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THE GAY HOTLINE

WORKS WHEN YOU DO 696-5330

GIFTS

SOME BOOKS

FOR THE GIFT THAT MEANS SOMETHING.... or something. else for a cold winter's night....

Besides the five books mentioned in this issue's BOOK IN REVIEW, the following titles would make thoughtful and long-lasting gifts at Christmas. More are available at local book stores, including Coventry Books.

CONSENTING ADULT, Laura B. Hobson (Doubleday, 1975) THE FRONT RUNNER, Patricia Nell Warren (William Morrow, 1974) (Also now in paperback by Dell)

THE

LESBIAN

BODY,

Monique Wittig (William

Morrow, 1975)

high tide

THE MALE HOMOSEXUAL, (Also now available in paperback).

THE HOMOSEXUAL MATRIX. BIND IN BRIARS: SEX AND SIN IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, Rev. Richard Ginder (Prentice-Hall, 1975) MEMOIRS,

Williams

Tennessee

THE RUBYFRUIT JUICE, Rita Mae Brown (Daughters, Inc., 1973)

SOMETHING YOU DO IN THE DARK, Daniel Curzon (Lancer Books, 1971) P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD, James Kirkwood (Also now in paperback)

--Marc Lewis

rock bottom

Moved to 1832 Coventry See us for a great selection of

beads, jewelry, sea shells, and polished rocks. Open Sundays 1-5 til Xmas 321-8500

COVENT

OVENTRY BOOKS

Wishes High Gear

and their readers a very

Merry Christmas

OPEN:

10-10 WEEKDAYS 10-7 SATURDAY

12-6 SUNDAY THRU XMAS

1824 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights 932-8111

HIGH GEAR

December 1975

Then and NOW

By Irene Zenska

Recently

the National Organization for Women took an historical and well-publicized stand in support of gay rights. However, it seems that no sooner was that triumph achieved than it came under attack by a reactionary caucus within N.O.W.

In an attempt to revitalize N.O.W., its leadership has embarked on a course of confrontation politics which could probably best be characterized as "neo-radicalism." Officials of the organization are frustrated by the slow pace of lobbying and other conventional instruments for change. New methods will involve sit-ins, interruptions of congressional hearings and similar tactics. N.O.W. will also endorse candidates for public office.

This fiery methodology is opposed by a schismatic conservative faction headed up by a co-founder of N.O.W., Betty Frieden. The successionist band called "Womansurge" is composed largely of what have been described as "aging professional women willing to accept token advances and avoid new issues." Karen Decrow, President of N.O.W., remarked of the splinter group, "It's the last gasp of a very smallgroup with a condescending view of what feminism is like," adding, "If you mention you want to change the behavior of men or if you mention gay rights, they're frightened away."

The membership of "Womansurge" represents pretty much the right wing of the Women's Movement and is analogous to traditionalist elements in many contemporary political organizations. Its leadership is derived from the "old guard" of the Movement which broke political ground warily. They have been skeptical and even fearful of the impassioned and has impatient zeal which emerged with radical feminism. Much like the male Mattachines in the early Gay Movement, these women felt (and still do) a commitment to the gray tweed and glamour of "Realpolitik." Spokespersons for the breakaways claim that they are primarily interested in issues such as employment for women, child care for working women, legal protection and assistance with marital problems. They resent the role lesbians are assuming in the Women's Movement and feel this alienates "housewives" who might otherwise actively participate in N.O.W.

This rebellion of "proestablishment" women may be more ominous than it first appears to be. Gays and other political activists whose psyches were drenched in the fervor of the Sixties, have been anticipating a conservative backlash for some time although

no one is sure what form that backlash might assume Perhaps the P.T.A. ideology of "Womansurge" is merely symptomatic of a fadish trend toward conservatism. Maybe it is indeed the "last gasp" of a perishing unprogressive minority. Let us hope so.

Since the inception of the Women's and Gay Movements, the fates of both have been interconnected. Women's rights groups were among the few and

earliest "revolutionary" assemi blages of the Sixties to profess solidarity with gay groups. / significant aspect of the earh and current vanguard of the Women's Movement consists o lesbians who invest an eno mous share of their portion o the spiritual and actual spoils c the Movement's victories. The women's struggle cannot affor divisive enterprises any mori than it can the excommunicatior of its lesbian component.