I have a confession to make. I haven’t read this book all the way through. After reading, on page 103, that a women’s waist size is related to her ability to detect the risk of rape, my scepticism began to distract me. But it was the assertion that those who connect rape with patriarchy is… Read more »
women & feminism
Elián González Brotóns: 6-Year-Old Hostage of Yankee Imperialism
December 5, 1999 — news from Miami: Elián González Brotóns, a young shipwreck survivor from Cuba, blew out the candles of his birthday cake. He had just turned six. With his mother, the “little Cuban refugee” had set out for the Land of the Free. She drowned. Elián was saved by the U.S. Coast Guard… Read more »
Mobilise Now Against Backward Laws: Equal Access to Reproductive Technology
The patriarchal nuclear family may have disappeared from most households, but it’s alive and kicking in Victoria’s fertility laws. In August last year, a lesbian police officer was charged with using an in vitro fertility (IVF) treatment. According to the Victorian Infertility Treatment Act (ITA), only married or heterosexual defacto couples can legally access IVF… Read more »
Welcome the New Century: Meet Revolutionary Women Leaders From Cuba!
Going to Cuba, as I did in 1997, is absolutely eye-opening. One day I was packaging bread for Buttercup; the next, I was landing at Havana’s international airport where murals said: “We believe in the Revolution. We believe in Socialism.” Stepping from Howard’s Australia into a workers’ state is a breathtaking experience. I was among… Read more »
Sexism and Racism — Linked by a Common Source
For Radical Women, art is as political as life. It can be a tool for change, as powerful as our struggles for a better world. Karen Brodine, acclaimed socialist feminist poet and Radical Women leader who died in 1987 from breast cancer, once said this about women artists she looked to for strength and insight:… Read more »
Defend Indigenous Sovereignty without conditions! Global sisters debate Makah whale hunt
One morning in early June, as I was checking email messages, I found several postings on an international feminist list with the subject title, “Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party support Makah Tribe whaling!!” The exclamation marks alerted me to the possibility of controversy. The first whale hunt in 70 years by the Makah of… Read more »
The Whole Woman: Germaine Greer Demolishes “Post Feminism”
A friend of mine has a clever T-shirt which reads “I’ll be a post-feminist in post-patriarchy.” Germaine Greer’s new book, The Whole Woman, is a book version of the T-shirt. Greer wrote the book she said she’d never write. The Whole Woman is a sequel to The Female Eunuch, one of several books which inspired… Read more »
Government Guts Equal Opportunity Law
Moira Rayner, Commissioner for Equal Opportunity in Victoria, thought her job was to let oppressed groups know about the Commission and encourage them to make complaints when they face discrimination. She had obviously been doing it well. But it seems the biggest perpetrator of discrimination is the state government. The slash-and-burn policies of the Kennett… Read more »
Radical Women Statement to AZT Rally and Candle light Vigil
Melbourne, 3 March 1988 Radical Women is an international socialist feminist organisation comprised of women workers, students and welfare recipients of many races, both gay and straight, older and young. We are pleased to be represented here this evening and are delighted that we could help build this important rally. We demand that all people… Read more »
A Tribute to Doctor Bertram Wainer – Courageous Fighter for Abortion Rights
This tribute to the work of Bertram Wainer, who died on 16 January, 1987, was presented to the 28 January 1987 meeting of Radical Women. It is only fitting that this Radical Women meeting pay tribute to Doctor Bertram Wainer, a courageous man, who died this month at the age of 58. Wainer’s name is… Read more »
