'New' Versus 'Radical' Feminism
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 10:30AM 
With special guests:
- Erin Pizzey and
- Dr. Elizabeth Farrelly.
Most young women today no longer support the extreme views expressed by radical feminists, with many of them considering these views to be held by “hairy legged man haters”, who will not be satisfied until all power and control over every facet of our existence rests in the hands of women. Today’s women know, that if they wish to attain high positions of power in our modern society, being a woman is no longer a barrier to their ambitions.
Modern women actually love their men, and already know that the only barriers to achievement depends on their willingness to commit to the long hours and dedication required in their chosen field of endeavour, and not the fact they are a woman. Female role models in powerful positions abound in the western democracies, thus forcing the radical feminists to resort to hysterical anti-male fear campaigns, such as the alleged world wide Domestic Violence epidemic, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.
On today’s program we explore these modern expressions of feminism and take a closer look at the history of feminism, with two highly respected ‘NEW’ feminists.
First up we speak with Erin Pizzey, founder of the Modern Women’s Shelter Movement and International Author. We will discuss her new book “This Way to the Revolution - An Autobiography” which is is ready for pre-order.
The opening of a small community centre for maltreated women in Chiswick in 1971 was to bring Pizzey to the front line of what was becoming a national issue in a time when feminists were still treated with hostility and derision by right-wing figures, but also when left-wing radicals scorned anyone, like Pizzey, who put humanity before ideology.
By the mid-seventies, Pizzey found herself under bomb threat and picketed by feminists for allowing men to staff refuges: this led to a long exile from the UK where she kept up her activities and achieved international recognition, while also re-inventing herself as a best-selling writer. Erin Pizzeys life and trials have been unique: her story is a compelling one, vital to any understanding of a more revolutionary age and burning issues that still resonate today.
Next we speak with Dr. Elizabeth Farrelly, who is an opinion writer with the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’, Author and Architect. Elizabeth writes a weekly opinion column and has written critical columns on architecture, urban design and planning for the Sydney Morning Herald. She has also written insightful essays in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Spectrum, and articles in international journals as well as The Age, the Bulletin, the Architecture Bulletin, Architecture Australia, Architectural Theory Review, Interior Design, Pol Oxygen and Monument.
An articulate and engaging speaker, Elizabeth Farrelly has made several television and radio appearances and spoken publicly, often sharing the stage with Hon. Paul Keating.
Erin Pizzey was born 1939 in China. After being captured by the Japanese, she left with her family on the last boat out of China in 1942 and lived in the Middle East prior to her arrival in England in 1946. In 1971, Erin opened the first refuge specifically dealing with all victims of domestic violence. She is the author of Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear, the first book on domestic violence, published in 1974. In 1979 she came to the United States at the invitation of the US government and embarked on a Salvation Army sponsored tour of 21 cities to help set up shelters for victims of domestic violence. Erin moved to the United States in 1982 to open a shelter and lecture on the subject of family violence. During that time she also wrote and published novels.
She continued to work with domestic violence victims when she moved to Italy in 1987 and was the Guest of Honour at the 1994 Rome International Conference of Supreme Court Judges. In 1997 Erin returned to England and continued her career as a journalist and novelist, and more importantly to work for victims of domestic violence. That same year she was the honoured guest at a luncheon on Capital Hill in Washington, DC, sponsored by Congresswoman Lindy Boggs. Erin has spoken to numerous men’s domestic violence victim groups. In March 2007 Erin opened the first Arab refuge for victims of domestic violence in Bahrain.
Dr Elizabeth Farrelly is a Sydney-based columnist and author who trained in architecture and philosophy, practiced in London and Bristol and holds a PhD in architecture from the University of Sydney, where she is also Adjunct Associate Professor. Elizabeth Farrelly was Assistant Editor of the Architectural Review in London, an independent Sydney City Councilor and inaugural chair of the Australia Award for Urban Design before lapsing into fulltime writing.
Elizabeth holds a number of national and international writing awards including the Paris-based CICA award for architectural criticism (1992), the Adrian Ashton Award (1994), the Pascall Prize for Critical Writing (2001), and the Marion Mahony Griffin Award (2002). Her books include Three Houses: Glenn Murcutt, a monograph on 2003 Pritzker prizewinner Glenn Murcutt (Phaidon, London 1993) and Blubberland; the dangers of happiness (MIT Press, 2007).
Editor