Friday, March 6, 2009

Inspiration: Vintage Feminists

Some of the "First Wavers." That's Emma Goldman's mugshot and portrait. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be so actively political for a woman in the Victorian era!






And "Second Wavers" of the 60's and 70's. Oh man, I love all the portraits of the fist-pumping and whatnot, especially the one of Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes. Of course, let's not forget the Equal Rights Amendment, which was a big focus of the feminists at that time, never got passed.







Of course the Susan B. Anthony dollar was issued in the 70's, one of the only time periods in which "feminist" wasn't considered such a dirty word:


So, it's Woman's History Month or something, and let us not forget the women who risked their lives to get us where we are today. And also, let's not disgrace their honor by referring to the world we live in as "post-feminist" as if feminism ended because everything was taken care of and all its goals were met, dudes. Clearly has not happened and will never happen as long as people reject feminism. 

5 comments:

  1. Right on! Emma Goldman was a pretty badass lady no doubt. Thanks for the images - I've been trying to find some good suffragist images for a tattoo I've got planned.

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  2. "'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.'

    What a preposterous notion! What incentive to slavery, inactivity, and parasitism! Besides, it is not true that the meek can inherit anything. Just because humanity has been meek, the earth has been stolen from it.

    Meekness has been the whip, which capitalism and governments have used to force man into dependency, into his slave position. The most faithful servants of the State, of wealth, of special privilege, could not preach a more convenient gospel than did Christ, the 'redeemer' of the people."--From The Failure of Christianity by Emma G.

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  3. yeah, where's our emma goldman commemorative coin? in the works, i'm sure.

    glad to help, michelle- mot of these are just from google image searches.

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  4. I hate to point this out but that third one down - it's a bunch of aussie male students ridiculing feminist activists. It's men in drag. A great example of the way men have always resisted equal rights for women.

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    ReplyDelete