To Be Unwed And Female Was To

Feminism's Agenda Is Basic: It Asks That Women Not Be Forced To "choose" Between Public Justice And Private Happiness. It Asks That Women Be Free To Define Themselves-instead Of Having Their Identity Defined For Them, Time And Again, By Their Culture And Their Men.

I Write To Figure Out What I Am Thinking: What Does My Life Mean?

The Piles Of Makeup And The Insistence On Frills And Ribbons And Bows Was Not At All Attuned To My Feminist Views.

We Think Of A Feminist As Someone A Woman Becomes In Reaction To Personal Indignities And Social Injustices. But The Truth Is, Such Inequities Only Awaken Her To The Feminist She Has Always Fundamentally Been - That Is, A Person Who Understands That Her First Responsibility Is To Her Own Humanity. That's Why, For My Money, The First Known Use Of The Word 'feminist' Is Still The Best, Appearing In An 1895 Book Review: A Woman Who 'has In Her The Capacity Of Fighting Her Way Back To Independence.

The 'feminine' Woman Is Forever Static And Childlike. She Is Like The Ballerina In An Old-fashioned Music Box, Her Unchanging Features Tiny And Girlish, Her Voice Tinkly, Her Body Stuck On A Pin, Rotating In A Spiral That Will Never Grow.