Memories #9

Polica - Shulamith

Shulamith Firestone was instrumental in the women's liberation movement during the mid to late 60's. Her newsletter, Voice of the Women's Liberation Movement, is recognized as providing the name for the movement. She advocated for radical feminism, with the thought that gradual change wasn't enough. She denounced the patriarchal structure of modern society as a biological ill, stating that the subjugation of women is the oldest form of prejudice, ultimately culminating in the nuclear family unit. She proposed that the only way to truly create equality in this lifetime was to eliminate the structure of the nuclear family, as it is the true cause of all the world's woes. Based on the idea that every experience stems from the inherent flaw of the family unit that still exists to this day, there is truly no way for any of us, men included, to understand a free existence outside of this oppression. We are either following along a preordained path forged along these gender inequalities or we are striving against it any way that we can. In both cases, it is a response to a system that is affecting everything. Only by destroying the nuclear family completely will we finally be free of this tyranny. Obviously, many of her proposals were extreme and failed to gain traction during her lifetime but they still resonate. They obviously have affected Channy Leaneagh, singer and co-founder of Polica. Just check out the video for the song, Tiff, in which Leaneagh brutally tortures her double, for some extreme imagery. There's so much about Polica's music that is radical and that's what makes it so resounding. It's profound and beautiful and revolutionary.