“Warming Her Pearls” by Carol Anne Duffy (Poet Laureate)
In this beautiful poem about love between women, the affection, as far as we know, is unrequited. The maid loves her mistress, we do not know if her mistress reciprocates. But there is something in the power imbalance between the two, that tends to be found in many situations where romantic love ignites between individuals. I think we love people who most epitomise our ideal lifestyle and who, we think could, by association, grant it to us. The truth is harsher; because it is precisely by denying ease of living to others, that one class acquires an abundance of it themselves.
On Women’s Sunday, seven processions began from various points of London and marched to Hyde Park to hear speeches given by the Pankhursts and other suffragettes. More than 300,000 people gathered for the suffragette rally. It was one of the largest single demonstrations ever, up till that time.
The famous “Freedom or Death” speech was delivered in Hartford, Connecticut on November 13 1913, by Emmeline Pankhurst.
I do not come here as an advocate, because whatever position the suffrage movement may occupy in the United States of America, in England it has passed beyond the realm of advocacy and it has entered into the sphere of practical politics. It has become the subject of revolution and civil war, and so tonight I am not here to advocate woman suffrage. American suffragists can do that very well for themselves.
I am here as a soldier who has temporarily left the field of battle in order to explain – it seems strange it should have to be explained – what civil war is like when civil war is waged by women.
Christabel and Emmeline Pankhurst (centre and centre left) with other suffragettes outside Holloway prison, probably celebrating a release.
“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Winston Churchill.
“It feels as if you’ve been turned inside out. You’ve just given birth and finally you feel emptied. You’re exhausted. Your breasts are painfully full of milk. And then you look at your baby. And you see that she’s a little girl. And you know that you have to kill her.” Vaira Mani drops her head in sadness as she recounts the death of a neighbour’s newborn baby. It is as if the child had been hers, for she speaks with a conviction that seems to come from personal experience….
Feminism, Radical. 1 : the cause of causes, which alone of all revolutionary causes exposes the basic model and source of all forms of oppression— patriarchy— and thus can open up consciousness to active participation in movement, transcendence, and happiness. — Mary Daly (WORD-WEB ONE) The Wickedary.
