CWLU Herstory

1.What are the principles of a being a feminist?

A feminist is an individual who works toward gender equality and a peaceful society based on principles of economic and social justice.

2. What was the general mood and atmosphere surrounding the feminist movement in the 60's70's?

We were bold, brash, and publicly outrageous. We were up against a culture of male supremacy that is virtually inconceivable to young women today.

There were no women bus drivers, welders, firefighters, news anchors, CEO's or Supreme Court Justices. Women professors, doctors, scientists or lawyers were rare. Gays and lesbians were forced to live "in the closet" for fear of vicious persecution. Women were denied credit by banks and states could bar women from sitting on juries. Women knew next to nothing about their bodies and were afraid to honestly discuss their sexuality. Terms like "domestic violence" or "sexual harassment" did not exist and rape victims had probably "asked for it". Abortion was illegal and women seeking them risked death and injury at the hands of incompetent quacks.

Although we had some guidance from an older generation of feminists, for the most part we were young and inexperienced and largely on our own. We made up the women’s liberation movement as we went along, trying not to make mistakes or least trying to learn from the many mistakes we made anyway.

The obstacles we faced were enormous. Women are very diverse and the deep racial and class divisions in homophobic America did not make our organizing job any easier. Privately, we were often consumed with doubt and confusion, yet we persevered because we found strength in one another.

I designed a popular poster called Sisterhood is Blooming-- Springtime Will Never Be The Same. It summed up that powerful feeling we had that our movement would prevail if we could forge powerful bonds of solidarity with each other. Not a sentimental hearts and flowers solidarity, because Lord knows sisters do fight and argue, but the kind of sisterly bonds that remain after the fights and arguments are over.

3. Do young women embrace feminism today?

I think young women today, by and large, believe in the principles of gender equality-- much more so than the generation of the 1960’s and 1970’s. But feminism is a social and political movement and I think only a minority of young women identify with that. Of course only a minority of young women identified with feminism in the 1960’s and 1970’s also.

4. What stigma did the term "feminist" hold in the 60's? Is there still stigma today?'

To be a feminist in the 1960’s was to be stigmatized as a bitch, a ball-breaker, a man-hater, a harridan, a social reject, a he-she or a dyke. We were told that we were feminists because we couldn’t get or keep a man. We were told we were lesbians, sick perverts out to destroy the American family and steal its daughters. Homophobia was used to control the behavior of both heterosexual and lesbian women.To publicly declare one’s self a feminist was to invite ridicule and scorn.Yet, many people came to admire the courage of those women who did declare themselves feminists in the face of that kind of opposition. It’s never easy to swim outside of the safety of the mainstream.I think some of that stigma still exists, but what concerns me more is that the feminist movement is largely ignored by the mass media. In some ways being attacked is better than being ignored.

5. What were the most important concerns of feminists during the 60's/ 70's?

• Equal economic opportunity
• Meaningful education
• Ending sexual harassment
• Raising the social and political consciousness of women
• Linking up with women around the world
• Creating a peaceful society and a world free of war
• Uniting women across racial and class lines
• Improving heathcare
• Legalizing abortion
• Stopping rape
• Decent childcare
• Equality in marriage and other close relationships
• Ending discrimination against homosexual. bi-sexual and transgendered people
• Ending discrimination in the media and the arts
• Ending discrimination in sports

6.What are the most important causes and concerns of feminists now?'

Feminists are still involved with all of these issues. Abortion is legal (more or less), but it is clear that women’s reproductive freedom is under attack. I know a number of women who used to work in the underground abortion movement before Roe v. Wade. One said that in the old days, they would have simply gone to jail. Now they could be killed for providing abortions.

7. What, specifically, did the Chicago Women's Liberation Union do in the 60's/70's in an effort to bring about social change?'

The Chicago Women’s Liberation Union had workgroups that addressed nearly all of the issues that feminists were concerned about.

We organized protests and political lobbying. We had conscious-raising groups. We had a liberation school which was one of the first women’s study’s programs in the nation. We provided services like rape counseling, pregnancy testing, safe inexpensive abortions & legal counseling. We organized sports teams and even had our own liberation rock band. We published newspapers, magazines and posters. We had no funding other than what we generated ourselves.My main workgroup was the Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective. We distributed tens of thousands of feminist posters around the world. We addressed the obvious feminist issues in our art, but we also did posters on labor, imperialism, war, the Middle East conflict etc. There was always a certain pressure on us to stick to “women’s issues”. I guess we just defined “women’s issues” differently than some people.

8.Do you feel that you and other feminists have surpassed the expectations you had for women in the 60's/70's movement?

I feel we fell far short of our dreams, but women today are clearly in a much better situation than they were when we organized the women’s liberation movement. Social change seems to happen in short outbursts of intense energy followed by long periods when society decides what to do about those changes.

9. What role did men play in your organization?

We were an all-woman organization. This was important for two main reasons. Women were conditioned to be subservient to men and we had to break through that mindset. We also wanted to have real political clout as women and learn how to work together.

Men were usually welcome to our public events and our Liberation School even had a class for men who wanted to overcome male chauvinism.There were men who supported us for political reasons. Many of us were in relationships with men or had close friends who were men. We could often count on these people for support when we needed it.

10. What were the driving forces that finally caused the feminist movement in the 60's/70's? What is most important for young women to understand about the time period preceding the movement?'

I think the driving force for the feminist movement was the Civil Rights Movement. It taught us that people determined to be free could overcome society’s opposition and their own doubts and fears. Many of the early organizers of the women’s liberation movement had been active in civil rights work and the experience served them well.'

11. Does/did the media undermine the message put out by feminists? If so, has that changed since the 60's?

The media was much more male dominated in the 1960’s. We were subject to misunderstanding by fundamentally decent people who just didn’t get it. We were also subject to vicious attacks by people who understood us pretty well, but hated our message.

Today the situation is more complex. There are more women in the media, but ownership is much more concentrated among male dominated corporations. The media aimed at women (magazines, cable, Hollywood, websites etc.) has absorbed some of our equality message, while putting out degrading messages about our bodies and our sexuality. If you pick up Elle or Cosmo, you can sometimes find articles that would have been considered quite radical in the 1960’s. But of course they are buried among the appalling ads and other articles they run.

In addition, the Rightwing is determined to reverse the gains of the feminist movement and they have powerful media resources at their disposal. The most effective way to control women is by controlling their reproductive systems and they understand that with crystal clarity. The so-called Religious Right is especially vicious and should not be underestimated. I can’t believe that Jesus would have tolerated their outright hatred and contempt of women.

12. Who wrote this FAQ?

This FAQ was written by Estelle Carol based on student interviews she has given . Estelle is the coordinator of the CWLU Herstory Project.She expresses her personal opinions here. Other feminists would answer these questions differently because feminism is a diverse social movement.