ON THIS DAY ·
Manifesto of the 343
5 Apr 1971 — In Le Nouvel Observateur, 343 women declare that they have had illegal abortions and dare the state to prosecute them. Simone de Beauvoir and Catherine Deneuve are among them. The state never prosecutes them.
WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.
Free printable Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution study guide, sent by email ↓
The moment in context
In 1968 Kathie Sarachild of New York Radical Women described a way for women to investigate their own lives. A small group would take one question at a time—about mothers, jobs or first sexual experiences—and compare the answers. One woman's account might sound like a private complaint. Several accounts together could reveal a pattern that none had been able to see alone.
From The personal is political, chapter 3 of Protest and Change: Second-Wave Feminism and Tunisia, 1945–2015 (1972).
The place: Manifesto of the 343 — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — A method that turned experience into evidence. Consciousness-raising gave women a way to compare housework, sexual coercion and other experiences that each might have taken as a personal problem.…
- The turn — Roe v. Wade, 22 January 1973. Norma McCorvey could not afford to travel to a state where abortion was legal. In 1970 two young lawyers, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, filed a…
- What it changed — A national right and a national opposition. The national right recognized in 1973 was accompanied by a national campaign to reverse it. Catholic organizations and, from the late 1970s,…
Then ask the room: Was consciousness-raising a political method, or a form of therapy that distracted women from politics? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE
Get the printable study guide for Protest and Change free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul
NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME