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Redstockings , also known as Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement , is a radical feminist nonprofit that was founded in January 1969 in New York City, whose goal is "To Defend and Advance the Women's Liberation Agenda". The group's name is derived from bluestocking , a term used to disparage feminist intellectuals of earlier centuries, and red , for its association with the revolutionary left .

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59-466: The group was started by Ellen Willis and Shulamith Firestone in January 1969, after the breakup of New York Radical Women . Other early members included Kathie Sarachild , Patricia Mainardi , Barbara Leon , Corrine Grad Coleman , Lucinda Cisler , Irene Peslikis , and Alix Kates Shulman . Firestone soon split with the group to form New York Radical Feminists , along with Anne Koedt . Rita Mae Brown

118-516: A modern Noahide movement . These Noahide organizations, led by religious Zionist and Orthodox rabbis, are aimed at non-Jews in order to convince them to commit to follow the Noahide laws . However, these religious Zionist and Orthodox rabbis that guide the modern Noahide movement, who are often affiliated with the Third Temple movement , expound a racist and supremacist ideology which consists in

177-699: A white supremacist Christian organization, as are many other white supremacist groups, such as the Posse Comitatus and the Christian Identity and Positive Christianity movements. Academics Khaled Abou El Fadl , Ian Lague, and Joshua Cone note that, while the Quran and other Islamic scriptures express tolerant beliefs, such as Al-Baqara 256 "there is no compulsion in religion", there have also been numerous instances of Muslim or Islamic supremacism. Examples of how supremacists have interpreted Islam include

236-524: A Reichian or radical Freudian analysis of such phenomena. In 2006 she was working on a book on the importance of radical psychoanalytic thought for current social and political issues. Willis was the first popular music critic for the New Yorker , writing between 1968 and 1975. As such, she was one of the first American popular music critics to write for a national audience. She got the job after having published only one article on popular music, "Dylan" in

295-531: A liberal youth group that was later revealed to have been funded by the CIA . The anthology's publication, however, created a lasting rift between members of Redstockings and feminists who were close to Steinem. Ellen Willis Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist , journalist , activist , feminist , and pop music critic . A 2014 collection of her essays, The Essential Ellen Willis, received

354-475: A lost tradition — radicals of desire." Willis had met her second husband, sociology professor Stanley Aronowitz , in the late 1960s, and they entered a relationship some 10 years later. They shared domestic tasks equally. Willis died of lung cancer on November 9, 2006. She was survived by her husband and by her daughter, Nona Willis-Aronowitz , who edited the collection Out of the Vinyl Deeps. Willis

413-496: A motivation for crusades against Muslims and pagans throughout Europe. The blood libel is a widespread European conspiracy theory which led to centuries of pogroms and massacres of European Jewish minorities because it alleged that Jews required the pure blood of a Christian child in order to make matzah for Passover . Thomas of Cantimpré writes of the blood curse which the Jews put upon themselves and all of their generations at

472-472: A number of essays that were highly critical of anti-pornography feminism , criticizing it for what she saw as its sexual puritanism and moral authoritarianism , as well as its threat to free speech . These essays were among the earliest expressions of feminist opposition to the anti-pornography movement in what became known as the feminist sex wars . Her 1981 essay, Lust Horizons: Is the Women's Movement Pro-Sex?

531-486: A part of black Muslim theology in response to white supremacism. In Africa , black Southern Sudanese allege that they are being subjected to a racist form of Arab supremacy , which they equate with the historic white supremacism of South Africa ’s apartheid . The alleged genocide and ethnic cleansing in the ongoing War in Darfur has been described as an example of Arab racism . For example, in their analysis of

590-497: A particular population. Some feminist theorists have argued that in patriarchy , a standard of male "supremacism" is enforced through a variety of cultural, political, religious, sexual, and interpersonal strategies. Since the 19th century there have been a number of feminist movements opposed to male supremacism, usually aimed at achieving equal legal rights and protections for women in all cultural, political and interpersonal relations. Centuries of European colonialism in

649-438: A professor of Arab studies , holds that "Jewish supremacism" has always been a "dominating principle" in religious and secular Zionism . Zionism was established with the goal of creating a sovereign Jewish state, where Jews could be the majority, rather than the minority. Theodor Herzl , the ideological father of Zionism, considered antisemitism as an eternal feature of all societies in which Jews lived as minorities, and as

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708-486: A result, he believed that only a separation could allow Jews to escape eternal persecution . "Let them give us sovereignty over a piece of the Earth's surface, just sufficient for the needs of our people, then we will do the rest!" Since the 1990s, Orthodox Jewish rabbis from Israel, most notably those affiliated to Chabad-Lubavitch and religious Zionist organizations, including The Temple Institute , have set up

767-676: Is a sign of Islamic supremacism. Numerous massacres and ethnic cleansing of Jews, Christians and non-Muslims occurred in some Muslim-majority countries including in Morocco, Libya, and Algeria, where eventually Jews were forced to live in ghettos . Decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues were enacted during the Middle Ages in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. At certain times in Yemen, Morocco, and Baghdad , Jews were forced to convert to Islam or face

826-562: Is based on racial or ethnic grounds. "The dividing line was the possibility of effective conversion ... a Jew ceased to be a Jew upon baptism ." However, with racial antisemitism, "Now the assimilated Jew was still a Jew, even after baptism ... . From the Enlightenment onward, it is no longer possible to draw clear lines of distinction between religious and racial forms of hostility towards Jews... Once Jews have been emancipated and secular thinking makes its appearance, without leaving behind

885-447: Is the origin of the term, " pro-sex feminism ". She was a strong supporter of women's abortion rights , and in the mid-1970s was a founding member of the pro-choice street theater and protest group No More Nice Girls . A self-described anti-authoritarian democratic socialist , she was very critical of what she viewed as social conservatism and authoritarianism on both the political right and left . In cultural politics, she

944-596: The Articles of Confederation ), wrote that blacks were "inferior to the whites in the endowments of body and mind." A justification for the conquest and assimilation of the American Indian Tribes was emanated from their dehumanized perception as the "merciless Indian savages", as described in the United States Declaration of Independence . During the 19th century, " The White Man's Burden ",

1003-629: The Islamic death penalty . While there were antisemitic incidents before the 20th century, antisemitism increased after the Arab–Israeli conflict . Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , the Palestinian exodus , the creation of the State of Israel and Israeli victories during the wars of 1956 and 1967 were a severe humiliation to Israel's opponents – primarily Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. However, by

1062-733: The National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism . Willis was born in Manhattan to a Jewish family, and grew up in the boroughs of the Bronx and Queens in New York City. Her father was a police lieutenant in the New York City Police Department . Willis attended Barnard College as an undergraduate and did graduate study at University of California, Berkeley , where she studied comparative literature . In

1121-479: The anti-war movement . Willis wrote a number of essays on anti-Semitism , and was particularly critical of left anti-Semitism . Occasionally she wrote about Judaism itself, penning a particularly notable essay, for Rolling Stone , in 1977, about her brother's spiritual journey as a Baal Teshuva . She saw political authoritarianism and sexual repression as closely linked, an idea first advanced by psychologist Wilhelm Reich ; much of Willis' writing advances

1180-539: The history of slavery in the Muslim world , Caliphate , Ottoman Empire , the early-20th-century pan-Islamism promoted by Abdul Hamid II , the jizya and supremacy of Sharia law, such as rules of marriage in Muslim countries being imposed on non-Muslims. While non-violent proselytism of Islam ( Dawah ) is not Islamic supremacism, forced conversion to Islam is Islamic supremacism. Death penalty for apostasy in Islam

1239-659: The " Homo mediterraneus " ( Neapolitan , Andalus , etc.) Jews were brachycephalic just like the Aryans were, according to Lapouge; but he considered them dangerous for this exact reason; they were the only group, he thought, which was threatening to displace the Aryan aristocracy. Vacher de Lapouge became one of the leading inspirations of Nazi antisemitism and Nazi racist ideology . The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Southern Poverty Law Center condemn writings about "Jewish Supremacism" by Holocaust-denier , former Grand Wizard of

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1298-566: The 1970s was complex. Like many other radical feminists, they were critical of liberal feminist groups like the National Organization for Women , whom they viewed as advancing women's liberation only as a type of institutional reform while ignoring the interpersonal power of men over women. The Redstockings were more influenced by Marxism than other radical feminist groups. However, they strongly rejected socialist feminism (which they referred to as "politico" feminism) as subordinating

1357-589: The 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award in the Criticism category. Willis is featured in the 2014 feminist history documentary She's Beautiful When She's Angry . Supremacism Supremacism is the belief that a certain group of people should have supreme authority over all others. The presumed superior people can be defined by age , gender , race , ethnicity , religion , sexual orientation , language , social class , ideology , nationality , culture , generation or belong to any other part of

1416-542: The Americas , Oceania , Asia and Africa were sometimes justified by white supremacist attitudes. European Americans who participated in the Atlantic slave trade tried to justify their economic exploitation of African Americans by creating a scientific theory of white superiority and black inferiority . Thomas Jefferson , believer of scientific racism and enslaver of over 600 African Americans (regarded as property under

1475-831: The History of Women in America, in the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University in 2008. In 2011, the first collection of Willis's music reviews and essays, Out of the Vinyl Deeps (University of Minnesota Press), was published. Willis "celebrated the seriousness of pleasure and relished the pleasure of thinking seriously," a review in The New York Times said. On April 30, 2011, a conference at New York University, "Sex, Hope, & Rock 'n' Roll: The Writings of Ellen Willis", celebrated her anthology and pop music criticism. The Essential Ellen Willis , edited by her daughter, won

1534-596: The KKK, and conspiracy theorist David Duke as antisemitic – in particular, his book Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening to the Jewish Question . Kevin B. MacDonald , known for his theory of Judaism as a "group evolutionary strategy" , has also been accused of being "antisemitic" and white supremacist in his writings on the subject by the ADL and his own university psychology department. From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany , under

1593-478: The Manifesto calls on women to unite to break from male oppression, and on men to forgo their privilege and endorse the freedom of women from male supremacy. The refounded group published a journal, Feminist Revolution . A nearly complete anthology of articles from the journal was published in 1979 by Random House . The republished anthology, however, omits a controversial report on Gloria Steinem's involvement with

1652-724: The Sudanese government's war in the South during the early 1980s, and in return, he was allowed to use the Darfur region as a " back door to Chad ". As a result, the first signs of an "Arab racist political platform" appeared in Darfur in the early 1980s. In Asia , Indians in ancient India considered all foreigners barbarians . The Muslim scholar Al-Biruni wrote that the Indians called foreigners impure. A few centuries later, Dubois observes that "Hindus look upon Europeans as barbarians totally ignorant of all principles of honour and good breeding... In

1711-857: The belief that the Jewish people are God's chosen people and racially superior to non-Jews, and mentor Noahides because they believe that the Messianic era will begin with the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to re-institute the Jewish priesthood along with the practice of ritual sacrifices , and the establishment of a Jewish theocracy in Israel, supported by communities of Noahides. David Novak , professor of Jewish theology and ethics at

1770-559: The court of Pontius Pilate where Jesus was sentenced to death: "A very learned Jew, who in our day has been converted to the (Christian) faith, informs us that one enjoying the reputation of a prophet among them, toward the close of his life, made the following prediction: 'Be assured that relief from this secret ailment, to which you are exposed, can only be obtained through Christian blood ("solo sanguine Christiano")." The Atlantic slave trade has also been partially attributed to Christian supremacism. The Ku Klux Klan has been described as

1829-570: The experts on the subject, which further enraged the Redstockings women, whose position was that there were no better experts on abortion than women and that abortion law needed to be repealed rather than reformed. About a month later, Redstockings soon held its own "hearing", an open meeting in the Washington Square Methodist Church, where twelve women testified about their experiences with illegal abortion . The March "speakout"

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1888-553: The eyes of a Hindu, a Pariah ( outcaste ) and a European are on the same level." The Chinese considered the Europeans repulsive, ghost-like creatures, and they even considered them devils. Chinese writers also referred to foreigners as barbarians. Academics Carol Lansing and Edward D. English argue that Christian supremacism was a motivation for the Crusades in the Holy Land , as well as

1947-581: The fall of the ancien régime in France on racial intermixing , which he believed had destroyed the purity of the Nordic race . Gobineau's theories, which attracted a large and strong following in Germany, emphasized the belief in the existence of an irreconcilable polarity between Aryan and Jewish cultures . Cornel West , an African-American philosopher, writes that black supremacist religious views arose in America as

2006-688: The greatest benefit to "inferior" native peoples. However, even at the time of its publication in 1849, Carlyle's main work on the subject, the Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question , was poorly received by his contemporaries. Before the outbreak of the American Civil War , the Confederate States of America was founded with a constitution that contained clauses which restricted the government's ability to limit or interfere with

2065-508: The group include "The Redstockings Manifesto" and "Program for Consciousness-Raising", as well as "The Politics of Housework" by Pat Mainardi . "The Redstockings Manifesto" and "The Politics of Housework" were included in the 1970 anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From The Women's Liberation Movement , edited by Robin Morgan . The Manifesto contains seven sections. The first section briefly introduces women's recent unity in

2124-414: The group is active and operates a website, though Sarachild is the only original member still active with the group. The group is a strong advocate of consciousness raising and what they refer to as "The Pro-Woman Line" – the idea that women's submission to male supremacy was a conscious adaptation to their lack of power under patriarchy , rather than internalized "brainwashing" on the part of women, as

2183-476: The group leads a project to make available, through the Women's Liberation Archives for Action, radical feminist papers and original source organizing material building on their concept "History for Activist Use"; the project also puts out new theory on women's oppression and what to do about it. In 2001, they released a book called Confronting the Myth of America: Women's Liberation and National Health Care . As of 2006,

2242-425: The head of its Center for Cultural Reporting and Criticism. Willis was known for her feminist politics. She was a member of New York Radical Women and subsequently co-founder in early 1969 with Shulamith Firestone of the radical feminist group Redstockings . She was one of the few women working in music criticism during its inaugural years when the field was predominantly male. Starting in 1979, Willis wrote

2301-403: The highest race which is the "Aryan white race, dolichocephalic", and ending with the lowest race which is the "brachycephalic", "mediocre and inert" race, that race is best represented by Southern European , Catholic peasants". Between these, Vacher de Lapouge identified the " Homo europaeus " ( Teutonic , Protestant , etc.), the " Homo alpinus " ( Auvergnat , Turkish , etc.), and finally

2360-895: The institution of "negro" slavery. In the Cornerstone Speech , Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens declared that one of the Confederacy's foundational tenets was white supremacy over black slaves. Following the war, a secret society, the Ku Klux Klan , was founded in the American South . Its purpose was to maintain white, Protestant supremacy in the US after the Reconstruction period, which it did so through violence and intimidation. According to William Nichols, religious antisemitism can be distinguished from racial antisemitism which

2419-451: The issue of abortion rights . (This style of protest was emulated by an early-1980s pro-choice group, No More Nice Girls , one of the founders of which was Redstockings veteran, Ellen Willis.) On March 3, 1989, Redstockings met again at the Washington Square Methodist Church to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their 1969 meeting, at a speakout called "Abortion: Women Tell it Like it Is, Was, and Ought to Be...1969-1989." More recently,

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2478-658: The issue of women's liberation to class struggle . On the other hand, Redstockings were against cultural feminism , which in their view substituted the building of a separatist women's culture for political engagement. (In Redstockings' view, most other tendencies of radical feminism, especially after 1975, were expressions of "cultural feminism".) Brooke Williams was a member of the group who critiqued this tendency strongly. Redstockings were strongly opposed to lesbian separatism , seeing interpersonal relationships with men as an important arena of feminist struggle, and hence seeing separatism as escapist. (Like most radical feminists of

2537-487: The late 1960s and 1970s, she was the first pop music critic for the New Yorker , and later wrote for, among others, the Village Voice , The Nation , Rolling Stone , Slate , and Salon , as well as Dissent , where she was also on the editorial board. She was the author of several books of collected essays. At the time of her death, she was a professor in the journalism department of New York University and

2596-537: The mid-1970s the vast majority of Jews had left Muslim-majority countries , moving primarily to Israel, France, and the United States. The reasons for the Jewish exodus are varied and disputed. Ilan Pappé , an expatriate Israeli historian, writes that the First Aliyah to Israel "established a society based on Jewish supremacy" within "settlement-cooperatives" that were Jewish owned and operated. Joseph Massad ,

2655-489: The old Christian hostility towards Jews, the new term antisemitism becomes almost unavoidable, even before explicitly racist doctrines appear." One of the first typologies which was used to classify various human races was invented by Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854–1936), a theoretician of eugenics , who published L'Aryen et son rôle social (1899 – "The Aryan and his social role") in 1899. In his book, he divides humanity into various, hierarchical races , starting with

2714-466: The oppressors". Additionally, this section argues against the claim that women permit or are responsible for their oppression. Instead, the Manifesto claims that men must be changed but that "any man is free to renounce his superior position provided that he is willing to be treated like a woman by other men." The fifth section sets forth Redstockings' primary goal, which is "to develop female class consciousness through sharing experience and publicly exposing

2773-471: The phrase which refers to the thought that whites have the obligation to make the societies of the other peoples more 'civilized', was widely used to justify imperialist policies as a noble enterprise. Thomas Carlyle , known for his historical account of the French Revolution , The French Revolution: A History , argued that European supremacist policies were justified on the grounds that they provided

2832-466: The rule of Adolf Hitler , promoted the belief in the existence of a superior, Aryan Herrenvolk , or master race . The state's propaganda advocated the belief that Germanic peoples , whom they called "Aryans", were a master race or a Herrenvolk whose members were superior to the Jews , Slavs , and Romani people , so-called "gypsies". Arthur de Gobineau , a French racial theorist and aristocrat, blamed

2891-439: The sexist foundation of all our institutions." In order to accomplish this task, honesty is required in order to raise consciousness regarding women's oppression by men. The sixth section briefly outlines Redstockings' assertion that its members "identify with all women" and aim to minimize barriers between women both outside of and within the movement. The final section is the Manifesto's call to action. In these final six sentences,

2950-633: The sources of the conflict, Julie Flint and Alex de Waal say that Colonel Gaddafi , the leader of Libya , sponsored "Arab supremacism" across the Sahara during the 1970s. Gaddafi supported the " Islamic Legion " and the Sudanese opposition " National Front , including the Muslim Brothers and the Ansar, the Umma Party 's military wing." Gaddafi tried to use such forces to annex Chad from 1979–81. Gaddafi supported

3009-401: The struggle for freedom from "male supremacy" The second section claims women as an "oppressed class", and expands upon the class and political implications of women's relationships with men. The third section names "[m]ale supremacy [as] the oldest, most basic form of domination." The fourth section addresses the role of institutions in women's oppression, claiming that institutions are "tools of

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3068-412: The time, Redstockings saw lesbianism primarily as a political identity rather than a fundamental part of personal identity, and therefore analyzed it primarily in political terms.) Redstockings were also opposed to male homosexuality , which they saw as a deeply misogynist rejection of women. Redstockings' line on gay men and lesbians is often criticized as homophobic . Notable essays associated with

3127-745: The underground magazine Cheetah , in 1967. In addition to her "Rock, etc." column in the New Yorker , she also published criticism on popular music in Rolling Stone , the Village Voice , and for liner notes and book anthologies, most notably her essay on the Velvet Underground for the Greil Marcus "desert island disc" anthology Stranded (1979). Her contemporary Richard Goldstein characterized her work as "liberationist" at its heart and said that "Ellen, Emma Goldman , and Abbie Hoffman are part of

3186-429: Was Redstockings' opportunity to hear testimony of those they felt were the experts: "We are the true experts, the only experts, we who have had abortions," one of the twelve said. One of the women in attendance was Gloria Steinem , who would years later identify the meeting as a milestone in her feminist activism. In the early 1970s, Redstockings were noted for their "speakouts" and Zap (action) and street theater on

3245-455: Was a friend of many contemporary critics, including Robert Christgau , Georgia Christgau, Greil Marcus , and Richard Goldstein . Christgau, Joe Levy , Evelyn McDonnell , Joan Morgan , and Ann Powers have all cited her as an influence on their careers and writing styles. At one point, she and Christgau were lovers. Her papers were deposited in the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on

3304-696: Was also briefly a member during 1970. The group was mainly active in New York City , where most of the group's members resided, and later also in Gainesville, Florida . A group called Redstockings West was started in San Francisco in 1969 but was independent of the East Coast group. Redstockings went through several phases of activity and inactivity; they first split up in 1970 and were formally refounded in 1973 by Sarachild, Carol Hanisch , Mainardi, and Leon. (Willis

3363-452: Was equally opposed to the idea that cultural issues are politically unimportant, as well as to strong forms of identity politics and their manifestation as political correctness . In several essays and interviews written since the September 11 attacks , she cautiously supported humanitarian intervention and, while opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq , she criticized certain aspects of

3422-507: Was held by some other radical feminist groups. Consciousness raising was the act by which the theory of " the personal is the political " met practice, and was more essential to Redstockings' feminism than organizational membership. Redstockings holds the view that all men oppress all women as a class and that it is the responsibility of individual men to give up male supremacy , rather than the responsibility of women to change themselves. Redstockings' relationship to other strands of feminism of

3481-516: Was involved only peripherally with the re-formed group.) One of the group's earliest actions was on February 13, 1969, when members stormed a hearing of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Public Health, which was considering abortion law reform . They objected to the hearing, asking: "Why are 14 men and only one woman on your list of speakers—and she's a nun?" The committee chairman countered that these were

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