No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle Freedman

Some general thoughts on Feminism and the issue of violence directed at women, please see my commentary here.

No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women by Estelle Freedman is a comprehensive history of the intellectual and social movement called Feminism. The author is a Professor in U.S. History at Stanford University and has written a great number of books relating to feminism and gender issues.

This is an extensive history of feminism as well as the social history of women that stretches from pre - civilization through the present. It is a perfect book both for anyone who knows little about the issues, or for someone like myself, who has a moderate understanding of feminist and women’s social history. I do suspect however, that someone who already has a strong and detailed understanding of both the history, thought systems, issues and controversies relating to these topics, might find this book a little too rudimentary and basic. As I was looking for a fairly comprehensive introduction to the subject, this book was perfect to start off my readings.

Unsurprising, the work displays a pro – feminist bias. However, this bias is not overwhelming or strident.

I do think that this is an important book. When I searched for such a comprehensive history the choices seemed sparse. This is only one of a couple of contemporary works that fits this niche. Freedman addresses this lack of all encompassing books on the subject herself.

Several years ago a woman whom I admire asked me to recommend one book that she could read to learn about feminist scholarship. At first it seemed like an easy enough request. I had been reading widely in the interdisciplinary women’s studies literature since 1970, the year I entered graduate school in U.S. history and first defined myself as a feminist. Now I taught a course called Introduction to Feminist Studies and chaired the Program in Feminist Studies at Stanford University. As I began to name my favorite books, though, I realized that no one selection fit the bill. My choices tended to be studies of women’s history or important theoretical works in other disciplines that would not necessarily appeal to a nonacademic reader. Neither a textbook nor an anthology of short essays, such as those I assign in class, would do the trick either. I eliminated one possibility after another until I realized that no single book brought together the interdisciplinary literature that the past generation of feminist scholars has produced. Unable to fulfill  her request, I jokingly said that I would have to write that book myself.

One thing that I like about this book is how it successfully touches upon so many issues relating to feminism and women’s issues. Estelle covers general history, sociology, anthropology, violence, war reproductive issues, labor, art and aesthetics, to just name a few areas. She covers various theories, concepts and trends relating  feminist thought systems including multiple feminisms, intersectional feminism, radical feminism, the three waves of feminism, etc.

There are so many subtopics of interest that I can discuss here. This makes it difficult to focus on any one area. For instance, one of hundreds of such subtopics surveyed here, but one the that I found to be of particular interest, was Friedman’s exploration of women who have been great writers and why history has not given us more of them. Several aspects of this issue are explored, including lack of opportunity as well as society ignoring talented women. Estelle also mentions and builds upon Tillie Olsen’s proposition that prior to the twentieth century, women who were childless were more likely to produce great art. Though the argument is fascinating and in some ways convincing, I would need to know a lot more in order to weigh in with an intelligent opinion on this issue.

A less esoteric and arguably more important point that Freedman makes is the curios phenomenon of public opinion, which seems to strongly support most of the basic precepts of feminism, yet fails to identify themselves as supporters of Feminism.

Freedman writes,

A generation of Western women came of age influenced by feminism to expect equal opportunities. The majority of this generation often proclaimed, “I’m not a feminist, but . . . ,” even as they insisted on equal pay, sexual and reproductive choice, parental leave, and political representation. The children they raised, both male and female, grew up influenced by these feminist expectations but not necessarily comfortable with the term. 

Freedman spends a lot of pages exploring this very important puzzle. My opinion on this matter is that opponents of feminism have succeeded in unfairly twisting and demonizing the meaning of the word.

There exist several basic definitions of the term feminism. I particularly like Freedman’s,

Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between women and men, with the understanding that gender always intersects with other social hierarchies.   

One flaw in this work, at least for me, is that Freedman touches on a lot of trends and theories that need more exploration then is provided. Though this is a general history, I think that that the book needed to be longer as particular threads should have been expanded. Regular readers of this blog do know however, that as someone addicted to surveying facts and ideas, I often complain that non fiction books should be longer.

Why should this book appeal to both men and women? Ironically Freedman does not address the global and universal impact of feminism as in as much detail as I would have liked. I believe that the empowerment of women has been one of the most profoundly important trends in human history. Furthermore as the trend continues, it will continue to have an enormous impact upon humanity. Thus anyone who wants to understand history, society, politics, as well as an entire host of other issues, would do well do understand Feminism and its history. This book is a really good place to start.