THE NEW WOMEN: A motive Anthology on Women's Liberation

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1970

motive, a Methodist Church magazine, published a double issue (March-April 1969) on Women's Liberation that raised something of a storm among subscribers shocked by the ideas and scandalized by the use of four-letter words. The complete issue--articles, poems, art work--is reproduced here, along with a new preface and some of the letters that barraged the editor's office, both pro ("". . . should definitely be republished in book form"") and con (""I am 20 years old and I dearly love my womanhood"": ""Yes, this is the end of my subscription and of many others from my home church""). With the exception perhaps of the rather strongly worded ""Woman as: Secretary, Sexpot, Spender, Sow, Civic Actor, Sickle"" by Marilyn Salzman Webb and the well-travelled angry article ""Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female"" by Frances M. Beak the pieces here seem unlikely sources of such a furor--they are reasonable, level-headed, and quite accessible, explaining concretely the problems which Females race as a 51% minority group and appraising the progress which the women's movement has made in organizing women around these issues. Novelist Cynthia Ozick ponders her experience as a university teacher trying to dispel the stereotyped notion ""woman writer"" and Linda Seese documents the difficulties experienced by women in the radical Movement. Susan Sutheim demonstrates how the ""ladies' magazines"" indoctrinate their readers with the ""feminine"" image, while Naomi Weisstein analyzes how psychology perpetuates the Kinder, Kuche, Kirche school of thought. ""The Realities of Lesbianism"" are elucidated by two founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, and a lone sympathetic male steps forward to present ""A Man's View."" Finally there are two surveys of the women's movement today and a bibliography that's broken down by topic. Not bad as a basic introduction to Women's Lib, but Robin Morgan's The Sisterhood Is Powerful (p. 930) is a broader and better anthology.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION