D.right to vote, to study, to work, to divorce, to contraception. Those who won these battles were the historical feminists, women full of edges and contradictions. From surprising and exciting biographies. That the British journalist Helen Lewis tells in her own Difficult women and in this interview, making comparisons with today’s feminism.
Real women not santini
“Women are as interesting as men, as complicated as men and as imperfect as men. And to many of those who have made the history of feminism in England an incensing biography fits tightly “says Helen Lewis to explain what prompted her to write Difficult women. History of feminism in 11 battles (Blackie editions). And she adds: «Many of the protagonists of decisive conquests for the feminist movement in the United Kingdom – such as those for voting, for divorce, for the choice of having or not children – I would probably not like to go get an aperitif. But even if they have accepted compromises that are sometimes humiliating, they made contradictory choices or they weren’t “beautiful people” they struggled against a gigantic system and brought home unthinkable results“.
The turnaround of Erin Pizzey
“Between Difficult women there is, for example, Erin Pizzey who in 1971 opened the first shelter for victims of domestic violence in England and who is now champion of the movement that defends male superiority, the Mra. And Mary Stope, who in 1921 opened the first clinic for birth control in London but who always linked this battle to the support of eugenic theories, according to which children had to be well-off and healthy people “.
Difficult Women History of Feminism in 11 Battles of Helen Lewis, Blackie Editions, page 448, € 22.00
Suffragettes or terrorists?
“Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst were among the most radical suffragettes, who didn’t just march for the right to vote, or go to jail, but flirted with violence and ran the movement in a despotic way.” Why does their “very British” story have anything to say to today’s feminists? Helen Lewis, who claims to be such, explains it in Milan, where she came to present the Italian edition of her book.
Difficult women by choice
Is being “difficult” a question of character or politics?
I believe many of the women I write about have made political use of their being difficult, that is, they have explicitly chosen not to adhere to the cliché that women should behave politely and stay in their place. A request that coincided with their irrelevance. Even today there are “rude” people on social media because they use this communication style to achieve their goals. The suffragettes in the 10s of the twentieth century shattered shop windows, blew up mailboxes (and more). They weren’t well-behaved, but they were very well focused on what they wanted and their violence had a clear strategy behind it. As long as they remained polite and controllable they could march as long as they wanted, but no one would really listen to them and they wouldn’t get the vote. Being uncontrollable and using anger by channeling it for political purposes forced men to deal with them. It’s not easy to say, but violence can be tactical and has led to changing laws.
The champion of LGBT rights
Which of the protagonists of your book do you love the most?
“Difficult to choose, perhaps Maureen Colquhoun because she was so interested in changing things that she proclaimed herself a lesbian, in 1979, the first British parliamentarian to do so. And to be expelled from the Labor Party, for coming out and for her “feminist” ideas. The courage with which she followed her heart made things easier for those who came after her, and it was her battle that led to gay marriage in the UK. If it is very unlikely that anyone today will be discriminated against because they are gay, if everything has changed so enormously in 50 years, it is only because brave people like Maureen Colquhoun have led the way. “
Inspirational women
Can difficult women be considered role models?
“I am uncomfortable considering them role models because today there seems to be a role model industry. As happens with influencers, it is bad to see celebrities with a very comfortable life set themselves as an example to achieve something specific in life, their success, their wealth.
If in the book there are women to be considered role models, it is because they are willing to pursue their goals even at the cost of great personal sacrifices. We think of the first women who tried to attend medical university in Scotland, challenging the tradition that precluded that field due to divine will or genetic inferiority and in any case due to limits that appeared only after that challenge as created by culture “.
The Thatcher model
“We think of political leaders on the right or on the left. They show that it is possible for women to govern a country, a circumstance that was inconceivable up to a hundred years ago. Margaret Thatcher was an important role model for girls in the UK in the 1990s because she showed that a woman could be prime minister. I do not love her, she on the far right and I on the left, but, like “my” difficult women, she did something very masculine, as if at every moment she said “I am important, I deserve to be taken into consideration. I have the right idea“. An attitude in which it was difficult to persevere, as society continued to see women as those who help other people, males, to achieve their goals. To be lovers and mothers and certainly not to become their number one. MT, on the other hand, was absolutely at ease being the center of attention ».
The crossroads awaiting Greta
Greta Thumberg, are you on the team too?
GT is still a girl, a teen ager saint, like Saint Agnes. Her mythology rests on her being young and innocent and incorruptible and I wonder if she hasn’t gotten into a dead end. I would like to understand what will become of her at 25, 35, 45 years old. How he will evolve when he can no longer embody this role of avenging angel. But it’s like an angry and extreme suffragette, and I like that.
Malala’s Courage
Is there a shortage of difficult women today?
«One of the effects of social media is that it is very difficult to criticize the political party or the movement to which you belong because everything encourages people to feel part of a compact group. So it’s hard to say “I’m with you, but I think this should be done differently”. It is difficult to be difficult women but the fact is that suffragettes got themselves locked up in prison for their struggles and there are no feminists in prison in the US or in the UK for their struggles. It takes courage to be difficult women, and it is increasingly difficult to find this courage in our country. I find an example of a difficult woman today is Malala, who risked being killed in Pakistan for having claimed the girls’ right to study. He knew it and fought anyway ».
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