Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Masten, April | Tomes, Nancy | Chase, Robert | Hesford, Victoria.
Date
2015-05-01
Keywords
History | Black Panther Party, Lesbian Feminism, Radical Feminism, Violence, Weather Underground, Women's Liberation Movement
Department
Department of History.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77718
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
This dissertation examines the interrelated relationship of women, violence, and feminism in those groups who either advocated or were associated with violent revolt in the late 1960s and 1970s, especially women in the Black Panther Party (BPP) and Weather Underground (WU). It addresses an important issue that has been overlooked in previous histories of second-wave feminism: the meaning of liberation for women involved with violent activism during the Vietnam War era. In general terms, women’s entanglements with violent activism have been viewed by feminists, as well as by many historians, as macho, and thus at odds with feminism, which is largely characterized as appealing to white, middle-class, anti-patriarchal, and mostly pacifistic women. In the dominant narratives about second wave women’s movements that have been written to date, women are usually seen as victims, rather than initiators of violence; however, radical women, especially women in the BPP and WU, fashioned more aggressive self-presentations, holding shotguns at protests and planting bombs in governmental buildings as symbolic and violent anti-war actions. I argue that women in the revolutionary movements of the late 1960s and 1970s such as the BPP and WU experimented with their own version of women’s liberation, and their commitment and contributions to women’s liberation need more recognition in historical accounts of second-wave feminism. Influenced by images of women in combat, especially North Vietnamese guerrilla women, these middle-class, educated young women—white women and women of color—attempted to overcome the stereotypes of race and gender as inferior and passive, and reinforced their empowerment through their distinctive attire, demonstrations and work in clandestine movements. This dissertation uncovers the BPP and WU’s evolution in terms of their views towards women’s movements, and how they embraced the struggles for liberation through the intersection of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Their theories and beliefs led to a different approach to women’s liberation than many radical and lesbian feminist groups, which became more woman-centered and pacifistic in women’s debates on resistant violence as political tactics. This study of revolutionary women and their intertwinement with violence will furnish new perspectives on the multiracial and transnational nature of late 20th century feminism. | This dissertation examines the interrelated relationship of women, violence, and feminism in those groups who either advocated or were associated with violent revolt in the late 1960s and 1970s, especially women in the Black Panther Party (BPP) and Weather Underground (WU). It addresses an important issue that has been overlooked in previous histories of second-wave feminism: the meaning of liberation for women involved with violent activism during the Vietnam War era. In general terms, women’s entanglements with violent activism have been viewed by feminists, as well as by many historians, as macho, and thus at odds with feminism, which is largely characterized as appealing to white, middle-class, anti-patriarchal, and mostly pacifistic women. In the dominant narratives about second wave women’s movements that have been written to date, women are usually seen as victims, rather than initiators of violence; however, radical women, especially women in the BPP and WU, fashioned more aggressive self-presentations, holding shotguns at protests and planting bombs in governmental buildings as symbolic and violent anti-war actions. I argue that women in the revolutionary movements of the late 1960s and 1970s such as the BPP and WU experimented with their own version of women’s liberation, and their commitment and contributions to women’s liberation need more recognition in historical accounts of second-wave feminism. Influenced by images of women in combat, especially North Vietnamese guerrilla women, these middle-class, educated young women—white women and women of color—attempted to overcome the stereotypes of race and gender as inferior and passive, and reinforced their empowerment through their distinctive attire, demonstrations and work in clandestine movements. This dissertation uncovers the BPP and WU’s evolution in terms of their views towards women’s movements, and how they embraced the struggles for liberation through the intersection of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Their theories and beliefs led to a different approach to women’s liberation than many radical and lesbian feminist groups, which became more woman-centered and pacifistic in women’s debates on resistant violence as political tactics. This study of revolutionary women and their intertwinement with violence will furnish new perspectives on the multiracial and transnational nature of late 20th century feminism. | 316 pages
Recommended Citation
Lee, Choonib, "Fashioning Revolutionary Women in Cold War America: Women and Violence in the Black Panther Party, Weather Underground, and Radical Feminist Organizations, 1968-1981" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3506.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3506