Women’s Liberation
Below is an overview of Austin Women’s Liberation activities in 1969 and 1970 in Austin, Texas. It was published in the first issue of Second Coming, December 1, 1970. The author, Barbara Hines, has donated her copies of Second Coming to the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American History.
The most exciting thing about writing this article is the realization of just how far Women’s Liberation in Austin has come since a small group got together two years ago to try to decide what Women’s Liberation exactly was or could be.
The group began in February 1969, when about ten women gathered to discuss the subject. Most of the women had been active in the New Left and were disenchanted with the male dominated movement. But none were really into the women’s movement or had done much reading about it.
I started going in April when a friend invited me; at that time I’d never heard of Women’s Liberation. I’d been out of the country for a year and a half and was going through a difficult period of readjustment. I figured it would be a good way to meet people, never realizing the profound effects it would have on my life over a period of a year and a half.
That spring about 15-20 met regularly to try to define women’s liberation, what impact it could have on us and on the whole community. The group remained small and we simply rapped and tried to get to know each other. By May we decided it was time to try to convey to others what we were all about…our first action was the guerrilla theater at the Neiman-Marcus fashion show. We painted ourselves with exaggerated theater make-up, donned paper dresses made from sexist advertisements and picketed. I was a bit embarrassed; I’d never done anything like that before, but when it was all over we agreed it was a success and we attracted women to the group.
Summer was beautiful. About 25 of us met weekly. We didn’t form permanent rap groups like most women do now, but rather we flowed freely in and out of the three groups we usually broke down into. Perhaps this was because of the intimacy and smallness of the group or the excitement of the newness of the group. Perhaps none of us were quite as alienated as we are now and didn’t feel the need for a stable support group. But we formed some real strong bonds that summer.
Fall 69… our first meetings were large and enthusiastic. The birth control information center happened, our first concrete project, and we were excited.
Then the problems began…we had little structure and no program; we ended up breaking into small groups at every meeting. This served the needs of the constant influx of new women eager to find out what the movement was all about, but many older members became tired of rehashing the same issues. We didn’t want to become elitist; dividing the group into “old and “new,” but we didn’t know how to deal with the problem. We tried to get projects underway, but since we’d been socialized never to take initiative, few ever materialized. Consequently, we lost a lot of fine women.
By this time, the conventional media had made us into a “legitimate controversial” subject as we spent much time speaking to classes and organizations. We did guerrilla theater to greet our honored guest Miss America, dressing ourselves in lipstick tubes, Toni permanent boxes and all the other products Miss America uses her body to sell.
The most fun of all, was the Campus Date Auction. We dressed as slaves and chained ourselves together, led by a slave-master. Everyone liked it and the audience really participated. [Note: Protesting a date auction was the point, but re-enacting a slae auction, even as protest, would not happen today.]
That spring activities picked up again – study groups and rap groups formed, the Abortion Repeal Committee began to meet.
This summer I wasn’t there, but people have told me that not too much happened. Self defense classes met and so did some rap groups.
This relative calm lasted until Aug. 26, the first national women’s strike. We leafleted, held a rally and a potluck dinner.
The big impetus this year was the Conference. it was a heck of a lot of work and hassle. Many of us feared it wouldn’t fulfill expectations, but in retrospect, it was all and even more than we had hoped for. Women from all over Texas spent an entire week-end with each other, talking, planning, eating and relaxing. For many women, it was the first time to get together with their own sex and talk about meaningful issues. We realized how powerful sisterhood could be.
A million things are happening now… we’ve overcome the dilemma that plagued us last year, that of the emergence of an elite within the group, our “leaders.” It wasn’t that we wanted it to happen; in fact, it was totally contrary to our basic assumption of a structure-less group. It was just that few people ever took initiative and all the shitwork fell on a small few. Now the general meetings are planned by a different collective each meeting and presents the program. Many, many groups are actively working on specific projects. We’ve also managed to spread the shitwork around, thank god.
The Women’s Center will soon be a reality. The Abortion Committee is actively working, day care is underway, a community women’s liberation group has formed… study groups, rap groups, a newspaper. Kate came and proved to many of us that we can build a structure-less anarchist movement; our sisters defied the frat rats’ exploitation of women during the “great sign controversy.” It’s all happening and I’m very happy.
collectiveimpressions 