Of all the clichés attached to feminism none is more enduring than the bra-burning, dungaree-wearing feminist. Over the past thirty years these clichés have not only attempted to dismiss feminism as a serious politics but have also worked to place feminism always in a 'seventies' past. The Feminist Seventies directly intervenes in this process.

The contributors range from women active in the women's liberation movement in the 1970s to those exploring feminism for the first time in the 21st century. Their articles offer a variety of perspectives: from new research on the WLM in Wales, Northern Ireland and England, to a playful remembering of seventies icons such as the Edwardian Lady, Betty Friedan and David Bowie; from engaging with classic feminist novels to remembering the women of Greenham Common; from a reappraisal of the value of silence to a call for renewed feminist anger.

We may never lose the dominant clichés - and our book cover reclaims dungarees with pride - but this volume and its companion web book hope to add other dimensions to collective impressions both of feminism and its synonymous decade 'the feminist seventies'. And a common theme emerges: not only the importance of not forgetting but also the importance for contemporary feminist politics of reflecting on how we remember.

CONTENTS

Editorial Preface

Clare Hemmings and Jo Brain

Imagining the Feminist Seventies

Ann Kaloski

Desiring feminism, wanting ch-ch-changes

Stevi Jackson and Sue Scott

Whatever Happened to Feminist Critiques of Monogamy?

Avril Rolph

A Movement of its Own: The Women's Liberation Movement in South Wales

Eve Setch

Women's Liberation Anti-Violence Organisation

Judy Giles

'It Changed My Life' Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique

Myrtle Hill

'Challenging the State We're In' Conflicting Feminist Identies in 'Troubled' Northern Ireland

Julie Palmer

A Piece of the Seventies: Reading Michèle Roberts' A Piece of the Night

Zoë Fairbairns

Saying What We Want: Women's Liberation and the Seven Demands

Sarah Cheverton

'No Longer Reasonable': Exploring Feminist Anger

Mary Eagleton

Re-reading the Seventies: Re-reading Women's Silence

Hyung-mee Choi

Silence

Imelda Whelehan and Maroula Joannou

This Book Changes Lives: The 'Consciousness-Raising Novel' and its Legacy

Sarah Edwards

The Edwardian Lady: a 1970s icon?

Sue Thomas

Travelling with Joni

Helen Graham

'New' 1970: 'I', 'we' and 'anyone else'

Margaretta Jolly

After the Seventies: Greenhan Common Women and Dreams of a Common Language

check out the pamphlet
Saying What We Want:
Women's Demands in the Feminist Seventies and Now

We welcome enquries and comments; please contact Raw Nerve by letter post or at post@rawnervebooks.co.uk
 
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