Not One of the Boys: Living Life as a Feminist [Hardcover]

Brenda Feigen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2000

From an outspoken feminist, a leader of the Women's Movement in the 1960s and '70s--a candid, wide-ranging and deeply personal memoir that is, as well, an illuminating historical document of a time and a fight for profound societal change.

Brenda Feigen has lived many lifetimes within one--lawyer, wife and mother, civil rights activist, politician, Hollywood movie producer--and in each she has faced down the specter of discrimination against women. She describes how at Harvard Law School she fought to change blatantly sexist practices such as Ladies' Days and law-firm interviewing processes; how she waged battles for women as National Vice President of NOW; how, with Gloria Steinem, she founded Ms. and cofounded the National Women's Political Caucus in the early 1970s; how she became director with Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project in 1972; and how, in Hollywood, she met obstacles at every turn while fighting for movies with strong, positive roles for women. She describes, as well, the struggles and triumphs of her private life: her marriage (she and her husband were once considered "the perfect feminist couple"); being a (feminist) mother; her relationships with women; her breast cancer. Finally, she chronicles recent advances and losses in the Women's Movement, making clear how far women have come, and how far they have yet to go.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Reading Not One of the Boys, you get the feeling that Brenda Feigen really has seen and done it all. Having made it through Harvard Law School at a time when some professors confined taking questions (and answers) from female students to a once-a-semester Ladies Day, she went on to be a cofounder, with Gloria Steinem, of the National Women's Political Caucus and Ms, to work with Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, to run for political office in New York, and to make movies in Hollywood.

This is also a deeply personal memoir. Feigen's account of her relationship with Steinem brings out the complexity of a friendship between two women who have spent their lives fighting--for recognition, equality, and justice (indeed, one of the strengths of the book is the way in which Feigen brings out the differences--and strains--within "feminist" ranks). Her marriage to a marvelously enlightened man gave way to a loving partnership with another woman. She battled breast cancer. She got fired. Feigen's prose bristles with awareness of the sexist injuries perpetrated on a daily basis against women. Hers has been a life of not putting up with them. As a result, it sometimes seems as though she has sued her way through the last four decades.

It is also clear that the fight for women's equality--fought tooth and nail by Feigen and her ilk--is far from over. Women are still routinely paid less than men, subject to assaults of all types, and denied equitable treatment. For the many young women who take the feminist gains of the last 35 years for granted, and do not identify themselves as feminists, Not One of the Boys should be compulsory reading. --J. Riches

From Publishers Weekly

Although she never achieved the media stardom of such pioneering feminists as Gloria Steinem or Susan Brownmiller, Feigen, in a more peripheral role, has been an effective activist for social change. In this behind-the-scenes view of the women's movement from the late '60s to the '90s, she is sharply critical of the discrimination she has found in every aspect of her personal and public life, as a lawyer, politician, Hollywood movie producer, wife and mother. When she entered Harvard Law School in 1966, women students were told by the dean that they were taking the place of men who needed to become family breadwinners; the school's only eating club was restricted to men; squash courts were closed to women; and firms that excluded women were permitted to interview on campus. Seething at the injustice, Feigen joined the National Organization for Women and was elected its national legislative vice-president. Working for passage of the equal rghts amendment, she met Steinem, who became a good friend. She and Steinem conceived the grassroots Women's Action Alliance; the organization's "newsletter" later evolved into Ms. magazine. A highlight of her feminist career came in 1972, when she served as director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Alternating anecdotes about her personal life with movement history in a somewhat confusing chronology, Feigen recounts the failure of her marriage and the happiness she later found with her companion, writer Joanne Parent. Feigen's feisty attitude and her very real achievements make this work an important document of social history as well as an entertaining read. Photos. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 335 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (September 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679408428
• ISBN-13: 978-0679408420
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,200,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three's a charm, but this is just two, October 20, 2000

By 

Peggy Horne (Savannah, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not One of the Boys: Living Life as a Feminist (Hardcover)

Brenda Feigen's Not One of the Boys does what few memoirs do. It shows that all journeys must come full circle. Starting with her own education at Harvard Law School and the discrimination she bore there, she ends her pages by inviting the daughters of the future to join her in the on-going stuggle for feminist rights. Writing in prose that is never preachy or pretentious, Feigen, who helped establish Ms magazine, did bidding for the ACLU, assured the passage of the ERA, and gave Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Gloria Steinem the privilege of working with her, asks the reader to retrace her steps, which broke ground for all women every time she put her foot down. This book is a terrific read and a wonderful gift to those who still believe differences can be made by people who have the courage to make them. Brenda Feigen shows readers she has the stuff.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside the Women's Movement, November 11, 2000

By 

Wiry (Southampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not One of the Boys: Living Life as a Feminist (Hardcover)

Brenda Feigen gives us an inside look at how it really was ... and she's not afraid to tell the truth about her treatment in Hollywood - horrifying and fascinating at the same time ... and at William Morris. The picture of Ruth Bader Ginsberg gave hope to this reader that the struggle is continuing in high places. I loved all the inside information about the startup of Ms Magazine and the complete legal picture of the progress of women in the last quarter of the 20th century. Read it for the gossip alone.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History of our lives, October 30, 2000

By 

Susan K Burke (Southampton, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not One of the Boys: Living Life as a Feminist (Hardcover)

I loved this brave book. It is wonderful to read a chronicle of the times we grew up in. It read like a history of my life as a feminist, except that I was involved from the sidelines and Brenda Feigen was actually there, not only moving it along but making it up as she went along. Her observations on the future of feminism are worth the price of the whole book. We were, and I trust are, fortunate to have her fighting for us.