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Women's rights and liberation ephemera, C0395, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Purchased by Lynn Eaton from Caroliniana Rare Books in November 2021.
Processing completed by Amanda Menjivar in November 2022. Finding aid completed by Amanda Menjivar in November 2022.
The women's rights movement - also called the women's liberation movement - was a social movement that sought to improve and enable equal rights for women, particularly white women. The movement was predominant throughout the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, and was also influenced by Second Wave Feminism, which happened concurrently to the Civil Rights Movement, and later the gay rights movement. Second Wave Feminism focused on equal pay, gender discrimination in the workplace, bodily autonomy, and sexual freedom.
Four documents (two pamphlets and two handouts) focused on women's rights and liberation in the United States, created from 1921 - 1968.
The first item is a pamphlet titled "When Women Work" and was published in 1921 by the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor. The pamphlet emphasizes the need for fair working conditions and pay, as well as an 8-hour work day through the use of simple words and pictures.
The second item is a pamphlet titled "Bomb Tests Kill People," published by the Peace Action Center, circa 1961. The pamphlet expresses anti-nuclear bomb testing and includes quotes from American scientists and newspapers in support of this.
The third item is a muli-page handout titled "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm" by Anne Koedt, published by New England Free Press, circa 1968. Koedt explores the idea that a vaginal orgasm does not exist, and uses various resources to support her argument.
The fourth item is a double-sided handout titled "Anything You Can Do - (An Answer To The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm)" by Elizabeth Fisher, distributed at the Women's Liberation Conference, Chicago, in November 1968. The handout is a direct response to Koedt's publication, pointing out the points she agrees with, as well as inaccuracies.
The Special Collections Research Center holds other materials on women's rights, liberation, and suffrage, including the
Arranged in chronological order.
Burkett, E.. "women's rights movement." Encyclopedia Britannica, Invalid Date. https://www.britannica.com/event/womens-movement. Accessed November 11, 2022.
"Feminism: The Second Wave[.]" National Women's History Museum, June 18, 2020. https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-second-wave. Accessed November 11, 2022.