The Traffic in Women and Other Essays on Feminism [Paperback]

Emma Goldman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Times Change Pr; First Edition edition (June 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878100016
• ISBN-13: 978-0878100019
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,684,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anarchist feminist classic, October 22, 2004

By 

Catherine Hundleby "Hundlebumble" (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Traffic in Women and Other Essays on Feminism (Paperback)

This is a great little book that quickly undermines many stereotypes about feminism. Among other things, Goldman argues in favour of prostitution (freelance prostitution as opposed to the legalized sexual slavery of marriage) and that giving women the vote is futile. Yet, she is not a contrarian, only a very deep thinker, not satisfied with superficial gains in women's rights.

5.0 out of 5 stars IMPORTANT ESSAYS FROM A SEMINAL ANARCHIST/FEMINIST, September 22, 2011

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Traffic in Women and Other Essays on Feminism (Paperback)

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. She was an early and vocal advocate of birth control and "Free Love."

Alix Kates Shulman wrote in her Introduction ("The Most Dengerous Woman in the World") to this book, "Emma Goldman's anarchism and her feminism were inextricably intertwined. Oppressed for her sex, her class, and her politics, she went to prison and suffered ostracism for all of them..."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Nowhere is a woman treated according to the merit of her work, but rather as a sex. It is therefore almost inevitable that she should pay for her right to exist, to keep a position in whatever line, with sex favors. Thus it is merely a question of degree whether she sells herself to one man, in or out of marriage, or to many men." (Pg. 20)
"...it is utterly false that love results from marriage... Certainly the growing-used to each other is far from the spontaneity, the intensity, and beauty of love, without which the intimacy of marriage must prove degrading to both the woman and the man." (Pg. 37)
"Besides, a short period of married life, of complete surrender of all faculties, absolutely incapacitates the average woman for the outside world. She becomes reckless in appearance, clumsy in her movements, dependent in her decisions, cowardly in her judgment, a weight and a bore, which most men grow to hate and despise. Wonderfully inspiring atmosphere for the bearing of life, is it not?"