Introduction
Precisely when did the Women's Liberation movement begin?
Some people would say it all started when Eve persuaded Adam to take a bite of the apple, and there could be some truth in that view. Others, including members of the movement itself who might be considered experts, point to much more recent events as the birth pangs of Women's Lib as it is currently constituted and understood. In her introduction to Handbook of Women's Liberation, for instance, Judith Brown talks about "a crucial demonstration" in early 1968 that "separated the emerging feminists from the old-line left women." The Jeanette Rankin Brigade, an all-female peace group, was holding a demonstration in Washington to protest the war in Vietnam. The issue of feminism was not supposed to be raised. But in a keynote speech which drew the line of feminism clearly, Kathie Amatniek said:
"Now, some sisters here are probably wondering why we should bother with such an unimportant matter at a time like this. Why should we bury traditional womanhood while hundreds of human beings are being brutally slaughtered in our names . . . when it would seem that we cannot solve it individually as the Feminist directly to ending this slaughter or else solve what seems to be more desperate problems at home? . . . We must see that we can only solve our problems together, that we cannot solve it individually as the Feminist generation tried to do. We women must organize so that for man there can be no 'other woman' when we begin expressing ourselves and acting politically, when we insist to men that they share the housework and child-care, fully and equally so that we can have independent lives as well."
Ms. Amatniek's syntax may have become somewhat garbled in the heat of her oratory, but the meaning-and the demand-is certainly crystal clear. Perhaps more insight can be gained, however, from an article on "Sisterhood" by the highly intelligent and articulate Gloria Steinem in the preview issue of Ms., The New Magazine for Women. Of her own personal conversion to the movement, Ms. Steinem wrote:
"If it weren't for the Women's Movement, I might still be dissembling away. But the ideas of this great sea-change in women's view of ourselves are contagious and irresistible. They hit women like a revelation, as if we had left a small dark room and walked into the sun.
"At first my discoveries seemed complex and personal. In fact they were the same ones so many millions of women have made and are making. Greatly simplified, they went like this: Women are human beings first, with minor differences from men that apply largely to the act of reproduction. We share the dreams, capabilities, and weaknesses of all human beings, but our occasional pregnancies and other visible differences have been used-even more pervasively, if less brutally, than racial differences have been used-to mark us for an elaborate division of labor that may once have been practical but has since become cruel and false. The division is continued for clear reason, consciously or not: the economic and social profit of men as a group."
If this argument is accepted, it is clear that the modern Women's Liberation movement is something new, not just a continuation of the age-old war between the sexes. It is also clear why the latter-day Feminists feel that they must work as a group to accomplish their aims-and why wise men will take the movement seriously. It does not mean, of course, that individual women will not continue to have their own individual battles to fight, in spite of whatever success they may have as a group.
"Make Her Beg" by Lee de Pepys is the story of one such battle. The heroine is Lucretia Slade, a determined Liberationist and a full college professor, who is fighting for tenure. (Ordinarily, no professor would be granted tenure as early in his or her career as Ms. Slade is at the time of the action, but it is part of her character to want it and struggle for it openly.) The problems opposing her are great, and perhaps even insurmountable-and added to them, for reasons that at first seem rather arbitrary and whimsical, is an implacable and very definitely male enemy, Professor Horatio Wedge.
Professor Wedge does not want to see Professor Slade acquire the tenure she desires, but there is clearly a lot more to it than that. He also wants to get rid of her and in the process he wants to make her suffer as much as possible. His method is to arrange to have her seduced by a male student and then to blackmail her, using photographs he has taken of the act of seduction. His campaign is successful to the point where Lucy Slade almost hands in her resignation. But the story is not quite as simple as that, and the events that follow include many strange twists and many surprises. The outcome, we think, will be difficult for any reader to predict.
We do not know if Lucy is a completely typical Women's Liberationist. We do know that she is a fascinating character, and Lee de Pepys' vivid writing makes her dilemma real and fascinating. As the movement grows, there will undoubtedly be many stories like this, but "Make Her Beg" will always rank, not only as one of the first, but also among the most literate, entertaining, and enlightening.
-The Publishers