Having heard this feminist classic on the radio I couldn't resist a re-read. As stated, I was astonished about the female masochism of the erotic kind, but understood the roots and images.
As regular readers will know I am avowedly feminist albeit moderate and the novel although seeming dramatic is I believe a fair representation of the female condition for women of French's generation. I was born in the fifties and in Wales, but I recognised and remembered much she described. I think she also gives a good idea of the things that drove some women to separatism. It's not something I've ever espoused, but I do understand why some women and some blacks chose this path in the seventies. And I can see that the radicals along with the moderates are part of the movement that brings about change.
It saddens me that so many are dismissive of seventies feminism, which, along with other radical movements I believe truly brought about some amazing changes for us all. Unsurprisingly I hate the way stuff around equality and fairness has been hijacked to form excuses and justification for capitalism and galloping consumerism and the sad fact that couples have to work such ridiculous hours to service the mortgage and stop their kids getting mugged for wearing the wrong trainers that were made by child labourers abroad... Whoops! Where did that rant come from?! I love what sixties and seventies idealists visualised and dreamt and worked for, and am saddened by the twisted consumerist culture Western civilisation has become - Perhaps I'll go back to my spanking fantasies...