Not One of the Boys

September 4, 2000
Although she never achieved the media stardom of such pioneering feminists as Gloria Steinem or Susan Brownmiller, Feigen, in a more peripheral role, has been an effective activist for social change. In this behind-the-scenes view of the women's movement from the late '60s to the '90s, she is sharply critical of the discrimination she has found in every aspect of her personal and public life, as a lawyer, politician, Hollywood movie producer, wife and mother. When she entered Harvard Law School in 1966, women students were told by the dean that they were taking the place of men who needed to become family breadwinners; the school's only eating club was restricted to men; squash courts were closed to women; and firms that excluded women were permitted to interview on campus. Seething at the injustice, Feigen joined the National Organization for Women and was elected its national legislative vice-president. Working for passage of the equal rghts amendment, she met Steinem, who became a good friend. She and Steinem conceived the grassroots Women's Action Alliance; the organization's "newsletter" later evolved into Ms. magazine. A highlight of her feminist career came in 1972, when she served as director of the Women's Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Alternating anecdotes about her personal life with movement history in a somewhat confusing chronology, Feigen recounts the failure of her marriage and the happiness she later found with her companion, writer Joanne Parent. Feigen's feisty attitude and her very real achievements make this work an important document of social history as well as an entertaining read. Photos.

September 1, 2000
An attorney and literary agent, Feigen was an active participant in the women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s. She helped break down sexist barriers while a student at Harvard Law School and went on to hold office in N.O.W. and to help found Ms. magazine with Gloria Steinem. She also worked with Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the A.C.L.U.'s Women's Rights Project. Later she produced a feature film, Navy Seals, and has worked on other film projects. In the latter part of the book she discusses legal aspects of sexual discrimination, her views on pornography, and her speculations on the future of feminism. Although she was an active participant in the dramatic days of the movement, Feigen's writing is not as stringent as one might expect. In fact, the tone is often chatty. This memoir of a lesser-known feminist activist is appropriate for comprehensive academic/women's studies collections but is an optional purchase for public libraries.--Patricia A. Beaber, Coll. of New Jersey Lib., Ewing

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2000
Feigen was no stranger to prejudice when she entered Harvard Law School in 1966, having faced anti-Semitism in her hometown of Chicago, but she was still shocked by the viciousness of that lauded institution's sexism. She persevered, however, married a feminist lawyer, and embarked on a high-profile career as a feminist attorney and activist in New York. Close to Gloria Steinem, Jane Alexander, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Feigen became a mother, negotiated a painful divorce, and found true happiness in a lesbian relationship after she brought her feminist principles and legal expertise to Hollywood, which, in the course of chronicling her work as an agent and producer, she energetically characterizes as a morass of sexist conventions. Adventurous, dedicated, dynamic, and matter-of-fact, Feigen prefers straight-ahead exposition and zestful discussions of the issues to psychological revelations, even handling her bout with breast cancer with admirable reasonableness, and her briskly anecdotal account of her many-faceted life neatly documents 35 remarkable years of progress and backlash in the struggle to secure women the rights and respect they deserve. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)