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• 1 2023-12-05T14:54:10-08:00 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 2 plain 2023-12-06T09:42:07-08:00

  “What we've really felt was that if men could change so that they, instead of their entire ego being built upon their sexual conquest, that being denied this.
  
  But women—our concentration was women, that once women changed and once women had a sense of themselves, men would have to change. We weren't going to waste our time reforming men. We were going to try to get women to be liberated. 
  
  We saw it as liberation.”

  Timeline

  by Abby
  
  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
  
  Social justice and feminist activist
  Author, historian, professor
  Now: Writer, Lecturer, Professor Emirata of Ethnic Studies
  
  1974: Assistant professor of Native American Studies at California State University Hayward
  
  Became active in the American Indian Movement
  
  Cell 16 promoted Separatist Feminism
  
  1967-1974: Activist in the US, Europe, Cuba, Mexico
  
  1968: Founded Cell 16, celibacy, separation from men, self-defense (disbanded in 1973)
  
  1963: Graduated from San Francisco College with a degree in history
  
  1974: Completed a doctorate in history at UCLA
  
  1938: Born in Texas
  
  Grew up in Oklahoma
  Half Cherokee, half Scottish-Irish
  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

  “Passionate, organized hatred is the element missing in all that we do to try to change the world. Now is the time to spread hate, hatred for the rich”.

  Key Terms

  Abby Rockefeller: An American feminist activist/ecologist known for her involvement in the feminist movement, particularly as a member of the organization Cell 16. She promoted self-defense for women and contributed to feminist publications, addressing issues related to sexism and female liberation. (Julia)
  
  Anita Hill (hearings): Public Senate hearings that took place in 1991, during which civil rights attorney Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court nominee, of sexual harassment, sparking national discussions on workplace harassment, gender equality, and the intersections of racism and sexism.     (Julia)
  
  Betty Friedan: American feminist writer and activist. She wrote The Feminine Mystique, which is credited with beginning the second wave of American feminism. She did not align with radical feminism. (Abby)
  
  Celibacy: The practice of abstaining from sexual activity, often for religious or personal reasons. Involves a voluntary commitment to remain unmarried and refrain from engaging in sexual relations. Political celibacy was a major element of Second-Wave feminism and conflicted with Third-Wave “pro-sex” feminism. (Julia)
  
  Cell 16:
  - A progressive, radical feminist organization founded in 1968 by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, and disbanded in 1973. Promoted separatist feminism, in which women separate themselves from men, as well as celibacy and self defense. (Abby)
  - Founded in 1968 by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, one of the interviewees in the Valerie Solanas tapes, Cell 16 was a progressive feminist organization during the second-wave American feminist movement. Cell 16 had a journal titled No More Fun and Games: A Journal of Female Liberation, where they advanced ideas about separatist feminism, celibacy, self-defense training, and more. The group is credited by cultural historian Alice Echols as setting the theoretical groundwork for lesbian separatism. (Kiahra)
  
  Che Guevara:
  - A communist figure during the Cuban Revolution. He was executed by the Bolivian army and considered a martyr. He has been a symbol of revolution and radicalism to American leftists since, especially in the 1960s. (Abby)
  - Was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, theorist, and guerrilla leader who played an influential role in the Cuban Revolution. Guevara has become a symbol of leftist rebellion and revolution against capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism.  (Kiahra)
  
  Daughters of Bilitis: The first U.S. lesbian rights group, which began as a private social club and ultimately grew into a national advocacy organization with chapters across the country. DOB published The Ladder from 1956 to 1970 as the first nationally distributed lesbian periodical. DOB was initiated by Rosalie “Rose” Bamberger, a working-class Filipina woman, and included women of color in its leadership. Despite facing surveillance by law enforcement agencies and male domination within the homophile movement, DOB played a crucial role in advancing lesbian rights. (Julia)
  
  David Frost: An English television host, comedian, and journalist. (Abby)
  
  Freudian: Refers to concepts, ideas, or theories associated with Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. This term is often used with regard to his theories of the unconscious mind, sexuality, and the role of childhood experiences in shaping adult behavior and mental processes.     (Julia)
  
  Lolita Lebron: A Puerto Rican nationalist and member of the Puerto Rican Liberal Party. She led an armed attack on the United States House of Representatives that wounded five people, and was incarcerated for 25 years. (Abby)
  
  Norman O'Brown: An influential American scholar and author known for his work in cultural criticism and psychoanalysis. His most significant work, Life Against Death, examined the connections between human sexuality, the unconscious mind, and the development of culture and society. Brown’s ideas regarding sexuality and societal constraints indirectly frame celibacy as a potential act of rebellion against the societal norms that restrict sexual expression, allowing individuals to explore their sensuality and desires independently, beyond the confines of conventional expectations.     (Julia)
  
  Personal Politics: A 1979 novel by Sara Evans, a historian and scholar of women's history, that examines the role of the women's liberation movement in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. The novel explores the connection between personal experiences and the women's liberation movement and the way in which individual stories (such as Roxanne’s) and activism contributed to the rise of second-wave feminism. (Julia)
  
  Polymorphous Perverse: A concept in psychoanalysis, often associated with the work of Norman O. Brown and his interpretation of Sigmund Freud’s theories,. It refers to a stage of human sexual development characterized by a wide range of sensual pleasures and diverse forms of erotic satisfaction, unconstrained by conventional societal norms or specific sexual objects or acts. This idea highlights the fluid and varied nature of human sexuality during early childhood, before the influence of socialization and cultural norms. (Julia)
  
  Rita Mae Brown: An American writer, best known for her novels, essays, and poetry. She gained widespread recognition for her novel Rubyfruit Jungle, a seminal work in lesbian literature. Brown often explores themes of gender, sexuality, and social justice in her writing, and engages with various social and political causes, such as feminism and the LGBTQ+ rights movement, as an activist. (Julia)
  
  SDS: Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a prominent 1960s student activist organization with chapters around the United States that sought to promote social and political change (particularly in relation to the Vietnam War). Despite their progressive intentions, the SDS, like many other movements at the time, enabled sexism and gender inequity, as women within SDS encountered challenges, including unequal labor distribution and objectification, and were often relegated to secretarial and service-oriented roles. (Julia)
  
  Separatism: A feminist ideology and movement that advocates for women's separation from men in various aspects of life, including personal relationships, communities, and sometimes even society at large to address gender inequalities. This body of feminism aims to create spaces and communities where women can live and work independently from men, with the belief that this separation is necessary to achieve true gender equality and address issues such as patriarchy and sexism. Some feminists embrace separatism as a means of empowerment, while others critique it for potentially reinforcing gender divisions. (Julia)
  
  Simone de Beauvoir:
  - A French philosopher, writer, and feminist who is best known for her groundbreaking novel, The Second Sex (1949), which is considered a foundational text in modern feminist philosophy. De Beauvoir’s work examines issues related to women's oppression, gender roles, and the concept of “The Other,” and significantly influenced feminist thought and existentialism, contributing to the intellectual foundation of the feminist movement in the 20th century.    (Julia)
  - French existentialist philosopher and writer. She wrote The Second Sex, arguably the most fundamental text in feminist history, and inspired many influential feminists, theories, and movements. (Abby)
  
  Tamara Bunke (Tania): An East-German Marxist who was involved in Cuban Intelligence operations after the Cuban Revolution. She died in Bolivia on a guerrilla expedition led by Che Guevara. (Abby)
  
  The Feminine Mystique:
  - The book written by Betty Friedan that is credited with beginning the second wave of American feminism. The “feminine mystique” refers to the then-prevalent belief that women were intended to be and could be satisfied as housewives and mothers. The book intended to prove that was not the case. (Abby)
  - A novel by Betty Friedan, co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Published in 1963, the novel is widely credited with sparking the second-wave American feminist movement. (Kiahra)
  
  Ti-Grace Atkinson: An American radical feminist activist, philosopher, and writer. She served as president of the National Organization for Women’s New York Chapter (co-founded by Betty Friedan), but had disagreements with the organization’s leadership over her wish to defend Valerie Solanas after the Andy Warhol shooting, and eventually left the organization. (Abby)
  
  Women's Liberation Movement: An international movement that proposed sexism is an institutional problem present in every aspect of life, rather than focusing solely on obtaining legal rights. (Abby)