Brenda Broussard
20th Century U.S. History
Prof. Buzzanco
April 12, 2007
NO TURNING BACK: THE HISTORY OF FEMINISM AND THE FUTURE OF
WOMEN. By Estelle B. Freedman, Ballantine Books, New York, 2002.
Estelle B. Freedman has been a professor of history and women’s studies at
Stanford University since 1976. She wrote No Turning Back in response to a friend’s
request for a single title that would teach about feminist scholarship. When Freedman
could think of no text encompassing all of the aspects of feminist studies, she decided to
write one of her own. No Turning Back is the perfect text for women’s studies at all
levels from high school to graduate school. As the title implies, the momentum of a
feminist movement as built to such great speed that there is no turning back. Feminism
evolved over centuries from small achievements to monumental attainments of rights.
Freedom’s study introduces the reader to these accomplishments and analyzes the effects
and consequences.
This interdisciplinary work consists of an introduction and five parts. High
schools should hand out Freedman’s introduction to every adolescent, female and male,
to explain what feminism really is and why it is a necessary concept and movement.
Freedman also explains the common reaction of cringing away from the feminist label by
many women. In less than ten pages, she unravels the mystery of why women who
believe in equal rights continue to shun the feminist movement.
After her incredible introduction, Freedman breaks her study into five parts that
serve very well for classroom discussion. Parts I and II follow a sociological
methodology of explaining the origins of gender, feminism, and feminist politics.
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Freedman’s discourse is a worldly one. She introduces the concept of gender and
feminism on every populated continent and spans centuries of perceptions and practices.
She discusses issues of male power/ female subjugation and the practices used to achieve
or define these two concepts. Sometimes the examples are surprisingly counterintuitive.
For example, the backlash from the British government outlawing sati (women
committing suicide on their husbands pyre) was that more women engaged in the practice
after the law. Before British involvement, the practice was limited to the elite. However,
seen as a form of foreign dominance, all castes of Indian society began to commit sati.
The Western world however, viewed the practice as a form of male dominance over
women. Western thought failed to see the practice as wholly the woman’s choice; she
was in control of her actions, body, and her life in giving herself to death.
Freedman adds an economic approach to her interdisciplinary methodology in her
third part (The Historical Emergence of Feminisms) to explain how the introduction of
capitalism spawned the feminist movement. An end to serfdom, colonialism, and slavery
as means of economic support for countries raised issues of power, control, and equality
for man. Ideologically, feminists began to take man to mean human, not just the male
sex. Practically, the new system of capitalism incorporated women into the wage system
and introduced them to the world outside the home. This also introduced them to further
injustices like lower pay for the same work, lack of advancement possibilities,
harassment, and physical harm. Freedman also discusses the split in the feminist
movement between those favoring protective legislation and those against it due to its
reinforcement of the gender gap. Issues of affirmative action, working mothers, and
welfare wrap up this section of the book.
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Part 4 explores the politics of health and sexuality. To feminists, the binary
definition of the genders is responsible for most of the perceived differences in the sexes.
Freedman argues that market capitalism and modern medicine have exacerbated the
perceived inequalities of females by “granting more bodily authority to men” (205). Her
supporting examples demonstrate just how exploitative these institutions are to women.
Freedman covers some of the heavier issues of rape, incest, and other forms of violence
directed toward women, reproductive politics, and sexual agency. Where there is a split
in the feminist movement over definitions and solutions in these areas of concern,
Freedman objectively gives each equal page time.
The final part of the book, titled “Feminist Visions and Strategies” surveys the
politics of language. Freedman explains the systematic silencing of females and the
significance of words as signifiers. Following the “girls” versus “women” and the “Ms.”
title discussions, the author explores the regular exclusion of women in the arts and the
recent inclusion of female works in literary canons, classical art forms, and the redefining
of what art is in order to recognize female artisanship through pottery, quilting, etc. The
concluding chapter deals with women’s involvement in politics. Freedman’s examples
demonstrate that politics for women go beyond suffrage and holding elected office.
Women bring maternalism into the mix and “affect powerful public institutions such as
legislatures, courts, and the military” (p. 328). Once again, the theme of an internal split
in the feminist movement arises from maternalistic politics. One camp embraces the
biological differences between men and women and believes that there is a correlation
between pacifism and gender, while the opposing camp seeks to abolish that premise all
together. Despite these differences, most societies continue to operate with women as the
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primary sex in the domestic realm. Therefore, women are the logically choice to head up
the fight on issues involving children, welfare, health, and education. Many of these
fights are lead by women seeking to change the system for the benefit of their daughters.
Globalization and the recent technological advances in communication facilitate
the feminist movement by allowing women worldwide to immediate know of advances
and setbacks with the fight for equality. Mobilization is possible almost immediately
once a horrific atrocity occurs and women act promptly in the twenty-first century. This
momentum will not allow the movement ever to turn back.
Throughout Freedman’s text there are references to other works and a
comprehensive bibliographical notes section at the end of the book. Several appendices
of statistics and a thirty-page index reinforce the classroom friendliness of No Turning
Back. I cannot recommend this book enough and foresee its longevity and usefulness will
serve multiple generations of scholars and the general public to come.