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Class and Feminism: A Collection of Essays from The Furies
An Introduction and seven essays, including THE LAST STRAW, by Rita Mae Brown, and RECYCLED TRASH, by Coletta Reid.
- GenresFeminismNonfictionEssays
90 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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July 19, 2025
SOME ESSAYS FROM A SHORT-LIVED FEMINIST COLLECTIVE
The Introduction to this 1974 book explains, “These articles were written out of the experiences of the Furies, a lesbian/feminist collective composed of white lower, working, and middle class women. [Author Rita Mae Brown is the most well-known of them.] These articles reflect efforts to deal with class in the collective and as we saw it operating in the women’s movement generally. They describe and talk about different class ATTITUDES and behavior and are not meant to be the final statement on class and feminism in America. However, understanding a class behavior among women is a useful, and perhaps essential, way to begin to understand class as a political mechanism for maintaining not only capitalism but also patriarchy and white supremacy. More simply, class, sexism and racism.
“More needs to be said about class conflict among women. The development of feminist theory about the structures in society has barely begun. This collection is one group’s approach to realizing and beginning that process. Since these articles were written in 1972, we have learned more about class and women… we will [share] here some points for further exploration.
“Class distinctions are an outgrowth for male domination and as such, not only divide women among economic lines but also serve to destroy vestiges of women’s previous matriarchal strength. For example, women in peasant, agricultural, and lower class cultures are often called ‘dominant’ because they retain some of that matriarchal strength. Male supremacist societies must try to eliminate this female strength. The primary means of doing this both in the US and in other countries is through the domination and promotion of middle class values, including an image of the female as a passive, weak, frivolous sex object and eager consumer. The class system thus not only puts some women in a position of power over others but also weakens all women. Analyzing these and other ways that patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism reinforce one another is crucial to the future of feminism.” (Pg. 7-8)
They continue, “lower class feminists have found it difficult to separate out which parts of oppression are positive and beneficial and which are negative and self-destructive… Middle and upper class women have responded to the class issue in several ways: ‘What, me-oppressive? I’m just a powerless woman’; downward mobility and denial of class privilege…. Romanticizing the lower class woman, accompanied by patronization; and all too often retreat into confusion over the issue.” (Pg. 9-10)
They go on, “Recently, the primary reaction … has been to retreat from the issue and label it divisive to a feminist movement. Class is indeed divisive to feminism. So, too, is race. So is lesbianism. Oppression on the basis of these differences does still prevent a real unity among women… They are divisive because the more privileged white, middle and upper class women have not recognized how they and the movement are oppressive and have not taken effective action to eliminate or at least work against class, race, and heterosexual oppression.” (Pg. 10)
They add, “[A] middle class cop-out on class issues has been to claim that as women we are powerless. We did not create the class system…. However, upper and middle class women do get privileges from that system and do behave in ways that oppress other women. As long as women support and perpetuate class divisions and privileges, we are responsible for that system, even though we did not start it. The only way women stop being responsible for class oppression is by fighting to end it.” (Pg. 11)
Rita Mae Brown wrote in an essay, “Middle class women theorize that if you are working class but have a college degree then you must have just as much class privilege as they do so you are no longer working class. This idea is sheer arrogant blindness. Just became many of us fought our way out of inadequate schools into the universities and became ‘educated’ in no way removes the entire experience of our childhood and youth-working class life. A degree does not erase all that went before it… A white, middle class woman wouldn’t dream of telling a Black lesbian with a college degree that she is no longer Black. There is a reason for this double think. Working class lesbians with degrees push middle class lesbians very hard. We aren’t intimidated by their high tone raps and we can talk ‘their’ language only with ‘our’ ideas. This scares the sh_t out of them…” (Pg. 16-17)
She continues, “Youth/drug culture, the New Left, the Women’s Movement and unfortunately, the Lesbian Movement are all choking on this idea. Downard mobility is a mockery of working class life. It is poverty made fashionable. Behavior remains the same: those who don’t comply with this ‘hip’ lifestyle are looked down upon. It is in the establishment of hierarchies that the middle class betrays itself---they always have to look down on somebody, a habitual attitude of power.” (Pg. 19) She adds, “Downward mobility also has one dangerous effect upon those of us from the working classes---it prevents us from benefiting from the material privileges of white, middle class women. If you have money, sister, don’t deny it, SHARE it.” (Pg. 21)
Tasha Petersen observes, “It became clear that the youth culture was not a very big threat. Why?... One, it upholds a basic foundation upon which all oppression is based---male supremacy kept intact through heterosexuality. Two, it’s given consumerism a whole new boost. Three, drugs keep people pacified, oblivious, or ‘happy’ enough that they certainly couldn’t carry out a revolution. Four, it certainly hasn’t done anything to challenge the class system or racism in this country… They fool themselves into thinking that if they find ‘meaningful relationships’ with each other through love and openness that eventually the world will pick up on this and change.” (Pg. 26-28)
Ginny Berson acknowledges, “I was not really poor. I lived in a poor apartment, but I didn’t have five kids and a husband to share it with. Most importantly, I knew that every month I would get paid; I knew that I could borrow money interest-free from my boss; and I knew that whenever I wanted to, I could get out. I was poor by choice, and that made all the difference in the world. And because I had economic security, I never had to go through the mind-f__k of figuring out how to get by from day to day… My family never had to worry about whether we would eat… We worried about how often we could eat at restaurants… For lower-class women these worries are so far removed from their lives that they seem ludicrous.” (Pg. 59-61)
Coletta Reid recalls, “My husband never hit me; he just got up in the middle of the night and went for a walk. After I anxiously waited for hours for him, he came home, having decided not to hop the next train out of town. The message came through loud and clear. Stay in line or your emotional and financial security will disappear without so much as a good-by.” (Pg. 67)
Coletta Reid and Charlotte Bunch observe, “[A] passive reaction to class criticism goes, ‘Yes, I know I’m classist, and I really need you to struggle with me. Tell me every time I oppress you and I’ll change.’ This puts the responsibility for change back on the working class woman. We are the ones who are oppressive, so it is our responsibility to search our own and other middle class women’s behavior and attitudes and to reso0nd openly to working class women when they confront us.” (Pg. 79)
The Furies were only together for a few years in the early ‘70s. And the ‘class’ arguments in this book have not ‘held up well’ over time. But the brief book is still a very interesting testament of the fertile time in which it was written.
The Introduction to this 1974 book explains, “These articles were written out of the experiences of the Furies, a lesbian/feminist collective composed of white lower, working, and middle class women. [Author Rita Mae Brown is the most well-known of them.] These articles reflect efforts to deal with class in the collective and as we saw it operating in the women’s movement generally. They describe and talk about different class ATTITUDES and behavior and are not meant to be the final statement on class and feminism in America. However, understanding a class behavior among women is a useful, and perhaps essential, way to begin to understand class as a political mechanism for maintaining not only capitalism but also patriarchy and white supremacy. More simply, class, sexism and racism.
“More needs to be said about class conflict among women. The development of feminist theory about the structures in society has barely begun. This collection is one group’s approach to realizing and beginning that process. Since these articles were written in 1972, we have learned more about class and women… we will [share] here some points for further exploration.
“Class distinctions are an outgrowth for male domination and as such, not only divide women among economic lines but also serve to destroy vestiges of women’s previous matriarchal strength. For example, women in peasant, agricultural, and lower class cultures are often called ‘dominant’ because they retain some of that matriarchal strength. Male supremacist societies must try to eliminate this female strength. The primary means of doing this both in the US and in other countries is through the domination and promotion of middle class values, including an image of the female as a passive, weak, frivolous sex object and eager consumer. The class system thus not only puts some women in a position of power over others but also weakens all women. Analyzing these and other ways that patriarchy, white supremacy and capitalism reinforce one another is crucial to the future of feminism.” (Pg. 7-8)
They continue, “lower class feminists have found it difficult to separate out which parts of oppression are positive and beneficial and which are negative and self-destructive… Middle and upper class women have responded to the class issue in several ways: ‘What, me-oppressive? I’m just a powerless woman’; downward mobility and denial of class privilege…. Romanticizing the lower class woman, accompanied by patronization; and all too often retreat into confusion over the issue.” (Pg. 9-10)
They go on, “Recently, the primary reaction … has been to retreat from the issue and label it divisive to a feminist movement. Class is indeed divisive to feminism. So, too, is race. So is lesbianism. Oppression on the basis of these differences does still prevent a real unity among women… They are divisive because the more privileged white, middle and upper class women have not recognized how they and the movement are oppressive and have not taken effective action to eliminate or at least work against class, race, and heterosexual oppression.” (Pg. 10)
They add, “[A] middle class cop-out on class issues has been to claim that as women we are powerless. We did not create the class system…. However, upper and middle class women do get privileges from that system and do behave in ways that oppress other women. As long as women support and perpetuate class divisions and privileges, we are responsible for that system, even though we did not start it. The only way women stop being responsible for class oppression is by fighting to end it.” (Pg. 11)
Rita Mae Brown wrote in an essay, “Middle class women theorize that if you are working class but have a college degree then you must have just as much class privilege as they do so you are no longer working class. This idea is sheer arrogant blindness. Just became many of us fought our way out of inadequate schools into the universities and became ‘educated’ in no way removes the entire experience of our childhood and youth-working class life. A degree does not erase all that went before it… A white, middle class woman wouldn’t dream of telling a Black lesbian with a college degree that she is no longer Black. There is a reason for this double think. Working class lesbians with degrees push middle class lesbians very hard. We aren’t intimidated by their high tone raps and we can talk ‘their’ language only with ‘our’ ideas. This scares the sh_t out of them…” (Pg. 16-17)
She continues, “Youth/drug culture, the New Left, the Women’s Movement and unfortunately, the Lesbian Movement are all choking on this idea. Downard mobility is a mockery of working class life. It is poverty made fashionable. Behavior remains the same: those who don’t comply with this ‘hip’ lifestyle are looked down upon. It is in the establishment of hierarchies that the middle class betrays itself---they always have to look down on somebody, a habitual attitude of power.” (Pg. 19) She adds, “Downward mobility also has one dangerous effect upon those of us from the working classes---it prevents us from benefiting from the material privileges of white, middle class women. If you have money, sister, don’t deny it, SHARE it.” (Pg. 21)
Tasha Petersen observes, “It became clear that the youth culture was not a very big threat. Why?... One, it upholds a basic foundation upon which all oppression is based---male supremacy kept intact through heterosexuality. Two, it’s given consumerism a whole new boost. Three, drugs keep people pacified, oblivious, or ‘happy’ enough that they certainly couldn’t carry out a revolution. Four, it certainly hasn’t done anything to challenge the class system or racism in this country… They fool themselves into thinking that if they find ‘meaningful relationships’ with each other through love and openness that eventually the world will pick up on this and change.” (Pg. 26-28)
Ginny Berson acknowledges, “I was not really poor. I lived in a poor apartment, but I didn’t have five kids and a husband to share it with. Most importantly, I knew that every month I would get paid; I knew that I could borrow money interest-free from my boss; and I knew that whenever I wanted to, I could get out. I was poor by choice, and that made all the difference in the world. And because I had economic security, I never had to go through the mind-f__k of figuring out how to get by from day to day… My family never had to worry about whether we would eat… We worried about how often we could eat at restaurants… For lower-class women these worries are so far removed from their lives that they seem ludicrous.” (Pg. 59-61)
Coletta Reid recalls, “My husband never hit me; he just got up in the middle of the night and went for a walk. After I anxiously waited for hours for him, he came home, having decided not to hop the next train out of town. The message came through loud and clear. Stay in line or your emotional and financial security will disappear without so much as a good-by.” (Pg. 67)
Coletta Reid and Charlotte Bunch observe, “[A] passive reaction to class criticism goes, ‘Yes, I know I’m classist, and I really need you to struggle with me. Tell me every time I oppress you and I’ll change.’ This puts the responsibility for change back on the working class woman. We are the ones who are oppressive, so it is our responsibility to search our own and other middle class women’s behavior and attitudes and to reso0nd openly to working class women when they confront us.” (Pg. 79)
The Furies were only together for a few years in the early ‘70s. And the ‘class’ arguments in this book have not ‘held up well’ over time. But the brief book is still a very interesting testament of the fertile time in which it was written.
April 15, 2008
I read this in parts and found it interesting. It is from the 1970s and while I liked much of it, I am somewhat skeptical of the "anti-classist" sentiments. I find that being opposed to "classism" is not enough, I believe we must oppose capitalism for feminism to truly be successful. We cannot expect "classism" to end through anything short of abolishing capitalism.
August 23, 2024
This is quite a nice, easy approach to class issue within feminism and sisterhood. I think this is more befitting for middle classes who is currently sharpening their class consciousness, or someone who is new to it and still confused on how to help aiding fellow women, especially from the working class. Can be quite upsetting though for those who would not want to exercise their understanding and challenging their point of view, because this book is quite direct in its callout. Very great read overall, enlightening too, especially after reading bell hooks books!
February 1, 2023
Love this book I've learnt so much from reading this book....
Hope to read more....
Hope to read more....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 22, 2015
collection of essays written by women with unique takes on class x feminism. they investigate what it really means to be a feminist within various income levels & critique commonly accepted "feminist" actions showing that they are actually unproductive aspects of the movement.
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June 14, 2014dianna press
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews