The Women's Liberation Movement
ANATOMY NEED NOT BE DESTINY

The 1970's marked a period of time when the sisters of the United Sates joined together to protest the injustices that were, and in some instances, still are ingrained into the American Society. While The Movement actually began in the late 1960's, membership and unity seemed to have increased drastically in the early 1970's. For example, the membership in NOW (National Organization for Women), one of the largest and most mainstream organizations of the Women's Movement, increased it's numbers from 1,200 in 1967 to 48,000 in 1970 (Douglas 165). These large numbers of women, divided into many subgroups, from the mainstrean organization NOW to more radical groups like Witch (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy From Hell), fought to improve many facets of society like job inequalities, public offices, childcare, abortion, the economic system, independance, the media, gender stereotypes, and sexist oppresion.

The Movement created enourmous pride and was a life altering event for many of the women who chose to fight for their beliefs. As Helen Reddy (a feminist musician) said, the Movement "was some thing that profoundly altered how I felt about myself and about life. From that time on I was changed" (Reddy 49). This dramatic change many women underwent created an experience that was not just made up of a whiny group of women (like many thought). It was, as one women reminisced, "a compelling utopian vision, a great unity of purpose, and a respect for diversity... One of the most consequential social movements of the 20th century" (Douglas 90- 164). Gloria Steinem, a key figure in the Movement, also showed the same sort of honor and purpose when she said that "The Women's Lib Movement would benefit not only the women, but the men of the society, as well by dissolving the sex role stereotypes and expectations" (Steinem 22-3). Overall, women in the Movement, although some were a little unsure, saw it as a chance to fight for what they belived in and in turn, change the boundaries of society to allow themselves, as women, to be free.

A great deal of the men in this 1970's society, however, described the Movement as something so different, that you would almost not think that they were talking about the same thing. Characterizing the women as "new and angry" male-hating freaks or a "small band of bra-less bubbleheads," men had a reaction to the Movement that was less than positive (Douglas 163, Dunbar 71). These negative reactions to the Movement can be explained by many men's fear and hatred toward the change the women of the Movement were trying to make. As Anthony Astrachan (a man who wrote a book on how men felt about the changes) said, "There are a lot of men out there who hate the idea of women working, especially in jobs outside the traditional service and clerical fields, and who hate the wider changes of which working women are a part (Astrachan 38). He further goes on to say that "A man can feel pain when the women in his life demand that he change his habits, his lifestyles, his thinking - that he gives up some of his masculine advantages" (Astrachan 36). Astrachan supports very clearly, that many men were unhappy with the changes that were tearing through society and that as Time magazine said, the Women's Movement was a time "that [tried] men's souls" (Who's 16).

In looking back, it seems that although many women had a positive and dedicated reaction to the Movement, there was still an overwhelming dissatisfaction and even anger for the Women's Movement that was found almost everywhere in the 1970's, from men's accounts of the Movement itself, the workplace, to even the images and messages on the television screen. (For another interesting take on the Women's Liberation Movement, take a look at an article entitled, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" by Jo Freeman)

By looking more closely at the television programs in question (The Bionic Woman, Charlie's Angels, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show) one can see just how the programs seemed to shy away from the strong messages of the Movement and in turn, reflect some of the fear and sexism that raged throughout some of the men in the society of the 1970's.