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92-493: Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer , educator, artist, and activist. She attended the University of Oxford and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors after studying at St Hilda's College, Oxford . She has been described as "a seminal influence on second-wave feminism ", and is best known for her book Sexual Politics (1970), which

184-536: A Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature ; she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. A wealthy aunt paid for her education at St Hilda's College, Oxford , gaining an English literature first-class honors degree in 1958. She was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors having studied at St. Hilda's. After spending about 10 years as an educator and artist, Millett entered

276-486: A land-grant university ( North Carolina State University ), five historically black institutions ( North Carolina A&T State University , North Carolina Central University , Winston-Salem State University , Fayetteville State University , and Elizabeth City State University ) and one to educate American Indians (the University of North Carolina at Pembroke ). Others were created to prepare teachers for public education and to instruct performing artists . During

368-461: A "remarkable book" that provided a coherent theory about the feminist movement. Alice Neel created the depiction of Millett for the August 31, 1970, cover. According to biographer Peter Manso, The Prisoner of Sex was written by Norman Mailer in response to Millett's Sexual Politics . Andrew Wilson, author of Norman Mailer: An American Aesthetic , noted that " The Prisoner of Sex is structured as

460-562: A 501(c)3 non-profit organization and changed its name to the Millett Center for the Arts. Millett was a leading figure in the women's movement, or second-wave feminism , of the 1960s and 1970s. For example, she and Sidney Abbott , Phyllis Birkby , Alma Routsong , and Artemis March were among the members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness-raising group, although Millett identified as bisexual by late 1970. In 1966, Millett became

552-494: A Movement, Authorizing Discourse , says that the release of Millett's Sexual Politics (1970) was a pivotal event in the second wave of the feminist movement. Although there were other important moments in the movement, like the founding of the National Organization for Women and release of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan , it was in 1970 that the media gave greater attention to the feminist movement, first with

644-465: A close link between feminist literature and activism , with feminist writing typically voicing key concerns or ideas of feminism in a particular era. Much of the early feminist literary scholarship was given over to the rediscovery and reclamation of texts written by women. In Western feminist literary scholarship, studies such as Dale Spender 's Mothers of the Novel (1986) and Jane Spencer's The Rise of

736-565: A committee member of National Organization for Women and subsequently joined the New York Radical Women , Radical lesbians , and Downtown Radical Women organizations. She contributed the piece "Sexual politics (in literature)" to the 1970 anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement , edited by Robin Morgan . She became a spokesperson for

828-661: A community of women artists and writers and Christmas tree farm. Two years later she was an educator at the University of California, Berkeley . In 1980, Millett was one of the ten invited artists whose work was exhibited in the Great American Lesbian Art Show at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles, although Millett identified as bisexual. Millett was also a contributor to On the Issues magazine, and continued writing into

920-411: A contest. His rhetoric against her prose, his charm against her earnestness, his polemic rage against her vitriolic charges. The aim is to convert the larger audience, the stronger presence as the sustaining truth. The Prisoner of Sex combines self parody and satire..." While Millett was speaking about sexual liberation at Columbia University, a woman in the audience asked her, "Why don't you say you're

1012-483: A critical role for the feminist movement , especially in the past half century. In her book Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics , bell hooks states her belief that all types of media, including writing and children's books, need to promote feminist ideals. She argues "Children's literature is one of the most crucial sites for feminist education for critical consciousness precisely because beliefs and identities are still being formed". Feminist science fiction

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1104-408: A feminist lens. Children's literature and women's literature have many similarities. Both often deal with being weak and placed towards the bottom of a hierarchy. In this way feminist ideas are regularly found in the structure of children's literature. Feminist criticism of children's literature is therefore expected, since it is a type of feminist literature. Feminist children's literature has played

1196-578: A front-page article in The New York Times and coverage on the three network's news programs about the Women's Strike for Equality event that summer. Millett used psychology, anthropology, the sexual revolution , and literary criticism to explain her theory of sexual politics, which is that western societies have been driven by a belief that men are superior to women. According to Poirot, the book, which received widespread media coverage, "was considered to be

1288-428: A kindergarten teacher and learned to sculpt and paint from 1959 to 1961. She then moved to Japan and studied sculpture. Millett met fellow sculptor Fumio Yoshimura, had her first one-woman show at Tokyo's Minami Gallery, and taught English at Waseda University . She left Japan in 1963 and moved to New York's Lower East Side. Millett taught English and exhibited her works of art at Barnard College beginning in 1964. She

1380-472: A lesbian, here, openly. You've said you were a lesbian in the past." Millett hesitantly responded, "Yes, I am a lesbian". A couple of weeks later, Time 's December 8, 1970, article "Women's Lib: A Second Look" reported that Millett admitted she was bisexual, which it said would likely discredit her as a spokesperson for the feminist movement because it "reinforce[d] the views of those skeptics who routinely dismiss all liberationists as lesbians." In response,

1472-448: A lot of oranges or hid the pills in her mouth for later disposal. She said of the times when she was committed, "To remain sane in a bin is to defy its definition," she said. [Millett] describes with loathing the days of television-induced boredom, nights of drug-induced terror, people deprived of a sense of time, of personal dignity, even of hope. What crime justifies being locked up like this, Millett asks. How can one not be crazy in such

1564-406: A minute is happy and harmless and could, if encouraged and given time, perhaps be productive as well. Ah, but depression – that is what we all hate. We the afflicted. Whereas the relatives and shrinks ... they rather welcome it: You are quiet and you suffer. Feminist author and historian Marilyn Yalom wrote that "Millett refuses the labels that would declare her insane", continuing "she conveys

1656-500: A place? After several days, she was found by her friend Margaretta D'Arcy . With the assistance of an Irish parliament member and a therapist-psychiatrist from Dublin, Millett was declared competent and released within several weeks. She returned to the United States, became severely depressed, and began taking lithium again. In 1986, Millett stopped taking lithium without adverse reactions. After one lithium-free year, Millett announced

1748-588: A press conference was organized two days later in Greenwich Village by lesbian feminists Ivy Bottini and Barbara Love . It led to a statement in which 30 lesbian and feminist leaders declared their "solidarity with the struggle of homosexuals to attain their liberation in a sexist society". Millett's 1971 film Three Lives is a 16 mm documentary made by an all-woman crew, including co-director Susan Kleckner , cameraperson Lenore Bode, and editor Robin Mide, under

1840-649: A protest rally held at Tehran University on International Women's Day , March 8. About 20,000 women attended a march through the city's Freedom Square ; many of whom were stabbed, beaten, or threatened with acid . Millett and Keir, who had attended the rallies and demonstrations, were removed from their hotel room and taken to a locked room in immigration headquarters two weeks after they arrived in Iran. They were threatened that they might be put in jail and, knowing that homosexuals were executed in Iran, Millett also feared she might be killed when she overheard officials say that she

1932-514: A release form intended for voluntary admissions. During a visit to St. Paul, Minnesota, a couple of weeks later, her mother asked Kate to visit a psychiatrist and, based upon the psychiatrist's suggestion, signed commitment papers for Kate. She was released within three days, having won a sanity trial, due to the efforts of her friends and a pro bono attorney. Following the two involuntary confinements, Millett became depressed, particularly so about having been confined without due process . While in

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2024-484: A rethinking of children's rights broadly understood. Millett added that "one of children's essential rights is to express themselves sexually, probably primarily with each other but with adults as well" and that "the sexual freedom of children is an important part of a sexual revolution ... if you don't change the social condition of children you still have an inescapable inequality". In this interview, Millett criticized those who wished to abolish age of consent laws , saying

2116-500: A school for performing artists. The oldest university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , first admitted students in 1795. The smallest and newest member is the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics , a residential two-year high school, founded in 1980 and a full member of the university since 2007. The largest university is North Carolina State University , with 37,323 students as of fall 2023. While

2208-524: A screening of one of her films at University of California, Berkeley , Millett "began talking incoherently". According to her other sister, Mallory Millett-Danaher, "There were pained looks of confusion in the audience, then people whispered and slowly got up to leave." Sally, who was a law student in Nebraska, signed papers to have her younger sister committed. Millett was forcefully taken and held in psychiatric facilities for ten days. She signed herself out using

2300-551: A society in which gender differences or gender power imbalances do not exist, or dystopias to explore worlds in which gender inequalities are intensified, thus asserting a need for feminist work to continue. Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice. No other genres so actively invite representations of the ultimate goals of feminism: worlds free of sexism, worlds in which women's contributions (to science) are recognized and valued, worlds that explore

2392-515: A tape of the show to entertain her friends. Throughout the programme Reed used sexist language. Millett was also involved in prison reform and campaigns against torture. Journalist Maureen Freely wrote of Millett's viewpoint regarding activism in her later years: "The best thing about being a freewheeler is that she can say what she pleases because 'nobody's giving me a chair in anything. I'm too old, mean and ornery. Everything depends on how well you argue. ' " In 2012, The Women's Art Colony became

2484-420: A theory of patriarchy and conceptualized the gender and sexual oppression of women in terms that demanded a sex role revolution with radical changes of personal and family lifestyles". Betty Friedan 's focus, by comparison, was to improve leadership opportunities socially and politically and economic independence for women. Millett wrote several books on women's lives from a feminist perspective. For instance, in

2576-565: A total enrollment of 244,507 students as of fall 2021. UNC campuses conferred 62,930 degrees in 2020–2021, the bulk of which were at the bachelor's level, with 44,309 degrees awarded. In 2008, the UNC System conferred over 75% of all baccalaureate degrees in North Carolina. Founded in 1789, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (at the time called the University of North Carolina)

2668-405: Is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on theories that include feminist themes including but not limited to, gender inequality , sexuality , race , economics , and reproduction . Feminist SF is political because of its tendency to critique the dominant culture. Some of the most notable feminist science fiction works have illustrated these themes using utopias to explore

2760-636: Is contained in the State's first Constitution (1776), which provided in Article XLI That a school or schools shall be established by the Legislature, for the convenient instruction of youth, ... and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged, and promoted, in one or more universities, The state legislature granted a charter and funding for the university in 1789. Article IX of the 1971 North Carolina Constitution deals with all forms of public education in

2852-416: Is done with marriage contracts. According to her, degradation and power, not sex, are being bought and sold in prostitution. She argues for the decriminalization of prostitution in a process directed by the sex workers themselves. In 1974 and 1977, respectively, Millett published two autobiographical books. Flying (1974), a "stream-of-consciousness memoir about her bisexuality", which explores her life after

Kate Millett - Misplaced Pages Continue

2944-616: Is important to break down the isolation and alienation that hiding in privacy can cause. She wrote in Flying what Alice Henry calls in her off our backs review of Sita an "excruciating public and political 'coming out'" and its effect on her personal, political, and artistic lives. While she discussed some of her love affairs in Flying , in Sita she provides insight into a lesbian love affair and her fears of being alone or inadequate. Henry writes, "Kate's transparent vulnerability and attempts to get to

3036-473: Is one of three schools to claim the title of oldest public university in the United States . It closed from 1871 to 1875, faced with serious financial and enrollment problems during the Reconstruction era . In 1877, the state of North Carolina began sponsoring additional higher education institutions. Over time, the state added a women's college (now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro ),

3128-480: Is related to a general reassessment and expansion of the literary canon . Interest in post-colonial literature , gay and lesbian literature , writing by people of color, working people's writing, and the cultural productions of other historically marginalized groups have resulted in a whole scale expansion of what is considered "literature" and genres hitherto not regarded as "literary" such as children's writing, journals, letters, travel writing, and many others are now

3220-502: Is sometimes taught at the university level to explore the role of social constructs in understanding gender. Notable texts of this kind are Ursula K. Le Guin 's The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), Joanna Russ ' The Female Man (1970), Octavia Butler 's Kindred (1979), and Margaret Atwood 's Handmaid's Tale (1985). Feminist nonfiction has played an important role in voicing concerns about women's lived experiences. For example, Maya Angelou 's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

3312-480: Is taken from its own website. The following universities became four-year institutions after their founding (date each became a four-year institution in parentheses): With the exception of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the institutions that joined the University of North Carolina in 1972 did so under their current name. As of 1972, all public four-year institutions in North Carolina are members of

3404-510: Is unsound, there is a kind of despair that takes over..." In The Loony Bin Trip , Millett wrote that she dreaded her depressed periods: At one point, listening to others talk about her "freaking out," Millett muses, "How little weight my own perceptions seem to have," and goes on: "Depression is the victim's dread, not mania. For we could enjoy mania if we were permitted by the others around us ... A manic person permitted to think ten thousand miles

3496-629: The Great Depression , the North Carolina General Assembly searched for cost savings within state government. Towards this effort in 1931, it redefined the University of North Carolina, which at the time referred exclusively to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ; the new Consolidated University of North Carolina was created to include the existing campuses of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University), and

3588-412: The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics , the nation's first public residential high school for gifted students, was declared an affiliated school of the university. In 2007, the high school became a full member of the university. An asterisk (*) denotes acting president. Two asterisks (**) denotes chairman of the faculty. The legal authority and mandate for the University of North Carolina

3680-419: The University of North Carolina at Charlotte , the University of North Carolina at Asheville , and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington . In 1971, North Carolina passed legislation bringing into the University of North Carolina all 16 public institutions that confer bachelor's degrees. This latest round of consolidation gave each constituent school its own chancellor and board of trustees . In 1985,

3772-689: The anti-psychiatry movement. As a representative of MindFreedom International , she spoke out against psychiatric torture at the United Nations during the negotiations of the text of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2005). In 1978, Millett became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect

Kate Millett - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-520: The 1960s and 1970s, Millett taught at Waseda University , Bryn Mawr College , Barnard College , and the University of California, Berkeley . Some of her later written works are The Politics of Cruelty (1994), about state-sanctioned torture in many countries, and Mother Millett (2001), a book about her relationship with her mother. Between 2011 and 2013, she won the Lambda Pioneer Award for Literature , received Yoko Ono 's Courage Award for

3956-434: The 1980s, Pandora Press , responsible for publishing Spender's study, issued a companion line of 18th-century novels written by women. More recently, Broadview Press continues to issue 18th- and 19th-century novels, many hitherto out of print, and the University of Kentucky has a series of republications of early women's novels. Particular works of literature have come to be known as key feminist texts. A Vindication of

4048-700: The Arts , and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame . Millett was born and raised in Minnesota, and then spent most of her adult life in Manhattan and the Woman's Art Colony, established in Poughkeepsie, New York , which became the Millett Center for the Arts in 2012. Millett came out as a lesbian in 1970, the year the book Sexual Politics was published. However, late in the year 1970 she came out as bisexual. She

4140-508: The Bowery was condemned and Yoshimura threatened divorce. To manage the depression, Millett again began taking lithium. In 1980, with support of two friends and photojournalist Sophie Keir, Millett stopped taking lithium to improve her mental clarity, relieve diarrhea and hand tremors, and better uphold her philosophies about mental health and treatment. She began to feel alienated and was "snappish" as Keir watched for behavioral changes. Her behavior

4232-443: The Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft , is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. A Room of One's Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf , is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy. Germaine Greer 's The Female Eunuch (1970) questions the self-limiting role of the woman homemaker. The widespread interest in women's writing

4324-610: The University of Minnesota's Mayo wing, Kate had her mother removed from the nursing home and returned to her apartment, where attendants managed her care. During this period, Millett could also "bully" her mother for her lack of cultural sophistication and the amount of television she watched and could be harsh with caregivers. Millett was not the "polite, middle-class girl" that many parents of her generation and social circle desired; she could be difficult, brutally honest, and tenacious. Liza Featherstone, author of "Daughterhood Is Powerful", says that these qualities helped to make her "one of

4416-467: The Woman Novelist (1986) were ground-breaking in their insistence that women have always been writing. Commensurate with this growth in scholarly interest, various presses began the task of reissuing long-out-of-print texts. Virago Press began to publish its large list of 19th and early-20th-century novels in 1975 and became one of the first commercial presses to join in the project of reclamation. In

4508-499: The Woman's College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro). The three campuses came under the leadership of a single board of trustees and a single president, with "Deans of Administration" serving as day-to-day leaders of the three campuses. In 1945, the title "Dean of Administration" was changed to " Chancellor ." By 1969, three additional campuses had joined the Consolidated University through legislative action:

4600-568: The book The Basement: Meditations on a Human Sacrifice (1979), completed over four years, she chronicled the torture and murder of Indianapolis teenager Sylvia Likens by Gertrude Baniszewski in 1965 that had preoccupied her for 14 years. With a feminist perspective, she explored the story of the defenseless girl and the dynamics of the individuals involved in her sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Biographer Roberta M. Hooks wrote, "Quite apart from any feminist polemics, The Basement can stand alone as an intensely felt and movingly written study of

4692-563: The book, "Millett writes about the situation—her mother's distance and imperiousness, her family's failure to recognize the humanity of the old and the insane—with brutal honesty. Yet she also describes moments of forgiveness, humility and admiration." During this time, she developed a close relationship, previously inconceivable, with her mother, which she considered "a miracle and a grace, a gift." Her relationships with her sisters were troubled during this time, but they all came to support their mother's apartment-living. The suggestion of her role as

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4784-564: The diversity of women's desire and sexuality, and worlds that move beyond gender. University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the public university system for the state of North Carolina . Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics , it is commonly referred to as the UNC System to differentiate it from its first campus, UNC-Chapel Hill . The university system has

4876-492: The early 2000s. She discussed state-sanctioned torture in The Politics of Cruelty (1994), bringing attention to the use of torture in many countries. Millett was involved in the controversy resulting from her appearance on a UK television programme called After Dark . Actor Oliver Reed , who had been drinking during the programme, moved in on her and tried to kiss her. Millett pushed him away but reportedly later asked for

4968-437: The efforts her mother made to give her life, support her and raise her, Millett became a care-giver and coordinator of many daily therapies, and pushed her mother to be active. She wanted to give her "independence and dignity". In the article "Her Mother, Herself", Pat Swift wrote: "Helen Millett might have been content to go "gently into that good night"—she was after all more afraid of the nursing home than dying—but daughter Kate

5060-443: The feminist movement following the success of the book Sexual Politics (1970), but struggled with conflicting perceptions of her as arrogant and elitist, and the expectations of others to speak for them, which she covered in her 1974 book, Flying . Millett was one of the first writers to describe the modern concept of patriarchy as the society-wide subjugation of women. Biographer Gayle Graham Yates said that "Millett articulated

5152-942: The first book-length exposition of second wave radical feminist theory." Published accounts of Millett's lesbianism played a part in the fracture in the feminist movement over lesbians' role within the movement and reduced her effectiveness as a women's rights activist. However, Millett identified as bisexual by late 1970. Scholar Camille Paglia described Millett's scholarship as deeply flawed, declaring that "American feminism's nose dive began" when Millett achieved prominence. According to Paglia, Millett's Sexual Politics "reduced complex artworks to their political content and attacked famous male artists and authors for their alleged sexism," thereby sending serious academic literary appreciation and criticism into eclipse. Millett wrote her autobiographical books Flying (1974) and Sita (1977) about coming out as gay, partly an important consciousness-raising activity. She realized beginning an open dialogue

5244-621: The graduate school program for English and comparative literature at Columbia University in 1968, during which she taught English at Barnard . While there, she championed student rights, women's liberation, and abortion reform. She completed her dissertation in September 1969 and was awarded her doctorate, with distinction, in March 1970. Millett taught English at the University of North Carolina after graduating from Oxford University, but she left mid-semester to study art. In New York City she worked as

5336-682: The heroine in Mother Millett , however, may have been "at the expense of her two siblings". In 1961 Millett moved to Japan and met fellow sculptor Fumio Yoshimura . In 1963 Yoshimura and Millett left Japan and moved to New York's Lower East Side in the Bowery district. In 1965 they married to prevent Yoshimura from being deported, and during their marriage Millett said that they were "friends and lovers". She dedicated her book Sexual Politics to him. Author Estelle C. Jelinek says that during their marriage he "loves her, leads his own creative life, and accepts her woman lovers". In 1985 they were divorced. At

5428-511: The history of Iranian women", albeit told from the perspective of a feminist from the western world. Millett died in Paris on September 6, 2017, from cardiac arrest, eight days before her 83rd birthday. Her spouse Sophie Keir was with her at the time of her death. Feminist writer In the 15th century, Christine de Pizan wrote The Book of the City of Ladies which combats prejudices and enhances

5520-525: The importance of women in society. The book follows the model of De Mulieribus Claris , written in the 14th century by Giovanni Boccaccio . The feminist movement produced feminist fiction , feminist non-fiction, and feminist poetry , which created new interest in women's writing . It also prompted a general reevaluation of women's historical and academic contributions in response to the belief that women's lives and contributions have been underrepresented as areas of scholarly interest. There has also been

5612-596: The issue was not focused on children's rights but "being approached as the right of men to have sex with kids below the age of consent" and added that "no mention is made of relationships between women and girls". Kate wrote Mother Millett (2001) about her mother, who in her later years developed several serious health problems, including a brain tumor and hypercalcaemia . Made aware of her mother's declining health, Millett visited her in Minnesota; their visits included conversations about their relationship and outings to baseball games, museums, and restaurants. When her mother

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5704-400: The members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness-raising group. In an interview with Mark Blasius, Millett was sympathetic to the concept of intergenerational sex , describing age of consent laws as "very oppressive" to gay male youth in particular but repeatedly reminding the interviewer that the question cannot rest on the sexual access of older men or women to children but

5796-493: The mental hospitals, she was given "mind-altering" drugs or restrained, depending upon whether she complied or not. She was stigmatized for having been committed and diagnosed with manic depression (now commonly called bipolar disorder ). The diagnosis affected how she was perceived by others and her ability to attain employment. In California doctors had recommended that she take lithium to manage wide manic and depression swings. Her depression became more severe when her housing in

5888-569: The most influential radical feminists of the 1970s." They could also make for difficult interpersonal relationships. Millett wrote several autobiographical memoirs, with what Featherstone calls "brutal honesty," about herself, her husband, lovers, and family. Her relationship with her mother was strained by her radical politics, domineering personality, and unconventional lifestyle. Helen was particularly upset about examination of her lesbianism in her books. (Millett identified as bisexual by late 1970.) Family relationships were further strained after Millett

5980-420: The name Women's Liberation Cinema. The 70-minute film focuses on three women—Mallory Millett-Jones, the director's sister; Lillian Shreve, a chemist; and Robin Mide, an artist—reminiscing about their lives. Vincent Canby, The New York Times ' art critic, wrote: " Three Lives is a good, simple movie in that it can't be bothered to call attention to itself, only to its three subjects, and to how they grew in

6072-438: The news to stunned family and friends. Millett's involvement with psychiatry caused her to attempt suicide several times due to both damaging physical and emotional effects but also because of the slanderous nature of psychiatric labeling that affected her reputation and threatened her very existence in the world. She believed that her depression was due to grief and feeling broken. She said, "When you have been told that your mind

6164-550: The official names of each campus are determined by the North Carolina General Assembly, abbreviations are determined by the individual school. The enrollment numbers are the official headcounts (including all full-time and part-time, undergrad and postgrad students) from University of North Carolina website. This does not include the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, the figure for NCSSM

6256-483: The origins of patriarchy, argued that sex-based oppression was both political and cultural, and posited that undoing the traditional family was the key to true sexual revolution. In its first year on the market, the book sold 80,000 copies and went through seven printings and is considered to be the movement's manifesto. As a symbol of the women's liberation movement, Millett was featured in a Time magazine cover story, "The Politics of Sex", which called Sexual Politics

6348-455: The paranoid terror of being judged cruelly by others for what seems to the afflicted person to be a reasonable act." Angered by institutional psychiatric practices and lenient involuntary commitment processes, Millett became an activist. With her lawyer, she changed the State of Minnesota's commitment law so that a trial is required before a person is involuntarily committed. Millett was active in

6440-442: The people of the State free of expense. Statutory provisions stipulate the current function and cost to students of the University of North Carolina. Within its seventeen campuses, UNC houses two medical schools and one teaching hospital, ten nursing programs, two schools of dentistry, one veterinary school and hospital, and a school of pharmacy, as well as a two law schools, 15 schools of education, three schools of engineering, and

6532-491: The privileges, rights, franchises, and endowments heretofore granted to or conferred upon the trustees of these institutions. The General Assembly may enact laws necessary and expedient for the maintenance and management of The University of North Carolina and the other public institutions of higher education. The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to

6624-737: The problems of cruelty and submission." Millett said of the motivation of the perpetrator: "It is the story of the suppression of women. Gertrude seems to have wanted to administer some terrible truthful justice to this girl: that this was what it was to be a woman". Millett and Sophie Keir, a Canadian journalist, traveled to Tehran , Iran in 1979 for the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom to work for Iranian women's rights. Their trip followed actions taken by Ayatollah Khomeini's government to prevent girls from attending schools with boys, to require working women to wear veils, and not to allow women to divorce their husbands. Thousands of women attended

6716-474: The public with forms of women-based media. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Millett was involved in a dispute with the New York City authorities, who wanted to evict her from her home at 295 Bowery as part of a massive redevelopment plan. Millett and other tenants held out but ultimately lost their battle. Their building was demolished, and the residents were relocated. Kristan Poirot, author of Mediating

6808-404: The root of herself and grasp her lover are typical of many women who love women." Millett recorded her visit to Iran and the demonstrations by Iranian feminists against the fundamentalist shift in Iran politics under Khomeini's government. Her book Going to Iran , with photography by Sophie Keir (1979), is "a rare and therefore valuable eyewitness account of a series of important developments in

6900-447: The same male-dominated society that Miss Millett, in her Sexual Politics , so systematically tore apart, shook up, ridiculed and undermined—while, apparently, tickling it pink." It received "generally excellent reviews" following its premiere at a New York City theater. In her 1971 book The Prostitution Papers , Millett interprets prostitution as residing at the core of the female's condition, exposing women's subjection more clearly than

6992-515: The state. Sections 8 and 9 of that article address higher education. The General Assembly shall maintain a public system of higher education, comprising The University of North Carolina and such other institutions of higher education as the General Assembly may deem wise. The General Assembly shall provide for the selection of trustees of The University of North Carolina and of the other institutions of higher education, in whom shall be vested all

7084-404: The subjects of scholarly interest. Most genres and subgenres have undergone a similar analysis, so literary studies have entered new territories such as the " female gothic " or women's science fiction . According to Elyce Rae Helford, "Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice." Feminist science fiction

7176-545: The success of Sexual Politics in what was described in The New York Times Book Review as an example of "dazzling exhibitionism". Millett captured life as she thought, experienced and lived it, in a style like a documentary film. Sita (1977) explores her sexuality, particularly her lesbian lover who committed suicide and the effect on Millett's personal and private life. Millett and Sidney Abbott , Phyllis Birkby , Alma Routsong , and Artemis March were among

7268-568: The time of her death, Millett had recently married Sophie Keir, her partner for 39 years. Mental illness affected Millett's personal and professional life from 1973, when she lived with her husband in California and was an activist and teacher at the University of California, Berkeley . Yoshimura and Sally, Kate's eldest sister, became concerned about Kate's extreme emotions. Her family claimed that she went for as many as five consecutive nights without sleep and could talk nonsensically for hours. During

7360-452: Was 14, "consigning them to a life of genteel poverty". Her mother was a teacher and insurance saleswoman. She had two sisters, Sally and Mallory; the latter was one of the subjects of Three Lives . Of Irish Catholic heritage, Kate Millett attended parochial schools in Saint Paul throughout her childhood. Millett graduated in 1956 magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota with

7452-515: Was a delay at the airport and she extended her stay in Ireland. She was involuntarily committed in Ireland after airport security "determined from someone in New York" that she had a "mental illness" and had stopped taking lithium. While confined, she was heavily drugged. To combat the aggressive pharmaceutical program of "the worst bin of all", she counteracted the effects of Thorazine and lithium by eating

7544-573: Was a lesbian. After an overnight stay, the women were put on a plane that landed in Paris. Although Millett was relieved to have arrived safely in France, she was worried about the fate of Iranian women left behind, "They can't get on a plane. That's why international sisterhood is so important." She wrote about the experience in her 1982 book Going to Iran . Millett is featured in the feminist history film She's Beautiful When She's Angry (2014). Sexual Politics originated as Millett's PhD dissertation and

7636-469: Was among a group of young, radical, and untenured educators who wanted to modernize women's education; Millett wanted to provide them with "the critical tools necessary to understand their position in a patriarchal society." Her viewpoints on radical politics, her "stinging attack" against Barnard in Token Learning , and a budget cut at the college led to her being dismissed on December 23, 1968. Her artwork

7728-597: Was based on her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University . Journalist Liza Featherstone attributes the attainment of previously unimaginable "legal abortion, greater professional equality between the sexes, and a sexual freedom" in part to Millett's efforts. The feminist , human rights , peace , civil rights , and anti-psychiatry movements were some of Millett's principal causes. Her books were motivated by her activism, such as woman's rights and mental health reform, and several were autobiographical memoirs that explored her sexuality, mental health, and relationships. In

7820-407: Was extremely influential, as it represented the specific racism and sexism experienced by black women growing up in the United States. In addition, many feminist movements have embraced poetry as a vehicle to communicate feminist ideas to public audiences through anthologies, poetry collections, and public readings. Feminist children's literature is the writing of children's literature through

7912-485: Was featured in an exhibit at Greenwich Village's Judson Gallery. During these years Millett became interested in the peace and Civil Rights Movement , joined the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and participated in their protests. In 1971, Millett taught sociology at Bryn Mawr College . She started buying and restoring property that year, near Poughkeepsie, New York ; this became the Women's Art Colony and Tree Farm ,

8004-438: Was having none of that. Feminist warrior, human rights activists, gay liberationist, writer and artist, Kate Millett has not gone gently through life and never hesitates to rage at anyone—friend or foe, family or the system—to right a perceived wrong. When the dignity and quality of her ailing mother's life was at stake, this book's unfolding tale became inevitable." Even though Helen played a role in having her daughter committed to

8096-413: Was involuntarily committed to psychiatric wards and again when she wrote The Loony Bin Trip . Millett focused on her mother in Mother Millett , a book about how she was made aware by her sister Sally of the seriousness of Helen Millett's declining health and poor nursing home care. Kate removed her mother from the home and returned her to an apartment, where caregivers managed her health and comfort. In

8188-451: Was married to sculptor Fumio Yoshimura (1965 to 1985) and later, until her death in 2017, she was married to Sophie Keir. Katherine Murray Millett was born on September 14, 1934, to James Albert and Helen ( née  Feely ) Millett in Saint Paul, Minnesota . According to Millett, she was afraid of her father, an engineer, who beat her. He was an alcoholic who abandoned the family when she

8280-498: Was no longer able to care for herself in her apartment, she was placed in a nursing home in St. Paul, Minnesota, which was one of Helen Millett's greatest fears. Kate visited her mother and was disturbed by the care she received and her mother's demoralized attitude. Nursing home residents who were labeled as "behavioral problems", as Helen was, were subject to forcible restraint. Helen said to Kate, "Now that you're here, we can leave." Aware of

8372-477: Was published in 1970, the same year that she was awarded her doctorate from Columbia University . The bestselling book , a critique of patriarchy in Western society and literature, addressed the sexism and heterosexism of the modern novelists D. H. Lawrence , Henry Miller , and Norman Mailer and contrasted their perspectives with the dissenting viewpoint of the homosexual author Jean Genet . Millett questioned

8464-402: Was that of psychiatric drug withdrawal, including "mile-a-minute" speech, which turned her peaceful art colony to "a quarrelsome dystopia." Mallory Millett, having talked to Keir, tried to get her committed but was unsuccessful due to New York's laws concerning involuntary commitments. Millett visited Ireland in the fall of 1980 as an activist. Upon her intended return to the United States, there

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