Parallel to the conservative movement was that of radical feminism.
They demanded that the whole way men perceived and treated women had to change.
- In the 60s and 70s, this was a new type of ‘sexual politics.’ It had its roots in political activism for AAs and against the War in Vietnam.
- But it was seen as separate to civil rights campaigns.
- The veteran civil rights campaigner, Frederick Douglass, in 1868 rejected linking women’s rights with AA rights. The black activists of
- the 60s and 70s mirrored this sentiment.
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- Women used ‘consciousness raising’ to tackle sexism. Small groups of women would meet to discuss the positions of women, making women more aware of ‘unequal power relationships.’
- In feminist writer and activist, Kate Millett’s 1970 book, Sexual Politics, she stated that ‘every avenue of power is entirely in male hands.’Even Stokely Carmichael made the outrageous statement that ‘The only position for women in the SNCC is prone.’
This statement being made 60 years after the 19th Amendment shows the continued political disillusionment with conventional means of gaining political influence for women.