CHRISTINA STEAD
273
women's natural affection for men; they play upon the greatest
weakness of women, their cultivated timidity, and rob them of one of
the best and most momentous things in life, love of a man. Lesbians
fighting for their own interests are no more suited to the women's
movement than so-called gay liberation is suited to the trades union
movement; it is quite out of context.
I do not know if there is a "feminine consciousness." Our
perceptions and deductions spring from education, experience and
function; but J,B.S. Haldane, the British scientist, wrote once that
science would not be complete till women scientists were at work with
their different awareness; so it is clear that this well-known biologist
thought that women had a particular consciousness. I do not know.
Each of us is separate, touching the elephant of reality with one hand;
so it is possible.
One thing I have noticed myself in the last year or two: that male
reviewers of books have become very conscious of the women's claims
for liberation. The kindly tend to see a claim in any book by a woman
to
show sympathy, even where no claim is being made; and others,
afraid that they are being attacked are soured, sharp when they see a
book by a woman about a female character and tend to see an attack
when none is intended.
It
is not entirely possible at the moment to do
the portrait of a woman and present it as such, as it is of a man; it is
thought to have a special meaning.
Yours truly,
Christina Stead
P.S. One of the good things the movement has done is to
produce endless articles and books about women and by women; and to
produce new writers of fiction and poetry among them-not all very
good, but all attempting creative work. I believe that everyone should
write if possible and be published if possible, for this leads to a great
literature eventually, an enrichment undreamed of. We know that
women are timid and afraid (quite often of competition with men,
whom they think "will always win") but I daresay that the first
appearance of her poem or story in print will encourage even the timid.
When I first returned
to
this country I was asked
to
join the Society of
Women Writers and was irritated that there should be in their minds a
difference between men and women writers for I hate any sort of
segregation; and I asked the society why. They gave a very weak answer
in their journal, but the meaning of it was the above-that many
