In Our Time - Memoir Of A Revolution - Softcover

Susan-brownmiller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1854107003 ISBN 13: 9781854107008

Publisher: Aurum Press, 2000

Synopsis

Male-only admissions policies. Back-alley abortions. The pervasive belief that rape was a woman's fault. These were the shocking conditions that stirred students, mothers, businesswomen, and grandmothers to activism in the latter half of the twentieth century. In this stirring memoir, Susan Brownmiller, feminist activist and author of the landmark work on rape, Against Our Will, draws upon her four decades on the front lines of the women's movement to chronicle the startling inequities, groundbreaking campaigns, and colorful cast of characters that ignited one of the most transformational movements in American history.In Our Time takes us behind the scenes to meet the passionate and provocative "foremothers" who steered the rising tide of feminism in Germaine Greer. Kate Millett. Betty Friedan. Gloria Steinem. Rita Mae Brown. And it reveals the real stories behind the headlines that heralded womankind's quest for freedom. The Miss America protest of 1968. The sit-in at the Ladies' Home Journal. Karla Jay's table-turning Wall Steer "Ogle-In." Lucy Komisar's "This Ad Insults Women" sticker campaign. The conception and creation of Ms. magazine. And every skirmish, standoff, and highlight of the thirty-year struggle for equality--as told by a woman who was at the center of the action.

About this title

Review

Susan Brownmiller was a Gucci-clad, 33-year-old writer grappling privately with the decidedly masculine preserve of feature journalism when she attended her first consciousness-raising session in 1968. Her first impression? Oh, brother! But as other women around the room told their stories, they resonated with something deep in Brownmiller's psyche, and when it was time to tell her own--"I've had three illegal abortions"--the ambitious reporter experienced something akin to a road-to-Damascus conversion.

Brownmiller's 1975 classic, Against Our Will, changed the nation's perception of rape and turned her into a feminist icon overnight. In Our Time, though, is less an argument for transformation than an encyclopedic look at the forces that shaped the social movement of late-20th-century feminism, from occasional clashes of colorful personalities like Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Germaine Greer (who, 30 years later, have a tendency to seem larger than life) to the methodical, often unexciting, day-by-day planning behind the landmark sit-ins, lawsuits, and other headline events. Sisterhood's call to arms was most persuasive when the enemy was economic oppression and the battle cry "equal pay for equal work!" Solidarity was harder to muster, Brownmiller reports, when it came to targeting social injustices, particularly those pertaining to sex. Were Clarence Thomas's raunchy remarks to Anita Hill business as usual or a type of harassment? Was pornography a male counterreaction intended to degrade newly liberated women or an effort to make sexual pleasure available to fantasists of all persuasions? These arguments persist today--and In Our Time reminds us that they must be viewed in historical context. --Patrizia DiLucchio

From the Back Cover

Male-only admissions policies. Back-alley abortions. The pervasive belief that rape was a woman's fault. These were the shocking conditions that stirred students, mothers, businesswomen, and grandmothers to activism in the latter half of the twentieth century. In this stirring memoir, Susan Brownmiller, feminist activist and author of the landmark work on rape, Against Our Will, draws upon her four decades on the front lines of the women's movement to chronicle the startling inequities, groundbreaking campaigns, and colorful cast of characters that ignited one of the most transformational movements in American history.

In Our Time takes us behind the scenes to meet the passionate and provocative "foremothers" who steered the rising tide of feminism in America: Germaine Greer. Kate Millett. Betty Friedan. Gloria Steinem. Rita Mae Brown. And it reveals the real stories behind the headlines that heralded womankind's quest for freedom. The Miss America protest of 1968. The sit-in at the Ladies' Home Journal. Karla Jay's table-turning Wall Street "Ogle-in". Lucy Komisar's "This Ad Insults Women" sticker campaign. The conception and creation of Ms. magazine. And every skirmish, standoff, and highlight of the thirty-year struggle for equality -- as told by a woman who was at the center of the action.

Edition details

• Publisher: Aurum Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1854107003
• ISBN 13: 9781854107008
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368