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flappermyrtle 's review for:
My Own Story
by Emmeline Pankhurst
As I was going to see Suffragette - in cinemas now, go see it! - I decided upon reading this memoir first. Though I am not afraid of calling myself a feminist, the militant suffragette movement has always troubled me in terms of morality, right and wrong, whether it was truly necessary.
If there is anything this book has managed to convince me of, it is that it was, indeed, necessary. Pankhurst narrates the story from the very beginning, when ideas of suffrage were slowly materialising in a political environment, and the suffrage movement was peaceful and tried to reach their goal through official paths, by supporting and working for political parties and attempting to get a suffrage bill read in parliament. What speaks from these years is a deep sense of frustration, of men considering women's suffrage not a real issue that must be discussed but almost a joke, something that can be treated with glee and ignored at will. It is from this that the militant movement, the WSPU was begun - after twenty years of being ridiculed for their desire for honest political representation, some women realised there were other paths to be taken if women's enfranchisement was ever to become law.
That is the story Pankhurst here tells her reader: how women fought for their right to vote, how they were cast down again and again, how they were abused in the country's prisons, how the government refused to treat them as political prisoners while they were at the same time told to fight like men had fought for their enfranchisement. A deep, deep anger speaks from this text at times, a disappointment in the government, a feeling of being cheated over and over again, a sense of intense unfairness. At the time of writing, 1914, the War had just started, leading to a truce, but there is a bitterness speaking from the pages for fighting so long already, and now having to wait even longer for what is woman's due.
My Own Story made me understrand why the WSPU used civil disobedience as a tool, how destroying property is indeed linked to political campaigning, and how - if the women, perhaps, did go too far - the treatment they received was cruel and inhumane and could but lead to more extreme forms of militancy.
If you know a lot, if you know a little, if you know absolutely nothing about the Suffrage movement in England but would like to get a deeply personal insight into the campaign for women's right, read this book. I'm not saying Pankhurst is right about everything - this remains a highly subjective story - but I do think she does justice to the events as well as not shying away from the horrors she encountered in her battle. Hers is a voice that deserves to be heard.
If there is anything this book has managed to convince me of, it is that it was, indeed, necessary. Pankhurst narrates the story from the very beginning, when ideas of suffrage were slowly materialising in a political environment, and the suffrage movement was peaceful and tried to reach their goal through official paths, by supporting and working for political parties and attempting to get a suffrage bill read in parliament. What speaks from these years is a deep sense of frustration, of men considering women's suffrage not a real issue that must be discussed but almost a joke, something that can be treated with glee and ignored at will. It is from this that the militant movement, the WSPU was begun - after twenty years of being ridiculed for their desire for honest political representation, some women realised there were other paths to be taken if women's enfranchisement was ever to become law.
That is the story Pankhurst here tells her reader: how women fought for their right to vote, how they were cast down again and again, how they were abused in the country's prisons, how the government refused to treat them as political prisoners while they were at the same time told to fight like men had fought for their enfranchisement. A deep, deep anger speaks from this text at times, a disappointment in the government, a feeling of being cheated over and over again, a sense of intense unfairness. At the time of writing, 1914, the War had just started, leading to a truce, but there is a bitterness speaking from the pages for fighting so long already, and now having to wait even longer for what is woman's due.
My Own Story made me understrand why the WSPU used civil disobedience as a tool, how destroying property is indeed linked to political campaigning, and how - if the women, perhaps, did go too far - the treatment they received was cruel and inhumane and could but lead to more extreme forms of militancy.
If you know a lot, if you know a little, if you know absolutely nothing about the Suffrage movement in England but would like to get a deeply personal insight into the campaign for women's right, read this book. I'm not saying Pankhurst is right about everything - this remains a highly subjective story - but I do think she does justice to the events as well as not shying away from the horrors she encountered in her battle. Hers is a voice that deserves to be heard.