Feminism and Censorship: The Current Debate

These 31 essays about the women's movement in the U.K.--from the first women's liberation groups in the late 1960s to the loose organizational structure of the late 1980s--preserve history as it is rarely found in textbooks. Each contribution bristles with the passion and triumph of women transforming personal discontent into an all-encompassing social vision. British freelance journalist Sebestyen offers a multiplicity of perspectives on two decades, commissioning essays from women representing Britain's range of cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. She also provides pithy introductory paragraphs to each of the book's four sections. Among the most affecting pieces is Marilyn Gayle's stunning ``Sex Doesn't Fit. Race Doesn't Fit.'' A condensed autobiography of a black woman's hopes and her frustration with the biases of the largely white, middle-class feminist movement, Gayle's entry also encapsulates the painful coming-of-age of feminism, its progress from the rhetoric of the 1960s to the hard, unglamorous and largely uncelebrated work that characterizes the movement today. (Oct.)