a 3D way that the media keeps using the words "War on Women" in so many headlines and stories.  While on one hand it appears that the words create  more division and polarization, it's actually created much raised awareness, communication and unity between men and women here in the states and this is showing up all over. 

The subject of misogyny has been in the forefront of the news in this country for about ten weeks now and it's amazing how many men (and women) are grasping their silent participation and beginning to take action to unravel the twisted knots of legislation that would bind us in patriarchy and separation if we allow it..

Women who have been asleep for years are waking up and asking husbands and boyfriends, "don't you think I should have equal pay for equal work?" and, "isn't my body mine to govern? Yours is yours to govern. What's the difference?"   Women are demanding that their male partners recognize that women have fewer rights then men across the globe, from unequal pay to legalized murder and everything in-between. Men are being asked if discrimination is okay with them, and if not, what are they going to do about it?

This movement is very different than the last wave of feminism in the 70's. Now, as we shift into One Heart, men are truly questioning the patriarchal privilege accorded to them based on gender, and many of them don't want it,  and they're choosing to make a stand for a higher consciousness.  There are several actions coming up that will create more conversation and visibility of the inequity between the genders. There will be a national Women's Strike in August and another march on Washington in August and one in September as well.

First Women's Strike for Equality

From Wikipedia:


Women gathered on the streets around 5 pm (that specific time being chosen so that working women could attend) and began protesting. Methods of protesting in New York included chanting, speeches by prominent figures, including Friedan, and signs and posters reflecting their message. Estimates range that anywhere from ten to twenty thousand people, mostly women, gathered on Fifth Avenue in support. Police attempted to control the crowd and keep them on the sidewalks, but the sheer volume of people in the streets was impossible to control.^[1]

Their message was clear and evident through the various methods of protest implemented in the city. Thousands of politically and satirically charged signs dotted the crowd. “Don’t iron while the strike is hot” set the stage as the movement’s famous slogan. Other slogans included: “Hardhats for Soft Broads,” “I Am Not a Barbie Doll”, “Storks Fly – Why Can’t Mothers”, “We are the 51% minority”, and “We have the right to vote for the man of our choice”. Speeches were given to ignite the crowd and to inform bystanders of their mission. Friedan spoke of the strength and ability of women to rise above their oppression. The goals were to portray their movement and ideas in a politically determined light and expose the injustices experienced by women.

In conjunction with the women in New York City, individuals and groups throughout the nation staged protests, marches, and other various forms of revolt to honor the movement. 

Rita Lipshutz--Follow Up Action 8/27/12

Morning, or afternoon, all!

This thread is to begin discussion of the follow up action on 8/27/12: the day we put "General Strike" in "National Women's Strike."

I propose that as many of us who are able protest on Monday, 8/27 by saying "No work, in or out of the home, no school, and most especially, NO SHOPPING" for one symbolic day and use the day for educational and other actions tailored to the legislative situation in each state.

I have been floating this idea for awhile and a few women agree with me that the powers that be, at the moment, respond to very little but a perceived threat to their massive wealth. For reasons that are unclear to me, though, a surprising number of women have been defensive, or even hostile to this idea. Their response has basically boiled down to a) this is in competition to the 8/26 actions and/or, b) "Not everybody can afford to lose a day of work, ya know!"

In response to the former, it just could not be further from the truth. These actions dovetail beautifully and are in support of each other. The ferocity and rapid escalation of the recent attacks on our rights as American citizens (arguably, a partial manifestation of the death throes of the GOP as we have known it pre-Tea) is unprecedented and desperate times call for desperate, traditional, and every other kind of measure in between. In other words, this is not going to be about any one day or action, this needs to be the reawakening of a massive social movement for us to meet our goals.

Per the latter I would have to say "Big duh!" Nobody says everybody has to do or should do everything we propose. We each know what we are willing and able to do for a cause, but the implication by some that "I must be very privileged to propose such a thing" really made me laugh. Sadly, I am not but more importantly, the labor movement in this country, including the general strike, has a long and distinguished history and was a product of the working classes, obviously. Our forebears did this frequently at great personal sacrifice and it led to most of the rights that we take for granted in the workplace today.

What Is The GOP Thinking? & Why Are They In My Uterus?

By: Lisa Longo

I have to say, I never expected the GOP to so totally torpedo itself. How could they have mishandled everything to this extent? First they unleash their extreme caucus, also known as the "tea" "party", which leads to the birth of the Occupy Movement. Then they decide to take the party right off the cliff by picking a fight with women, and not just any one woman, they pissed us ALL off over the non-issue (to women) on their issue of contraception in health care. And now some State Legislators are attempting to pass heinous, invasive and unconstitutional bills that will insist a woman be given a mandatory ultrasound  prior to abortion, it is beyond offensive.

This came to me tonight from Planned Parenthood PA Activist Network:

• The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is poised to pass HB 1077, the so-called "Women's Right to Know" Act. This bill operates under the guise that women aren't smart enough to understand their own bodies. It requires all women seeking an abortion to be subjected to a mandatory ultrasound at least 24 hours in advance. It requires the ultrasound screen to be aimed toward the woman's face but 'permits her to avert her eyes' and also requires that she deliver a print of the image to her physician in order to have the procedure. The PA Medical Society and other medical groups have already come out in opposition to this incredible invasion of the physician/patient relationship. Your Representative can stop this demeaning and unnecessary attack by voting NO on HB 1077, but we need your help!That's why I signed a petition to The Pennsylvania State House, which says:"Stop the cruel, demeaning attacks on women - vote NO on HB 1077 and stop mandatory, invasive ultrasounds from becoming law in Pennsylvania!"Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:http://signon.org/sign/stop-pennsylvanias-mandatory?source=s.fwd&r_by=334751

So are all republicans ready to jump off this cliff? Now, based upon one or two GOP legislators, I know this is an unfair generalization, and I am gong to say it anyway, I know there are plenty of republicans' who don't cheat on thier wives or who aren't still hiding the fact that they are gay, but it seems to me, they don't really understand women at all. Remember it was Newt Gingrinch who thought we would turn on the Clinton's when Monica was dumb enough not to get that dress dry-cleaned immediately.

But did the GOP learn its lesson? Apparently not. Now it appears the GOP thinks it can win votes by alienating women. Really? When did my uterus become fertile ground for GOP pandering? What will it take to convince the GOP that women have a Constitutional right to privacy and control over their bodies?