Marilyn French (1929 to 2009) was an American radical feminist author, most widely known for her first novel, The Women's Room (1977).
Her 1985 nonfiction work, Beyond Power: Women, Men and Morals, was the basis for her major address at the First World Summit on Women and the Many Dimensions of Power, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in June 1990.
In part 1 (WINGS #37-25), French described a pre-existing matrifocal human social organization that prioritized care for offspring.
In part 2 (WINGS #38-25), French describes and decries the rise of a patriarchal and hierarchical system that prioritizes competition for personal accumulation and power-over, and prescribes male control of females. She excoriates this system for wrecking the viability of life on earth. (Thirty-five years later, the accuracy of that analysis is increasingly clear.)
French's speech was recorded and produced by the late WINGS co-founder Katherine Davenport.
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