Frictions over Refractory Girl
Controversy has erupted over the Spring, '93 edition of Refractory Girl, the Sydney-based feminist quarterly which recently celebrated its 20th birthday.
The latest issue, with its cover story on "New Wave Feminism: young women reflect on feminism in the 90s" is the first from a new editorial committee. The new group, composed largely of students and young working and unemployed women, was handed responsibility for the content of the publication by a predominantly older collective early this year.
The new committee has evidently surprised, and in some cases displeased, the "retiring" collective with its choice of articles. In a carefully worded note to subscribers inserted in the magazine at the last minute, Sue Tiffin, Colleen Chesterman and Eva Cox (for the outgoing collective) observe that the new committee has "taken the magazine in a new direction" which "challenges many of our beliefs and positions". In a less diplomatic letter, addressed to the new team, Eva Cox states baldly, "I do not support the new editorial committee".
The outgoing collective's main concern is the inclusion in the issue of a number of articles critical of the recent record, and projected program, of the ALP on issues affecting women. More particularly, says the new RG editor, Angela Matheson, the outgoing collective is concerned that the "new look" RG has targeted a well known ALP-affiliated feminist, Anne Summers, for trenchant criticism.
Two articles focus on Anne Summers. One is a reply to an article she wrote for the 20th anniversary double issue of RG, entitled "The Future of Feminism — a letter to the next generation". The other, contributed by the writer of this column, is an examination of Labor's strategy to increase its share of the women's vote in the federal elections earlier this year, and the part played by Summers, as the then adviser to the prime minister on the status of women, in that campaign.
Angela Matheson and I, as representatives of the new committee, were invited to debate Anne Summers over the content of these articles on Radio National's Life Matters program on September 15. ABC journalist Adele Horin contacted Summers, who had read the articles and, according to Horin, was extremely angry about them, to request that she participate in the debate, but Summers refused.
The next edition of RG, due for publication in January, will continue to exercise the right to criticise ALP policies on women with a "Women and work" edition. Planned articles include an examination of the history and role of the federal government's Equal Pay Unit, and features on unemployment, enterprise bargaining and unions, from feminist perspectives. Some members of the outgoing collective, despite acknowledging that the new direction "challenges" their own ideas, have decided, to their credit, to continue to support the magazine. Others have dissociated themselves completely.
By Karen Fredericks