Feminism Backwards

Feminism Backwards is part memoir, part documentary. A founding member of
the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement Rosita Sweetman gleefully
recalls the triumphs – and the tribulations – of trying to drag a reluctant Ireland
into the 20th Century, crucially, re-appraising Chains or Change the IWLM’s
famous pamphlet, detailing what life was like for women in 1970s Ireland – appalling. 

Feminism Backwards is also a howl of despair at how women have been treated
worldwide down through the centuries, and how misogyny and sexual
repression got such a stranglehold on Ireland.
Having a survived a marriage break up Rosita re-found her feminism
sadly buried, along with her chutzpah. She passionately believes feminism is not
about blaming men, or pushing a few women to the top so they can be ‘she-men’
for the patriarchy. It’s about creating a world fit for everyone. 

Author Biography

Born into a big political/legal family in Dublin Rosita began writing when she
was 10. She’s worked as a journalist with the Irish Press, the Irish Times, the
Sunday Independent, as a ‘runner’ and secretary at BBC TV in London, and as a
research assistant on RTE TV in Dublin. She has published three best selling
books, On Our Knees (1972), On Our Backs, Sexual Attitudes in a Changing Ireland
(1979) and a novel Fathers Come First (1974) recently re-published by the
Lilliput Press (2015). In 2004 she co-produced an allergy cookbook with her
children Chupi and Luke, What To Eat When You Can’t Eat Anything. She is a
critic for the Irish Times, the Sunday Independent, and the Dublin Review of Books.
Having a survived a marriage break up Rosita re-found her feminism
sadly buried, along with her chutzpah. She passionately believes feminism is not
about blaming men, or pushing a few women to the top so they can be ‘she-men’
for the patriarchy. It’s about creating a world fit for everyone.
Of everything she has created her two adult children Chupi and Luke are way
and above the most precious.