pornographic definitions of women functioning in
reality, the real annihilation of real women —the crushing into nothingness o f their freedom, their will, their lives —how they were forced to live, and how they were
forced to die. We see the dimensions of the crime, the
dimensions of the oppression, the anguish and misery
that are a direct consequence of polar role definition,
of women defined as carnal, evil, and Other. We recognize that it is the structure of the culture which engineers the deaths, violations, violence, and we look for alternatives, ways of destroying culture as we know it,
rebuilding it as we can imagine it.
I write however with a broken tool, a language which
is sexist and discriminatory to its core. I try to make the
distinctions, not “history” as the whole human story, not
“man” as the generic term for the species, not “manhood” as the synonym for courage, dignity, and strength. But I have not been successful in reinventing
the language.
This work was not done in isolation. It owes much to
others. I thank my sisters who everywhere are standing
Introduction
27
up, for themselves, against oppression. I thank my sisters, the women who are searching into our common past, writing it so that we can know it and be proud. I
thank my sisters, these particular women whose work
has contributed so much to my own consciousness and
resolve — Kate Millett, Robin Morgan, Shulamith Firestone, Judith Malina, and Jill Johnston.
I also thank those others who have, through their
books and lives, taught me so much —in particular,
Allen Ginsberg, James Baldwin, Daniel Berrigan, Jean
Genet, Huey P. Newton, Julian Beck, and Tim othy
Leary.
I thank my friends in Amsterdam who were family
for the writing o f much o f this book and who helped
me in very hard times.
I thank Mel Clay who believed in this book from its
most obscure beginnings, the editors o f
particular Susan Janssen, Deborah Rogers, Martin
Duberman, and Elaine Markson who has been wonderful to me. I thank Marian Skedgell for her help and kindness. I thank Brian Murphy who tried to tell me a
long time ago that O was an oppressed person. Chapter
3 is dedicated to Brian.
I thank Karen Malpede and Garland Harris for their
support and help. I thank Joan Schenkar for pushing
me a little further than I was willing, or able, to go.
I thank Grace Paley, Karl Bissinger, Kathleen
Norris, and Muriel Rukeyser. Without their love and
friendship this work would never have been done.
Without their examples o f strength and commitment,
I do not know who I would be, or how.
I thank my brother Mark and my sister-in-law Carol
