subversion in the womans movement: what is to be done

• Published in: Off our backs 1970-11, Vol.1 (13), p.5-7
• Main Author: Shelley, Martha
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: commentary; Female homosexuality; Guns; Liberalism; Men; Organizations; Political candidates; Political parties; Political revolutions; Politics; Socialism; Womens liberation; Womens rights movements
• ISSN: 0030-0071

I trust that the appointment of two women generals by the Nation's Number One Football Fan will convince few women that our demands are being met. Unfortunately some sisters are listening to the mealy-mouthed statements of male politicians, as exemplified in N.O.W.'s recent "Meet-the-Candidates" night at Fordham University (a Roman Catholic institution, dedicated to the maintenance of the Church, the abolition of abortion and the perpetuation of women's suffering for the greater glory of a male god). Entering the penthouse in a "Lavender Menace" T-shirt, I came upon a roomfull of well-dressed men and women, sipping sangria and eating canapes. Twenty of the candidates were male and one was female. She was the candidate of the Liberal Party against Marchi, running on Staten Island--an obvious sacrifice candidate who admitted she was running because she was bored with life as a housewife and schoolteacher, and couldn't find anything better to do on Staten Island. If the truth be known, these stars of the white male media are motivated partly by the desire for fame and fortune, and partly by a desperate need for male approval. They so despise their sisters - and themselves - that they can't imagine a woman's movement so strong it doesn't have to ask Daddy for money, for air time, or a pat on the head. They haven't got time for consciousness raising because they can't imagine learning anything useful from other women's experiences. We need hard-working women like these, but they expend their energy on every other cause but women's liberation, heatedly justifying any male chauvinism which appears in any male they consider oppressed. If a working class or non-white male assaults them on the street, it has to be understood that he is just acting out of his oppression. If a working class or middle class or middle class white woman is afraid to send her children to be bussed into Harlem, she is "reactionary," "racist," or "stupid." The male-oriented political woman has no patience with the mistakes of her own sex, but she is all full of pity and liberalism for the worst male chauvinist. A few words of kindness, a statement of support of women's liberation in an otherwise male-chauvinist party line is enough to bring tears of gratitude to these women's eyes.