Who Are Your Feminist Icons?

[ALunerExplorer]

In his latest article for the Spectator, Brendon O'Neill praises Anne Widdicombe as the 'common sense' feminist icon' we 'should 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 )

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. Who are some of yours?

Doris sounds just WONDERFUL!

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

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.

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. Interesting little side topic of conversation though Lang.

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

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.

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!)

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

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

Dittany!!!!!

Yes to most of the above.

Also Kat Banyard from UK Feminista.

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.

Oh and sigourney weaver, meryl streep, Andy murray.

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.

Germaine Greer
Julie Bindel
Mary Beard
I think the fact that mumsnet has allowed women to have a voice in what must be incredibly difficult circumcstances is quite a considerable feminist contribution.

Name changed because everyone who knows me knows this story.....

I met Germaine Greer queuing for the toilets in the emirates business class lounge in Dubai!!

I was utterly star struck and dying to ask for a selfie but instead tried to be a total professional grown up and keep my cool while she was joking around about having to queue for the loo in business class and could we get away with nipping into the gents without being thrown in jail?!

Most surreal moment of my life (and to this day KICKING myself that I didn't just ask for a bloody selfie!!)

Rose Heilbron - trailblazer and low-key feminist
Victoria Wood - all of the tired arguments about women not being funny and not being able to do standup, conveniently forgot her.
Nancy Astor - flawed but important
Johanna Beyer - practically invented electronic music. Actually, electronic composition is something that male artists have usurped from women, and claimed was "theirs" all along.
Germaine Greer
Virginia Nicholson for her accessible works on women's history.

My own Dad.
I grew up in a small village in rural Leicester in the 70/80s, it was full of narrow minded misogynistic men.
My Dad was the village 'eccentric' he worked from home, did all the household chores and it was a family joke that he knew more about womens current affairs than us, as he was an avid listener of woman's hour.
At almost 70 he is still passionate about womens rights, although weary about the many inequalities that still exist.
The best thing is he had a son and my brother is just as brilliant as his Dad!

Sandi toksvig

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson - the first British woman to qualify as a doctor (amongst many other achievements)

www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/garrett_anderson_elizabeth.shtml

in no particular order

Caroline Criado Perez (campaigned for women on bank notes)
Naomi Wolf ( The Beauty Myth)
Marilyn French (The Women's Room)
Laura Bates (Everyday Sexism)
Hillary Clinton
Kez Dugdale
Monica Lennon (MSP and campaigner on period poverty)
Nicola Sturgeon
Stella Creasy
Jess Phillips

and forgot Glosswitch (who I found here)

I forgot Karen Ingala Smith and I love her

Mumsnet has definitely awakened me, as a previous poster said so mumsnet for giving a voice to so many posters who have enlightened me on here but also:

Mary Beard
All the suffragettes
Mary Wollstonecraft
Fanny Burney
Germaine Greer
Ada Lovelace
My Mum, both grandmothers and great grandmother.