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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Who Are Your Feminist Icons?

65 replies

ALunerExplorer · 05/01/2018 13:37

In his latest article for the Spectator, Brendon O'Neill praises Anne Widdicombe as the 'common sense' feminist icon' we 'should Hmm all get on board with'. Brendan O'Neill, whom I won't give the time of day to is a racist misogynistic arse, so his pronouncements are only good for the cat litter tray.

(Here's a link to it (if you can stomach him) blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/01/ann-widdecombe-is-the-feminist-hero-we-need-right-now/)

Since it is not for men to tell us who our feminist icons and hero's should be, I thought a thread so that we can name our own would be good. And they don't have to be famous - any woman who has inspired/mentored/helped counts.

Here's some of mine (the list isn't complete because there are so may Grin)

My Grandmother. (For far too many reasons to name here, but she was an activist her entire life)
My Mum (as above).
Mary Wollstonecraft (writer/mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein)
Emily Dickinson (poet)
Aphra Benn (restoration era poet and playwright)
Elizabeth Barrett-Browning (poet)
Effie Gray (artist)
Jane Austin (writer)
Eleanor Roosevelt (campaigner and activist)
bell hooks (writer and activist)
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (liberation theologian who coined the term 'kyriarchy')
Barbara Castle (politican)
Angela Davies (activist and writer)
Roz Kaveny (poet and activist)
Harper Lee (Writer)
Audre Lorde (writer and activist)
Dianne Abbott (politican)

...to name but a few. Smile Who are some of yours?

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SophoclesTheFox · 05/01/2018 21:22

Loads of the above, and also Kate Millet, Helena Kennedy, Cordelia Fine, Sarah Ditum, Janice Turner, Helen Lewis, Hadley Freeman, Andrea Dworkin, Karen Ingala Smith....and loads, loads more.

user1494050295 · 05/01/2018 21:18

Oh and sigourney weaver, meryl streep, Andy murray.

user1494050295 · 05/01/2018 21:12

Julia gillard of course. If you haven't listened to the infamous misogyny speech you haven't lived. Slightly outing myself but I have heard her speak twice in the UK. Awesome. And Christiane Legrande.

WichBitchHarpyTerfThatsMe · 05/01/2018 21:04

Yes to most of the above.

Also Kat Banyard from UK Feminista.

UpABitLate · 05/01/2018 20:40

Dittany!!!!!

Hassled · 05/01/2018 20:32

Having just this evening finished her Women and Power book, Mary Beard. It's a fantastic read.

AssignedPuuurfectAtBirth · 05/01/2018 20:30

Snapespeare
Start a thread on it with a bio on each post!

pieceofpurplesky · 05/01/2018 20:01

Katharine Hepburn
Malala Yousafzai
Jenny Lee Bevin (my wonderful Mum is named after her)
My maternal grandmother who raised 11 children throughout the war years single handedly

Snapespeare · 05/01/2018 19:58

Last year on fb, I did 100 days of inspirational women. They may not have all considered themselves feminists, but they trailblazed and did wonderful things and for me that defined their feminism.

Friday Khalo - took no shit
Sophie Scholl - teen icon
Dorothy Jewson - my blokes granny
Margaret Hamilton - NASA scientist

96 more! (I might do 365 inspirational women next, just for the hell of it!)

dudsville · 05/01/2018 19:55

I'm not a literary feminist so I'd say comedians. I like how they can tell a story, draw you in, make a fabulous point, and make it funny and easy to relate to. Heard one recently talk about body smells, tastes of bodily fluids. I was cringing for her, totally drawn in, then she flipped it and parodied what it would be like for men to have similar low self esteem and shameful views of the body and the point was driven home for me.

ALunerExplorer · 05/01/2018 19:48

Ah the Dagenham strikers! Oh yes, bloody awesome women. Grin

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ALunerExplorer · 05/01/2018 19:46

Well its an interesting point, but in 1843 homosexuals were still thrown in prison.

Some things at least have changed since then, so I wouldn't necessarily apply it in quite such a blanket fashion now. Smile Interesting little side topic of conversation though Lang.

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Xenophile · 05/01/2018 19:14

Doris sounds like a wonder, we are so lucky to have had women like her as our foremothers, thank you for telling us about her.

Theducksarenotmyfriends · 05/01/2018 19:03

Nawal el Saadawi. Fabulous and full of fire even in her 80s.

LangCleg · 05/01/2018 18:57

Doris sounds just WONDERFUL!

PricklyBall · 05/01/2018 18:51

Doris now makes it onto my list, Sarah. Thank you for telling us about her.

Let's see. Going for women who inspire me as well as feminists (and in no particular order, just as they occur to me).

Germaine Greer - the first feminist I ever read.
Virginia Woolf for a room of one's own.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Emelie du Chatelet
Rosa Parks
Julie Bindel
Sarah Hrdy
Margaret Atwood
Angela Carter
Barbara Strozzi (fabulous Renaissance composer)
Gwen John
Mary Cassatt (my mum was a portrait painter, so women artists figured in my childhood)
The Dagenham strikers
And while we're at it - Barbara Castle
The Grundig strikers

I think I would put Jane Austen in the list. Yes, the stories are superficially romance - but under the surface, she pulls no punches at all about what it is to be a woman in a world where the only respectable occupation open to you is to be a man's wife, and where you have no guarantees as to how the man you've married will turn out.

sarahjconnor · 05/01/2018 17:23

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GuardianLions · 05/01/2018 17:10

Wow hats of to SarahJs ggrandmother!

sarahjconnor · 05/01/2018 17:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsKnightley · 05/01/2018 16:55

Janice Turner

Magdalene Berns

Glosswitch

Ereshkigal · 05/01/2018 16:42

Wow your great gran sounds amazing, Sarah.

onlyconnect · 05/01/2018 16:39

sarahjconnor you've made me cry! What a woman she must have been.

BertrandRussell · 05/01/2018 16:39

This is an interesting discussion. I see someone mentioned Jane Austen. My favourite writer - but feminist icon? Why?.

GuardianLions · 05/01/2018 16:38

Roz Kaveny is a wanker.

As far as my feminist icons go - they are mainly who I personally know and I fear it would be outing for me to divulge.

I've noticed that tory public school boys seem to love Anne Widdicome.

BertrandRussell · 05/01/2018 16:36

Magdalen Berns
Cariad Lloyd
Holly McNish