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Death in Ten Minutes: The Forgotten Life of Radical Suffragette Kitty Marion by Fern Riddell
coops456's review against another edition
4.0
Bloody hell. If, like me, your view of suffragettes was heavily influenced by Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins:
then you too may have imagined lots of middle-class Edwardian ladies having meetings, marches, and a bit of window-breaking leading to imprisonment and force-feeding. You would be wrong.
It's astounding how the life-threatening violence of the campaign has been sanitised by history - even the early accounts written by the suffragettes themselves are shown here to have deliberately left out the worst of the violence. The descriptions of force-feeding and its after-effects are equally shocking in their brutality.
Women like Kitty Marion were terrorists. Following the abandonment of the Franchise Bill in 1913, the WSPU escalated its campaign further, with Emmeline Pankhurst wanting "to make England and every department of English life insecure and unsafe".
In May 1913 alone there were 52 incidents including 29 bombings and 15 arson attacks, on churches, trains and stations, courts and post offices. Radicalised by years of abuse both in her personal life and in her stage profession, Kitty Marion was at the forefront of this extremism, travelling the country and teaching others how to firebomb successfully.
Given the amount of research that Dr Riddell has clearly done, this is an extremely readable work. Her final chapter draws clear parallels between the experiences of Kitty Marion and the modern-day #MeToo campaign. Plus ça change :-(
Our daughters' daughters will adore us
And they'll sing in grateful chorus
Well done
Sister Suffragette
then you too may have imagined lots of middle-class Edwardian ladies having meetings, marches, and a bit of window-breaking leading to imprisonment and force-feeding. You would be wrong.
It's astounding how the life-threatening violence of the campaign has been sanitised by history - even the early accounts written by the suffragettes themselves are shown here to have deliberately left out the worst of the violence. The descriptions of force-feeding and its after-effects are equally shocking in their brutality.
Women like Kitty Marion were terrorists. Following the abandonment of the Franchise Bill in 1913, the WSPU escalated its campaign further, with Emmeline Pankhurst wanting "to make England and every department of English life insecure and unsafe".
In May 1913 alone there were 52 incidents including 29 bombings and 15 arson attacks, on churches, trains and stations, courts and post offices. Radicalised by years of abuse both in her personal life and in her stage profession, Kitty Marion was at the forefront of this extremism, travelling the country and teaching others how to firebomb successfully.
Given the amount of research that Dr Riddell has clearly done, this is an extremely readable work. Her final chapter draws clear parallels between the experiences of Kitty Marion and the modern-day #MeToo campaign. Plus ça change :-(
waybeyondblue's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Police brutality, Violence, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Deportation, Vomit, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Classism, Abortion, War, and Suicidal thoughts
brmills's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
A straightforward factual account of a fascinating life. Nothing special in style but an important woman to know about as she contributed greatly to the rights women have today in UK and USA to vote and use birth control.
beccakatie's review against another edition
5.0
I found this book to be a brilliantly accessible read of the growth of feminism and the suffrage movement, told through the lens of an awe-inspiring woman.
The life of Kitty Marion was well situated in the wider context of the growth of women’s rights, and the debates regarding women’s sexuality. While much of the wider information given was not unknown to me, it was still a very engaging read that I did in fact gain additional knowledge from.
The book challenges our perceptions of the suffrage movement, including how we were taught and continue to teach it, and our reactions and justifications for the violence they enacted. It’s a well written, thought provoking, wide ranging biography.
I would, however, have liked to have at least a mention on the negative aspects of the birth control movement mentioned, and how it was often linked to eugenics. While this in no way detracts from the importance of accessible contraception and education, I feel like it is a point that should not be ignored. It risks sanitising the history, just as Riddell criticises the suffrage movement for doing by brushing the violence under the carpet in later years.
The life of Kitty Marion was well situated in the wider context of the growth of women’s rights, and the debates regarding women’s sexuality. While much of the wider information given was not unknown to me, it was still a very engaging read that I did in fact gain additional knowledge from.
The book challenges our perceptions of the suffrage movement, including how we were taught and continue to teach it, and our reactions and justifications for the violence they enacted. It’s a well written, thought provoking, wide ranging biography.
I would, however, have liked to have at least a mention on the negative aspects of the birth control movement mentioned, and how it was often linked to eugenics. While this in no way detracts from the importance of accessible contraception and education, I feel like it is a point that should not be ignored. It risks sanitising the history, just as Riddell criticises the suffrage movement for doing by brushing the violence under the carpet in later years.
maink's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
A quite raw look at the tale of a radical suffragette. The author doesn't shy away from the complexities of those acting within the movemny
cassies_books_reviews's review against another edition
4.0
What an amazing book with so much history that dives into the life of Kitty Marion! Fern Riddells biography of Kitty Marion who grew up in Germany her father was abusive so she moved to England to live with her aunt. Kitty became not only a music performer but also a suffragette and even a birth control campaigner! The author did an astounding job of presenting a historical book during that time along with showing how important to this day with what Kitty was fighting for. She uses archive materials that are in Kitty’s own words that’s where never published before. While working she suffered horrible sexual harassment the theatre agents and other powerful men expected sexual favors from her and other musical performers, which while I was reading this part immediately made me think of how this is continuing and all the news that has come out which made me extremely angry! All Kitty wanted to show is that woman deserve to be treated as an equal and they shouldn’t have to fight for something that should just be given were people and human too! When Kitty becomes a member of the Woman’s Social and Political Union , there were times before she actual thought they were crazy. This is when the book takes a change! The WSPU carried out acts considered acts of terrorism , attacks even aimed at certain people theses acts were bombs and arson attacks. One attack Kitty was part of was an arson attack in Hurst Park. This attack she barely made it out alive when reading this my heart was pounding. This book really showed you the lengths not only that Kitty but the other woman in her group took to be taken seriously! Some of these were building being damaged, houses even churches, government building railroads and even mail bombs these are just a few examples. That’s why I used the word terrorism because that’s what they would be considered today. This biography honestly blew me away and I am kicking myself that I took so long to read. Kitty Marion’s life fascinated me the author really did an amazing job showing us Kitty’s life I give this book four stars!
librarykirsten's review against another edition
4.0
An narrative account of the life of suffragette which I found very interesting in parts, but narrative history is generally not my favourite. I think there definitely is something to say about the general omission of Kitty Marion and the violence of the suffragettes from most histories of the movement. However, for me, this book felt like it did not adequately engage with the scholarship it criticises. Probably that's because it's aimed at a popular audience who mostly do not want a detailed exploration of historiography, but I do.
melanie_galea's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book shed light into the sanitisation of suffragette history and what truly occurred in the fight for women's vote and access to birth control. The suffragettes have been portrayed as a passive group of women who through their words and unviolent protests have convinced the governing men that they also deserve to vote. This was a far outcry from what truly happened - planned arson and bomb attacks which led to the burning of houses and destruction of telephone lines. The suffragettes were a violent group that were continuously arrested and subjected to horrific force-feedings. Kitty Marion, a German immigrant who had fled from an abusive father and took to the stage only to suffer from sexual abuse from her agents who would only offer her work in exchange for sexual favours, was one of the most dangerous suffragettes in history. Yet her name has been seemingly erased from said history - with her autobiography and historical records pushed into the darkness for the storytelling that was the suffragette history. Kitty Marion was one of the first sex positive feminists and it is for this reason her name has been removed from history. After being accused of being a German spy and having to leave to America, Kitty Marion joined Margaret Sanger in the fight for birth control, an action that would make her anti birth control suffragette (or WSPU) leaders look the other way and abandon her. Although having faced sexual abuse throughout her stage days, Kitty was aware that there were mutually consenting relationships that wanted sex outside of the means of conception but instead in strive of the intimacy of the act. This book was so well researched and delved into all possible aspects of Marion and her peers. It is sad to see how such a powerful woman was erased from history to promote an image of women martyrdom and passivity.