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| The Feminists (group) | |
|---|---|
| Name | The Feminists |
| Formation | 1968 |
| Founders | Florynce Kennedy; Ti-Grace Atkinson; Sheila Michaels |
| Type | Activist group |
| Location | United States; New York City; Greenwich Village |
| Key people | Kate Millett; Robin Morgan; Shulamith Firestone |
| Dissolution | 1974 |
The Feminists (group) The Feminists were a radical feminist collective active in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, centered in New York City and associated with the broader women's liberation movement, New York Radical Women, and Redstockings. They opposed patriarchal structures represented by institutions such as the Democratic Party, Republican Party, and the National Organization for Women, and engaged with contemporary movements including the Civil Rights Movement, Students for a Democratic Society, and antiwar protests during the Vietnam War era.
Formed in 1968 amid contemporaneous actions by National Organization for Women, New York Radical Women, Redstockings, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and Black Panther Party, the group emerged from discussions in Greenwich Village, SoHo, and Columbia University circles involving figures linked to Civil Rights Movement, anti-Vietnam War organizing, and feminist writings such as Kate Millett's Sexual Politics. Founders and early members included activists who had participated in events alongside leaders from Bayard Rustin, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Shulamith Firestone, and allies who had critiqued organizations like National Organization for Women and engaged with thinkers influenced by Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer, and Andrea Dworkin. The Feminists dissolved around 1974 after internal debates echoed splits seen in groups like SDS and Weather Underground splinters, and after clashes with lesbian feminist collectives that paralleled tensions involving Combahee River Collective and African American women activists.
The group's ideology drew on radical feminist critiques articulated by thinkers connected to Second-wave feminism, invoking ideas from Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, Shulamith Firestone's The Dialectic of Sex, and critiques similar to those by Andrea Dworkin and Robin Morgan. They advanced positions on sexual politics that challenged norms upheld by institutions such as Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and conservative policymakers aligned with Richard Nixon and Phyllis Schlafly. Influenced by international texts like The Feminine Mystique and debates in journals akin to Ms. Magazine and Off Our Backs, they argued for the abolition of gender hierarchies and critiqued marriage laws, welfare statutes, and reproductive legislation involving entities like the Supreme Court of the United States in the period following Roe v. Wade discussions.
Structured as a decentralized collective, the group borrowed organizational tactics from Students for a Democratic Society, Women Strike for Peace, and cooperative experiments akin to IWW organizing. Membership included activists who had worked with or been publicized by journalists from outlets such as The New York Times, Village Voice, and Time (magazine), and who collaborated with legal advocates tied to cases in courts like the United States Court of Appeals and lobbying efforts near Capitol Hill. The collective drew feminists from networks associated with Greenwich Village bookstores, cooperative houses in East Village, and academic hubs including Barnard College, Radcliffe College, and Vassar College.
The Feminists staged direct actions modeled after demonstrations by Stonewall riots participants, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and sit-ins reminiscent of Freedom Rides. They picketed events sponsored by organizations such as Miss America 1968 pageant-related producers, confronted speakers like Norman Mailer and representatives of National Organization for Women, and organized teach-ins paralleling tactics used by Anti-Vietnam War coalitions. Their public protests targeted corporate advertisers in publications like The New Yorker and institutions including Columbia University and New York Stock Exchange-adjacent venues, and they circulated manifestos in the spirit of pamphleteering traditions seen in Underground Press Syndicate outlets.
The group produced position papers, leaflets, and newsletters that circulated in feminist zine networks alongside titles such as Off Our Backs, Ms. Magazine, and underground papers like The East Village Other. Members wrote essays engaging with works by Kate Millett, Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and cultural critics published in The New York Review of Books and alternative presses. Media coverage appeared in mainstream outlets including The New York Times, Life (magazine), and television programs where activists debated personalities linked to Meet the Press and CBS News. Their writings contributed to anthologies and academic discourse at institutions such as Smith College, University of Chicago, and Columbia University.
The Feminists faced criticism from conservative figures like Phyllis Schlafly and commentators aligned with National Review and from contemporaneous feminist peers in National Organization for Women who accused them of doctrinaire positions similar to disputes involving Lesbian feminism debates and critiques from the Combahee River Collective about intersectionality and race. Controversies included public feuds with journalists such as Norman Mailer, internal disputes reflecting broader leftist schisms seen in New Left organizations, and accusations in columns by pundits at The Washington Post and New York Post alleging extremism reminiscent of splits in Students for a Democratic Society.
Though short-lived, the collective influenced later feminist currents including radical feminism, separatist feminism, and shaped discourse taken up by scholars at Harvard University, Yale University, and University of California, Berkeley. Their tactics informed advocacy by organizations like National Organization for Women and inspired cultural representations in films and literature discussed in venues such as The New Yorker and academic studies at Rutgers University and Brown University. Debates sparked by the group presaged conversations in later movements including Third-wave feminism, queer activism linked to ACT UP, and intersectional critiques that would be articulated by scholars associated with Black Lives Matter-era analyses.