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This Way to the Revolution: An Memoir
First full biography of an international figure, recently in the news after her successful libel case against Andrew Marry, who described her as a terrorist in
The Making of Modern Britain
Internationally famous for starting one of the first women's refuges in the modern world, Erin Pizzey is a controversial but hugely-respected activist with enemies on the left and the right, a pioneering figure in the maelstrom of seventies politics, and a key witness of the era. Here, she tells her story in full for the first time. The daughter of a diplomat, Erin Pizzey was born in China in 1939. One of her formative experiences was seeing her parents and brother being put under house arrest by the Maoists in 1949. This instilled a hatred of totalitarian regimes and for a short time Pizzey even worked for MI6 in Hong Kong. Once relocated in the UK, Pizzey was soon swept up by sixties radicalism and the early days of the emerging Women's Liberation Movement. Opening a small community center 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-1970s, 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 reinventing herself as a best-selling writer. Erin Pizzey's 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.
Internationally famous for starting one of the first women's refuges in the modern world, Erin Pizzey is a controversial but hugely-respected activist with enemies on the left and the right, a pioneering figure in the maelstrom of seventies politics, and a key witness of the era. Here, she tells her story in full for the first time. The daughter of a diplomat, Erin Pizzey was born in China in 1939. One of her formative experiences was seeing her parents and brother being put under house arrest by the Maoists in 1949. This instilled a hatred of totalitarian regimes and for a short time Pizzey even worked for MI6 in Hong Kong. Once relocated in the UK, Pizzey was soon swept up by sixties radicalism and the early days of the emerging Women's Liberation Movement. Opening a small community center 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-1970s, 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 reinventing herself as a best-selling writer. Erin Pizzey's 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.
- GenresNonfiction
302 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 15, 2018
This review was originally posted on Waterstones.com
You'll note that none of Erin Pizzey's other books are in print or readily available, unless they are secondhand. There's a reason for that - but I'll leave you to ponder that yourselves after reading this book. This book is a memoir, not just of the woman who set up the first women and children's shelter in the world - but also a vivid, detailed vivisection of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s - and her run-ins with it. It won't be an easy read for the ideologically inclined.
But it's an important one. For anyone, but specifically for those interested in helping victims of violence and abuse. You'll find your preconceptions challenged and your limits tested. This book is difficult, horrible, sometimes amusing, but always honest and awe-inspiring. Pizzey is a truly inspiring woman whose empathy, patience and determination will leave you in awe. Her story is sure to leave you with an empty, almost angry desire for justice ,
You won't find Erin Pizzey's name on most domestic violence websites or books - she's been effectively written out of history. Her crime, so pathological to many the ideologically possessed - was to insist that abuse and domestic violence are not gendered problems. For this, you will not see her mentioned on feminist websites about domestic violence, and many won't have heard of her at all.
This book is timely; marxist and gender feminism is still running strong. Policies based on ideological feminism have been, shall we say, less than stellar in their effectiveness, and do nothing for male victims. and if you are interested in understanding feminism today, or its history - this book is a must. Even if you hate it.
I recommend listening to Pizzey's talks - freely available on YouTube.
You'll note that none of Erin Pizzey's other books are in print or readily available, unless they are secondhand. There's a reason for that - but I'll leave you to ponder that yourselves after reading this book. This book is a memoir, not just of the woman who set up the first women and children's shelter in the world - but also a vivid, detailed vivisection of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s - and her run-ins with it. It won't be an easy read for the ideologically inclined.
But it's an important one. For anyone, but specifically for those interested in helping victims of violence and abuse. You'll find your preconceptions challenged and your limits tested. This book is difficult, horrible, sometimes amusing, but always honest and awe-inspiring. Pizzey is a truly inspiring woman whose empathy, patience and determination will leave you in awe. Her story is sure to leave you with an empty, almost angry desire for justice ,
You won't find Erin Pizzey's name on most domestic violence websites or books - she's been effectively written out of history. Her crime, so pathological to many the ideologically possessed - was to insist that abuse and domestic violence are not gendered problems. For this, you will not see her mentioned on feminist websites about domestic violence, and many won't have heard of her at all.
This book is timely; marxist and gender feminism is still running strong. Policies based on ideological feminism have been, shall we say, less than stellar in their effectiveness, and do nothing for male victims. and if you are interested in understanding feminism today, or its history - this book is a must. Even if you hate it.
I recommend listening to Pizzey's talks - freely available on YouTube.
December 6, 2011
Remembering a Revolution against Domestic Violence after Forty Years
Erin Pizzey’s most recent memoir, This Way to the Revolution, describes the author’s experiences with opening the world’s first women’s shelter for victims of domestic abuse. The foundation of her book rests upon the 1974 establishment of National Women’s Aid Federation in Chiswick, England, but Pizzey does not limit her writing solely to a discussion of the existence of the refuge. Pizzey, rather, layers her text by recounting incidents that span her lifetime—detailing moments in her childhood that led her towards a desire to engage in victims’ advocacy work, discussing her marriage and family, and describing portions of her life after she exited the organization in 1981.
Pizzey quickly introduces the fact that her revolution was not the same battle being fought on the feminist front during the late 1960s and 1970s. As the mother of two children and wife of a journalist who worked long hours, Pizzey longed for a women’s community that would alleviate her loneliness. She discovered a feminist political organization, and she began to hold group meetings at her home. It was not long, however, before Pizzey realized that their left-wing feminist ideals were incompatible with her own beliefs, and Pizzey met a number of other women who felt the same as herself. In need of a group slogan, Pizzey and her new friends created a poster which essentially announced their philosophical differences from the feminist agenda. The poster showed two gun-toting, naked women leaned against a sign that pointed in two directions. The right-hand direction read, “This way to the revolution,” while the other route warned, “This way to destruction.” For Pizzey, the right-way revolution that she envisioned was “all about women joining together to change society in cooperation with men” (29). Pizzey claims, however, that the feminists sought to destroy men and families. Pizzey’s differences with the feminists continued for many years, and indeed, Pizzey created her own revolution that pitted her views against theirs.
Thus began Pizzey’s journey toward opening her first community center in 1971. Though originally founded in order to assist people with navigating government services, such as Social Security, the focus of the center’s aid was soon narrowed. When Pizzey met a desperate victim of domestic abuse in need of aid, Pizzey was unable to turn the woman away, and the center instantly became a shelter. Word quickly circulated that Pizzey would help victims of abuse with shelter and food, and Pizzey writes that streams of abused women and their children began to arrive at the center. The small house could not withstand the pressures of an increasing full-time population. Pizzey, however, was adamant that no woman or her children would be refused, and her “open-door” policy led to overcrowding that rapidly became a health-regulations problem. Pizzey’s memoir details the growth of the first shelter, the establishment of a larger shelter in 1974, and the struggles Pizzey experienced with government agencies as she fought for funding and donations to keep the shelters open.
While Pizzey’s shelters provide the framework for the book, her story remains deeply personal. She describes many of the experiences of the shelter victims in graphic detail—including the beatings and deaths of some of the residents. Pizzey describes the effects of domestic abuse on the populations of children who passed through the doors, and the desperation of some fathers who were accused of horrific crimes that they did not commit. Pizzey does not isolate herself from their stories; she recalls her own feelings, shortcomings, and failures as she struggled to devote her time to the shelter, and her family and marriage. Ultimately, Pizzey discloses details about her divorce, life as a single mother, and her daughter’s teenage pregnancy. Her sometimes tragic personal story is bared upon a backdrop of community service that lasted over a decade and ultimately resulted in the establishment of shelters all across the world.
In the foreword, Pizzey declares that she reached her 70th birthday in 2009 (13), and although she left Women’s Aid in 1981, she continues to work with victims of domestic violence; Pizzey has an impressive forty years of victims’ advocacy work to her credit. Considering Pizzey’s contributions in establishing domestic abuse refuges and her decades of experience, I find it curious that more pages were not allotted to discussing the changes that have manifested in Women’s Aid since her departure. After reading nearly 300 pages of memoir that used the shelter as its unifying theme, I lamented not knowing how Pizzey views the United Kingdom’s refuge system thirty years after her departure. How does she feel it has matured? What dreams ultimately went unfulfilled when Pizzey relinquished control over her creation? From my perspective, she leaves these questions frustratingly unanswered.
As a memoirist, though, Pizzey is well within her privileges to refrain from addressing my concerns. She confines her discussion to her own experiences and involvement with Women’s Aid, and when she wrote her chapter entitled “Goodbye to the Refuge” (281; ch. 42), she recalled her eagerness at finding time to write, travel, and lecture about domestic-violence issues. She closed the door on her struggles against the health officials, social service workers, and council politicians; she turned away from the protestors and political feminists who consistently heckled her. Pizzey also acknowledged the toll that was exacted upon her health and her family, but she recalled the pride she felt in knowing that her labors had resulted in helping countless victims of domestic violence. As such, the text of This Way to the Revolution rises up to meet its title. Pizzey’s memoir is not a passive retelling of the shelter’s history, but the story of one woman’s active struggle to make a difference in the lives of abused victims.
Erin Pizzey’s most recent memoir, This Way to the Revolution, describes the author’s experiences with opening the world’s first women’s shelter for victims of domestic abuse. The foundation of her book rests upon the 1974 establishment of National Women’s Aid Federation in Chiswick, England, but Pizzey does not limit her writing solely to a discussion of the existence of the refuge. Pizzey, rather, layers her text by recounting incidents that span her lifetime—detailing moments in her childhood that led her towards a desire to engage in victims’ advocacy work, discussing her marriage and family, and describing portions of her life after she exited the organization in 1981.
Pizzey quickly introduces the fact that her revolution was not the same battle being fought on the feminist front during the late 1960s and 1970s. As the mother of two children and wife of a journalist who worked long hours, Pizzey longed for a women’s community that would alleviate her loneliness. She discovered a feminist political organization, and she began to hold group meetings at her home. It was not long, however, before Pizzey realized that their left-wing feminist ideals were incompatible with her own beliefs, and Pizzey met a number of other women who felt the same as herself. In need of a group slogan, Pizzey and her new friends created a poster which essentially announced their philosophical differences from the feminist agenda. The poster showed two gun-toting, naked women leaned against a sign that pointed in two directions. The right-hand direction read, “This way to the revolution,” while the other route warned, “This way to destruction.” For Pizzey, the right-way revolution that she envisioned was “all about women joining together to change society in cooperation with men” (29). Pizzey claims, however, that the feminists sought to destroy men and families. Pizzey’s differences with the feminists continued for many years, and indeed, Pizzey created her own revolution that pitted her views against theirs.
Thus began Pizzey’s journey toward opening her first community center in 1971. Though originally founded in order to assist people with navigating government services, such as Social Security, the focus of the center’s aid was soon narrowed. When Pizzey met a desperate victim of domestic abuse in need of aid, Pizzey was unable to turn the woman away, and the center instantly became a shelter. Word quickly circulated that Pizzey would help victims of abuse with shelter and food, and Pizzey writes that streams of abused women and their children began to arrive at the center. The small house could not withstand the pressures of an increasing full-time population. Pizzey, however, was adamant that no woman or her children would be refused, and her “open-door” policy led to overcrowding that rapidly became a health-regulations problem. Pizzey’s memoir details the growth of the first shelter, the establishment of a larger shelter in 1974, and the struggles Pizzey experienced with government agencies as she fought for funding and donations to keep the shelters open.
While Pizzey’s shelters provide the framework for the book, her story remains deeply personal. She describes many of the experiences of the shelter victims in graphic detail—including the beatings and deaths of some of the residents. Pizzey describes the effects of domestic abuse on the populations of children who passed through the doors, and the desperation of some fathers who were accused of horrific crimes that they did not commit. Pizzey does not isolate herself from their stories; she recalls her own feelings, shortcomings, and failures as she struggled to devote her time to the shelter, and her family and marriage. Ultimately, Pizzey discloses details about her divorce, life as a single mother, and her daughter’s teenage pregnancy. Her sometimes tragic personal story is bared upon a backdrop of community service that lasted over a decade and ultimately resulted in the establishment of shelters all across the world.
In the foreword, Pizzey declares that she reached her 70th birthday in 2009 (13), and although she left Women’s Aid in 1981, she continues to work with victims of domestic violence; Pizzey has an impressive forty years of victims’ advocacy work to her credit. Considering Pizzey’s contributions in establishing domestic abuse refuges and her decades of experience, I find it curious that more pages were not allotted to discussing the changes that have manifested in Women’s Aid since her departure. After reading nearly 300 pages of memoir that used the shelter as its unifying theme, I lamented not knowing how Pizzey views the United Kingdom’s refuge system thirty years after her departure. How does she feel it has matured? What dreams ultimately went unfulfilled when Pizzey relinquished control over her creation? From my perspective, she leaves these questions frustratingly unanswered.
As a memoirist, though, Pizzey is well within her privileges to refrain from addressing my concerns. She confines her discussion to her own experiences and involvement with Women’s Aid, and when she wrote her chapter entitled “Goodbye to the Refuge” (281; ch. 42), she recalled her eagerness at finding time to write, travel, and lecture about domestic-violence issues. She closed the door on her struggles against the health officials, social service workers, and council politicians; she turned away from the protestors and political feminists who consistently heckled her. Pizzey also acknowledged the toll that was exacted upon her health and her family, but she recalled the pride she felt in knowing that her labors had resulted in helping countless victims of domestic violence. As such, the text of This Way to the Revolution rises up to meet its title. Pizzey’s memoir is not a passive retelling of the shelter’s history, but the story of one woman’s active struggle to make a difference in the lives of abused victims.
November 25, 2018
Erin Pizzey set up the world’s first women’s shelter of its kind in London in the 1970’s. Her mission was to offer care, support and practical assistance to anyone escaping family violence, including men and boys. She was immediately at odds with and rejected by most feminists who refused to see that males too suffered abuse and harm. The legal system and local councils also often worked against her. But be in no doubt that what she achieved and held together in the form of a therapeutic community for around a decade was simply remarkable. And brave.
Erin’s descriptions of events during this period of her life is made all the more interesting through showing HOW she dealt with the many obstacles and challenges she constantly faced in her efforts to provide protection and hope to the no doubt thousands who arrived on her doorstep. She made a point of not turning anyone away.
It makes for riveting reading, shocking at times, but always hearty and often humorous. What a woman. She is my people. I highly recommend watching her speak via YouTube videos. She is now in her late 70’s but remains passionate and eloquent with wisdom hard won.
Oh, and Boy George used to drop by for dinner, for which I give it an extra star, so SIX stars.
Erin’s descriptions of events during this period of her life is made all the more interesting through showing HOW she dealt with the many obstacles and challenges she constantly faced in her efforts to provide protection and hope to the no doubt thousands who arrived on her doorstep. She made a point of not turning anyone away.
It makes for riveting reading, shocking at times, but always hearty and often humorous. What a woman. She is my people. I highly recommend watching her speak via YouTube videos. She is now in her late 70’s but remains passionate and eloquent with wisdom hard won.
Oh, and Boy George used to drop by for dinner, for which I give it an extra star, so SIX stars.
May 12, 2017
Interesting.
January 6, 2018
Utterly stunning, read it 20 years ago and it just scared me how little we have learned, and how much we have regressed as a society! Just adore Erin!
November 10, 2023
I’ve not met Erin Pizzey, but she and I have a mutual friend, who kindly lent me this book.
It’s a very engaging account of her unhappy childhood, her battles with the authorities and the main-stream feminists in her untiring efforts to get refuges for battered women established.
A bit chaotic in structure, but I didn’t mind—it fitted the impression I got of a principled, strongly determined person battling chaotic events while managing quite a bit of inner chaos and a lot of alcohol too. A whirlwind of a woman who clearly did much good as well as getting up the noses of the feminists, the courts and the council, and even her patrons.
It’s a very engaging account of her unhappy childhood, her battles with the authorities and the main-stream feminists in her untiring efforts to get refuges for battered women established.
A bit chaotic in structure, but I didn’t mind—it fitted the impression I got of a principled, strongly determined person battling chaotic events while managing quite a bit of inner chaos and a lot of alcohol too. A whirlwind of a woman who clearly did much good as well as getting up the noses of the feminists, the courts and the council, and even her patrons.
February 29, 2024
Erin Pizzey. The woman who first raised awareness on the domestic abuse endured by women and their children, at a time when no one cared and/ or saw it as problematic. The woman whose book, Scream quietly or the neighbours will hear, first published in 1974, is credited with having been the first to have brought this awful issue to light. The woman who, back in 1971, went on to create the first women shelter ever, sparkling thus the women shelters' movement and that she will then contribute to spearhead in a dozen of other countries, helping several thousands of abused women and their children to flee their terrific ordeal at home. Erin Pizzey, yet, the woman who would also be, for her fight, for her ideas and ideals, for her work, for her impact, mercilessly vilified, hated, abused, and be subjected to such terroristic violence (she received bomb and death threats) that she would ultimately have to abandon the refuges that she founded, to exile herself from England and to the safety of the USA instead.
Now...
Now: you would be forgiven to assume, here, that the vilification, abuse, and violence in question probably came from men, abusive men, and/ or patriarchal men of the time attacking her deeds in a misogynistic attempt at sustaining the Patriarchy. Well, if so, you would be wrong and dead wrong at that! In fact, the nasty campaigns, hatred, bullying, and, ultimately, ostracism came from... feminist. You've read that right.
I will not reveal why would that be so (I have blogged about it here: https://www.aurelienthomas.org/post/d... -I won't repeat). Suffice to say that, if you never heard of her it's perfectly understandable: feminists in Britain, and especially those feminists now ruling the women shelters that she founded (e.g. Women's Aid) and some other femocrats ruling over the domestic abuse sector and our policies, have done their outmost to erase her from the history books, erase her work and contribution (which remain difficult to get as a result e.g. I had to obtain my personal copies of some of her books online, through Canadian publishers), and still consider her persona non grata in their settings. I will not repeat why, then, but at least I will say this:
Reading her memoirs, what is striking is how the various key features which have come to shape modern feminism and its lobbying (and highly ideological!) grip upon a campaigning sector and our legislations can be found here, at the source. Political agenda and the sustaining of a gendered dogma taking priorities over the pressing needs of victims on the ground? Checked. A spiteful, stereotyping misandry that will, not only make men even more disposable than they were under the patriarchy but, also, immorally and shockingly target even children fleeing abuse at the hands of their fathers or stepfathers? Checked. A gung-ho agenda purporting to help 'women and their children' while, in fact and on the contrary, carefully cherry picking, among abused women and their children themselves, who can be a victim worthy of help and who can go get lost elsewhere? Checked. A radical feminist culture of abuse, bullying, and vilification that will be so normalised that it has now spilled over into our academia, mass medias, and at political and institutional levels (although no longer acknowledged as 'radical', besides being well hidden behind the do-goodies PR facades)? Checked. A spiral of silence having been so successful in establishing itself that nay-sayers and critics will be dismissed as 'MRA', 'misogynist', and other colourful yet unwarranted epithets? Checked too. It's all there, like a writing on a wall in big flashy neon signs. But then, so what?
Leo Tolstoy once wrote: 'Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.' Well, there we go: you can chose to educate yourself and find out about the history, and so real motivations and ideological roots of what has become our so-called 'VAWG sector' (which has been causing far more damages to abused women and their children than we care to admit), or, you can just ignore this book and Erin Pizzey altogether, exactly like some highly ideologically motivated campaigners want you to, and so you remain in a bliss ignorance as to the toxic impact of a no less toxic brand of feminism (is it even 'feminism'?) having hijacked and betrayed a cause. Your choice, but history will judge... Some day.
Now...
Now: you would be forgiven to assume, here, that the vilification, abuse, and violence in question probably came from men, abusive men, and/ or patriarchal men of the time attacking her deeds in a misogynistic attempt at sustaining the Patriarchy. Well, if so, you would be wrong and dead wrong at that! In fact, the nasty campaigns, hatred, bullying, and, ultimately, ostracism came from... feminist. You've read that right.
I will not reveal why would that be so (I have blogged about it here: https://www.aurelienthomas.org/post/d... -I won't repeat). Suffice to say that, if you never heard of her it's perfectly understandable: feminists in Britain, and especially those feminists now ruling the women shelters that she founded (e.g. Women's Aid) and some other femocrats ruling over the domestic abuse sector and our policies, have done their outmost to erase her from the history books, erase her work and contribution (which remain difficult to get as a result e.g. I had to obtain my personal copies of some of her books online, through Canadian publishers), and still consider her persona non grata in their settings. I will not repeat why, then, but at least I will say this:
Reading her memoirs, what is striking is how the various key features which have come to shape modern feminism and its lobbying (and highly ideological!) grip upon a campaigning sector and our legislations can be found here, at the source. Political agenda and the sustaining of a gendered dogma taking priorities over the pressing needs of victims on the ground? Checked. A spiteful, stereotyping misandry that will, not only make men even more disposable than they were under the patriarchy but, also, immorally and shockingly target even children fleeing abuse at the hands of their fathers or stepfathers? Checked. A gung-ho agenda purporting to help 'women and their children' while, in fact and on the contrary, carefully cherry picking, among abused women and their children themselves, who can be a victim worthy of help and who can go get lost elsewhere? Checked. A radical feminist culture of abuse, bullying, and vilification that will be so normalised that it has now spilled over into our academia, mass medias, and at political and institutional levels (although no longer acknowledged as 'radical', besides being well hidden behind the do-goodies PR facades)? Checked. A spiral of silence having been so successful in establishing itself that nay-sayers and critics will be dismissed as 'MRA', 'misogynist', and other colourful yet unwarranted epithets? Checked too. It's all there, like a writing on a wall in big flashy neon signs. But then, so what?
Leo Tolstoy once wrote: 'Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.' Well, there we go: you can chose to educate yourself and find out about the history, and so real motivations and ideological roots of what has become our so-called 'VAWG sector' (which has been causing far more damages to abused women and their children than we care to admit), or, you can just ignore this book and Erin Pizzey altogether, exactly like some highly ideologically motivated campaigners want you to, and so you remain in a bliss ignorance as to the toxic impact of a no less toxic brand of feminism (is it even 'feminism'?) having hijacked and betrayed a cause. Your choice, but history will judge... Some day.
November 19, 2014
It's weird to rate a memoir. Do I rate it based on the quality or writing, or the quality of the life lived, of which the writing is based? If it wasn't engaging, is that indicative of uninteresting writing, or an uninteresting life? It must be hard to write a memoir, knowing some of your readers only care about the juicy melodrama. I don't want to be one of those readers, and yet, I was pretty bored with this book.
Erin Pizzey opened the first domestic violence shelter in the 70's. She's a revolutionary figure in women's liberation, and yet she's been shunned by the feminist establishment from day one because they were more interested in pushing an ideology about fighting Patriarchy, while all she ever really cared about was helping actual women. Many of the women she helped were also quite violent, and in some cases she was tasked with protecting them and their children from their violence. She also opened a shelter for men, but struggled to get funding and media attention for it. She found that men needed help just as much as women. These realities were all very inconvenient for the feminist establishment.
This book did somewhat show me an ugly side of human nature, how flawed and damaged people are. Some of the run-ins with the feminists were both sad and amusing to read about. But otherwise, I didn't really get much from this book. It was scarcely worth reading.
But I'll share one quote from it that I really liked. It's at the very end of the book, and it felt like the perfect summary:
"Now that there are refuges everywhere, I pray that they will be not just places of physical safety but also places where men, women and children can find comfort and be given a chance to transcend their dysfunctional childhoods. I believe that you cannot punish individuals to make them better people, but you can create conditions where those who have been hurt and damaged are given a chance to grow and change."
Erin Pizzey opened the first domestic violence shelter in the 70's. She's a revolutionary figure in women's liberation, and yet she's been shunned by the feminist establishment from day one because they were more interested in pushing an ideology about fighting Patriarchy, while all she ever really cared about was helping actual women. Many of the women she helped were also quite violent, and in some cases she was tasked with protecting them and their children from their violence. She also opened a shelter for men, but struggled to get funding and media attention for it. She found that men needed help just as much as women. These realities were all very inconvenient for the feminist establishment.
This book did somewhat show me an ugly side of human nature, how flawed and damaged people are. Some of the run-ins with the feminists were both sad and amusing to read about. But otherwise, I didn't really get much from this book. It was scarcely worth reading.
But I'll share one quote from it that I really liked. It's at the very end of the book, and it felt like the perfect summary:
"Now that there are refuges everywhere, I pray that they will be not just places of physical safety but also places where men, women and children can find comfort and be given a chance to transcend their dysfunctional childhoods. I believe that you cannot punish individuals to make them better people, but you can create conditions where those who have been hurt and damaged are given a chance to grow and change."
February 12, 2017
Erin Pizzey is a true revolutionary who has done so much and affected so many lives. Her perceptions of the complex nature of domestic violence were dismissed for years by the feminist movement and are just now - albeit slowly - being realized as truths. I was stunned that as someone who works in domestic violence prevention, it took my own research to stumble upon Erin's story. Without her struggle, domestic violence shelters wouldn't be around to help the millions of women and children they assist every day, but we still have work to do and we should take many notes from Erin.
February 6, 2021
What a fantastic book to read by that was written by remarkable strong woman who founded the very first domestic violence shelter in the UK and reading this book gives you an insight into her life during the 70s through meeting well known figures in politics and the media. This books provides a brief detail about her time working at the domestic violence shelter where she had discovered that the women at the shelter where just as violent as their abuser and men can be victims of domestic violence, which she concluded that domestic violence is reciprocal and its not a gender issue but an issue on dysfunctional families. This book also highlights her time joining the feminist movement until she become disillusioned with the direction the movement was heading, which conflicted her beliefs and this lead her to a long battle with feminists groups. Despite all she had done for women and children as well as men, I'm surprised this brave and remarkable women was never given an OBE and her name is almost been forgotten until recently. I highly recommend book to read.
September 9, 2014
Good book for anyone interested in learning about the history of the feminist movement. Also provides great insight into the problem of domestic violence and dysfunctional families. Erin Pizzey is truly an advocate for not only women but also men and children. She has spent a lot of time, money and energy fighting against a feminist movement who is bent on destroying men and the family unit. Ironically, it has also done more to harm women than it has to help them. A very inspiring and educational book about a true revolutionary.
May 23, 2016
Pizzey started the first domestic violence shelters in the world, and moved domestic violence into the public sphere. Interesting history personal history of feminism through the 60s and 70s from a mover and a shaker -- but the storytelling isn't great.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews