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A Woman's Place - Kate Millett Speaks About Sita
(Side A) Viv Sutherland welcomes listeners to The Velvet Sledgehammer and announces that the show's program will include "Hot Flashes," women's news from "Majority Report"; a story on "A Woman's Place" produced by Irene Yarrow; and an interview of author Kate Millett about her book Sita (1976) conducted by Judy Pasternak and Viv Sutherland.
The first segment is "Hot Flashes," a women's news report announced by Nancy Borman. Topics covered include: an "anti-wedding" event sponsored by Majority Report to discuss the sexist details of marriage contracts, Valerie Solanas reprinting Scum Manifesto after the original publisher went out of business and the copyright reverted to her, New York's announcement of plans for a large-scale Women's Rights rally, events for Lesbian Pride Week, and a bill to legalize abortion in Italy.
Irene Yarrow then introduces a tape about "A Woman's Place," a feminist collective in upstate New York that has existed for three years but is now in danger of closing due to lack of support. Irene recorded this tape at "A Woman's Place" and features women's songs, poetry and feelings about what the retreat has meant to them. The recording begins at 19:25 and continues onto side B. Irene announces that women interested in learning about "A Woman's Place" or contributing to save it can contact her. She attributes the music in the recording to Ruth Pelham, and the poetry to Erica Silver.
Kate Millet guest stars in the last segment, discussing her new autobiographical novel, Sita, with Judy Pasternak and Viv Sutherland. Kate describes the plot of Sita as "the plotline of the woman destroyed." She rebuffs "malicious" reviews that called her work either "icky" and "pukey" or "pornographic" for being queer. She considers these reviews to be motivated by bigotry. Kate recounts that a major motivation in writing Sita was to describe the loss of a lover, which she felt does not exist in any other book. She says she wanted to "write a very musical and very romantic book in praise of love: in praise, even, of its melancholy and possible futility." Kate also discusses hoping for "company" in writing "these kinds of books," but that she is alone in having to "take abuse" for them. With Judy Pasternak and Viv Sutherland, Kate Millett reflects on activism and efforts to dismantle the patriarchy. The interview closes with discussion of Kate's visual art. -
An Evening with Anaïs Nin - interviewed by Judy Chicago
Part 4 of the Women in the Arts series, introduced by the director of Drama and Literature at KPFK, Clare Spark Loeb. Judy Chicago hosts and interviews author Anaïs Nin on the subjects of feminist literature and women's liberation. They discuss a disagreement they previously had about anger and women's liberation. Anaïs also reads from and discusses her book, Fourth Diary. -
Joan Nestle / Mabel Hampton [undated]
Oral history recording of Joan Nestle. Side A: Joan Nestle speaks about lesbian self-expression and the importance of language to identity. She goes on to talk about her early life and how she was motivated to take a stand against the oppression she saw around her in society, specifically oppression against women and lesbians. Side B: Mabel Hampton takes over as the main speaker and recounts her life story, beginning when she was only one month old. Mabel discusses her early years, including the crucial transition from living with her grandmother to living with her aunt, and how she eventually decided to run away to Jersey City. -
Lesbian Style Project: Anonymous Interviewee
The interviewee recounts her experiences growing up lesbian and intersex in Brooklyn and Manhattan. She discusses the lesbian community, the ballroom scene, workplace and school bullying, and her experiences working at an urban clothing company.
The interviewee's name has been withheld at her request. -
Mabel Hampton, Lillian Foster, 1976 (Tape 1)
Audio cassette. Oral History Interview of Mabel Hampton. Mabel discusses her first girlfriend, a white woman she met while working at a girl's school. She also discusses her three year relationship with a married woman she worked for as a domestic worker, whom she considers her first love. In addition, she discusses her life as a dancer and her trips to a private lesbian club, frequented by notable women. She then relates how she was briefly abducted, attacked and robbed, and how she escaped and how her friends sought revenge on her attackers. -
Mabel's Parties / Mabel Hampton, 1981 (Tape 1)
Oral History interview dated . Side A: Mabel talks about the parties she attended, the atmosphere, the people she met and the music she listened to. She also speaks in detail about romantic relationships with specific women and her first love from Coney Island. Her love of classical music is also discussed, which began when she started her first job. -
Simone de Beauvoir discusses the art of writing
Recorded in Paris with Studs Terkel, Simone de Beauvoir describes her philosophies of life and writing her memoirs, discussing: her childhood upbringing in Catholic school, dynamics with her parents, artistic influences in her life, the experience of being a woman writer, and wartime. -
Women Writing Series - Episode 2
Irene Yarrow opens this episode of Everywomanspace with information about Lesbian Switchboard and Identity House to help listeners who want to know how to reach the gay community. She recommends these organizations and coming-out groups, along with consciousness-raising groups, for any woman who wants to get together with other women to discuss issues relating to feminism or lesbianism.
Irene interviews Jan Clausen, a poet and writer from Oregon who reads her short story, "The Warsaw Ghetto." Irene and Jan discuss autobiographical writing, the experience of writing about friends and acquaintances, incorporating the political into personal writing, and receiving feedback as a writer. They also debate the question of whether feminist and lesbian writers should publish with women's presses or commercial presses, prompted by a questionnaire Jan sent to a number of lesbian writers, which she describes as her "writing community." Finally, Irene asks Jan if she feels that her stories with "lesbian content" limit her to a lesbian audience. Both hope that all women would be interested in women's content, regardless of sexuality. Jan also reads her poems, "The Christmas Letter" and "This is a Poem for You, Mary."
Irene also takes questions from callers (side B) including a woman asking for advice on how to find resources to respond to her younger sister coming out and a woman who wanted to share her opinion that publishing through women's presses will be the only option when the women's movement "goes out of vogue."