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Article: Swinging dreams Sixties themes; Sheila Rowbotham was a radical feminist who wouldn't give up mascara for anyone. Susan Flockhart talks to a woman who longs for liberation
- Article from:
- The Sunday Herald
- Article date:
- June 10, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Sunday Herald. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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THE trouble with being young in the Swinging Sixties was that you
had to decide which way to swing. For women, there were two options.
You could be a radical swinger, wielding placards, staging sit-ins
and marching through the streets yelling, Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! Or
you could be a sexy swinger, wearing short skirts from Chelsea Girl
and painting your face with Biba make-up.
Sheila Rowbotham wanted to do both. As a 19-year-old Oxford
undergraduate, she declared herself a socialist, and took to student
activism with gusto. But she also longed for glamour and
sophistication, a fact which so incensed her boyfriend - a disciple
of Jean Paul Sartre - that he threw her mascara out the window. ...