Thoughts & Things

Second Wave Feminist Groups You Might Not Know About

Most people who have an awareness of what went on during the second wave of feminism in North America are familiar with National Organization for Women (NOW) or the Women's Liberation Front (WLF), along with other groups that still exist today. As with any part of history, the things that don't stand strong today are forgotten among the general public. I would like to share with you three different feminist groups from the second wave of feminism that you might not be familiar with. They all tackled long standing issues in unique ways, to varying degrees of efficacy.


Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (aka WITCH)
WITCH is perhaps the most outlandish of the groups on this list, but it's certainly the most fun. The Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy From Hell has a wordy name with a killer acronym, and it's actually completely relevant to what they did. Members of WITCH were known for dressing up as witches for protests and casting "hexes" on people as part of their chants. Formed in 1968, WITCH's members were former members of New York Radical Women. They believed that feminism should not just be about fighting the patriarchy, but also about fighting capitalism, supporting anti-war causes, supporting the civil rights movement, and other left-wing social issues. They kept with their WITCH theme throughout their various causes, but often changed the what the acronym meant depending on the cause at the moment. Examples include: Women Incensed at Telephone Company Harassment, Women Infuriated at Taking Care of Hoodlums, Women Indentured to Traveler's Corporate Hell, Women Inspired to Tell their Collective History, Women Interested in Toppling Consumer Holidays, and so on.

Lavender Menace
The Lavender Menace was more of an informal group, who supported the rights of gay and bisexual women. It was mostly made of of women from NOW and from the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). The term "lavender menace" was first used by Betty Friedan (author of the Feminine Mystique) to describe the danger that lesbians posed to the mainstream feminist movement of the day, as she believed that if people perceived feminists as man hating lesbians that it would undermine the whole movement. Although "lavender menace" originated as a negative term for lesbians, particularly in relation to the feminist movement, lesbian feminists reclaimed the term as something positive. The group staged action at the Second Congress to Unite Women, where they shut off the lights and microphone in the midst of it, and turned the lights back on with dozens of the Lavender Menace lining the sides of the room, wearing Lavender Menace t-shirts, and holding signs like "Women's liberation IS a lesbian conspiracy." They even had someone in the audience declare she was tired of living in the closet, and rip off her regular top to reveal a Lavender Menace shirt beneath. There had been no openly lesbian speakers planned for the day, but the protest went off without a hitch.

Jane Collective
The Jane Collective operated from 1969 to 1973 in Chicago, providing abortion services to Chicago women prior to Roe v Wade. This cause is very important to my heart, so learning about this was pretty special for me. They were affiliated with the Chicago Women's Liberation Union, but operated in the underground due to their illegal activities. Because abortion was illegal at the time, although still very needed by many women, the American feminist movement in general often advocated strongly in favour of the legalisation of abortion. Since many women would access illegal abortions rather than no abortions, women would run into serious safety issues that could cost them their reproductive capabilities or even their lives. The Jane Collective took matters into their own hands, and conferred with a doctor to become skilled in providing abortions as safely as possible. No patients were ever arrested, although seven of the Janes were; however, Roe v Wade passed not long after, so they never went to court. Initially they served many women from out of state, but as abortion became legal in further away places, the wealthy clientele who traveled from afar chose to access abortions locally, and the Janes provided more abortions for the local poor women. They charged $100, and if a woman couldn't afford this, the Collective would offer her a no interest loan to cover the costs. Throughout the four years of their activity the Jane Collective provided approximately 11,000 abortions in Chicago.

(I have committed to blogging daily with Give It 100. This is Day Sixteen.)