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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. -
Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan talks about the creation of the New York Radical Women group in 1967 (20-25 women), the male Left, working on the Atlantic city pageant demonstration 1968, and publishing the "Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement" in 1970. She then reads a poem and uses poetry as a political tool, as well as asserts that the Women's Movement is fostering relations between different strata of US society. Morgan advocates for women to take control legally, health-wise, and become an international force. She states that rape and pornography affect all women and she depicts women as the largest and longest subjugated people. The Women's Movement will continue to prosper.