It’s always so tough to hear about the passing of another feminist, like you’ve lost someone you’re connected to as comrades and fellow soldiers. Like you always kind of thought you’d meet up some day and have so much to talk about. Marilyn French was one of those women, a person I always wanted to hear more from and know more about. A real survivor of the second wave battleground. It would have been nice to share battle scars, and have her laugh at how superficial mine were.

I think French is one of those feminists who have been deemed “unsafe”, aka “man haters”. Like Andrea Dworkin her writing had a strident tone and caused people to wring their hands and worry about hurting men’s feelings. And maybe her writing did, I don’t know. But I do know reading The Woman’s Room in university was like stepping through a looking glass. It was like entering a world that was both familiar and strange. It was off-putting and terrifying at times but it was something I needed to read. No woman wants to see the phrase “all men are rapists” or read about someone else’s repressed life, but I think for women particularly of my generation, we need the reminder. We need to remember that it once was-and in many places still is- permissible for a man to rape his wife. We need to remember that only a few decades ago we were held back from pursuing careers and having intellectual lives. We need to see where we’ve been to figure out where we’re going.

The world will miss you, Marilyn.