A barely audible young woman asked a long, multi-layered question that Gay paraphrased to the audience as, “How do we make sure that feminism becomes more and more inclusive and accounts for more than just white women?” īut when the audience was invited to ask questions, things got tense again. And indeed, for the first portion of the conversation, Gay and Jong chatted fairly amiably about feminism’s emerging accommodation of older women and Jong’s own identification with Clarice Lispector, Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Brontë. Gay, meanwhile, is still enjoying the success of her 2014 essay collection, Bad Feminist, which has been at the forefront of what is becoming a national discussion of culture and identity.Īt first glance it seemed like an ideal pairing for a discussion about feminism’s place in American culture. This week, to much anticipation, she released a follow-up of sorts, Fear of Dying. Jong is a scion of second-wave feminism and the sexual revolution, having gained national fame with her wildly popular 1973 debut novel, Fear of Flying. It was the first of many awkward moments in an evening that, while meant to celebrate feminism, ended up illustrating its generational, cultural and racial divides. While some audience members clapped, others shifted uncomfortably at the disconnect between Gay’s light-hearted opening and Jong’s seriousness. Erica Jong in 1976: ‘We have a long tradition of women of colour being feminists’ Photograph: Evening Standard/Getty Images
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