2 00:00:09,033 --> 00:00:13,204 (crowd shouting, chattering) 3 00:00:20,510 --> 00:00:24,346 WOMAN: Women's health care is being tossed around like a football. 4 00:00:24,348 --> 00:00:27,315 The argument has been over for a very long time... 5 00:00:27,317 --> 00:00:30,052 to have the right to choose. 6 00:00:30,054 --> 00:00:32,721 We should be mad. Are you mad? 7 00:00:32,723 --> 00:00:35,792 (cheering) 8 00:00:42,834 --> 00:00:46,034 WOMAN: You're not allowed to retire from women's issues. 9 00:00:46,036 --> 00:00:48,236 You still have to pay attention, 10 00:00:48,238 --> 00:00:51,640 'cause somebody is gonna try to yank the rug out from under you. 11 00:00:51,642 --> 00:00:53,509 And that's what's happening now. 12 00:00:53,511 --> 00:00:55,910 WOMAN: Don't mess with Texas women! 13 00:00:55,912 --> 00:00:58,448 - (cheering) - Don't mess with them! 14 00:01:07,992 --> 00:01:11,726 ♪♪ (electric guitar) 15 00:01:11,728 --> 00:01:15,029 WOMAN: ♪ Save me ♪ 16 00:01:15,031 --> 00:01:17,999 ♪ Somebody save me ♪ 17 00:01:18,001 --> 00:01:21,237 WOMAN #2: It's really hard for people to understand now 18 00:01:21,239 --> 00:01:25,940 what it was like before the feminist movement. 19 00:01:25,942 --> 00:01:27,576 The wedding was the big thing. 20 00:01:27,578 --> 00:01:30,345 The marriage was success. 21 00:01:30,347 --> 00:01:33,416 WOMAN #3: You couldn't have career aspirations. 22 00:01:33,418 --> 00:01:36,017 You couldn't decide not to have a child. 23 00:01:36,019 --> 00:01:37,719 ♪♪ (continues) 24 00:01:37,721 --> 00:01:40,022 WOMAN #4: The most beautiful woman 25 00:01:40,024 --> 00:01:44,859 was never satisfied with how she looked. 26 00:01:44,861 --> 00:01:47,395 You could look like Miss America 27 00:01:47,397 --> 00:01:50,032 and you still thought something was wrong with how you looked. 28 00:01:50,034 --> 00:01:54,235 WOMAN #2: Let's not even talk about birth control and abortion. 29 00:01:54,237 --> 00:01:57,071 The horror, the fear of pregnancy 30 00:01:57,073 --> 00:02:00,709 loomed over anything one did. 31 00:02:00,711 --> 00:02:03,612 WOMAN #3: If you were raped, people wouldn't believe you. 32 00:02:03,614 --> 00:02:06,916 If you were battered, no one would believe you. 33 00:02:06,918 --> 00:02:11,419 WOMAN #4: It was feminists who brought up these issues and put them on the table. 34 00:02:11,421 --> 00:02:14,389 WOMAN #5: We had a sense of momentum. 35 00:02:14,391 --> 00:02:17,393 You know, that was the sense of momentum that came from the '60s. 36 00:02:17,395 --> 00:02:19,762 WOMAN #6: It was like all this energy 37 00:02:19,764 --> 00:02:22,665 had been pent up in these women for all these years, 38 00:02:22,667 --> 00:02:25,000 and it just exploded. 39 00:02:25,002 --> 00:02:26,635 ♪♪ (continues) 40 00:02:26,637 --> 00:02:29,238 ♪ Are you gonna save ♪ 41 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:30,606 ♪ Save me? ♪ 42 00:02:30,608 --> 00:02:32,441 ♪ Yeah, boy ♪ 43 00:02:32,443 --> 00:02:34,310 ♪ Save me ♪ 44 00:02:34,312 --> 00:02:38,346 ♪ Whoo, ohh, save me ♪♪ 45 00:02:38,348 --> 00:02:40,114 ♪♪ (fades) 46 00:02:40,116 --> 00:02:43,420 (applause) 47 00:02:45,689 --> 00:02:47,822 MODERATOR: The topic for discussion this evening 48 00:02:47,824 --> 00:02:50,159 is a dialogue on women's liberation. 49 00:02:50,161 --> 00:02:52,862 - Mr. Mailer. - (applause) 50 00:02:52,864 --> 00:02:56,631 Let's really get hip about this little matter and recognize 51 00:02:56,633 --> 00:02:59,467 that the whole question of women's liberation is the deepest question that faces us, 52 00:02:59,469 --> 00:03:01,804 and we're going to go right into the center of it. 53 00:03:01,806 --> 00:03:04,874 Let me introduce first Ms. Jacqueline Ceballos, 54 00:03:04,876 --> 00:03:08,010 president of the New York Chapter of NOW, the National Organization for Women. 55 00:03:08,012 --> 00:03:11,414 - Ms. Ceballos. - (applause) 56 00:03:13,850 --> 00:03:18,786 I represent that large middle-class group of women 57 00:03:18,788 --> 00:03:22,958 who could have all the comforts and conveniences of life. 58 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:24,727 In fact, I did. 59 00:03:24,729 --> 00:03:27,161 But I opted out. 60 00:03:27,163 --> 00:03:30,899 Instead, I decided to devote my time 61 00:03:30,901 --> 00:03:35,504 to fight for equality of women. 62 00:03:35,506 --> 00:03:37,506 CEBALLOS: I just had these feelings... 63 00:03:37,508 --> 00:03:39,308 something's wrong, something's wrong. 64 00:03:39,310 --> 00:03:44,145 Then a friend handed me The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan's book. 65 00:03:44,147 --> 00:03:46,881 I could cry even today. 66 00:03:46,883 --> 00:03:50,752 It just hit me. It was where it was. Absolutely. Absolutely. 67 00:03:50,754 --> 00:03:52,922 I read it that night. 68 00:03:52,924 --> 00:03:58,129 And I just knew, it wasn't him, it wasn't me... it was society. 69 00:03:59,597 --> 00:04:01,596 Well, The Feminine Mystique, 70 00:04:01,598 --> 00:04:05,400 it defines women solely in terms of her sexual relation to a man 71 00:04:05,402 --> 00:04:09,204 as a man's sex object, 72 00:04:09,206 --> 00:04:11,774 as wife, mother, homemaker, 73 00:04:11,776 --> 00:04:14,175 and never in human terms, 74 00:04:14,177 --> 00:04:19,014 as an individual person, as a human being herself. 75 00:04:19,016 --> 00:04:22,117 WOMAN: When Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, 76 00:04:22,119 --> 00:04:24,586 everyone was buzzing about women 77 00:04:24,588 --> 00:04:27,188 and their talents being neglected. 78 00:04:27,190 --> 00:04:31,125 Every time we'd been told, I'm sorry we don't hire women, 79 00:04:31,127 --> 00:04:33,228 we thought, you know, isn't it too bad 80 00:04:33,230 --> 00:04:37,298 there isn't an organization that can fight against that? 81 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:41,070 In 1966, when they were founding NOW, 82 00:04:41,072 --> 00:04:44,305 Betty Friedan asked me if I would do the public relations, 83 00:04:44,307 --> 00:04:46,308 and I said sure. 84 00:04:46,310 --> 00:04:48,877 We knew we were making history. 85 00:04:48,879 --> 00:04:53,048 We had no doubt that this was a historic occasion. 86 00:04:53,050 --> 00:04:55,450 We knew the world needed 87 00:04:55,452 --> 00:04:59,253 a civil rights organization for women's rights. 88 00:04:59,255 --> 00:05:01,255 That's one reason it exploded 89 00:05:01,257 --> 00:05:04,726 so really quickly and powerfully, 90 00:05:04,728 --> 00:05:08,032 was because it was long overdue. 91 00:05:12,637 --> 00:05:16,305 The mayor this afternoon met the women's liberation movement 92 00:05:16,307 --> 00:05:18,640 in a way that he had not before. 93 00:05:18,642 --> 00:05:21,810 As soon as NOW existed, and I heard about it, I was in NOW. 94 00:05:21,812 --> 00:05:25,581 I became president of the Chicago chapter of NOW. 95 00:05:25,583 --> 00:05:29,720 And against the women of this nation, and we intend to react. 96 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,421 Some of the earliest letters that we got was, 97 00:05:33,423 --> 00:05:35,356 "Where are you? I can't find you." 98 00:05:35,358 --> 00:05:37,692 You know, there was no Internet. 99 00:05:37,694 --> 00:05:40,796 There was mimeograph and stamps. That's what we had. 100 00:05:40,798 --> 00:05:44,933 Um, these were people's memberships coming in. 101 00:05:44,935 --> 00:05:48,269 Here's a woman... And this is so typical of the women joining NOW at the time. 102 00:05:48,271 --> 00:05:52,640 "Recruited by myself!" With a big exclamation point. 103 00:05:52,642 --> 00:05:54,175 Let's see. 104 00:05:54,177 --> 00:05:57,146 I've collected buttons all my life, so... 105 00:05:57,148 --> 00:06:00,449 This one's one of my favorites... "Uppity Women Unite." 106 00:06:00,451 --> 00:06:04,053 We certainly did, didn't we? 107 00:06:04,055 --> 00:06:06,120 FOX: The most important motivation 108 00:06:06,122 --> 00:06:08,123 for all of us in founding NOW 109 00:06:08,125 --> 00:06:11,659 was jobs, employment discrimination. 110 00:06:11,661 --> 00:06:15,363 CEBALLOS: We all know that women are underpaid and overworked 111 00:06:15,365 --> 00:06:18,199 and there is no chance for advancement anywhere. 112 00:06:18,201 --> 00:06:22,870 We in NOW teach women how to fight discrimination against their own companies, 113 00:06:22,872 --> 00:06:24,639 how to sue their companies. 114 00:06:24,641 --> 00:06:26,541 (applause) 115 00:06:26,543 --> 00:06:29,144 The want ads were "help wanted male," "help wanted female," 116 00:06:29,146 --> 00:06:32,950 and all the good jobs, the career jobs were for the males. 117 00:06:38,755 --> 00:06:42,324 In fact, there was one ad that said, "Just got your BA? 118 00:06:42,326 --> 00:06:45,394 Want a job to be secretary 119 00:06:45,396 --> 00:06:48,563 of a good-looking, uh, executive? 120 00:06:48,565 --> 00:06:50,765 You might end up as his wife." 121 00:06:50,767 --> 00:06:52,534 I swear to you! 122 00:06:52,536 --> 00:06:55,536 WOMEN (chanting): Male chauvinism up against the wall. 123 00:06:55,538 --> 00:06:57,940 Male chauvinism up against the wall! 124 00:06:57,942 --> 00:07:01,075 What do we want? Equal rights! When do we want it? Now! 125 00:07:01,077 --> 00:07:05,046 FOX: I remember we had picketers outside The New York Times 126 00:07:05,048 --> 00:07:07,382 and the man would have a sandwich board, said, 127 00:07:07,384 --> 00:07:10,185 "I got my job through The New York Times" 128 00:07:10,187 --> 00:07:13,255 and the woman's sandwich board said, "I didn't." 129 00:07:13,257 --> 00:07:16,425 ♪♪ (upbeat theme) 130 00:07:16,427 --> 00:07:19,127 Good morning and thank you very, very much. 131 00:07:19,129 --> 00:07:22,197 I remember going on television shows when I was the chapter president, 132 00:07:22,199 --> 00:07:24,767 and people would seriously ask you 133 00:07:24,769 --> 00:07:28,536 whether you thought women should get equal pay. 134 00:07:28,538 --> 00:07:31,539 "Well, do you think women should get equal pay?" I mean, people would say that. 135 00:07:31,541 --> 00:07:34,976 You had to say, this wasn't just handed down from Moses. 136 00:07:34,978 --> 00:07:37,779 This was discrimination. 137 00:07:37,781 --> 00:07:41,247 (siren wailing) 138 00:07:41,249 --> 00:07:42,450 ♪♪ (protesters singing) 139 00:07:42,452 --> 00:07:44,418 What is the point of your march? 140 00:07:44,420 --> 00:07:47,488 There are hundreds of women that want peace, and we want peace now. 141 00:07:47,490 --> 00:07:52,461 COLLINS: I became aware of what was called the younger branch of the movement. 142 00:07:52,463 --> 00:07:54,897 Now, I was 30. But anyway... 143 00:07:54,899 --> 00:07:58,065 They identified themselves as women's liberation, 144 00:07:58,067 --> 00:08:00,435 and this was people coming out of the antiwar movement 145 00:08:00,437 --> 00:08:05,106 and the college movement and the civil rights movement. 146 00:08:05,108 --> 00:08:07,509 WOMAN: In the Southern civil rights movement, 147 00:08:07,511 --> 00:08:10,978 the most important role that anybody could play was the role of an organizer. 148 00:08:10,980 --> 00:08:14,283 ♪♪ (singing) 149 00:08:14,285 --> 00:08:18,187 You know, you met with people and you helped them find the courage to stand up... 150 00:08:18,189 --> 00:08:22,990 that it was their voice and their desires for change that gave a movement its power. 151 00:08:22,992 --> 00:08:27,528 ♪ We shall overcome ♪ 152 00:08:27,530 --> 00:08:30,998 WOMAN: I worked in Alabama, going door-to-door, canvassing, 153 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,669 getting people to go register to vote. 154 00:08:33,671 --> 00:08:35,704 All the women I encountered 155 00:08:35,706 --> 00:08:38,373 who were working in the civil rights movement... 156 00:08:38,375 --> 00:08:40,843 It was an impressive bunch of women. 157 00:08:40,845 --> 00:08:44,378 What I saw was a different image 158 00:08:44,380 --> 00:08:47,114 of what it meant to be a woman, a different model. 159 00:08:47,116 --> 00:08:49,852 And we do realize 160 00:08:49,854 --> 00:08:52,787 with every step forwards, 161 00:08:52,789 --> 00:08:56,724 and with every effort and sincere prayer, 162 00:08:56,726 --> 00:08:58,560 that we will overcome. 163 00:08:58,562 --> 00:09:01,028 - Yes! - All right! 164 00:09:01,030 --> 00:09:04,699 FREEMAN: Although I didn't fully realize it at the time, 165 00:09:04,701 --> 00:09:08,837 I was, in fact, getting the groundwork for being a feminist. 166 00:09:08,839 --> 00:09:12,074 And to feel that you can have the power in a group 167 00:09:12,076 --> 00:09:14,142 to do something you think needs to be done 168 00:09:14,144 --> 00:09:16,511 that you could never do on your own... 169 00:09:16,513 --> 00:09:20,382 I think it's what I was looking for my whole life. 170 00:09:20,384 --> 00:09:22,483 All these other social change movements 171 00:09:22,485 --> 00:09:24,820 that were going on at that time 172 00:09:24,822 --> 00:09:27,089 led to the women's movement. 173 00:09:27,091 --> 00:09:30,392 They gave rise to women's consciousness 174 00:09:30,394 --> 00:09:33,661 of a need to operate on an equal basis. 175 00:09:33,663 --> 00:09:37,232 ♪♪ (pop) 176 00:09:37,234 --> 00:09:39,401 I was a part of the civil rights movement. 177 00:09:39,403 --> 00:09:43,906 I was a big part of the antiwar movement while I was a graduate student at Berkeley. 178 00:09:43,908 --> 00:09:48,609 And women in the new left started talking about what we were feeling. 179 00:09:48,611 --> 00:09:52,079 WOMAN: The women were very much discriminated against. 180 00:09:52,081 --> 00:09:56,050 The guys, their names went on things, they became the spokespeople. 181 00:09:56,052 --> 00:09:58,119 We were used to lick the envelopes. 182 00:09:58,121 --> 00:10:00,756 We did the grunt work. We did the real work, actually. 183 00:10:00,758 --> 00:10:04,327 We often did the real work of organizing. 184 00:10:06,363 --> 00:10:09,297 I had been at an SDS meeting and was talking, 185 00:10:09,299 --> 00:10:12,434 and I was a leader in the organization, 186 00:10:12,436 --> 00:10:16,974 and one of guys in the group said, "Aw, sit down and shut up" to me. 187 00:10:18,308 --> 00:10:22,143 WOMAN: And we started talking about our role as women within SDS. 188 00:10:22,145 --> 00:10:25,414 Why weren't we in the leadership positions? 189 00:10:25,416 --> 00:10:29,450 From that it just kind of sparked in everybody a sense of recognition. 190 00:10:29,452 --> 00:10:31,652 Aha! This is like a shared thing. 191 00:10:31,654 --> 00:10:34,525 It's just not me feeling insecure. 192 00:10:36,259 --> 00:10:40,796 So, at an antiwar demonstration to protest the election of Nixon, 193 00:10:40,798 --> 00:10:43,665 we decided we would come together as women for the first time 194 00:10:43,667 --> 00:10:46,435 and announce we had a movement. 195 00:10:46,437 --> 00:10:50,272 WOMAN: And Marilyn Webb gets up on the stage 196 00:10:50,274 --> 00:10:53,975 in front of this huge audience of new left men 197 00:10:53,977 --> 00:10:57,112 and she starts trying to talk. 198 00:10:57,114 --> 00:11:01,816 Well, the moment I started, there was... this crowd went crazy. 199 00:11:01,818 --> 00:11:04,185 (shouting, jeering) 200 00:11:04,187 --> 00:11:08,256 WILLIS: And the men start whistling and catcalling 201 00:11:08,258 --> 00:11:11,959 and saying things like, "Take her off the stage and fuck her." 202 00:11:11,961 --> 00:11:15,329 And people were yelling, "Fuck her down a dark alley!" 203 00:11:15,331 --> 00:11:18,099 It was just... It was insane. 204 00:11:18,101 --> 00:11:23,372 We were like all looking at each other, like, what? 205 00:11:23,374 --> 00:11:26,374 WEBB: I didn't expect movement men to behave like that, 206 00:11:26,376 --> 00:11:27,843 and I was shocked. 207 00:11:27,845 --> 00:11:29,710 People were organizing blacks 208 00:11:29,712 --> 00:11:32,180 and people were organizing welfare mothers, 209 00:11:32,182 --> 00:11:34,348 and then we were organizing women, 210 00:11:34,350 --> 00:11:38,052 and that everybody would see this as another leg of the whole movement. 211 00:11:38,054 --> 00:11:41,956 But we weren't respected. 212 00:11:41,958 --> 00:11:44,126 WOMEN: ♪ The revolution has come ♪ 213 00:11:44,128 --> 00:11:45,526 Off the pigs! 214 00:11:45,528 --> 00:11:47,462 ♪ Black is beautiful ♪ 215 00:11:47,464 --> 00:11:49,131 Free Huey! 216 00:11:49,133 --> 00:11:51,900 BEAL: The black liberation movement had come into its fore, 217 00:11:51,902 --> 00:11:55,704 and we were talking about liberation and freedom 218 00:11:55,706 --> 00:11:58,172 half the night on the racial side. 219 00:11:58,174 --> 00:12:01,243 And then all of the sudden men are going to turn around 220 00:12:01,245 --> 00:12:04,179 and start talking about putting you in your place? 221 00:12:04,181 --> 00:12:07,148 If you don't want any trouble... 222 00:12:07,150 --> 00:12:11,420 BEAL: That was the contradiction in terms that we were no longer prepared to put up with. 223 00:12:11,422 --> 00:12:16,724 So, 1968, we founded the SNCC Black Women's Liberation Committee 224 00:12:16,726 --> 00:12:20,731 to take up some of these issues. 225 00:12:23,366 --> 00:12:26,368 A number of women felt that we needed to go off on our own 226 00:12:26,370 --> 00:12:31,839 and focus on what we needed to do in our fight for liberation. 227 00:12:31,841 --> 00:12:34,608 ROSEN: I was a graduate student at Berkeley. 228 00:12:34,610 --> 00:12:38,379 And one day I saw a little 3-by-5 card in the student union, 229 00:12:38,381 --> 00:12:41,182 and it said a women's group was forming. 230 00:12:41,184 --> 00:12:44,352 And these consciousness-raising groups spontaneously grew up 231 00:12:44,354 --> 00:12:47,758 in many areas of the country. 232 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:52,460 When I first heard about the women's liberation movement, 233 00:12:52,462 --> 00:12:56,263 I had two little kids under five. 234 00:12:56,265 --> 00:13:00,469 My connection with the world was, I felt, finished. 235 00:13:01,605 --> 00:13:06,074 During one of my crises of feeling that my life was over, 236 00:13:06,076 --> 00:13:09,777 I heard some young women talking about meetings they were having, 237 00:13:09,779 --> 00:13:12,379 and they were talking about women's liberation, 238 00:13:12,381 --> 00:13:15,150 and they gave the address of a meeting. 239 00:13:15,152 --> 00:13:17,719 So I went to this meeting, 240 00:13:17,721 --> 00:13:20,955 and there were these women talking about their lives 241 00:13:20,957 --> 00:13:24,291 as I had never imagined people could. 242 00:13:24,293 --> 00:13:28,296 Well, you need to be specially trained to be a housewife. 243 00:13:28,298 --> 00:13:30,765 You get married, there are a whole new set of rules. 244 00:13:30,767 --> 00:13:33,969 We still have to look a certain way and be a certain way, 245 00:13:33,971 --> 00:13:36,070 but there's a whole lot more... 246 00:13:36,072 --> 00:13:39,840 ROSEN: We went around the room, and people asked a very simple question. 247 00:13:39,842 --> 00:13:42,978 How would your life have been different if you had been a boy? 248 00:13:42,980 --> 00:13:45,479 Why do you think being a woman 249 00:13:45,481 --> 00:13:48,517 might limit you as a human being, your possibilities? 250 00:13:48,519 --> 00:13:50,352 (woman continues, indistinct) 251 00:13:50,354 --> 00:13:53,254 BEAL: We challenged concepts of masculinity. 252 00:13:53,256 --> 00:13:56,023 We challenged concepts of femininity. 253 00:13:56,025 --> 00:13:58,126 We talked about skin color, 254 00:13:58,128 --> 00:14:02,129 how young black women would put cream on 255 00:14:02,131 --> 00:14:05,935 in order to make theirself light-skinned. 256 00:14:07,004 --> 00:14:10,472 SHULMAN: Suddenly, everything was up for questioning. 257 00:14:10,474 --> 00:14:14,675 Women did all of the family and housework and cooking, 258 00:14:14,677 --> 00:14:17,212 and the men got to make the living 259 00:14:17,214 --> 00:14:19,980 and get all of the attention in the world. 260 00:14:19,982 --> 00:14:22,117 Why was that? 261 00:14:22,119 --> 00:14:24,618 We don't even realize what goes on 262 00:14:24,620 --> 00:14:27,289 until we sit and compare with other women. 263 00:14:27,291 --> 00:14:29,557 GRIFFIN: And we heard each other. 264 00:14:29,559 --> 00:14:32,493 We heard each other into speech. 265 00:14:32,495 --> 00:14:34,496 You could sense it. You could feel it. 266 00:14:34,498 --> 00:14:37,031 You could cut it with a knife, as they say. 267 00:14:37,033 --> 00:14:38,733 The room was electric 268 00:14:38,735 --> 00:14:42,237 with whatever was gonna be shared. 269 00:14:42,239 --> 00:14:44,638 So I said, (sighs) 270 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,907 I've had three abortions, 271 00:14:46,909 --> 00:14:50,545 and the last one was within the last year. 272 00:14:50,547 --> 00:14:52,680 And I started to cry, 273 00:14:52,682 --> 00:14:55,916 because I suddenly understood that I wasn't alone, 274 00:14:55,918 --> 00:15:00,321 that what I had considered personal embarrassment 275 00:15:00,323 --> 00:15:04,126 was something that was part of this whole larger experience. 276 00:15:05,261 --> 00:15:08,930 The big insight of the women's movement was the personal is political. 277 00:15:08,932 --> 00:15:13,368 Problems that you felt were happening to you alone 278 00:15:13,370 --> 00:15:16,103 probably were your fault. 279 00:15:16,105 --> 00:15:18,373 But if it's happening to other people, 280 00:15:18,375 --> 00:15:23,777 then it's a social problem and not just a personal problem. 281 00:15:23,779 --> 00:15:27,181 Once you stop blaming yourself for all this, 282 00:15:27,183 --> 00:15:30,352 it was like somebody had lifted a rock off of you. 283 00:15:30,354 --> 00:15:34,555 Then here were women around you who were ready to go out there and do something about it. 284 00:15:34,557 --> 00:15:36,391 (chanting) 285 00:15:36,393 --> 00:15:39,060 ♪ You're out on the streets ♪ 286 00:15:39,062 --> 00:15:41,095 ♪ Lookin' good ♪ 287 00:15:41,097 --> 00:15:42,897 - ♪♪ (continues) - WOMAN: In Washington, DC, 288 00:15:42,899 --> 00:15:44,366 we were like, 289 00:15:44,368 --> 00:15:46,368 "Have Demonstration, Will Travel." 290 00:15:46,370 --> 00:15:48,402 ♪♪ (continues) 291 00:15:48,404 --> 00:15:50,204 WOLFSON: We demonstrated in the halls of Congress. 292 00:15:50,206 --> 00:15:53,241 We demonstrated outside of Congress. 293 00:15:53,243 --> 00:15:54,943 There was a group called 294 00:15:54,945 --> 00:15:58,780 Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell... WITCH... 295 00:15:58,782 --> 00:16:01,416 that was the action arm. 296 00:16:01,418 --> 00:16:06,957 People had folding witch hats and capes in their bag. 297 00:16:08,625 --> 00:16:11,425 And we thought if we could dress up like witches 298 00:16:11,427 --> 00:16:14,496 and then give a hex to people. 299 00:16:14,498 --> 00:16:20,401 We wanted to challenge the white men's canon at the University of Chicago. 300 00:16:20,403 --> 00:16:24,238 And so part of the hex went, "Knowledge is power through which you control 301 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,142 our mind, our spirit, our bodies, our soul." 302 00:16:27,144 --> 00:16:30,311 - Hex! - ♪ Yeah ♪ 303 00:16:30,313 --> 00:16:33,515 What you see here is the beginning of a movement 304 00:16:33,517 --> 00:16:36,785 that women are human beings and that we have equal rights. 305 00:16:36,787 --> 00:16:40,454 We intend to go to school, we intend to have child care so that we can go to school. 306 00:16:40,456 --> 00:16:45,126 We want the university to provide us with classes that teach us about our history. 307 00:16:45,128 --> 00:16:46,994 ROSEN: I was in the history department 308 00:16:46,996 --> 00:16:51,266 and I knew zip, nada, zero about women's history. 309 00:16:51,268 --> 00:16:55,036 And we realized we didn't know very much about women's literature or women's art. 310 00:16:55,038 --> 00:16:59,306 In fact, we realized that we had gotten degrees and we knew nothing about women. 311 00:16:59,308 --> 00:17:02,544 Well, a group of us decided to call the press. 312 00:17:02,546 --> 00:17:04,813 We took our advanced degrees... 313 00:17:04,815 --> 00:17:08,048 some were PhDs, some were Masters degrees... 314 00:17:08,050 --> 00:17:11,254 and we burned them in public. 315 00:17:14,124 --> 00:17:16,623 That was a very hard thing to do 316 00:17:16,625 --> 00:17:19,960 because we were very proud of those degrees. 317 00:17:19,962 --> 00:17:22,663 ♪ I need you to come on, come on ♪♪ 318 00:17:22,665 --> 00:17:26,901 ROSEN: I felt so duped, like I had been fooled my whole life. 319 00:17:26,903 --> 00:17:28,902 ♪♪ (orchestra) 320 00:17:28,904 --> 00:17:32,873 ♪ Oh, there she is ♪ 321 00:17:32,875 --> 00:17:36,678 ♪ Miss America ♪ 322 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,180 SHULMAN: Miss America seemed like the perfect place to demonstrate 323 00:17:40,182 --> 00:17:43,884 the way women were just judged as sex objects, 324 00:17:43,886 --> 00:17:46,321 just judged by their looks. 325 00:17:46,323 --> 00:17:48,590 There were no such standards for men. 326 00:17:48,592 --> 00:17:52,559 We also recognized how racist those beauty standards were. 327 00:17:52,561 --> 00:17:54,763 We weren't going to have any of it. 328 00:17:54,765 --> 00:17:56,998 ♪ There'll be no Miss America ♪ 329 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,535 It was, all women are beautiful. That was one of our slogans. 330 00:18:00,537 --> 00:18:02,069 All women are beautiful. 331 00:18:02,071 --> 00:18:05,239 ♪ There'll be no Miss America ♪ 332 00:18:05,241 --> 00:18:08,176 We had a freedom trash can. 333 00:18:08,178 --> 00:18:10,210 Guys were burning their draft cards. 334 00:18:10,212 --> 00:18:14,650 We would burn our bras and other instruments of female torture. 335 00:18:15,786 --> 00:18:20,054 No more girdles, no more pain. No more trying to hold in fat in vain! 336 00:18:20,056 --> 00:18:24,092 CEBALLOS: Even though I was in NOW, I was always with the radicals. 337 00:18:24,094 --> 00:18:27,128 If they're going to demonstrate for Miss America, I'm going to be there. 338 00:18:27,130 --> 00:18:30,431 Women, use your brains, not your bodies! 339 00:18:30,433 --> 00:18:33,133 It was a blast. What can I say? It was very exciting. 340 00:18:33,135 --> 00:18:35,839 It was something NOW wouldn't do. 341 00:18:36,906 --> 00:18:39,440 FOX: They did things that were outrageous, 342 00:18:39,442 --> 00:18:42,576 and some of us thought that these would be made fun of. 343 00:18:42,578 --> 00:18:44,612 And they were. 344 00:18:44,614 --> 00:18:47,882 But they attracted media attention and, of course, they got results. 345 00:18:47,884 --> 00:18:50,151 ♪♪ (singing) 346 00:18:50,153 --> 00:18:53,054 But the best part came when, 347 00:18:53,056 --> 00:18:57,158 right at the moment when they were about to crown Miss America, 348 00:18:57,160 --> 00:18:59,960 the women who had snuck up into the balcony 349 00:18:59,962 --> 00:19:04,065 unfurled this huge banner over the edge of the balcony that said "Women's Liberation." 350 00:19:04,067 --> 00:19:06,601 SHULMAN: And the world got to see those words 351 00:19:06,603 --> 00:19:09,636 for the first time on a national scale. 352 00:19:09,638 --> 00:19:12,140 It was a great success. 353 00:19:12,142 --> 00:19:16,844 ♪♪ (women singing, indistinct) 354 00:19:16,846 --> 00:19:20,949 The feminists here tonight do not believe a women's place is in the home, right? 355 00:19:20,951 --> 00:19:23,584 As feminists, what we believe in is very simple, 356 00:19:23,586 --> 00:19:27,956 and that is the social, economic and political equality of the sexes. 357 00:19:27,958 --> 00:19:32,293 Because the relationship between the sexes is, in fact, a political relationship. 358 00:19:32,295 --> 00:19:35,196 We are an oppressed group and we have been through history. 359 00:19:35,198 --> 00:19:38,833 If you do something as remarkable 360 00:19:38,835 --> 00:19:41,803 as changing the relationship between the sexes, 361 00:19:41,805 --> 00:19:47,107 everything is at risk, every possible idea. 362 00:19:47,109 --> 00:19:50,044 And many people don't like it. 363 00:19:50,046 --> 00:19:53,280 Especially men don't like it. They're very threatened by it. 364 00:19:53,282 --> 00:19:57,051 Women's Lib really is a lot of insignificant people 365 00:19:57,053 --> 00:19:59,720 that are really trying to gain their own interests 366 00:19:59,722 --> 00:20:01,823 and boost their own ego, 367 00:20:01,825 --> 00:20:04,324 be it by making brash statements 368 00:20:04,326 --> 00:20:06,995 or being on television or what have you. 369 00:20:06,997 --> 00:20:09,730 You're so oversensitive. Why are you so sensitive? 370 00:20:09,732 --> 00:20:12,333 We don't like being so sensitive. It's not pleasant. 371 00:20:12,335 --> 00:20:15,903 We don't like having to always be catching things. We'd rather they didn't exist. 372 00:20:15,905 --> 00:20:18,506 But as long as people are going to be insensitive to our position, 373 00:20:18,508 --> 00:20:20,542 we're going to have to keep correcting them, 374 00:20:20,544 --> 00:20:23,510 because there's no other way to change the consciousness. 375 00:20:23,512 --> 00:20:26,413 Women, given their educational status, 376 00:20:26,415 --> 00:20:30,817 can earn 60% of what men of the same education can. 377 00:20:30,819 --> 00:20:33,421 What that really means is that a woman 378 00:20:33,423 --> 00:20:36,324 with college education... BA... 379 00:20:36,326 --> 00:20:39,594 earns what a man does who has three years of high school. 380 00:20:39,596 --> 00:20:42,863 This is economic discrimination and exploitation. 381 00:20:42,865 --> 00:20:45,232 Women, as well as men, 382 00:20:45,234 --> 00:20:49,003 told me I was wrong over and over again. 383 00:20:49,005 --> 00:20:51,439 Women are not oppressed. 384 00:20:51,441 --> 00:20:53,240 Or what does it matter? 385 00:20:53,242 --> 00:20:55,742 Who cares? You have a lot of influence. 386 00:20:55,744 --> 00:20:59,380 You were working against cultural norms. 387 00:20:59,382 --> 00:21:01,915 You were working against institutions. 388 00:21:01,917 --> 00:21:04,786 MAN: How do you feel about women's liberation? 389 00:21:04,788 --> 00:21:07,287 Woman's place is more at home 390 00:21:07,289 --> 00:21:09,923 than to advance herself too much. 391 00:21:09,925 --> 00:21:12,459 I know the girls in my office feel the way I do. 392 00:21:12,461 --> 00:21:15,363 We're all right the way we are. There's nothing wrong with this. 393 00:21:15,365 --> 00:21:17,364 I'm totally against it. 394 00:21:17,366 --> 00:21:20,701 I feel I don't know what they're being liberated from. 395 00:21:20,703 --> 00:21:23,036 WILLIS: Many women protested 396 00:21:23,038 --> 00:21:27,040 that they liked cooking and housework and catering to men. 397 00:21:27,042 --> 00:21:29,611 But I would argue with some woman 398 00:21:29,613 --> 00:21:31,813 who was being extremely defensive about the movement, 399 00:21:31,815 --> 00:21:34,582 and then six months later would run into her at a demonstration. 400 00:21:34,584 --> 00:21:36,316 ♪ Power ♪ 401 00:21:36,318 --> 00:21:38,486 ♪ Power to the women ♪ 402 00:21:38,488 --> 00:21:42,457 ♪ It's the women's power It's the women's power ♪ 403 00:21:42,459 --> 00:21:44,158 The status quo is being challenged 404 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,259 by the women's liberation movement. 405 00:21:46,261 --> 00:21:49,263 Today it's still a man's world. 406 00:21:49,265 --> 00:21:53,634 SANDERS: I started getting word from people I knew in the movement by then, 407 00:21:53,636 --> 00:21:55,670 and as I heard about these things 408 00:21:55,672 --> 00:21:59,306 I was able to go out and shoot them. 409 00:21:59,308 --> 00:22:01,508 SANDERS: They startled Wall Street one day 410 00:22:01,510 --> 00:22:04,679 by an exhibition in which roles were reversed. 411 00:22:04,681 --> 00:22:07,414 Oh, they're so beautiful, all of them. Ah! 412 00:22:07,416 --> 00:22:09,616 Those men, those sex objects. 413 00:22:09,618 --> 00:22:12,152 WOMAN: It was reported in the newspaper 414 00:22:12,154 --> 00:22:16,024 that there was a woman who worked in the Wall Street area. 415 00:22:16,026 --> 00:22:19,526 She was very well endowed 416 00:22:19,528 --> 00:22:21,696 and men would wait for her 417 00:22:21,698 --> 00:22:27,134 outside the Wall Street train station. 418 00:22:27,136 --> 00:22:30,004 And they would pinch her, 419 00:22:30,006 --> 00:22:33,674 - make sucking noises at her. - (men chattering, cheering) 420 00:22:33,676 --> 00:22:36,276 And I thought, this is pretty disgusting. 421 00:22:36,278 --> 00:22:39,814 Oh, wow. Look at the legs on that one! 422 00:22:39,816 --> 00:22:44,951 So I organized what I rather grandly called the First National Ogle-In. 423 00:22:44,953 --> 00:22:48,523 Those pants, they just bring out your best. 424 00:22:48,525 --> 00:22:53,026 - WOMAN: Hey, how do you like that hat over there? - Oh, what a chapeau! 425 00:22:53,028 --> 00:22:56,698 All the very clever events helped the women's movement a lot. 426 00:22:56,700 --> 00:23:00,034 Keep your best leg forward, sweetie! (kisses) 427 00:23:00,036 --> 00:23:05,472 SANDERS: Now, it isn't my taste to do the kind of demonstrations and things some of them did. 428 00:23:05,474 --> 00:23:08,742 But I was always sort of gleeful about it underneath 429 00:23:08,744 --> 00:23:11,179 and I thought, you know, go for it. 430 00:23:11,181 --> 00:23:14,582 - Look at that long hair! - Oh, it's a hippie on Wall Street. 431 00:23:14,584 --> 00:23:16,750 Oh, I'm so turned on. 432 00:23:16,752 --> 00:23:20,321 We're trying to point out what it feels like to be whistled at, 433 00:23:20,323 --> 00:23:23,725 put down constantly, sexually, every time we walk down the street. 434 00:23:23,727 --> 00:23:26,994 And we don't want to be sexual objects anymore. 435 00:23:26,996 --> 00:23:31,067 - Is love out? Is sex out? - Unless men change, it's going to be very soon. 436 00:23:33,702 --> 00:23:37,404 Unlike NOW, we didn't want a piece of the pie. 437 00:23:37,406 --> 00:23:39,606 We wanted to change the pie. 438 00:23:39,608 --> 00:23:42,110 WOLFSON: We were talking about changing 439 00:23:42,112 --> 00:23:47,748 the whole paradigm of the way men and women interact. 440 00:23:47,750 --> 00:23:49,283 SANDERS: What about marriage? 441 00:23:49,285 --> 00:23:51,686 WOMAN: Marriage is, uh, unpaid labor. 442 00:23:51,688 --> 00:23:54,757 It's a free household slave for each man. 443 00:23:56,058 --> 00:23:59,093 It will take a major social revolution 444 00:23:59,095 --> 00:24:01,261 for women to be truly liberated. 445 00:24:01,263 --> 00:24:04,798 GIARDINA: We began to reinterpret the whole world. 446 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,702 It seemed that male supremacy and male chauvinism was everywhere. 447 00:24:08,704 --> 00:24:10,638 And it was. 448 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,873 What's your general feeling about 449 00:24:12,875 --> 00:24:16,244 the National Organization of Women's complaints? 450 00:24:16,246 --> 00:24:18,045 (chuckles) 451 00:24:18,047 --> 00:24:20,213 To become a member of the Press Club, 452 00:24:20,215 --> 00:24:23,116 you have to be 21 years of age and be a male. 453 00:24:23,118 --> 00:24:26,120 Leave, or police action will be taken. We will make an arrest. 454 00:24:26,122 --> 00:24:27,921 Now please leave. 455 00:24:27,923 --> 00:24:31,424 I have no intentions of taking the sign down or changing the sign. 456 00:24:31,426 --> 00:24:34,061 If you can get a court order to take it down, fine. 457 00:24:34,063 --> 00:24:36,797 So you have no intention of changing your policy of segregated facilities. 458 00:24:36,799 --> 00:24:38,498 Is that correct, sir? 459 00:24:38,500 --> 00:24:40,968 There's a sign out there now. Come on. Let's go. 460 00:24:40,970 --> 00:24:44,005 - Do you discriminate by sex? - MAN: Come on. Let's get out of here. 461 00:24:44,007 --> 00:24:45,840 Come on, toots. 462 00:24:45,842 --> 00:24:49,977 WOMAN: He has repeatedly used his law classroom 463 00:24:49,979 --> 00:24:53,514 to espouse that women do not make good attorneys, 464 00:24:53,516 --> 00:24:57,485 that they're too emotional, they're vindictive. 465 00:24:57,487 --> 00:24:59,853 WOLFSON: We were angry. 466 00:24:59,855 --> 00:25:03,591 Maybe the anger is what carried us through and made us fearless. 467 00:25:03,593 --> 00:25:07,230 - ♪ Start the revolution ♪ - ♪♪ (vocalizing) 468 00:25:08,698 --> 00:25:10,463 WOLFSON: In Washington, DC, 469 00:25:10,465 --> 00:25:14,201 we had a very, very active women's liberation movement. 470 00:25:14,203 --> 00:25:18,408 I think we met every single day for something or other. 471 00:25:21,978 --> 00:25:23,944 WEBB: We had this organizational structure 472 00:25:23,946 --> 00:25:25,712 with all the different groups. 473 00:25:25,714 --> 00:25:28,015 We didn't want it to be hierarchical, 474 00:25:28,017 --> 00:25:29,883 so we decided on the name Magic Quilt. 475 00:25:29,885 --> 00:25:32,053 (chattering) 476 00:25:32,055 --> 00:25:35,957 In Washington, populated by working-class women, 477 00:25:35,959 --> 00:25:39,459 they were getting a fraction of the salaries they felt they should be getting. 478 00:25:39,461 --> 00:25:41,562 They weren't able to support their children. 479 00:25:41,564 --> 00:25:45,065 So we talked to government workers, clerical workers. 480 00:25:45,067 --> 00:25:46,633 People talked to nurses. 481 00:25:46,635 --> 00:25:50,638 And all these women responded so incredibly. 482 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,708 It was like, "Yeah! Yeah!" 483 00:25:53,710 --> 00:25:57,678 SHULMAN: Pretty soon there were these meetings going on in New York 484 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,815 where there weren't just half a dozen women, 485 00:26:01,817 --> 00:26:06,921 but there were 50, 60, 80, even a hundred of them. 486 00:26:06,923 --> 00:26:10,690 On one side of the block there would be a Redstockings meeting. 487 00:26:10,692 --> 00:26:14,764 On the other side of the block there would be a WITCH meeting. 488 00:26:16,332 --> 00:26:18,332 ROSEN: There were conferences. 489 00:26:18,334 --> 00:26:23,103 People drove all night, all day to get to these conferences. 490 00:26:23,105 --> 00:26:25,439 GIARDINA: I got up to Sandy Springs, 491 00:26:25,441 --> 00:26:27,507 and here were this bunch of women 492 00:26:27,509 --> 00:26:30,777 talking about how we would overthrow male supremacy 493 00:26:30,779 --> 00:26:34,382 with this movement. 494 00:26:34,384 --> 00:26:36,584 So we went back to Gainesville right away 495 00:26:36,586 --> 00:26:39,553 and started a women's liberation group. 496 00:26:39,555 --> 00:26:41,956 Somebody else would write a position paper in another city, 497 00:26:41,958 --> 00:26:45,428 they would send it, we would read it. 498 00:26:47,096 --> 00:26:49,029 ROSEN: Every time there was a meeting, 499 00:26:49,031 --> 00:26:51,065 we'd see all these pamphlets 500 00:26:51,067 --> 00:26:54,302 that just raced across the country. 501 00:26:54,304 --> 00:26:57,438 Why do women not get paid properly? 502 00:26:57,440 --> 00:26:59,873 Why do women not have child care? 503 00:26:59,875 --> 00:27:02,943 They were consciousness-raising too. 504 00:27:02,945 --> 00:27:06,479 All of these writings were very precious to all of us 505 00:27:06,481 --> 00:27:09,351 'cause they were the vanguard. 506 00:27:13,489 --> 00:27:16,257 "There are a vast number of women 507 00:27:16,259 --> 00:27:19,392 who are beginning to wake out of the long sleep 508 00:27:19,394 --> 00:27:23,296 that is known as cooperation of one's own oppression and self-denigration, 509 00:27:23,298 --> 00:27:25,833 and they are banding together to make the beginnings 510 00:27:25,835 --> 00:27:30,403 of a new and massive women's movement in America and in the world, 511 00:27:30,405 --> 00:27:34,342 to establish true equality between the sexes, 512 00:27:34,344 --> 00:27:37,311 to break the old machine of sexual politics 513 00:27:37,313 --> 00:27:39,980 and to replace it with a more human 514 00:27:39,982 --> 00:27:42,583 and civilized world for both sexes, 515 00:27:42,585 --> 00:27:47,121 and to end the present system's oppression of men as well as of women." 516 00:27:47,123 --> 00:27:50,326 We had a lot to say. (laughing) 517 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,794 GRIFFIN: "In answer to a man's question, 518 00:27:53,796 --> 00:27:56,330 'What can I do about women's liberation?' 519 00:27:56,332 --> 00:27:58,298 Wear a dress. 520 00:27:58,300 --> 00:28:00,000 Wear a dress that you made yourself 521 00:28:00,002 --> 00:28:01,768 or bought in a dress store. 522 00:28:01,770 --> 00:28:03,837 Wear a dress, and underneath the dress 523 00:28:03,839 --> 00:28:07,173 wear elastic around your hips and underneath your nipples. 524 00:28:07,175 --> 00:28:10,710 Wear a dress, and underneath the dress wear a sanitary napkin. 525 00:28:10,712 --> 00:28:13,881 Wear a dress and wear sling-back shoes, high-heeled shoes. 526 00:28:13,883 --> 00:28:16,784 Wear a dress with elastic and a sanitary napkin underneath 527 00:28:16,786 --> 00:28:18,619 and sling-back shoes on your feet 528 00:28:18,621 --> 00:28:21,057 and walk down Telegraph Avenue." 529 00:28:23,358 --> 00:28:25,992 ROSEN: In the Bay Area, poetry was a very big part 530 00:28:25,994 --> 00:28:28,328 of our cultural life. 531 00:28:28,330 --> 00:28:31,532 I think on the West Coast we were accustomed to thinking 532 00:28:31,534 --> 00:28:35,702 that skits and songs and poems 533 00:28:35,704 --> 00:28:37,837 were all part of a movement. 534 00:28:37,839 --> 00:28:42,008 GRIFFIN: We had the wonderful precedent of the Beat movement. 535 00:28:42,010 --> 00:28:46,212 Sometimes a thousand people would show up for a poetry reading. 536 00:28:46,214 --> 00:28:48,849 It was a fantastic experience, 537 00:28:48,851 --> 00:28:51,852 both to be part of the audience and also to read. 538 00:28:51,854 --> 00:28:54,587 Alta is gonna read first. 539 00:28:54,589 --> 00:28:57,424 "I never saw a man in a negligee. 540 00:28:57,426 --> 00:28:59,759 Two times I wore special fucky gowns. 541 00:28:59,761 --> 00:29:02,529 You know the type... one look and he turns off the football game. 542 00:29:02,531 --> 00:29:04,265 But they never do. 543 00:29:04,267 --> 00:29:06,866 I was so busy being dainty and smelling fresh I couldn't hump, 544 00:29:06,868 --> 00:29:08,835 couldn't wiggle, couldn't sweat, couldn't scream. 545 00:29:08,837 --> 00:29:11,072 You know damn well I couldn't come." 546 00:29:11,074 --> 00:29:13,540 ALTA: I started writing poetry, 547 00:29:13,542 --> 00:29:17,678 and then I decided I would start my own press. 548 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,081 I called the press Shameless Hussy 549 00:29:20,083 --> 00:29:23,551 because my mother used that term 550 00:29:23,553 --> 00:29:26,053 for women she didn't approve of, 551 00:29:26,055 --> 00:29:30,623 and no one approved of what I was doing. 552 00:29:30,625 --> 00:29:34,961 In 1969, when I started the press, 553 00:29:34,963 --> 00:29:39,566 only six percent of the books in America were by women. 554 00:29:39,568 --> 00:29:43,536 This is one of the famous poets that I published. 555 00:29:43,538 --> 00:29:46,273 This is Ntozake Shange. 556 00:29:46,275 --> 00:29:51,312 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When The Rainbow Is Enuf 557 00:29:51,314 --> 00:29:54,748 became a very big deal on Broadway, 558 00:29:54,750 --> 00:29:57,317 and we got famous 559 00:29:57,319 --> 00:29:59,286 because of her 560 00:29:59,288 --> 00:30:03,289 and because of George Sand. 561 00:30:03,291 --> 00:30:08,062 George Sand had been unpublished in America for about 80 years. 562 00:30:08,064 --> 00:30:13,801 One of the earliest poets that I published was Susan Griffin. 563 00:30:13,803 --> 00:30:16,603 "This is a poem for a woman doing dishes. 564 00:30:16,605 --> 00:30:19,105 This is a poem for a woman doing dishes. 565 00:30:19,107 --> 00:30:20,574 It must be repeated. 566 00:30:20,576 --> 00:30:24,111 It must be repeated again and again, again and again. 567 00:30:24,113 --> 00:30:27,648 Because the woman doing dishes, because the woman doing dishes, 568 00:30:27,650 --> 00:30:31,285 has trouble hearing, has trouble hearing." 569 00:30:31,287 --> 00:30:36,190 Sue and Ruth Rosen and I were all in a women's group. 570 00:30:36,192 --> 00:30:38,592 We decided that a newspaper 571 00:30:38,594 --> 00:30:43,497 was really essential for what we were doing. 572 00:30:43,499 --> 00:30:45,999 WOMAN: I saw the first issue of It Ain't Me Babe, 573 00:30:46,001 --> 00:30:48,501 and I immediately phoned them up and I said, 574 00:30:48,503 --> 00:30:50,638 "Hi. I'm an artist. I want to work with you." 575 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:52,605 It was so exciting. 576 00:30:52,607 --> 00:30:55,109 So I got into the second issue 577 00:30:55,111 --> 00:30:59,212 of the first women's liberation newspaper in the country. 578 00:30:59,214 --> 00:31:04,051 Here's one where I drew the women's liberation movement as the Bride of Frankenstein, 579 00:31:04,053 --> 00:31:07,654 and you see how terrified all the various hippie types are. 580 00:31:07,656 --> 00:31:11,392 The peace movement guy and the hippie guy and the black power guy 581 00:31:11,394 --> 00:31:14,562 are really afraid of this woman who has just emerged. 582 00:31:14,564 --> 00:31:17,698 And she's making the power sign. 583 00:31:17,700 --> 00:31:21,568 This was something so new and so exciting. 584 00:31:21,570 --> 00:31:25,607 And people read us. People read us. 585 00:31:38,186 --> 00:31:41,956 ♪♪ (rock) 586 00:31:43,858 --> 00:31:47,527 WOMAN: ♪ Don't go out in the street, little girl ♪ 587 00:31:47,529 --> 00:31:51,731 ♪ And don't go out into town ♪ 588 00:31:51,733 --> 00:31:55,335 ♪ Now, you don't know who you'll meet, little girl ♪ 589 00:31:55,337 --> 00:31:59,172 ♪ There are bad men around ♪♪ 590 00:31:59,174 --> 00:32:03,744 WILLIS: We were always being subjected to a double message. 591 00:32:03,746 --> 00:32:09,516 Sex was supposed to be okay now, but if we were pregnant it was our problem. 592 00:32:09,518 --> 00:32:11,384 There was this idea that 593 00:32:11,386 --> 00:32:13,219 even when abortion was illegal, 594 00:32:13,221 --> 00:32:15,355 middle class women could always get it. 595 00:32:15,357 --> 00:32:19,793 I mean, this was not true at all. 596 00:32:19,795 --> 00:32:22,196 WALTER CRONKITE: Thousands of women in the United States 597 00:32:22,198 --> 00:32:23,896 are hospitalized each year 598 00:32:23,898 --> 00:32:27,101 because of post-abortion complications. 599 00:32:27,103 --> 00:32:31,238 5,000 of these women die. 600 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,107 I had a very good friend in high school 601 00:32:34,109 --> 00:32:36,242 who went away to college 602 00:32:36,244 --> 00:32:38,312 and she subsequently 603 00:32:38,314 --> 00:32:41,282 had an illegal abortion and died. 604 00:32:41,284 --> 00:32:44,651 So within three or four months of going off to college, 605 00:32:44,653 --> 00:32:47,022 she was dead. 606 00:32:48,891 --> 00:32:50,923 GIARDINA: People tried to self-abort. 607 00:32:50,925 --> 00:32:52,992 My best friend took pills, 608 00:32:52,994 --> 00:32:58,599 and she had the miscarriage in the dorm shower with the... 609 00:32:58,601 --> 00:33:00,401 Turned on really hard, 610 00:33:00,403 --> 00:33:05,405 hoping the noise would muffle her cries of pain. 611 00:33:05,407 --> 00:33:07,975 BROWNMILLER: Some were able to find an abortionist. 612 00:33:07,977 --> 00:33:10,844 Some had to have the child that they didn't want. 613 00:33:10,846 --> 00:33:14,981 All those kinds of experiences we discovered were universal. 614 00:33:14,983 --> 00:33:17,084 (shouting, chanting) 615 00:33:17,086 --> 00:33:19,987 And abortion became our big, unifying issue. 616 00:33:19,989 --> 00:33:23,356 Free abortion on demand! Sisterhood is powerful! 617 00:33:23,358 --> 00:33:25,959 Women have a fundamental right to control their own bodies 618 00:33:25,961 --> 00:33:27,795 and to control their own lives. 619 00:33:27,797 --> 00:33:29,529 - (cheering) - Yeah! 620 00:33:29,531 --> 00:33:33,132 Our bodies, our lives! Our right to decide! 621 00:33:33,134 --> 00:33:36,003 Not since the suffragettes fought for the right to vote 622 00:33:36,005 --> 00:33:39,006 has an issue been more critical to women than abortion. 623 00:33:39,008 --> 00:33:40,673 Separate the church and state! 624 00:33:40,675 --> 00:33:42,308 WOMAN: Somewhere around 1970 625 00:33:42,310 --> 00:33:45,712 I went to an abortion rights rally in San Francisco, 626 00:33:45,714 --> 00:33:48,949 and it was a sea of white women... 627 00:33:48,951 --> 00:33:50,784 very few women of color. 628 00:33:50,786 --> 00:33:54,354 And someone grabbed a bullhorn 629 00:33:54,356 --> 00:33:58,892 and asked for the African-American women who were there 630 00:33:58,894 --> 00:34:01,228 to gather under a tree. 631 00:34:01,230 --> 00:34:04,130 WOMAN (on loudspeaker): A society that cares about all people. 632 00:34:04,132 --> 00:34:08,635 BURNHAM: And we decided that we would form a group called Black Sisters United. 633 00:34:08,637 --> 00:34:10,737 I was very glad that, you know, 634 00:34:10,739 --> 00:34:14,407 somebody called African-American women together and said, 635 00:34:14,409 --> 00:34:17,211 "You know, maybe we have something to talk about 636 00:34:17,213 --> 00:34:21,481 that might be a tiny bit different from what's coming from the stage." 637 00:34:21,483 --> 00:34:23,918 And indeed we did. 638 00:34:25,221 --> 00:34:28,155 BEAL: I was invited up to Harlem 639 00:34:28,157 --> 00:34:34,228 to speak at an event around abortion. 640 00:34:34,230 --> 00:34:36,764 Remember, in the black liberation movement, 641 00:34:36,766 --> 00:34:39,532 the big debate is, abortion is genocide. 642 00:34:39,534 --> 00:34:42,235 Women should have babies for the revolution. 643 00:34:42,237 --> 00:34:47,074 And I remember going up those stairs 644 00:34:47,076 --> 00:34:50,077 and my knees were literally knocking. 645 00:34:50,079 --> 00:34:55,382 'Cause this was a bunch of nationalists, and I was really scared. 646 00:34:55,384 --> 00:34:57,583 I concentrated a lot 647 00:34:57,585 --> 00:34:59,887 about the death of black women 648 00:34:59,889 --> 00:35:02,789 as a result of illegal abortion 649 00:35:02,791 --> 00:35:06,927 and how we should be able to choose when we want to have children. 650 00:35:06,929 --> 00:35:10,530 So I managed to survive some of the attacks. 651 00:35:10,532 --> 00:35:13,200 And on my way out... twice it happened... 652 00:35:13,202 --> 00:35:16,869 one woman said to me... 653 00:35:16,871 --> 00:35:19,639 whispered to me, 654 00:35:19,641 --> 00:35:24,445 "Thank God you speak up. Thank God you're speaking up." 655 00:35:24,447 --> 00:35:27,648 And another, as I was approaching the door, said, 656 00:35:27,650 --> 00:35:32,552 "Right on. Right on." 657 00:35:32,554 --> 00:35:33,954 "Dear Brothers, 658 00:35:33,956 --> 00:35:35,822 Poor black women decide for themselves 659 00:35:35,824 --> 00:35:38,992 whether to have a baby or not have a baby. 660 00:35:38,994 --> 00:35:41,929 Black women are being asked by militant black brothers 661 00:35:41,931 --> 00:35:44,097 not to practice birth control 662 00:35:44,099 --> 00:35:47,767 because it's a form of whiteys committing genocide on black people. 663 00:35:47,769 --> 00:35:49,769 Well, true enough. 664 00:35:49,771 --> 00:35:52,104 But black women in the United States 665 00:35:52,106 --> 00:35:55,675 have to fight back out of our own experience of oppression. 666 00:35:55,677 --> 00:35:59,445 And having too many babies stops us from teaching them the truth, 667 00:35:59,447 --> 00:36:01,148 from supporting our children, 668 00:36:01,150 --> 00:36:05,251 and from stopping the 'brainwashing, ' as you say, 669 00:36:05,253 --> 00:36:10,693 and fighting black men who still want to use and exploit us." 670 00:36:12,795 --> 00:36:16,162 It was very difficult for middle-class white women 671 00:36:16,164 --> 00:36:20,833 to have any conception about what was going on in communities of color. 672 00:36:20,835 --> 00:36:22,836 And those differences could have been 673 00:36:22,838 --> 00:36:24,537 in conversation with each other, 674 00:36:24,539 --> 00:36:27,374 but if there isn't even an acknowledgement that there's differences 675 00:36:27,376 --> 00:36:29,208 in experience and perspective 676 00:36:29,210 --> 00:36:33,848 and the voice of one is used as the voice of all, then you have a problem. 677 00:36:35,351 --> 00:36:38,552 That was during a period when black women 678 00:36:38,554 --> 00:36:41,621 did not particularly identify with the women's movement. 679 00:36:41,623 --> 00:36:46,726 Mrs. Norton, why are you, a black woman, involved in women's liberation? 680 00:36:46,728 --> 00:36:49,563 I'm involved in the struggle for women's rights 681 00:36:49,565 --> 00:36:51,999 because I believe women are disadvantaged... 682 00:36:52,001 --> 00:36:54,333 black women no less than white women. 683 00:36:54,335 --> 00:36:57,336 Indeed, black women far more than white women. 684 00:36:57,338 --> 00:37:00,807 Women who have spent their lives 685 00:37:00,809 --> 00:37:04,043 working in other women's kitchens 686 00:37:04,045 --> 00:37:06,847 have a different kind of handicap 687 00:37:06,849 --> 00:37:09,249 than women who have been oppressed for their sex 688 00:37:09,251 --> 00:37:11,553 in other ways. 689 00:37:12,755 --> 00:37:15,354 BEAL: We were grappling with that idea 690 00:37:15,356 --> 00:37:20,927 of how do you integrate race, class and gender. 691 00:37:20,929 --> 00:37:25,999 That's the reason why we had some reservations about the term "feminism." 692 00:37:26,001 --> 00:37:29,269 Because "feminism" just seemed to be dealing 693 00:37:29,271 --> 00:37:33,976 with the female aspect of your being. 694 00:37:35,244 --> 00:37:37,443 NORTON: It's important to keep in mind that black women are organized 695 00:37:37,445 --> 00:37:39,079 in their own organizations, 696 00:37:39,081 --> 00:37:42,548 in their own version of black women's liberation. 697 00:37:42,550 --> 00:37:45,017 BURNHAM: Black Sisters United 698 00:37:45,019 --> 00:37:48,354 was essentially a consciousness-raising group 699 00:37:48,356 --> 00:37:52,092 and it was in that group the very first conversations I'd ever had 700 00:37:52,094 --> 00:37:55,061 about differences in sexual orientation. 701 00:37:55,063 --> 00:37:57,063 It was the first group I was in 702 00:37:57,065 --> 00:37:58,965 in which there were lesbian women. 703 00:37:58,967 --> 00:38:00,934 And so it was 704 00:38:00,936 --> 00:38:03,639 just a deep learning experience. 705 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:14,914 MAN: There may be some here today 706 00:38:14,916 --> 00:38:17,550 that will be homosexual in the future. 707 00:38:17,552 --> 00:38:19,485 There are a lot of kids here, 708 00:38:19,487 --> 00:38:21,787 and maybe some girls that'll turn lesbian. 709 00:38:21,789 --> 00:38:23,456 We don't know. 710 00:38:23,458 --> 00:38:25,791 They can be anywhere. 711 00:38:25,793 --> 00:38:27,394 They can be judges, lawyers. 712 00:38:27,396 --> 00:38:31,063 We ought to know. We've arrested all of them. 713 00:38:31,065 --> 00:38:35,469 I told no one I went to college with that I was a lesbian. 714 00:38:35,471 --> 00:38:38,170 I never told anyone. 715 00:38:38,172 --> 00:38:39,773 When I got to Barnard, 716 00:38:39,775 --> 00:38:42,008 one of the first stories I heard 717 00:38:42,010 --> 00:38:46,246 was that there were two women in the dorm room who were making out 718 00:38:46,248 --> 00:38:51,818 and a guy at Columbia with binoculars saw them and they were expelled. 719 00:38:51,820 --> 00:38:54,588 The message of that story was certainly 720 00:38:54,590 --> 00:38:57,490 that one could not be 721 00:38:57,492 --> 00:39:01,927 an open lesbian at Barnard. 722 00:39:01,929 --> 00:39:05,032 What the '60s were like for many of us... 723 00:39:05,034 --> 00:39:09,702 We grew up in silence and isolation and shame, 724 00:39:09,704 --> 00:39:13,840 and that's why consciousness-raising was so appealing, 725 00:39:13,842 --> 00:39:19,713 because so much of our lives we could not speak of. 726 00:39:19,715 --> 00:39:22,682 The women's movement had coined the motto, 727 00:39:22,684 --> 00:39:24,818 "The Personal is Political." 728 00:39:24,820 --> 00:39:29,555 But when you were a lesbian and you wanted to talk about lesbian relationships 729 00:39:29,557 --> 00:39:32,391 as opposed to heterosexual relationships, 730 00:39:32,393 --> 00:39:34,528 they didn't want to hear about it. 731 00:39:34,530 --> 00:39:39,231 And here I have to give a lot of credit to Rita Mae Brown. 732 00:39:39,233 --> 00:39:43,170 One thing you were not going to tell Rita was to shut up. 733 00:39:43,172 --> 00:39:46,139 I knew that I was as good as they were, 734 00:39:46,141 --> 00:39:48,541 and I knew I am not who I sleep with. 735 00:39:48,543 --> 00:39:50,142 I was in NOW. 736 00:39:50,144 --> 00:39:52,179 And as NOW went on 737 00:39:52,181 --> 00:39:55,548 I called them on the carpet about class, about race, 738 00:39:55,550 --> 00:39:58,351 and then I called them on the carpet about lesbianism. 739 00:39:58,353 --> 00:40:02,555 I said, you are treating women the way men treat you, and those women are lesbians. 740 00:40:02,557 --> 00:40:06,492 Well, my God, you would have thought I unleashed an elephant in the middle of the room. 741 00:40:06,494 --> 00:40:09,528 CEBALLOS: A lot of women were gay, but they didn't talk about being gay. 742 00:40:09,530 --> 00:40:13,066 They used to say that the NOW meetings was the best cruising place in town. 743 00:40:13,068 --> 00:40:16,036 So Betty Friedan was freaking out. 744 00:40:16,038 --> 00:40:19,371 She was saying you can't bring this up now. This is divisive. 745 00:40:19,373 --> 00:40:21,441 This is what men call us anyway. 746 00:40:21,443 --> 00:40:24,244 Any woman that stands up for herself is called a dyke. 747 00:40:24,246 --> 00:40:28,248 And she said this is like the lavender menace. We can't have it. 748 00:40:28,250 --> 00:40:32,351 The fact that we were beginning to be recognized and treated decently was something. 749 00:40:32,353 --> 00:40:35,588 And all of a sudden, the gay issue? 750 00:40:35,590 --> 00:40:38,592 Betty was really, really concerned that it was going to destroy it. 751 00:40:38,594 --> 00:40:41,795 But Betty wasn't the only one concerned. A lot of us were concerned. 752 00:40:41,797 --> 00:40:44,463 I was concerned too. 753 00:40:44,465 --> 00:40:47,434 It's too soon. That's what we thought. Too soon. 754 00:40:47,436 --> 00:40:50,403 They couldn't bustle me out of that organization fast enough. 755 00:40:50,405 --> 00:40:52,674 I was thrown out. 756 00:40:55,610 --> 00:40:59,945 I thought, you know, we really need to talk about what is happening to lesbians. 757 00:40:59,947 --> 00:41:03,749 Why are we reviled by what should be our own people? 758 00:41:03,751 --> 00:41:07,052 So it was a group of lesbians from Redstockings 759 00:41:07,054 --> 00:41:09,923 and lesbians from the Gay Liberation Front 760 00:41:09,925 --> 00:41:11,657 who started meeting together. 761 00:41:11,659 --> 00:41:15,128 And out of that we decided to write a lesbian feminist position paper, 762 00:41:15,130 --> 00:41:17,264 which was the first of its kind. 763 00:41:17,266 --> 00:41:19,432 BROWN: We each tried to write a piece of this thing. 764 00:41:19,434 --> 00:41:23,470 We put it all together and it became The Woman-Identified Woman. 765 00:41:23,472 --> 00:41:26,840 In essence, give your energies to other women. 766 00:41:26,842 --> 00:41:30,610 SHUMSKY: I don't even know who came up with such a wonderful opening line. 767 00:41:30,612 --> 00:41:35,550 "A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion." 768 00:41:37,418 --> 00:41:42,655 Towards May 1970, there was the 2nd Congress to Unite Women. 769 00:41:42,657 --> 00:41:45,090 But there was not going to be a single panel 770 00:41:45,092 --> 00:41:49,496 that dealt with homophobia or lesbianism. 771 00:41:49,498 --> 00:41:53,700 And we decided we were going to do an action. 772 00:41:53,702 --> 00:41:56,769 We had been labeled the Lavender Menace. 773 00:41:56,771 --> 00:42:02,141 So on the day of the congress we came in looking like we were part of the crowd. 774 00:42:02,143 --> 00:42:06,545 And we had a buddy back behind the curtains who knew how to run the lights. 775 00:42:06,547 --> 00:42:08,682 So the lights went out. (gasps) 776 00:42:08,684 --> 00:42:13,452 And when the lights went out, like Superman, we removed our blouses 777 00:42:13,454 --> 00:42:16,722 and exposed our Lavender Menace T-shirts. 778 00:42:16,724 --> 00:42:18,657 (all shouting) 779 00:42:18,659 --> 00:42:22,396 JAY: The audience was completely surrounded by lesbians. 780 00:42:23,664 --> 00:42:25,365 I was a plant in the audience. 781 00:42:25,367 --> 00:42:30,170 I pulled off my blouse. I had a Lavender Menace T-shirt underneath. 782 00:42:30,172 --> 00:42:34,407 I said, "I'm tired of being in the closet in this movement." 783 00:42:34,409 --> 00:42:37,409 BROWN: Well, nobody knew... Excuse the Southern expression. 784 00:42:37,411 --> 00:42:42,849 They didn't know whether to shit, run or go blind. They did not know what to do. 785 00:42:42,851 --> 00:42:45,651 JAY: And finally we took over the stage 786 00:42:45,653 --> 00:42:51,224 and we demanded that issues of lesbianism be put on the agenda. 787 00:42:51,226 --> 00:42:53,193 And they were. 788 00:42:53,195 --> 00:42:55,494 BROWN: It really did awaken people. 789 00:42:55,496 --> 00:42:58,264 It was like, "Oh, you know, you're kinda right." 790 00:42:58,266 --> 00:43:01,400 It was a lot of fun. 791 00:43:01,402 --> 00:43:04,104 ♪ Free ♪ 792 00:43:04,106 --> 00:43:06,475 ♪ Free ♪♪ 793 00:43:13,748 --> 00:43:16,215 WILLIS: When feminism first erupted, 794 00:43:16,217 --> 00:43:18,751 it was, for me, an extremely erotic moment, 795 00:43:18,753 --> 00:43:21,220 'cause I think for the first time 796 00:43:21,222 --> 00:43:24,758 I saw the possibility of what I was 797 00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,458 really being beautiful. 798 00:43:26,460 --> 00:43:28,528 WOMAN: ♪ I'll be your mirror ♪ 799 00:43:28,530 --> 00:43:31,298 WILLIS: I had kind of been the nerdy intellectual. 800 00:43:31,300 --> 00:43:37,369 I felt that I couldn't be myself and be attractive to guys. 801 00:43:37,371 --> 00:43:40,273 So the idea that wearing what you felt like 802 00:43:40,275 --> 00:43:42,809 and letting your hair go wherever it wanted to be 803 00:43:42,811 --> 00:43:44,778 was actually considered attractive 804 00:43:44,780 --> 00:43:47,613 was very exciting. 805 00:43:47,615 --> 00:43:50,650 Radical feminists were really the first to argue 806 00:43:50,652 --> 00:43:54,287 that women's emotional and sexual needs 807 00:43:54,289 --> 00:43:58,325 should be equally important to men's. 808 00:43:58,327 --> 00:44:00,092 When we started talking about sex, 809 00:44:00,094 --> 00:44:02,461 it turned out that very few of us 810 00:44:02,463 --> 00:44:04,496 had ever even had an orgasm. 811 00:44:04,498 --> 00:44:08,068 Not only that, but we were faking those orgasms. 812 00:44:08,070 --> 00:44:12,771 And I don't know exactly how we knew how to fake them. 813 00:44:12,773 --> 00:44:15,976 Because if we'd never had one, how did we know how to fake it? 814 00:44:15,978 --> 00:44:19,479 ♪♪ (continues) 815 00:44:19,481 --> 00:44:23,249 The dissatisfaction of this new generation of young women 816 00:44:23,251 --> 00:44:26,353 who were having more sex than women ever had before, 817 00:44:26,355 --> 00:44:28,823 but not enjoying it particularly. 818 00:44:29,925 --> 00:44:32,325 SHULMAN: And once we started going on it, 819 00:44:32,327 --> 00:44:37,030 we didn't stop until we were able to demand 820 00:44:37,032 --> 00:44:40,166 a decent sexual experience from our lovers. 821 00:44:40,168 --> 00:44:42,469 ♪ I'll be your mirror ♪ 822 00:44:42,471 --> 00:44:45,537 Part of what distinguished the women's liberation branch 823 00:44:45,539 --> 00:44:48,974 from the more middle-aged, middle-class group 824 00:44:48,976 --> 00:44:53,679 was the interest in sexuality and personal liberation. 825 00:44:53,681 --> 00:44:57,117 The sexuality stuff was a little daunting to me. 826 00:44:57,119 --> 00:45:00,119 You know, even at the NOW conferences later on, 827 00:45:00,121 --> 00:45:02,155 I mean, women, they brought speculums 828 00:45:02,157 --> 00:45:04,289 and they examined each other's vaginas and stuff. 829 00:45:04,291 --> 00:45:06,892 I was, like... I was not into that. That was not me. 830 00:45:06,894 --> 00:45:09,630 I was not doing that. 831 00:45:18,639 --> 00:45:21,740 WOMAN: This is the group's first picture. 832 00:45:21,742 --> 00:45:25,345 This is Wendy, Paula, Esther, 833 00:45:25,347 --> 00:45:28,981 Joan, Me... Vilunya... 834 00:45:28,983 --> 00:45:33,153 Jane, Norma, Pamela, 835 00:45:33,155 --> 00:45:36,722 Ruth, Miriam and Judy. 836 00:45:36,724 --> 00:45:39,992 We look impossibly young. 837 00:45:39,994 --> 00:45:42,028 Why does a women's hormonal system 838 00:45:42,030 --> 00:45:44,164 have to be fucked around with all the time 839 00:45:44,166 --> 00:45:48,367 when it's very complicated and very necessary to procreate the species, 840 00:45:48,369 --> 00:45:53,206 when, in fact, it makes much more sense to have a pill for a male 841 00:45:53,208 --> 00:45:56,742 whose hormonal system is not as complicated? 842 00:45:56,744 --> 00:45:59,445 People were very fired up about birth control. 843 00:45:59,447 --> 00:46:01,380 People were having a terrible time, 844 00:46:01,382 --> 00:46:03,249 particularly 'cause it was Massachusetts 845 00:46:03,251 --> 00:46:05,418 and birth control was illegal. 846 00:46:05,420 --> 00:46:08,621 The thing that struck me the most was that everyone had a doctor story 847 00:46:08,623 --> 00:46:10,456 that they wanted to share, 848 00:46:10,458 --> 00:46:13,059 and some of it was about getting the information, 849 00:46:13,061 --> 00:46:15,628 but some of it was just about being patronized. 850 00:46:15,630 --> 00:46:17,697 There was just this sense of, 851 00:46:17,699 --> 00:46:19,965 "Oh, don't worry your pretty little head about that." 852 00:46:19,967 --> 00:46:21,733 And it was an attitude also. 853 00:46:21,735 --> 00:46:23,536 When I gave birth to my daughter, 854 00:46:23,538 --> 00:46:25,037 she was born around 4:00 in the morning, 855 00:46:25,039 --> 00:46:26,940 and he came in a few hours later and he said, 856 00:46:26,942 --> 00:46:28,807 "Well, how did you like the job I did?" 857 00:46:28,809 --> 00:46:30,876 - (laughing) - I go... 858 00:46:30,878 --> 00:46:32,711 Exactly. Exactly. 859 00:46:32,713 --> 00:46:36,483 We then made a list of subjects that we want information about. 860 00:46:36,485 --> 00:46:40,253 You know, only people in their 20s would have the chutzpah 861 00:46:40,255 --> 00:46:42,921 to make a list from birth to death. 862 00:46:42,923 --> 00:46:44,958 Okay, we need to know about anatomy. 863 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:46,492 We need to know about birth control. 864 00:46:46,494 --> 00:46:49,595 We need to know about pregnancy, postpartum, nutrition. 865 00:46:49,597 --> 00:46:53,398 We need to know about exercise. We need to know about menopause, death. 866 00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:55,668 You know, the whole gambit. 867 00:46:55,670 --> 00:46:59,271 I went to the doctor. I had an abnormal pap test. 868 00:46:59,273 --> 00:47:01,474 I went home, I wrote about it. 869 00:47:01,476 --> 00:47:04,911 So there was a constant flow between what you lived, 870 00:47:04,913 --> 00:47:08,815 what you learned, what you give out. 871 00:47:08,817 --> 00:47:11,284 MIRIAM: So at the point at which we were ready, 872 00:47:11,286 --> 00:47:13,153 we said, "Well, we're gonna do a course." 873 00:47:13,155 --> 00:47:17,956 We had this material that we wanted to share. 874 00:47:17,958 --> 00:47:22,195 The first course was on masturbation. 875 00:47:22,197 --> 00:47:26,999 Nobody had ever said that word out loud at MIT in a room, 876 00:47:27,001 --> 00:47:29,034 and you could hear a pin drop. 877 00:47:29,036 --> 00:47:30,769 Written on the board! 878 00:47:30,771 --> 00:47:33,472 I remember her standing up, this tall, beautiful woman, 879 00:47:33,474 --> 00:47:35,675 and she's writing about masturbation. 880 00:47:35,677 --> 00:47:39,278 Everybody's like, "Oh, my God." (laughs) 881 00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,713 And she had this drawing of a vagina 882 00:47:41,715 --> 00:47:43,883 with all the anatomical parts. 883 00:47:43,885 --> 00:47:47,720 And she started talking about what our genitals look like. 884 00:47:47,722 --> 00:47:49,722 Whoa, you know. 885 00:47:49,724 --> 00:47:53,959 Never heard or thought about any of this before, so this was quite compelling. 886 00:47:53,961 --> 00:47:56,496 I remember that after the first session, 887 00:47:56,498 --> 00:47:58,398 everybody said, "Well, we want to have all the information. 888 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:00,300 What are those pieces of paper that you had?" 889 00:48:00,302 --> 00:48:04,170 Everybody wanted copies of each of the topics of the course. 890 00:48:04,172 --> 00:48:07,072 Then we said, "This is going to become a book." 891 00:48:07,074 --> 00:48:11,411 We each took the subject that most involved us personally 892 00:48:11,413 --> 00:48:16,950 and started to learn more about it so we would have a larger chapter. 893 00:48:21,088 --> 00:48:23,555 VILUNYA: The first version, the newsprint version, 894 00:48:23,557 --> 00:48:27,729 sold 240,000 copies. 895 00:48:29,496 --> 00:48:31,898 JOAN: Suddenly we have this book, and it's a best seller, 896 00:48:31,900 --> 00:48:35,068 and it was something no one ever anticipated. 897 00:48:35,070 --> 00:48:38,938 WENDY: We felt like any money this book was going to make 898 00:48:38,940 --> 00:48:41,507 came out of women's lives 'cause women needed it, 899 00:48:41,509 --> 00:48:45,345 and so we would use the money to fund women's health stuff. 900 00:48:47,014 --> 00:48:49,782 PAMELA: We made our chapters of these letters that came in 901 00:48:49,784 --> 00:48:51,851 with these personal experiences. 902 00:48:51,853 --> 00:48:56,789 JOAN: Any anecdote became material for the book. 903 00:48:56,791 --> 00:48:59,458 What we were saying is we were a living lab, you know. 904 00:48:59,460 --> 00:49:04,097 That no one knows that much about women's lives. 905 00:49:04,099 --> 00:49:06,231 I said, "We're gonna sell a million copies," 906 00:49:06,233 --> 00:49:07,934 and people laughed. 907 00:49:07,936 --> 00:49:11,436 I thought, no, because every woman has a body. 908 00:49:11,438 --> 00:49:15,641 It doesn't matter what class or color you are. 909 00:49:15,643 --> 00:49:18,145 We all have the same anatomy. 910 00:49:20,782 --> 00:49:22,981 Holy cow! 911 00:49:22,983 --> 00:49:24,950 Try not to drool on it, okay? 912 00:49:24,952 --> 00:49:27,086 If Kim finds out I have this, she'll kill me. 913 00:49:27,088 --> 00:49:29,357 (knocking) 914 00:49:40,768 --> 00:49:43,068 ROXANNE: My background was very, very different 915 00:49:43,070 --> 00:49:48,840 from many of the people I met on the left in general. 916 00:49:48,842 --> 00:49:52,512 My family were sharecroppers from Oklahoma, 917 00:49:52,514 --> 00:49:55,550 and we were very, very poor. 918 00:49:57,619 --> 00:50:01,420 For me, anything negative that ever happened had to do with class. 919 00:50:01,422 --> 00:50:05,023 I was being put down... even when men were misogynist, 920 00:50:05,025 --> 00:50:07,159 it was because of class. 921 00:50:07,161 --> 00:50:11,597 I didn't internalize it as because that's the way they treat women. 922 00:50:11,599 --> 00:50:14,934 So it wasn't until I was at UCLA 923 00:50:14,936 --> 00:50:20,039 I started seeing how stacked the deck was against a woman. 924 00:50:20,041 --> 00:50:22,842 I got a professor, a young professor. 925 00:50:22,844 --> 00:50:25,478 The first day he met with me he says, 926 00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:28,947 "If I can't fuck you, I'm going to fuck you." 927 00:50:28,949 --> 00:50:31,050 So I quit. 928 00:50:31,052 --> 00:50:33,952 I quit graduate school. 929 00:50:33,954 --> 00:50:36,389 I burned all my bridges, yeah. 930 00:50:36,391 --> 00:50:42,561 And that's when I flew out to start a women's revolution. 931 00:50:42,563 --> 00:50:46,065 "I am a revolutionary. I am a feminist. 932 00:50:46,067 --> 00:50:48,967 There is no possibility for me to be liberated 933 00:50:48,969 --> 00:50:51,838 except that all women be liberated, 934 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:54,639 and that means power and control 935 00:50:54,641 --> 00:50:58,211 on a political, economic level. 936 00:50:58,213 --> 00:51:00,345 Having had nothing, 937 00:51:00,347 --> 00:51:02,382 I will not settle for crumbs." 938 00:51:02,384 --> 00:51:06,219 ♪ Rebel girl, rebel girl ♪ 939 00:51:06,221 --> 00:51:09,988 ROXANNE: We formed a group called Cell 16. 940 00:51:09,990 --> 00:51:15,894 We had a motto that we were gonna change the world forever and totally. 941 00:51:15,896 --> 00:51:19,731 We didn't tone it down at all. 942 00:51:19,733 --> 00:51:22,068 There were murders that summer in Boston, 943 00:51:22,070 --> 00:51:25,907 and it was headlines... more slain girls. 944 00:51:27,608 --> 00:51:33,445 We started street patrols for the factories down by the river. 945 00:51:33,447 --> 00:51:35,715 Very dark when the women got off, 946 00:51:35,717 --> 00:51:40,088 and they were constantly being mugged and assaulted and raped. 947 00:51:44,458 --> 00:51:47,693 The first time something did happen on a patrol, 948 00:51:47,695 --> 00:51:50,796 these guys yelled at us, "Bunch of lezzies!" 949 00:51:50,798 --> 00:51:52,231 Fuck you! 950 00:51:52,233 --> 00:51:54,702 I went up and punched him. 951 00:51:56,603 --> 00:52:00,373 And Abby did an upper block. 952 00:52:00,375 --> 00:52:02,941 The guy ran. 953 00:52:02,943 --> 00:52:07,246 He was the most terrified man in Boston that night. 954 00:52:07,248 --> 00:52:09,148 (shouts) 955 00:52:09,150 --> 00:52:12,952 This convinced us all we really needed to make self-defense a priority. 956 00:52:12,954 --> 00:52:14,454 (body thuds) 957 00:52:14,456 --> 00:52:19,124 So we started recruiting women for an all-women's class, 958 00:52:19,126 --> 00:52:23,095 and we went from just our group to about 100 people. 959 00:52:23,097 --> 00:52:27,502 It was important to all of us that we owned the streets. 960 00:52:36,777 --> 00:52:39,945 One evening in my Tuesday night consciousness-raising group, 961 00:52:39,947 --> 00:52:41,581 West Village-1, 962 00:52:41,583 --> 00:52:43,782 of New York radical feminists, 963 00:52:43,784 --> 00:52:45,985 Diane Crothers walked in with a newspaper, 964 00:52:45,987 --> 00:52:48,253 It Ain't Me Babe from San Francisco, 965 00:52:48,255 --> 00:52:50,789 and said, "There's an article here we all have to read." 966 00:52:50,791 --> 00:52:54,260 And it was a story about a woman in Marin County 967 00:52:54,262 --> 00:52:56,996 who'd been raped during a hitchhike. 968 00:52:56,998 --> 00:52:59,798 We read the article, and we went around the room, 969 00:52:59,800 --> 00:53:03,970 and it turned out one woman, Sarah, had been raped. 970 00:53:03,972 --> 00:53:07,005 And the police said to her, 971 00:53:07,007 --> 00:53:09,675 "Who'd want to rape you?" 972 00:53:09,677 --> 00:53:12,612 A friend of mine was raped at knife-point 973 00:53:12,614 --> 00:53:14,981 in her bed in off-campus housing. 974 00:53:14,983 --> 00:53:18,316 I went with her to the student health service, 975 00:53:18,318 --> 00:53:21,621 and she was given a lecture on her promiscuity. 976 00:53:22,990 --> 00:53:25,324 It was very common in a courtroom 977 00:53:25,326 --> 00:53:27,526 to blame the woman for the rape. 978 00:53:27,528 --> 00:53:31,463 And rape was looked at as a crime that occurred 979 00:53:31,465 --> 00:53:35,668 because a man had strong sexual urges 980 00:53:35,670 --> 00:53:38,871 that he couldn't satisfy any other way. 981 00:53:38,873 --> 00:53:41,740 No! 982 00:53:41,742 --> 00:53:43,642 And it was only with the feminist movement 983 00:53:43,644 --> 00:53:47,546 that it came out that rape is not a crime of passion. 984 00:53:47,548 --> 00:53:52,485 It's a crime that expresses the urge to dominate. 985 00:53:52,487 --> 00:53:54,820 BROWNMILLER: People were not used to thinking of rape 986 00:53:54,822 --> 00:53:56,822 as a political crime against women. 987 00:53:56,824 --> 00:53:58,324 That was our slogan. 988 00:53:58,326 --> 00:54:01,896 "Rape is a political crime against women." 989 00:54:04,998 --> 00:54:08,066 ♪ Well, Papa, I ain't your friend no more ♪ 990 00:54:08,068 --> 00:54:10,235 - ♪ I ain't gonna make your bed ♪ - ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ 991 00:54:10,237 --> 00:54:12,737 ♪ Papa, I ain't your friend no more ♪ 992 00:54:12,739 --> 00:54:15,206 - ♪ Better get a dog instead ♪ - Right on! 993 00:54:15,208 --> 00:54:17,677 ♪ Well, "Back Street Girl," "Under My Thumb" ♪ 994 00:54:17,679 --> 00:54:20,112 ♪ Start looking out where you're coming from ♪ 995 00:54:20,114 --> 00:54:24,583 WOMAN: The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band was huge. 996 00:54:24,585 --> 00:54:26,786 ♪ And, Papa, don't lay that shit on me ♪ 997 00:54:26,788 --> 00:54:29,088 ♪ The fun and games are gone ♪ 998 00:54:29,090 --> 00:54:31,691 In those days, you had to have balls to be a rock musician. 999 00:54:31,693 --> 00:54:34,226 Well, guess what. No. 1000 00:54:34,228 --> 00:54:37,697 Seeing women being smarter and tougher, 1001 00:54:37,699 --> 00:54:41,566 and the Rock Band was a fabulous example of that, 1002 00:54:41,568 --> 00:54:45,438 'cause of being loud on top of everything else. 1003 00:54:45,440 --> 00:54:47,639 - ♪ Go down to the corner ♪ - ♪ Get yourself fixed ♪ 1004 00:54:47,641 --> 00:54:50,242 Whoo! ♪ Can't stop doing what you do to me ♪ 1005 00:54:50,244 --> 00:54:53,912 ♪ You're just gonna drive me wild ♪♪ 1006 00:54:53,914 --> 00:54:56,615 Chicago was a hotbed of feminist organizing. 1007 00:54:56,617 --> 00:54:59,885 There were a lot of people doing a lot of things. 1008 00:54:59,887 --> 00:55:02,320 ROTHSTEIN: And there was no communication amongst us. 1009 00:55:02,322 --> 00:55:05,124 There was no structure to bring us together. 1010 00:55:05,126 --> 00:55:07,392 And at the same time, there were a lot of new people 1011 00:55:07,394 --> 00:55:10,563 who were interested in the women's movement, 1012 00:55:10,565 --> 00:55:12,664 women who were reaching out. 1013 00:55:12,666 --> 00:55:16,235 And so we decided to form the Chicago Women's Liberation Union 1014 00:55:16,237 --> 00:55:20,171 as a way to network us all together. 1015 00:55:20,173 --> 00:55:23,441 There was the Chicago Women's Graphics Collective, 1016 00:55:23,443 --> 00:55:26,244 the Action Committee for Decent Child Care. 1017 00:55:26,246 --> 00:55:28,414 We built a Speaker's Bureau, 1018 00:55:28,416 --> 00:55:31,483 the Liberation School for Women. 1019 00:55:31,485 --> 00:55:34,586 And we would have an open orientation session, 1020 00:55:34,588 --> 00:55:36,789 and we would put about 30 chairs out, 1021 00:55:36,791 --> 00:55:39,025 and we would get over 100 women. 1022 00:55:39,027 --> 00:55:41,661 We didn't know who these women were. 1023 00:55:41,663 --> 00:55:43,762 We didn't know how they learned about us. 1024 00:55:43,764 --> 00:55:46,599 But they kept coming and they kept coming. 1025 00:55:46,601 --> 00:55:51,202 ARCANA: They had classes on stuff women need to know. 1026 00:55:51,204 --> 00:55:54,305 Automobile repair, women's history, 1027 00:55:54,307 --> 00:55:56,708 the facts of women's lives. 1028 00:55:56,710 --> 00:56:02,847 Why have a school? Because these things are not being taught in the schools. 1029 00:56:02,849 --> 00:56:04,950 I taught women's sexuality, 1030 00:56:04,952 --> 00:56:07,787 contraception, abortion. 1031 00:56:07,789 --> 00:56:12,157 Abortion was a very important issue to both groups at that time, 1032 00:56:12,159 --> 00:56:14,726 with NOW doing more of the legal work 1033 00:56:14,728 --> 00:56:18,030 and the Women's Union doing more of the direct service work. 1034 00:56:18,032 --> 00:56:20,965 In 1964, a friend mentioned 1035 00:56:20,967 --> 00:56:24,070 that his sister was pregnant and nearly suicidal. 1036 00:56:24,072 --> 00:56:26,037 Could I do anything about it? 1037 00:56:26,039 --> 00:56:30,309 And I was referred, through a series of connections, to a doctor. 1038 00:56:30,311 --> 00:56:34,079 Asked him if he would perform an abortion. He said yes. 1039 00:56:34,081 --> 00:56:36,682 And a few weeks later, someone else called 1040 00:56:36,684 --> 00:56:39,017 and said they also were looking for an abortion. 1041 00:56:39,019 --> 00:56:40,686 The word had spread. 1042 00:56:40,688 --> 00:56:43,555 At that point, I decided to set up a bit of a system. 1043 00:56:43,557 --> 00:56:45,891 I was living in a dormitory at the time. 1044 00:56:45,893 --> 00:56:48,860 So I told people to ask for Jane. 1045 00:56:48,862 --> 00:56:50,695 (line ringing) 1046 00:56:50,697 --> 00:56:54,066 I could tell within the first minute what they were calling about, 1047 00:56:54,068 --> 00:56:57,001 because there was a pause, there was a hesitance, there was a tension. 1048 00:56:57,003 --> 00:56:59,371 Many were frightened. 1049 00:56:59,373 --> 00:57:02,074 Because three people discussing an abortion in those days 1050 00:57:02,076 --> 00:57:05,744 was a conspiracy to commit felony murder. 1051 00:57:05,746 --> 00:57:09,447 COLLINS: Jane was this service that was established in Chicago 1052 00:57:09,449 --> 00:57:12,117 that provided abortions when abortion was illegal. 1053 00:57:12,119 --> 00:57:14,353 - (ringing) - We would have women call us 1054 00:57:14,355 --> 00:57:16,222 who were in need of the abortion service. 1055 00:57:16,224 --> 00:57:18,257 And of course, having Jane available, 1056 00:57:18,259 --> 00:57:19,791 without having to refer them to the mob, 1057 00:57:19,793 --> 00:57:22,193 was a godsend. 1058 00:57:22,195 --> 00:57:25,697 BOOTH: The group would take in the calls, and we would do counseling. 1059 00:57:25,699 --> 00:57:28,434 Then women would be brought to specific houses 1060 00:57:28,436 --> 00:57:30,635 on a rotating basis 1061 00:57:30,637 --> 00:57:33,706 where the procedures would be done. 1062 00:57:33,708 --> 00:57:37,742 The service moved every day from somebody's home to somebody's home, 1063 00:57:37,744 --> 00:57:41,213 which is quite amazing. 1064 00:57:41,215 --> 00:57:43,315 ARCANA: I joined the abortion service 1065 00:57:43,317 --> 00:57:47,385 because I knew that women are sometimes desperate, 1066 00:57:47,387 --> 00:57:49,722 and they are going to hurt themselves 1067 00:57:49,724 --> 00:57:52,727 in order to end their pregnancies. 1068 00:57:54,228 --> 00:57:56,228 When I began Jane work, 1069 00:57:56,230 --> 00:58:00,331 a few dozen women a week were coming through. 1070 00:58:00,333 --> 00:58:04,970 After about six months, there were at least 100 women coming through. 1071 00:58:04,972 --> 00:58:08,139 Ultimately, one really good abortionist 1072 00:58:08,141 --> 00:58:11,010 taught Janes how to do abortions 1073 00:58:11,012 --> 00:58:13,179 with skill and care, 1074 00:58:13,181 --> 00:58:16,481 and then those Janes taught other Janes. 1075 00:58:16,483 --> 00:58:20,653 All of us were always aware 1076 00:58:20,655 --> 00:58:23,121 that what we were doing was illegal, 1077 00:58:23,123 --> 00:58:25,423 that we could go to jail. 1078 00:58:25,425 --> 00:58:29,360 You might have to throw everything in your bag and run down the back stairs 1079 00:58:29,362 --> 00:58:31,530 at any moment. 1080 00:58:31,532 --> 00:58:34,766 But we understood that it was important work, 1081 00:58:34,768 --> 00:58:37,871 useful work, necessary work. 1082 00:58:45,478 --> 00:58:47,445 (people chattering) 1083 00:58:47,447 --> 00:58:50,449 MALE REPORTER: What is the relationship of the movement 1084 00:58:50,451 --> 00:58:52,617 to the whole question of motherhood 1085 00:58:52,619 --> 00:58:55,153 and the affection of mothers for children and so forth? 1086 00:58:55,155 --> 00:58:57,856 It's about being able to have children if you want them 1087 00:58:57,858 --> 00:59:00,492 and being able not to have children if you don't want them, 1088 00:59:00,494 --> 00:59:02,827 and if you want to have your kids at day care centers. 1089 00:59:02,829 --> 00:59:06,865 If you want to work, then you can do that too. 1090 00:59:06,867 --> 00:59:09,168 In the women's movement, the myth was that we hated men, 1091 00:59:09,170 --> 00:59:11,804 that we hated marriage, we hated children. 1092 00:59:11,806 --> 00:59:13,706 That's not right. 1093 00:59:13,708 --> 00:59:16,075 The group I was in, we talked mostly about child care 1094 00:59:16,077 --> 00:59:20,545 being the absolute precondition for women's emancipation. 1095 00:59:20,547 --> 00:59:23,682 FOX: One of the earliest battles was for child care. 1096 00:59:23,684 --> 00:59:26,517 It's in NOW's statement of purpose. 1097 00:59:26,519 --> 00:59:31,990 We knew that women could not hold jobs and be promoted 1098 00:59:31,992 --> 00:59:36,929 until society recognized its obligation 1099 00:59:36,931 --> 00:59:38,998 to help take care of our children. 1100 00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:42,834 And I remember at some of the early demonstrations, 1101 00:59:42,836 --> 00:59:44,869 those who had kids, we would bring the kids. 1102 00:59:44,871 --> 00:59:46,738 People would say things like, 1103 00:59:46,740 --> 00:59:49,407 "We can't talk with you nursing the babies." 1104 00:59:49,409 --> 00:59:52,077 We would say, "Show us the day care center. 1105 00:59:52,079 --> 00:59:56,615 We'll be happy to bring the kids to the day care center." 1106 00:59:56,617 --> 01:00:00,084 Feminists are accused of wanting woman out of the home 1107 01:00:00,086 --> 01:00:03,521 and leaving children, come what may. 1108 01:00:03,523 --> 01:00:07,525 We proclaim that when we talk about 24-hour child care, 1109 01:00:07,527 --> 01:00:09,795 we mean to have it now! 1110 01:00:09,797 --> 01:00:14,365 Twenty-four-hour child care centers today, now, 1111 01:00:14,367 --> 01:00:16,135 beginning this school year! 1112 01:00:16,137 --> 01:00:18,436 NORTON: After a great deal of work, 1113 01:00:18,438 --> 01:00:20,738 where feminists were in the leadership, 1114 01:00:20,740 --> 01:00:24,709 we got close to having a real child care system. 1115 01:00:24,711 --> 01:00:26,644 ROSEN: In 1971, 1116 01:00:26,646 --> 01:00:29,581 amazingly enough, the women's movement, 1117 01:00:29,583 --> 01:00:31,249 the Congress, the Senate, 1118 01:00:31,251 --> 01:00:34,253 passed a comprehensive child care act. 1119 01:00:34,255 --> 01:00:39,026 Most historians don't even remember that, forget about the rest of society. 1120 01:00:41,161 --> 01:00:44,229 And President Nixon vetoed it. 1121 01:00:44,231 --> 01:00:48,233 He said, "We don't want to make our women like Soviet women. 1122 01:00:48,235 --> 01:00:51,570 We want women to take care of their own children." 1123 01:00:51,572 --> 01:00:54,840 That was a tragic moment in history. 1124 01:00:54,842 --> 01:00:57,943 And we've been paying for it ever since. 1125 01:00:57,945 --> 01:01:00,912 It's one thing for women to pay the price. 1126 01:01:00,914 --> 01:01:05,516 It's another thing for generations of children to pay the price as well. 1127 01:01:05,518 --> 01:01:08,487 I can think of, frankly, of no more important issue 1128 01:01:08,489 --> 01:01:13,093 that early feminists raised than educational child care. 1129 01:01:16,429 --> 01:01:19,365 Poor people, black women, women on welfare, 1130 01:01:19,367 --> 01:01:21,333 are often sterilized against their will. 1131 01:01:21,335 --> 01:01:23,101 I mean, that's been known to happen. 1132 01:01:23,103 --> 01:01:26,104 The same hospital that wants to sterilize the black women 1133 01:01:26,106 --> 01:01:29,708 will not let a middle class white woman be sterilized. 1134 01:01:29,710 --> 01:01:32,378 If she says, "I don't want to have any more children," 1135 01:01:32,380 --> 01:01:35,380 they say, "You have to be crazy. 1136 01:01:35,382 --> 01:01:38,717 You have to have a medical reason. You have to be sick. 1137 01:01:38,719 --> 01:01:40,651 There has to be something wrong with you." 1138 01:01:40,653 --> 01:01:42,787 Those things are two ends of the same dimension. 1139 01:01:42,789 --> 01:01:44,889 It's still the issue of control over one's body, 1140 01:01:44,891 --> 01:01:47,992 whether it's the right to have children if you want them, or the right not to. 1141 01:01:47,994 --> 01:01:52,432 (shouting) 1142 01:01:54,869 --> 01:01:57,336 In Puerto Rico, 1143 01:01:57,338 --> 01:02:00,072 over one-third of the women on the island 1144 01:02:00,074 --> 01:02:02,041 have been sterilized. 1145 01:02:02,043 --> 01:02:04,876 That means over one-third of the women 1146 01:02:04,878 --> 01:02:07,845 are never going to be able to hold a baby in their arms. 1147 01:02:07,847 --> 01:02:13,385 Women in Puerto Rico were used as guinea pigs, 1148 01:02:13,387 --> 01:02:16,889 as a way of controlling the population. 1149 01:02:16,891 --> 01:02:21,592 And with that sterilization program being brought to New York City, 1150 01:02:21,594 --> 01:02:24,896 we actively organized, 1151 01:02:24,898 --> 01:02:28,434 raising the consciousness about this. 1152 01:02:29,570 --> 01:02:35,606 (chanting in foreign language) 1153 01:02:35,608 --> 01:02:38,510 The Young Lords Party 1154 01:02:38,512 --> 01:02:41,612 was dedicated to issues 1155 01:02:41,614 --> 01:02:45,184 effecting Puerto Ricans in the United States. 1156 01:02:45,186 --> 01:02:49,220 We were the first ones to begin to articulate an idea 1157 01:02:49,222 --> 01:02:52,325 of reproductive justice. 1158 01:02:53,893 --> 01:02:56,595 It's just as important for women in our communities 1159 01:02:56,597 --> 01:02:58,429 to be able to have children, 1160 01:02:58,431 --> 01:03:00,932 raise children that don't go hungry, 1161 01:03:00,934 --> 01:03:02,601 have day care, 1162 01:03:02,603 --> 01:03:05,871 as well as have access to birth control 1163 01:03:05,873 --> 01:03:10,044 and the right to a safe abortion. 1164 01:03:11,112 --> 01:03:15,046 VELEZ: The kind of developing feminism that we had in the Young Lords 1165 01:03:15,048 --> 01:03:18,816 was make very clear decision 1166 01:03:18,818 --> 01:03:21,420 not to separate, 1167 01:03:21,422 --> 01:03:26,026 to wage struggle internally with our brothers. 1168 01:03:27,494 --> 01:03:30,896 The men had written this program. 1169 01:03:30,898 --> 01:03:34,766 One of the points dealt with revolutionary machismo. 1170 01:03:34,768 --> 01:03:36,434 What an oxymoron. 1171 01:03:36,436 --> 01:03:38,336 We weren't having it, 1172 01:03:38,338 --> 01:03:40,405 so we formed a women's caucus 1173 01:03:40,407 --> 01:03:45,713 and made demands on the men in the organization. 1174 01:03:49,282 --> 01:03:51,816 It was ultimately changed to: 1175 01:03:51,818 --> 01:03:54,153 "We want equality for women. 1176 01:03:54,155 --> 01:03:58,123 Down with machismo and male chauvinism." 1177 01:03:58,125 --> 01:04:02,461 It was important that it's not just women making that statement. 1178 01:04:02,463 --> 01:04:05,930 It should be men saying, "Yo, brother. 1179 01:04:05,932 --> 01:04:09,800 That's really a macho attitude you're taking. You need to check your shit." 1180 01:04:09,802 --> 01:04:13,204 And that's what happened. 1181 01:04:13,206 --> 01:04:15,206 MAN: What does women's lib mean to you? 1182 01:04:15,208 --> 01:04:19,344 MAN #2: I think they have a lot of good points. Extremely fine points. 1183 01:04:19,346 --> 01:04:22,380 The abortion laws are ridiculous. 1184 01:04:22,382 --> 01:04:25,851 The fact that, uh, unequal pay... that's ridiculous. 1185 01:04:25,853 --> 01:04:29,521 - They're not after your job? - No, I don't think so. 1186 01:04:29,523 --> 01:04:31,822 I don't think they can do my job. 1187 01:04:31,824 --> 01:04:34,025 I think the no-bra thing is ridiculous. 1188 01:04:34,027 --> 01:04:37,795 I'm not so sure about the day centers. 1189 01:04:37,797 --> 01:04:40,532 The girls I think of got it over the guys. 1190 01:04:40,534 --> 01:04:42,733 They get everything paid for and everything else. 1191 01:04:42,735 --> 01:04:45,871 I don't see what they're really arguing about. 1192 01:04:45,873 --> 01:04:50,309 Men treated them like ladies as long as they acted like ladies, 1193 01:04:50,311 --> 01:04:53,613 and I'm afraid we're losing that femininity. 1194 01:05:08,362 --> 01:05:11,862 By that time, we were so angry 1195 01:05:11,864 --> 01:05:14,566 that it wasn't so far, 1196 01:05:14,568 --> 01:05:16,767 such a reach to say, 1197 01:05:16,769 --> 01:05:19,972 "Why are you sleeping with men? Aren't you sleeping with the enemy?" 1198 01:05:26,579 --> 01:05:30,249 There were a lot of women very open to the idea 1199 01:05:30,251 --> 01:05:32,950 that they should be gay. 1200 01:05:32,952 --> 01:05:36,255 The Furies had come to Washington DC. 1201 01:05:38,125 --> 01:05:40,391 The Furies was a collective of all women, 1202 01:05:40,393 --> 01:05:42,526 most of whom were gay. 1203 01:05:42,528 --> 01:05:45,697 My God, what a trip that was. I'm glad I did it, I really am. 1204 01:05:45,699 --> 01:05:48,733 But you know, all these women in one house, 1205 01:05:48,735 --> 01:05:51,269 it was like PMS in concert. 1206 01:05:51,271 --> 01:05:54,273 We were talking about what really is a lesbian, 1207 01:05:54,275 --> 01:05:56,307 and how should a lesbian live 1208 01:05:56,309 --> 01:05:59,744 and we should withdraw all of our energies from men, all this kind of stuff. 1209 01:05:59,746 --> 01:06:04,782 Could we live together in this way and prove that it could be done? 1210 01:06:04,784 --> 01:06:06,818 And I think in many ways it worked, 1211 01:06:06,820 --> 01:06:08,720 but in other ways, it didn't. 1212 01:06:08,722 --> 01:06:11,389 It became too ideological... of which I was guilty, you know. 1213 01:06:11,391 --> 01:06:13,825 WOLFSON: I remember being pregnant with Eric 1214 01:06:13,827 --> 01:06:15,927 and sitting there in the women's liberation office 1215 01:06:15,929 --> 01:06:18,429 when the Furies' announcement came 1216 01:06:18,431 --> 01:06:22,333 that male infants were the enemy, 1217 01:06:22,335 --> 01:06:26,338 that women could not come into the office with a male child. 1218 01:06:26,340 --> 01:06:28,840 That stopped me short. This was even before I had my own kid. 1219 01:06:28,842 --> 01:06:30,508 This is wrong. 1220 01:06:30,510 --> 01:06:33,177 Women's liberation had the danger, 1221 01:06:33,179 --> 01:06:35,613 where you begin to tell each other what to do. 1222 01:06:35,615 --> 01:06:37,648 You begin to tell each other how to think. 1223 01:06:37,650 --> 01:06:40,619 You begin to pressure people... "You need to leave him." 1224 01:06:40,621 --> 01:06:46,291 And there were some women afterwards that were sorry that that's what they did. 1225 01:06:46,293 --> 01:06:48,526 We were inventing things, 1226 01:06:48,528 --> 01:06:51,762 and that is a very interesting edge to be on. 1227 01:06:51,764 --> 01:06:55,467 We were still figuring out what it meant to create a movement 1228 01:06:55,469 --> 01:06:59,338 that could help to change the whole world's perception of women, 1229 01:06:59,340 --> 01:07:01,206 challenge patriarchy. 1230 01:07:01,208 --> 01:07:03,342 You don't have much help, 1231 01:07:03,344 --> 01:07:05,811 and you don't have many clues about how to proceed. 1232 01:07:05,813 --> 01:07:08,813 We were figuring it out, 1233 01:07:08,815 --> 01:07:12,284 and it wasn't always easy, and we didn't always do it right. 1234 01:07:12,286 --> 01:07:16,153 Part of the reaction of first new left women, 1235 01:07:16,155 --> 01:07:17,856 and then it spread to other women, 1236 01:07:17,858 --> 01:07:20,124 to male-dominated authority, 1237 01:07:20,126 --> 01:07:23,628 was not only to view structure as bad but leaders as bad. 1238 01:07:23,630 --> 01:07:26,465 What women were trying to do was to not have leadership 1239 01:07:26,467 --> 01:07:28,633 that was a hierarchy, 1240 01:07:28,635 --> 01:07:31,836 but to have leadership that is collective. 1241 01:07:31,838 --> 01:07:35,706 I mean, in a certain way it was modeled on utopian ideas, 1242 01:07:35,708 --> 01:07:37,842 but there invariably became some people 1243 01:07:37,844 --> 01:07:40,211 who were more listened to than others, I guess, 1244 01:07:40,213 --> 01:07:42,414 is the only way you can say. 1245 01:07:42,416 --> 01:07:45,816 And I was one of those people. 1246 01:07:45,818 --> 01:07:48,987 Part of this exuberance of women 1247 01:07:48,989 --> 01:07:54,425 finding a movement that was gonna help them find their own voice, 1248 01:07:54,427 --> 01:07:58,863 there was also a competition for leadership at the same time. 1249 01:07:58,865 --> 01:08:01,833 'Cause this was, for many of us, our one shot 1250 01:08:01,835 --> 01:08:04,068 to be progressive leaders 1251 01:08:04,070 --> 01:08:06,237 and be recognized 1252 01:08:06,239 --> 01:08:09,674 and be able to get our ideas heard. 1253 01:08:09,676 --> 01:08:12,177 The first core concept of sexist thought 1254 01:08:12,179 --> 01:08:14,079 is that men do the important work in the world 1255 01:08:14,081 --> 01:08:16,180 and that the work done by men... 1256 01:08:16,182 --> 01:08:19,884 FREEMAN: Doing the kinds of things that were normally associated as male activities... 1257 01:08:19,886 --> 01:08:23,254 being interviewed, getting your name in the press, 1258 01:08:23,256 --> 01:08:25,891 making speeches, giving lectures. 1259 01:08:25,893 --> 01:08:29,027 Those kinds of things... those were condemned. 1260 01:08:29,029 --> 01:08:32,129 The only people I had seen in leadership roles were men, 1261 01:08:32,131 --> 01:08:37,635 so to be fair, maybe I was mimicking a male-style leadership. 1262 01:08:37,637 --> 01:08:41,772 So they kicked me out of Magic Quilt. 1263 01:08:41,774 --> 01:08:45,242 It was devastating to have all these people sit in a room 1264 01:08:45,244 --> 01:08:49,046 that you had organized in a group to say, "Get out." 1265 01:08:49,048 --> 01:08:55,253 People had read about me, so I was like this mini celebrity. 1266 01:08:55,255 --> 01:08:59,924 In Cell 16 they said that I was oppressing them. 1267 01:08:59,926 --> 01:09:02,561 The most incredible thing anyone ever said to me, I think, 1268 01:09:02,563 --> 01:09:08,500 is that, "I feel oppressed just by the fact that you exist." 1269 01:09:08,502 --> 01:09:11,937 Okay. (chuckling) 1270 01:09:11,939 --> 01:09:14,305 You want me to stop existing? 1271 01:09:14,307 --> 01:09:17,409 Listen, I dropped out of the women's movement three times... 1272 01:09:17,411 --> 01:09:20,010 '69, '79 and '89. 1273 01:09:20,012 --> 01:09:22,347 (laughs) 1274 01:09:22,349 --> 01:09:26,951 The women's movement brought about a social revolution in this country. 1275 01:09:26,953 --> 01:09:32,123 And while it was painful to be part of that social revolution, 1276 01:09:32,125 --> 01:09:34,695 it had to be done. 1277 01:09:42,269 --> 01:09:44,702 WOLFSON: Everybody had taken the birth control pill. 1278 01:09:44,704 --> 01:09:48,607 Back then it was a huge amount of estrogen. 1279 01:09:48,609 --> 01:09:53,580 Nobody had informed us that there could be side effects. 1280 01:09:54,648 --> 01:09:59,683 My side effect was my hair started to fall out. 1281 01:09:59,685 --> 01:10:03,153 And we got word of hearings on the Hill 1282 01:10:03,155 --> 01:10:06,057 about the birth control pill. 1283 01:10:06,059 --> 01:10:09,995 WEBB: All the people listed to testify were male doctors and drug company executives. 1284 01:10:09,997 --> 01:10:11,562 Males, all. 1285 01:10:11,564 --> 01:10:14,331 Not one patient, not one woman, nothing. 1286 01:10:14,333 --> 01:10:16,201 I have seen women with thrombophlebitis, 1287 01:10:16,203 --> 01:10:18,903 weight gain, nausea, irritable bowel, 1288 01:10:18,905 --> 01:10:21,171 cancer of the breast, rheumatoid arthritis-like syndrome. 1289 01:10:21,173 --> 01:10:23,008 WOLFSON: Serious reactions. 1290 01:10:23,010 --> 01:10:26,044 The blood clots, the heart attacks, the strokes. 1291 01:10:26,046 --> 01:10:28,245 They knew about it when they gave it to us, 1292 01:10:28,247 --> 01:10:30,415 when they dispensed it like candy. 1293 01:10:30,417 --> 01:10:33,418 I want to know how many side effects we have to hear 1294 01:10:33,420 --> 01:10:35,986 before somebody does something about these pills. 1295 01:10:35,988 --> 01:10:38,322 We are not going to sit quietly any longer. 1296 01:10:38,324 --> 01:10:42,027 You are murdering us for your profit and convenience. 1297 01:10:42,029 --> 01:10:44,062 If you ladies would sit down... 1298 01:10:44,064 --> 01:10:46,430 - Our lives have been interrupted by taking this pill. - We're conducting... 1299 01:10:46,432 --> 01:10:49,166 Don't think the hearings are any more important than our lives! 1300 01:10:49,168 --> 01:10:51,870 MAN: Now will everyone please leave the room... press and everyone else. 1301 01:10:51,872 --> 01:10:53,871 That's a fine way to run... 1302 01:10:53,873 --> 01:10:55,440 WOLFSON: We stopped the hearings, 1303 01:10:55,442 --> 01:10:57,509 - and they tried to bargain with us... - (gavel rapping) 1304 01:10:57,511 --> 01:11:00,010 'cause we were demonstrating every time they reconvened them. 1305 01:11:00,012 --> 01:11:02,781 Yes, we are objecting to the fact that there are no women testifying 1306 01:11:02,783 --> 01:11:04,715 and that there are no women on the panel. 1307 01:11:04,717 --> 01:11:08,018 We are tired of men controlling our lives and our bodies. 1308 01:11:08,020 --> 01:11:11,388 And one of our absolute bottom lines was 1309 01:11:11,390 --> 01:11:15,460 there had to be information given to women. 1310 01:11:15,462 --> 01:11:18,463 And we did get the first patient package insert 1311 01:11:18,465 --> 01:11:22,299 which is informed consent. 1312 01:11:22,301 --> 01:11:26,271 We were bringing DC to its knees 1313 01:11:26,273 --> 01:11:28,809 around women's issues. 1314 01:11:31,078 --> 01:11:33,544 MALE NEWS REPORTER: The director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, 1315 01:11:33,546 --> 01:11:37,115 found a new and, to his mind, potentially dangerous group... 1316 01:11:37,117 --> 01:11:39,116 the women's liberation movement. 1317 01:11:39,118 --> 01:11:42,486 Hoover sent the following directive, quote... 1318 01:11:42,488 --> 01:11:45,624 "It is absolutely essential that we conduct sufficient investigation 1319 01:11:45,626 --> 01:11:47,659 of the women's liberation movement 1320 01:11:47,661 --> 01:11:50,260 to determine any possible threat they may represent 1321 01:11:50,262 --> 01:11:52,263 to the security of the United States." 1322 01:11:52,265 --> 01:11:54,665 End quote. 1323 01:11:54,667 --> 01:11:57,335 ROSEN: J. Edgar Hoover said women couldn't be agents. 1324 01:11:57,337 --> 01:12:01,339 So the FBI got women who were informants. 1325 01:12:01,341 --> 01:12:05,076 These informants were sitting in on women's consciousness-raising groups, 1326 01:12:05,078 --> 01:12:07,144 writing stories back to their agents saying, 1327 01:12:07,146 --> 01:12:09,179 "You know, they're just talking about the fact 1328 01:12:09,181 --> 01:12:11,849 their men aren't doing child care, 1329 01:12:11,851 --> 01:12:14,018 they're not washing the dishes, they're leaving a mess. 1330 01:12:14,020 --> 01:12:15,954 They expect us to do everything. 1331 01:12:15,956 --> 01:12:18,356 I don't see why I should sit in it on anymore." 1332 01:12:18,358 --> 01:12:20,791 They would forward that to J. Edgar Hoover, 1333 01:12:20,793 --> 01:12:23,093 who would write back and say, "Continue surveillance. 1334 01:12:23,095 --> 01:12:26,330 These women represent a national security threat." 1335 01:12:26,332 --> 01:12:28,833 The irony is, for the most part, 1336 01:12:28,835 --> 01:12:31,803 women did not do anything dangerous or violent. 1337 01:12:31,805 --> 01:12:34,805 The really dangerous thing was talk. 1338 01:12:34,807 --> 01:12:38,745 Because telling the truth and talking is very revolutionary. 1339 01:12:40,780 --> 01:12:44,049 We're into a very hypocritical thing about the education of women. 1340 01:12:44,051 --> 01:12:46,851 We pretend there's a lot of opportunity out there. 1341 01:12:46,853 --> 01:12:49,687 "So study hard, girls, and go forward." 1342 01:12:49,689 --> 01:12:52,656 And there isn't any opportunity out there, and everyone's kidding them. 1343 01:12:52,658 --> 01:12:54,893 WOMAN: ♪ I've been out walking ♪ 1344 01:12:54,895 --> 01:12:57,195 Racism and anti-feminism 1345 01:12:57,197 --> 01:13:01,665 are two of the prime traditions of this country. 1346 01:13:01,667 --> 01:13:04,669 I no longer accept society's judgment 1347 01:13:04,671 --> 01:13:06,705 that my group is second class. 1348 01:13:06,707 --> 01:13:08,906 If women are to be married, 1349 01:13:08,908 --> 01:13:11,175 women should receive pensions. 1350 01:13:11,177 --> 01:13:13,077 (applause) 1351 01:13:13,079 --> 01:13:16,414 All women are lesbians, except those who don't know it, naturally. 1352 01:13:16,416 --> 01:13:18,516 They are, but don't know it yet. 1353 01:13:18,518 --> 01:13:21,787 I am a woman, and therefore a lesbian. 1354 01:13:26,659 --> 01:13:29,259 We talk in different tones. 1355 01:13:29,261 --> 01:13:31,396 We don't all agree. 1356 01:13:31,398 --> 01:13:34,766 We have the right to define our own differences. 1357 01:13:34,768 --> 01:13:37,268 MAN: Now I would like to ask Germaine Greer... 1358 01:13:37,270 --> 01:13:40,871 I really don't know what women are asking for. 1359 01:13:40,873 --> 01:13:43,907 - Now, suppose I wanted to give it to them. - (women laughing) 1360 01:13:43,909 --> 01:13:46,910 Listen, you may as well relax, because whatever it is they're asking for, honey, 1361 01:13:46,912 --> 01:13:48,679 it's not for you. 1362 01:13:48,681 --> 01:13:52,151 (loud laughter) 1363 01:13:54,787 --> 01:13:58,423 ♪ And I had a lover ♪ 1364 01:13:58,425 --> 01:14:00,892 In the name of the mother, the daughter 1365 01:14:00,894 --> 01:14:02,427 and the holy granddaughter, 1366 01:14:02,429 --> 01:14:04,461 "a-women." 1367 01:14:04,463 --> 01:14:06,397 The women in this country are gonna see to it 1368 01:14:06,399 --> 01:14:09,233 that the insane directions of this country get changed, 1369 01:14:09,235 --> 01:14:12,637 that we stop the business of having wars and military programs, 1370 01:14:12,639 --> 01:14:16,941 start the business of having some money for health and housing and child care, 1371 01:14:16,943 --> 01:14:20,311 and we're gonna see to it there's a liberation not only of women, but men and women... 1372 01:14:20,313 --> 01:14:27,751 ♪ It's just that I've been losing ♪ 1373 01:14:27,753 --> 01:14:32,322 ♪ So long ♪ 1374 01:14:32,324 --> 01:14:35,660 I've been very interested to see the amount of publicity 1375 01:14:35,662 --> 01:14:39,597 that has gone to the women's liberation movement in just the last two or three months. 1376 01:14:39,599 --> 01:14:44,568 We couldn't get coverage anywhere except in a very joking fashion in 1966. 1377 01:14:44,570 --> 01:14:46,437 Everybody thought it was a colossal joke. 1378 01:14:46,439 --> 01:14:48,173 I think people aren't laughing anymore. 1379 01:14:48,175 --> 01:14:51,342 They recognize the seriousness of it. 1380 01:14:51,344 --> 01:14:54,178 COLLINS: At the NOW national convention for 1970, 1381 01:14:54,180 --> 01:14:56,781 Betty Friedan gets up and gives her speech. 1382 01:14:56,783 --> 01:14:59,183 And much to our shock, 1383 01:14:59,185 --> 01:15:02,754 she announced that there would be a women's strike 1384 01:15:02,756 --> 01:15:05,990 on August 26, 1970, 1385 01:15:05,992 --> 01:15:08,425 the 50th anniversary of women's right to vote. 1386 01:15:08,427 --> 01:15:12,830 When we take to the street in Boston, and in New York, 1387 01:15:12,832 --> 01:15:18,635 and in Chicago, and in Atlanta, and in Florida, and in California... 1388 01:15:18,637 --> 01:15:21,705 Everyone was like, "Oh, my God. Now what do we do?" 1389 01:15:21,707 --> 01:15:25,043 CEBALLOS: So Betty Friedan tells the press 1390 01:15:25,045 --> 01:15:27,946 50,000 women would march in New York City. 1391 01:15:27,948 --> 01:15:32,650 Every week we would have a notice in the Village Voice. 1392 01:15:32,652 --> 01:15:35,687 These younger women, they would pour into NOW, 1393 01:15:35,689 --> 01:15:39,523 and we would plan this march and strike. 1394 01:15:39,525 --> 01:15:41,125 "Don't iron while the strike is hot" 1395 01:15:41,127 --> 01:15:43,061 was the slogan. 1396 01:15:43,063 --> 01:15:48,199 And we took this poster and distributed it all over town. 1397 01:15:48,201 --> 01:15:53,237 CEBALLOS: I said, "How are we going to get 50,000 to march?" 1398 01:15:53,239 --> 01:15:57,040 And Pat said, "We'll take over the Statue of Liberty." 1399 01:15:57,042 --> 01:15:59,544 And I said, "How can you do that? 1400 01:15:59,546 --> 01:16:03,283 The Puerto Ricans did last year, and they're in jail." 1401 01:16:06,152 --> 01:16:10,821 So they got two huge banners 40 feet long. 1402 01:16:10,823 --> 01:16:15,226 - (ship horn blows) - They had the banners rolled up in their jeans, 1403 01:16:15,228 --> 01:16:18,630 and they were walking like they were crippled. 1404 01:16:20,367 --> 01:16:23,103 (horn blows) 1405 01:16:24,770 --> 01:16:28,272 We got to the island. So we had a group that was going to start demonstrating. 1406 01:16:28,274 --> 01:16:30,607 Out of the house and into the world! 1407 01:16:30,609 --> 01:16:32,442 Out of the house and into the world! 1408 01:16:32,444 --> 01:16:36,347 CEBALLOS: I was gonna go up those winding stairs. 1409 01:16:36,349 --> 01:16:39,784 At the top one where we were putting, "Women of the World Unite," 1410 01:16:39,786 --> 01:16:43,754 I just remember the wind was so strong. 1411 01:16:43,756 --> 01:16:46,958 And the next thing we knew, the guys caught on. 1412 01:16:46,960 --> 01:16:49,963 By this time there were helicopters. 1413 01:16:55,734 --> 01:16:59,903 Then Mayor Lindsay called and he said, "Let the women be. Let them alone." 1414 01:16:59,905 --> 01:17:02,373 ♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪ 1415 01:17:02,375 --> 01:17:04,608 CEBALLOS: It was a sensation! It went around the world. 1416 01:17:04,610 --> 01:17:07,477 Time magazine picked it up, the Italians, the French. 1417 01:17:07,479 --> 01:17:12,583 It was fabulous. Can you imagine? "Women of the World Unite." 1418 01:17:12,585 --> 01:17:14,718 All that publicity helped. 1419 01:17:14,720 --> 01:17:21,459 WOMEN: ♪ Glory, hallelujah It's liberation time ♪ 1420 01:17:21,461 --> 01:17:24,062 Tomorrow, 50 years after we gave them the vote, 1421 01:17:24,064 --> 01:17:26,630 the women are going to strike to support their liberation demands. 1422 01:17:26,632 --> 01:17:30,335 Thankfully, Cedar Rapids women's liberation movement is pretty much dormant. 1423 01:17:30,337 --> 01:17:34,472 If I knew what they were going out on strike for, I'd be able to answer. 1424 01:17:34,474 --> 01:17:36,174 No, I don't believe I will. 1425 01:17:36,176 --> 01:17:38,476 I don't think that's necessary at all. 1426 01:17:38,478 --> 01:17:41,144 I don't think too much of it. A woman's place is in the home. 1427 01:17:41,146 --> 01:17:43,414 So remember, men... if you come to work tomorrow, 1428 01:17:43,416 --> 01:17:45,650 and your secretary refuses to do the filing, 1429 01:17:45,652 --> 01:17:48,318 and then go home and find that your wife has refused to do the cooking, 1430 01:17:48,320 --> 01:17:50,021 don't blame them. 1431 01:17:50,023 --> 01:17:52,522 Remember, you gave them the vote 50 years ago. 1432 01:17:52,524 --> 01:17:57,128 This is Mike Scott, male chauvinist, TV 9, Eyewitness News. 1433 01:17:57,130 --> 01:18:00,197 The press just thought this was so crazy. 1434 01:18:00,199 --> 01:18:02,933 And this kept working for us in some ways. 1435 01:18:02,935 --> 01:18:05,769 The Sun Times put out a headline the day before... 1436 01:18:05,771 --> 01:18:08,241 "Will women strike?" 1437 01:18:09,775 --> 01:18:12,009 CEBALLOS: So the day of the march, 1438 01:18:12,011 --> 01:18:14,478 I was walking towards Fifth Avenue, 1439 01:18:14,480 --> 01:18:16,446 scared to death 1440 01:18:16,448 --> 01:18:21,086 that I was gonna see only 3,000. 1441 01:18:22,822 --> 01:18:26,124 And I will never, never forget. 1442 01:18:26,126 --> 01:18:30,327 You couldn't see the end of the line. 1443 01:18:30,329 --> 01:18:33,563 When you looked out at everybody, 1444 01:18:33,565 --> 01:18:37,535 I mean, there were women as far as you could see. 1445 01:18:37,537 --> 01:18:41,205 Freedom now! Freedom now! 1446 01:18:41,207 --> 01:18:44,808 Sisterhood is powerful! Join us now! 1447 01:18:44,810 --> 01:18:48,513 Sisterhood is powerful! Join us now! 1448 01:18:48,515 --> 01:18:51,382 Join our ranks! Every woman, join our ranks! 1449 01:18:51,384 --> 01:18:53,050 SHULMAN: People were cheering us. 1450 01:18:53,052 --> 01:18:55,919 They hung out of the windows and out of balconies 1451 01:18:55,921 --> 01:18:59,924 and cheered us on and waved flags for us. 1452 01:18:59,926 --> 01:19:01,526 Freedom now! 1453 01:19:01,528 --> 01:19:04,661 (chanting) 1454 01:19:04,663 --> 01:19:07,764 I was recognizable in New York then, 1455 01:19:07,766 --> 01:19:11,402 so I put one of these African turbans on my head, 1456 01:19:11,404 --> 01:19:14,539 wore some African garb to say, 1457 01:19:14,541 --> 01:19:16,741 "See, I'm in the women's movement. What's wrong with you?" 1458 01:19:16,743 --> 01:19:19,544 - Whoo! - Freedom! 1459 01:19:19,546 --> 01:19:22,879 There's something wrong when an attractive girl can make more money 1460 01:19:22,881 --> 01:19:25,849 as a Playboy Bunny or a cover girl than as anything else. 1461 01:19:25,851 --> 01:19:30,420 I'll never be more shocked than I was when I walked up on the podium that day 1462 01:19:30,422 --> 01:19:34,192 and looked out and saw the entire plaza was filled. 1463 01:19:34,194 --> 01:19:38,129 And feeling the support of these thousands of people all at once, 1464 01:19:38,131 --> 01:19:41,935 it was an exhilarating feeling. 1465 01:19:46,573 --> 01:19:51,041 WOMAN: We didn't see serious programs devoted to issues that concerned women. 1466 01:19:51,043 --> 01:19:56,080 Issues, not recipes. Day care, not chocolate mousse. 1467 01:19:56,082 --> 01:19:59,416 I want the freedom not to have a husband. 1468 01:19:59,418 --> 01:20:01,419 (cheering) 1469 01:20:01,421 --> 01:20:06,456 I want a society where men and women cooperate, not compete. 1470 01:20:06,458 --> 01:20:09,927 Where women have to support their children 1471 01:20:09,929 --> 01:20:12,330 and men help to rear them. 1472 01:20:12,332 --> 01:20:14,132 (cheering) 1473 01:20:14,134 --> 01:20:18,068 HERNANDEZ: I think what men want to do, too, is join with women 1474 01:20:18,070 --> 01:20:21,138 in making this a society that cares about all people. 1475 01:20:21,140 --> 01:20:23,473 Equal pay for equal work! 1476 01:20:23,475 --> 01:20:25,409 When do we want it? Now! 1477 01:20:25,411 --> 01:20:28,845 And what I would love today is the women and the men 1478 01:20:28,847 --> 01:20:30,680 putting their fingers up like this. 1479 01:20:30,682 --> 01:20:34,852 And we now know that we have the power to unite together, 1480 01:20:34,854 --> 01:20:38,321 to work together, to make the changes that are needed. 1481 01:20:38,323 --> 01:20:41,526 And that we have your attention, and that we have the headlines in the media. 1482 01:20:41,528 --> 01:20:46,097 You didn't make us. We're making you take us seriously. 1483 01:20:46,099 --> 01:20:47,999 MILLETT: It felt like we had triumphed. 1484 01:20:48,001 --> 01:20:51,738 It felt like we were changing the world. 1485 01:20:52,971 --> 01:20:56,508 Now we are a movement. 1486 01:21:05,952 --> 01:21:09,687 It's probably no accident that we, in our time, 1487 01:21:09,689 --> 01:21:12,022 didn't know anything about the suffrage struggle 1488 01:21:12,024 --> 01:21:17,195 and how long it took to get the vote... 50 years. 1489 01:21:18,797 --> 01:21:21,398 You know, I'm one of the few left who can say 1490 01:21:21,400 --> 01:21:23,166 their mother worked for suffrage. 1491 01:21:23,168 --> 01:21:25,135 I'm very proud of that. 1492 01:21:25,137 --> 01:21:28,004 My mother felt so strongly about getting the vote, 1493 01:21:28,006 --> 01:21:30,508 and she was so thrilled to get it. 1494 01:21:30,510 --> 01:21:35,146 And I loved going with her to vote when I was only five. 1495 01:21:35,148 --> 01:21:37,380 And they pulled that curtain, 1496 01:21:37,382 --> 01:21:40,084 and nobody... you could only see people's feet. 1497 01:21:40,086 --> 01:21:43,153 I just found that kind of mystical, and I still do. 1498 01:21:43,155 --> 01:21:46,523 And I later decided 1499 01:21:46,525 --> 01:21:51,597 that two emancipators of women were the vote and birth control. 1500 01:21:53,166 --> 01:21:57,500 BROWNMILLER: We live in a country that doesn't credit any of its radical movements. 1501 01:21:57,502 --> 01:22:01,906 They don't like to admit, in the United States, 1502 01:22:01,908 --> 01:22:04,008 that change happens 1503 01:22:04,010 --> 01:22:06,210 because radicals force it. 1504 01:22:06,212 --> 01:22:09,914 To take away the history of how change got made 1505 01:22:09,916 --> 01:22:13,250 helps to cuts down on activism 1506 01:22:13,252 --> 01:22:16,053 because people don't think that I, an everyday person, 1507 01:22:16,055 --> 01:22:17,854 could make a big social change. 1508 01:22:17,856 --> 01:22:21,025 The Supreme Court gave us Roe vs. Wade, 1509 01:22:21,027 --> 01:22:23,794 and I'm just a regular woman. 1510 01:22:23,796 --> 01:22:26,630 But that's who made abortion rights come... 1511 01:22:26,632 --> 01:22:28,933 just a student, and just a mother, 1512 01:22:28,935 --> 01:22:31,701 gathering together and protesting. 1513 01:22:31,703 --> 01:22:34,973 (crowd chattering) 1514 01:22:38,110 --> 01:22:41,978 This is Our Bodies, Ourselves, ninth edition. 1515 01:22:41,980 --> 01:22:44,315 It just came out two weeks ago. 1516 01:22:44,317 --> 01:22:46,217 We are so happy. 1517 01:22:46,219 --> 01:22:49,786 It's like our baby. 1518 01:22:49,788 --> 01:22:52,757 It's amazing to think that we have been around for 40 years. 1519 01:22:52,759 --> 01:22:57,530 And to me, the global piece has been so amazing. 1520 01:22:59,064 --> 01:23:03,668 Our Bodies, Ourselves has given any group of progressive women in any country 1521 01:23:03,670 --> 01:23:08,374 the text of the book to adapt it to their own cultural context. 1522 01:23:09,908 --> 01:23:12,910 There have been these marvelous projects that have started throughout the world, 1523 01:23:12,912 --> 01:23:16,549 and it's been going on since the '70s really. 1524 01:23:20,420 --> 01:23:25,089 (crowd applauding) 1525 01:23:25,091 --> 01:23:28,592 WOMAN ANNOUNCING: Mama Asiah from Tanzania. 1526 01:23:28,594 --> 01:23:31,661 JUDY: For our 40th anniversary, women came from Israel, 1527 01:23:31,663 --> 01:23:35,598 from Nepal, from Turkey, from Armenia, from Nigeria, from Tanzania. 1528 01:23:35,600 --> 01:23:37,701 They have amazing stories to tell. 1529 01:23:37,703 --> 01:23:43,007 In India, when I was doing the work with the Bangla version of OBOS, 1530 01:23:43,009 --> 01:23:46,610 young girls hadn't heard of it, but they were jubilant 1531 01:23:46,612 --> 01:23:49,714 that something like this was coming to them. 1532 01:23:49,716 --> 01:23:54,684 And they all said, "Oh, this is going to take us to a very different place." 1533 01:23:54,686 --> 01:23:59,522 So thank you, all of you, for giving us back our bodies 1534 01:23:59,524 --> 01:24:01,291 and the right to health. 1535 01:24:01,293 --> 01:24:03,929 Thank you so much. 1536 01:24:07,033 --> 01:24:10,634 ROSEN: I think there are great achievements of the women's movement. 1537 01:24:10,636 --> 01:24:13,536 The women's health movement is one of them. 1538 01:24:13,538 --> 01:24:16,574 We named sexual harassment. 1539 01:24:16,576 --> 01:24:20,510 We named domestic violence, the battering of wives. 1540 01:24:20,512 --> 01:24:23,148 We then made it illegal. 1541 01:24:24,182 --> 01:24:27,651 WEBB: Every aspect of life has changed. 1542 01:24:27,653 --> 01:24:30,019 Families are different. 1543 01:24:30,021 --> 01:24:33,656 My daughter is leading a completely different life because of the women's movement. 1544 01:24:33,658 --> 01:24:35,860 They both take care of the children. 1545 01:24:35,862 --> 01:24:38,696 They both earn money. They both work. 1546 01:24:38,698 --> 01:24:42,665 There's still some sex segregation in the workforce, for sure. 1547 01:24:42,667 --> 01:24:47,237 But there were whole fields that were simply closed down to women, 1548 01:24:47,239 --> 01:24:49,039 and that's done with. 1549 01:24:49,041 --> 01:24:52,411 I don't think we're going back on that. 1550 01:24:55,715 --> 01:25:00,284 WILLIS: I think the most profound thing that feminism did for me 1551 01:25:00,286 --> 01:25:06,257 was to make me feel that I was capable of genuine freedom. 1552 01:25:06,259 --> 01:25:09,960 Before the women's movement, I had my own work. 1553 01:25:09,962 --> 01:25:14,799 I knew I wasn't going to live a traditional woman's life. 1554 01:25:14,801 --> 01:25:18,602 I felt that I probably wasn't going to have children. 1555 01:25:18,604 --> 01:25:22,238 And ultimately, I did have my daughter. 1556 01:25:22,240 --> 01:25:25,476 And I think were it not for feminism, 1557 01:25:25,478 --> 01:25:28,214 I don't think I could have done that. 1558 01:25:31,583 --> 01:25:33,651 WOMAN: Right after I got out of college, 1559 01:25:33,653 --> 01:25:36,486 it was November 2006. 1560 01:25:36,488 --> 01:25:38,789 My mother passed away. 1561 01:25:38,791 --> 01:25:43,227 I got all of these letters and e-mails 1562 01:25:43,229 --> 01:25:45,562 from her friends and her colleagues, 1563 01:25:45,564 --> 01:25:48,833 all of the feminists that started the women's liberation movement. 1564 01:25:48,835 --> 01:25:52,836 And I started to realize that even though I was down with the word "feminism," 1565 01:25:52,838 --> 01:25:56,308 I didn't really know what it meant to me and to our generation. 1566 01:25:57,743 --> 01:26:01,312 I think the sexism that we experience 1567 01:26:01,314 --> 01:26:04,982 is a little more insidious and it's harder to point out and say, 1568 01:26:04,984 --> 01:26:08,152 "See. See. That's sexism." 1569 01:26:08,154 --> 01:26:11,421 But I know a lot of young kick-ass feminists out there. 1570 01:26:11,423 --> 01:26:16,192 They're blogging, they're out in the streets, they're organizing. 1571 01:26:16,194 --> 01:26:19,530 What do you do when you're under attack? Stand up, fight back! 1572 01:26:19,532 --> 01:26:22,766 What do you do when you're under attack? Stand up, fight back! 1573 01:26:22,768 --> 01:26:26,469 WOMAN: The problem is rapists, and we need to address the problem! 1574 01:26:26,471 --> 01:26:30,139 And let me give you a hint. It's not our clothes. 1575 01:26:30,141 --> 01:26:33,079 - It's not. - (cheering) 1576 01:26:34,680 --> 01:26:37,615 NONA WILLIS: There's this new movement called slut walk 1577 01:26:37,617 --> 01:26:40,851 that has now swept 70 different cities. 1578 01:26:40,853 --> 01:26:45,054 And it was started by a young woman who heard a cop say about a woman who was raped, 1579 01:26:45,056 --> 01:26:48,157 "Well, she was asking for it. She was dressed like a slut." 1580 01:26:48,159 --> 01:26:51,361 Believe it or not, people are assaulted regardless of what they wear. 1581 01:26:51,363 --> 01:26:54,130 Some people who get raped are in burkas. 1582 01:26:54,132 --> 01:26:57,701 NYPD, rape is a felony! 1583 01:26:57,703 --> 01:27:01,974 We created a revolution that we are still debating in our society. 1584 01:27:03,576 --> 01:27:07,378 We're still arguing over many issues that women raised 40 years ago, 1585 01:27:07,380 --> 01:27:10,080 like abortion, like child care. 1586 01:27:10,082 --> 01:27:14,518 We still don't have any child care. 1587 01:27:14,520 --> 01:27:18,688 ARCANA: In terms of reproductive health, reproductive justice, 1588 01:27:18,690 --> 01:27:20,691 we've gone backward in a big way. 1589 01:27:20,693 --> 01:27:23,693 WOMEN (chanting): We must decide their fate! 1590 01:27:23,695 --> 01:27:26,062 Not the church, not the state! 1591 01:27:26,064 --> 01:27:28,732 Women must decide their fate! 1592 01:27:28,734 --> 01:27:30,668 Not the church, not the state! 1593 01:27:30,670 --> 01:27:33,771 Women must decide their fate! 1594 01:27:33,773 --> 01:27:36,540 If we can have order in the chamber, 1595 01:27:36,542 --> 01:27:39,242 so that the members can properly cast their vote... 1596 01:27:39,244 --> 01:27:42,412 Not the church, not the state! 1597 01:27:42,414 --> 01:27:44,949 The bitter lesson is that no victories are permanent. 1598 01:27:44,951 --> 01:27:47,116 All our rights are like that. 1599 01:27:47,118 --> 01:27:50,754 They're only as good as we maintain them. 1600 01:27:50,756 --> 01:27:54,527 This fight is not over. This fight is not over. 1601 01:27:56,429 --> 01:27:59,530 I'm seriously disheartened by the current situation, 1602 01:27:59,532 --> 01:28:03,200 but at the same time, I'm angry. 1603 01:28:03,202 --> 01:28:06,903 And one of the things I learned decades ago... 1604 01:28:06,905 --> 01:28:10,574 When we're that angry about something that bad, 1605 01:28:10,576 --> 01:28:14,179 we take action against it. 1606 01:28:16,548 --> 01:28:19,316 COLLINS: I want people to know that if they organize, 1607 01:28:19,318 --> 01:28:22,119 they can actually make really profound change. 1608 01:28:22,121 --> 01:28:25,656 So that all women may be free! 1609 01:28:25,658 --> 01:28:28,959 You can't convince me that you can't change the world, because I saw it happen. 1610 01:28:28,961 --> 01:28:31,564 Freedom! 1611 01:28:32,998 --> 01:28:35,065 SHULMAN: But this is a moving target. 1612 01:28:35,067 --> 01:28:38,635 Freedom is something that is over the horizon, 1613 01:28:38,637 --> 01:28:41,271 and you can't stop sailing toward it 1614 01:28:41,273 --> 01:28:43,072 just because you don't reach it. 1615 01:28:43,074 --> 01:28:45,075 You just keep going, 1616 01:28:45,077 --> 01:28:50,347 and every generation has another opportunity to take it further. 1617 01:28:50,349 --> 01:28:54,817 We're black, we're proud! We're feminists! We will be loud! 1618 01:28:54,819 --> 01:28:56,553 Show me what a feminist looks like! 1619 01:28:56,555 --> 01:28:58,656 This is what a feminist looks like! 1620 01:28:58,658 --> 01:29:00,491 This is what a feminist looks like! 1621 01:29:00,493 --> 01:29:03,593 Show me what a feminist looks like! 1622 01:29:03,595 --> 01:29:05,829 This is what a feminist looks like! 1623 01:29:05,831 --> 01:29:08,197 This is what a feminist looks like! 1624 01:29:08,199 --> 01:29:11,769 This is what a feminist looks like! 1625 01:29:18,711 --> 01:29:22,679 WOMEN: ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1626 01:29:22,681 --> 01:29:26,717 ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1627 01:29:26,719 --> 01:29:30,286 ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1628 01:29:30,288 --> 01:29:32,856 ♪ She's a hurricane ♪ 1629 01:29:32,858 --> 01:29:34,857 ♪ Oh ♪ 1630 01:29:34,859 --> 01:29:36,727 ♪ She comes down to ride around ♪ 1631 01:29:36,729 --> 01:29:38,562 ♪ Hide your mother when she's in town ♪ 1632 01:29:38,564 --> 01:29:40,531 ♪ She comes down to ride around ♪ 1633 01:29:40,533 --> 01:29:42,633 ♪ And blow you away ♪ 1634 01:29:42,635 --> 01:29:44,367 ♪ She comes down to ride around ♪ 1635 01:29:44,369 --> 01:29:46,236 ♪ Hide your mother when she's in town ♪ 1636 01:29:46,238 --> 01:29:50,074 ♪ She comes down to ride around and blow you away ♪ 1637 01:29:50,076 --> 01:29:54,010 ♪ But you come running back You come running back ♪ 1638 01:29:54,012 --> 01:29:57,880 ♪ You come running for more ♪ 1639 01:29:57,882 --> 01:30:01,585 ♪ You come running back You come running back ♪ 1640 01:30:01,587 --> 01:30:05,488 ♪ You come running for more ♪ 1641 01:30:05,490 --> 01:30:09,393 ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1642 01:30:09,395 --> 01:30:13,330 ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1643 01:30:13,332 --> 01:30:17,233 ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1644 01:30:17,235 --> 01:30:19,268 ♪ Hurricane ♪ 1645 01:30:19,270 --> 01:30:21,071 ♪ Oh ♪ 1646 01:30:21,073 --> 01:30:22,906 ♪ She comes down to ride around ♪ 1647 01:30:22,908 --> 01:30:24,907 ♪ Hide your mother when she's in town ♪ 1648 01:30:24,909 --> 01:30:28,778 ♪ She comes down to ride around and blow you away ♪ 1649 01:30:28,780 --> 01:30:30,580 ♪ She comes down to ride around ♪ 1650 01:30:30,582 --> 01:30:32,549 ♪ Hide your mother when she's in town ♪ 1651 01:30:32,551 --> 01:30:36,120 ♪ She comes down to ride around and blow you away ♪ 1652 01:30:36,122 --> 01:30:40,124 ♪ But you come running back You come running back ♪ 1653 01:30:40,126 --> 01:30:44,027 ♪ You come running for more ♪ 1654 01:30:44,029 --> 01:30:47,798 ♪ You come running back You come running back ♪ 1655 01:30:47,800 --> 01:30:51,735 ♪ You come running for more ♪ 1656 01:30:51,737 --> 01:30:55,405 ♪ You come running back You come running back ♪ 1657 01:30:55,407 --> 01:30:59,209 ♪ You come running for more ♪ 1658 01:30:59,211 --> 01:31:01,611 ♪ You come running back ♪ 1659 01:31:01,613 --> 01:31:06,817 ♪ You come running for more ♪ 1660 01:31:06,819 --> 01:31:09,052 ♪ More ♪ 1661 01:31:09,054 --> 01:31:11,321 ♪ More ♪ 1662 01:31:11,323 --> 01:31:15,127 ♪ More ♪♪